—Shirley Ballas, Strictly Come Dancing (UK), head judge
“There
—Daniel Herman, former Minister of Culture of the Czech Republic
“I
—Donna Karan, founder of DKNY
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Take aim
The only one preventing you from trying new things is you. Take a page out of Andrea Rooks’ book and step out of your normal life into the unknown. She tried archery last year and it shot her in the heart. She’s all in on the sport now and chatted with Central Coast Archery about its decade in business, the pros who teach there, and why it’s such an exhilarating hobby. Other outdoor activities that could fit into your 2025 calendar include running, yoga, surfing, biking, and skiing. We’ve got something for everyone as winter hits its stride.
Camillia Lanham editor
Atascadero native and Cal Poly senior Bella Otter got her start at Central Coast Archery when she was 12. Now, she’s in the top 10 on the United States Archery Team professional women’s division.
(CITY
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Downtown City Park Holiday House
SATURDAY APRIL 26 • 9am-3pm VINTAGE SIDECAR RENDEZVOUS
Recycled Treasures, Antique Motorcycles, British Cars, & PR Comic Book Expo Downtown City Park (Free Admission)
SATURDAY MAY 10 • 10am-4pm PASO ROBLES OLIVE & LAVENDER FESTIVAL
Olive Oil, Olive Tasting, Artists, Crafters City Park Vendors Call 805-238-4103 Free Admission
JUNE 12, 19 & 26 • 6-8pm CONCERTS IN THE PARK Thursdays (Music)
JULY 11 & 18 • 6-8pm CONCERTS IN THE PARK Thursdays (Music)
JULY 16 – JULY 27
CALIFORNIA MID-STATE FAIR
THURSDAY JULY 24 • 7:30-10:30am FREE PANCAKE BREAKFAST
Downtown City Park (Free Admission)
Trailblazing
BY LIBBEY HANSON
Run fast, run SLO
Meet, run, socialize.
That’s the philosophy of the Run SLO Club—a group dedicated to enjoying the sport of running in a more inclusive and connective way.
Run SLO Club Creator Natalie Rodriguez said she wanted to create an environment where anyone could join, regardless of their running ability.
“It’s a safe space, and if somebody feels like they can only run 1 mile, that’s completely OK. There’s no judgment. It’s all about just getting outside and being kind to yourself and maybe
meeting a friend along the way,” she said.
Rodriguez said she created the running club in March 2024 after COVID-19 put a halt to her competitive running races with the Hoka Aggies Running Club.
“I think COVID really, like, pushed me to think about what I wanted to do, so I stopped running just cold turkey,” Rodriguez said. “I just stopped one day, and then told myself that I would start running again once it felt right.”
That right time came along in summer 2023 when she started to look at running more
socially than competitively and wanted to meet more people instead of primarily focusing on a workout.
“I have some friends down in LA and San Diego that are part of run clubs,” she said, “and I remember thinking to myself, ‘That’s really weird. Why isn’t there something like that here in SLO?’”
Thus, her inspiration for Run SLO Club started coming to fruition.
“I definitely wanted to support small businesses here in SLO and I thought, what better way to do that than to start a run club, and we can meet on Wednesdays, when it might be a little slower at a business, and we can support them and the community and do it every week,” she said.
The run club meets twice per week— Wednesday evenings at a brewery like Libertine Brewing and Saturday mornings at a coffee shop like Field Day.
Rodriguez said the club has taken off. With 15 attendees for the first run in March 2024, the club has since grown to around 100 runners.
“It was quicker than I had expected, but I think everybody became excited about the fact that there was a new way to meet people,” Rodriguez said.
While the club is open to all ages, Rodriguez said most of the runners range from 25 to 40 years old. Some have lived locally for a while, and some are new to the area looking to make new friends.
“Yeah, apparently it’s a dating scene too,” she said with a laugh.
For each route Rodriguez said she uses the Strava app to map out and share with attendees. Each route is about 3 miles long and starts and ends at the brewery or coffee shop where attendees can socialize after the run.
However, she said it’s not expected of everyone to run the entire route or even run at all.
