On Thursday, toward the end of our group’s 2021 bike ride, Mick and I rode from Grass Valley in the west side of the Sierras to his daughter and son-in-law’s house in Susanville, on the east side. Friday was a family birthday celebration, so that day I took off on a solo ride north on Hwy 139 past Eagle Lake to Alturas and then south on Hwy 395 back to Susanville. That ride provided 135 miles of joy. I left the music off to focus on enjoying the scenery: majestic mountains and lush grassy meadows and high desert, good-sized lakes and dry creek beds. Ponderosa pines and aspen and cedar and pinon pines. Deer and cattle and eagles and hawks and juncos and who knows what else. I apologize for…