The Great Change: Turning Cathy into a Lawyer

As I mentioned the other day, I saw three Huey Lewis and the News concerts last week. Which actually reflects a great deal of maturity and restraint, as there was a fourth concert I could have theoretically gone to, but I once again chose to sit it out due to time/money allocation issues.

But that's ok because the three I saw were plenty of HLN-goodness, particularly the first, which I'll describe in a bit. The latter two were last Friday and Saturday nights at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga (and not "Los Gatos" as Huey mistakenly called out during "Heart of Rock and Roll" in the spot where he usually changes the "Detroit!" exclamation lyric to wherever he's playing, although it's not like Saratoga is any more impressive a rock and roll town than Los Gatos is, as anyone who's ever been to these wealthy suburban enclaves can surely attest). It's a decent venue though, high on the hill overlooking Silicon Valley. I like to sit on the bleachers at the side of the stage so I can actually see the keyboardist and drummer work for a change, since normally they are obstructed by their instruments.

The staff are also quite nice, and were once again very helpful in supporting my harebrained scheme to ride my bike to the show Saturday. It turns out a year is long enough to forget how awful that 62+ mile bike ride is from Sausalito to Saratoga, so once again I foolishly inflicted it on myself.

Well, it's actually not too bad a ride:

The route is over the Golden Gate and down to the Great Highway, then up and over Daly City. Laugh heartily (or bitterly) at its "Elevation: 800 ft" sign before eventually hooking up with the 280 corridor as it follows the San Andreas fault. Gently descend along the bucolic mid-peninsula lakes, prepared to yield for chipmunks and deer, and then catch the stick-straight Cañada Road to Woodside. From there pass by the venture capitalists of Sand Hill road before jogging around Stanford. The Foothill Expressway then takes you most of the way there before leaving you to fjord the traffic of Cupertino. Fortunately there's only a few more flat roads until the final insult of the 1.5 miles up Pierce Road, which summits at the Mountain Winery gate. Hitch a ride up the driveway (cyclists aren't permitted on it) and then you're there. Piece of cake.

I was joking that since I hadn't ended up collapsed in a ditch somewhere during last year's attempt, there was no reason why I shouldn't do it again this year. Yes, well... This year's ride was a little bit better than last, mostly because I now knew the route and could better pace myself. But it was worse because I'd not eaten nor slept properly over the last week, and as a result I was essentially bonking even before I hit the Golden Gate Bridge. I persevered, however, and made it in decent time (no land speed records, but within the time I had hoped). Unfortunately I was so wiped out by the time I got there I had a hard time enjoying the show. It was a little like May's Foxwoods show, only this time I was more physically checked-out than mentally so. Also, I still haven't quite worked out all the accompanying logistics, like how to get me and my bike back home afterwards. Despite some valiant efforts both occasions, I keep ending up sort of all Blanche DuBois and very dependent on the kindness of strangers (er, well, other acquaintances) to help me out on those details...

Fortunately everything all worked out, and it really only took me Sunday to recover. In fact by Monday I felt great. Not only not sore at all, but completely recharged. Maybe some of that's from the concert, maybe some of that's from the exercise. Or maybe it's from having an entire day where I didn't have to think about law... But either way, maybe it's something I'll do again next year.