“I try to tell the group … before every run that there’s no pressure. If it’s not your day, then you know you can start walking in the middle of your run, or you can just walk the
RUN CLUB continued page 8
PHOTOS COURTESY OF RUN SLO CLUB
Natalie Rodriguez created the Run SLO Club in early 2024 for all types of runners.
run if you want to,” she said.
Overall, Rodriguez said, she hopes to connect people through the sport of running and hopes to expand the club even more this coming year.
“With me having a running
background, I know how special the sport is in terms of how it can connect you with others, and it’s such an authentic way to meet people,” she said, “and I really wanted to share that with the community as much as I could.”
RUN CLUB from page 6
Photo by: Bob Forbes
Photo by: Chuck Graham
Open-air breathwork
BY CALEB WISEBLOOD
Staying on-brand with her first name isn’t a struggle for Dawn Feuerberg.
“I am a morning person,” said the Morro Bay-based life coach, teacher, and avid surfer, who begins each day with a meditation immediately upon waking up, usually at first light.
She’s kept up this ritual for more than a decade, barely skipping more than a few mornings since 2015.
“The reason why I meditate in the morning—and that’s what I recommend to my students—is because there’s this moment between waking and deep sleep, … this unconscious state we can take advantage of in the early morning,” Feuerberg explained,
“[to] reach more of a higher state of awareness.”
Feuerberg regularly leads outdoor meditation events in Morro Bay and Cayucos, and encourages newcomers who attend, as well as those who sign up for her multi-week meditation courses, to make a habit of continuing meditation practices at home.
She recommends spending at least five minutes in the morning meditating after waking up naturally (it doesn’t have to be at sunrise) and using a specific device to track those five minutes without clouding the mind.
“Once we get up and look at the phone for the first time and see a text, our brain starts going. So, I tell my students to get an oven timer, and keep it by their bed,” Feuerberg said. “Even if they have to [stay] in bed or … they can find a spot on the floor, sit down, and set the timer for five minutes, they can just do these basic meditations that I teach.”
When it comes to Feuerberg’s
outdoor meditation programs, her stance on keeping phones out of the picture remains consistent.
“My goal is to get people off those apps—the calming apps, the meditation apps—because, really, you want to be able to meditate with just yourself,” she said.
“So, that way if you’re out on the beach, [or anywhere] out in nature, without your phone, you should be able to sit and only use the
COURTESY PHOTO BY LELA BRODIE PHOTOGRAPHY
resources you have.”
Cushions, on the other hand, are among the supplies one should consider when planning an outdoor meditation outing of that sort, but Feuerberg’s meditations aren’t limited to those where you’re sitting on the ground. She often incorporates walking meditations into her events, including her shamanic morning
Content with intent
Visit auroraadventures.us to find out more about meditation and yoga instructor Dawn Feuerberg’s ongoing programs. For reservations, visit my805tix.com.
ritual program, held most Fridays at outdoor locations in Morro Bay or Cayucos depending on the week (keep up with the program’s schedule or reserve your spot through my805tix.com).
“It includes some cardio. We actually do a 20-minute brisk walk, but it’s with intention. It’s with awareness that we’re hitting our feet on the ground, and connecting to the earth,” Feuerberg said. “[We’re] barefoot on the ground.”
Through her company, Aurora Sacred Events and Classes, Feuerberg also hosts outdoor yoga workshops, fire ceremonies, and
retreats throughout the year. Not all of her yoga events take place at the beach, but when they do, she provides yoga mats (as she does during her other yoga programs). But participants are welcome to bring their own mats, as long as “they don’t mind getting them sandy,” she said with a laugh.
Outside of her private multi-week programs, Feuerberg described many of her ongoing events as “semi-private,” as some are limited to about four people, and others don’t always reach a large group capacity.
For her, it’s a win-win regardless of how many people sign up for
those, because she’d be out there on her own doing the same activity otherwise, she explained. Being her own boss, she keeps things flexible that way.
“The attitude is, well, if only two people show up, it doesn’t matter because I was going to do it anyway. And when I have that attitude, it fills to like 20 [participants],” said Feuerberg, who isn’t quick to cancel an event due to a lack of attendance. “The weekly ones ebb and flow. Sometimes it’s two people, and they get the benefit because they’re not getting charged [extra] for a private session.”
PHOTO COURTESY OF AURORA SACRED EVENTS AND CLASSES
COURTESY PHOTO BY LELA BRODIE PHOTOGRAPHY
Outdoor Kitchen
If you’re anything like me, you need a cup of coffee first thing in the morning no matter where you’re at—whether it be at home, on vacation, or even waking up in a tent in the middle of the forest.
The fun thing about coffee is its versatility. It can be as simple as warm water with instant coffee, or an intricate foldable pour-over system with hot water in a kettle over the fire.
The options are endless. So, let’s look at some of the most ideal and caffeinated setups possible when enjoying the great outdoors.
Thinking back to camping in the desert with my best friends, our setup involved a trusty portable gas-powered stove (Jetboil) for hot water and an Aeropress—a plastic and incredibly light single-cup coffee maker that’s similar to a French press but uses more pressure to force water through the filter and beans.
Bring along a little carton of oat milk and you have a delicious cup of coffee in the middle of nowhere.
But I’m no outdoor coffee professional, so I reached out to outdoor enthusiasts on the internet. Here’s what they said they use.
While Jetboils and Aeropresses came up a couple of times, one said they used a Phin—a small stainless steel coffee tool used to make
Brew-tiful outdoors
Vietnamese coffee.
Similar in theory to a classic coffee pot, the Phin is much lighter and smaller and drips a single cup of coffee into a mug it’s placed on.
“Phin is super simple and can make a pretty strong cup of coffee once you get the grind down,” which is medium to medium fine, they said.
Another said they used Snow Peak’s pour-over set, which is ideal for backpacking due to its size.
“It folds down so small and
compact,” they said.
For beans, many recommended their favorite local roast because any beans would work with these products. Kuju Coffee also sells single-serve 100 percent arabica pour-overs online if you’re needing some inspiration.
For a more instant option, Trader Joe’s instant coffee is my go-to. It’s nice and bold but smooth enough to drink black, and Hills Bros. offers tasty instant cappuccinos for a good sugar rush.
Some of my friends enjoy Alpine Start Coffee, which prides itself on “instant coffee that actually tastes good,” alongside hot chocolate options.
I have a friend who makes a “mountain mocha”—instant coffee with instant hot chocolate. Don’t tell me that wouldn’t be an instant favorite.
So grab your favorite Nalgene, thermos, or unbreakable mug, and start your day off on that trail, ski slope, or bike track right.
PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHN-PAUL DECOITE
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MOLLY PARKER
BY LIBBEY HANSON
Morro Bay has ample seafood spots cuddled up next to the water and tables with a view of the estuary and bay. But one spot gives you a little something extra.
bites Bay
BY CAMILLIA LANHAM
On a winter day, the sun heats up the patio as three otters lounge, hunt, and play. One hangs out on his back, beating its future meal
with a rock, echoing between guitar strums and names called over a speaker. The other two dive and wriggle between boats as I wait for calamari.
Tognazzini’s Dockside Too Fish Market sits right behind the original Dockside, on the end of the Embarcadero between the old power plant stacks and Morro Rock, next to the T-pier. Its patio is usually full when I stop in after a little day trip up Highway 1, a line out the door of the fish market, a musician singing away en plein air, and pups lounging beneath tables as waves lap up against sailboats.
The bay sways just a few feet away, and if you’re lucky, you can snag a seat right along the edge, two ropes the only barrier between you and the activity along the water with an unobstructed view of all Morro Bay has to offer.
That’s what makes this place special. It puts you right there with nothing between you and the open.
The family owned and operated fish market receives and processes seafood directly from the boat— similar to Giovanni’s Fish Market and Galley, which also has al fresco dining—and offers up casual outdoor eating, takeout options, DOCKSIDE continued page 16
PHOTOS BY CAMILLIA LANHAM
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DOCKSIDE from page
and fresh seafood you can take home right from the refrigerated glass display case full of the day’s catches. Open since 2009, Dockside Too has a bevy of seafood options: fresh, fried, in a tortilla, on a
kabob, in a sandwich. I’m a sucker for deep-fried calamari, especially if it comes with tentacles; deep fried clams; fish tacos; and ahi. It’s all good. And, as an added bonus, you can snag a draft beer or a glass of wine.
In the heart of charming Old Town Orcutt, and winner of “Best Pizza” in Northern Santa Barbara County six years in a row, Pizzeria Bello Forno is a local favorite and known for much more than creative and exceptional pizzas!
Enjoy house-made appetizers, salads, pastas, desserts, plus local and imported wine and beer.
Located in the quaint Village of Arroyo Grande, Branch Street Deli and Pizzeria features a revamped menu and fresh remodel. Dine in one of the most beautiful al fresco patios on the Central Coast, and enjoy an array of sandwiches, salads, wood-fired pizzas and more, plus local and imported wine and beer. Live, “easy listening” music on the weekends.
Camp cocktails
Nothing goes better with a campfi re than a cocktail. Especially if it’s in an insulated cup that prevents your fi ngers from freezing while you hold it. With all of the canned cocktails out there at the moment, it’s easy to pick up a few and toss them in the cooler. But they are pricey.
Car camping? Whatever can fi t in the cooler or car. Backpacking? You’re either drinking it neat or mixing it with a powdered drink and water (Crystal Light, baby). Delicious.
For RV or car camping, here are a couple of go-tos that you can always count on:
Outdoor Kitchen
over the fire (I prefer the seasonal Spiced Cider from Trader Joe’s). Add it to the whiskey you already have in your mug, add lemon juice. Taste it. If it needs a little more sweetness, add some honey or simple syrup.
Gin and elderflower tonic
1 1/2 to 2 ounces gin
4 to 5 ounces elderflower tonic 1/2 ounce lemon or lime juice
The Finnish Long Drink is a fan favorite. You can snag citrus, cranberry, and peach fl avors at places like Albertsons/Vons and Smart & Final. Ringing in at 5 percent alcohol, a six-pack will cost you about $15. Or you can grab a bottle of Tito’s Vodka for about $20 and make more than six drinks—the math is up to you.
I’m a fan of both. However, I’m almost always going to choose the bottle over the cans. And if you’re like me, you’re always looking for simplicity and the right kind of mixer to make that trip into the wilderness extra relaxing.
BY
Of course, what you buy depends on the kind of camping you’re doing. RVing it? You’ve got more options.
Moscow mule
1 1/2 to 2 ounces vodka
3/4 ounce lime juice
4 ounces ginger beer
No need to bring a copper mug to this party. Add ice to your cup, vodka, lime juice, and fill the remainder with ginger beer. Stir and enjoy. If you’re feeling fancy, add a splash or more of pomegranate juice or syrup. You won’t regret it.
Spiked cider
1 1/2 to 2 ounces whiskey or bourbon
1/2 to 1 ounce lemon juice
4 ounces apple cider
Simple syrup or honey (optional)
This is something you can drink hot or iced. It’s a cozy beverage when warm and extra cozy on a chilly night. Heat the apple cider up either on your camp stove or
Floral and refreshing, this is a twist on the classic gin and tonic. I prefer mine with lemon juice, but lime is always an option. Add the gin, elderflower tonic, and juice to ice, stir, and enjoy.
Jalapeño margarita
2 ounces tequila
1 ounce Cointreau or triple sec 3/4 ounce lime juice
1/2 ounce agave nectar or simple syrup
1/2 jalapeño, sliced
This is a fancy camp cocktail. For those of you who might have a camper or RV and a little extra space. A salt or Tajin rim is optional for this one, but the jalapeños aren’t. Add ice to your cup, all the ingredients and give it a little mix.
CAMILLIA LANHAM
PHOTO BY CAMILLIA LANHAM
Home on the range
Archers of all ages find a wealth of resources and community at Central Coast Archery
BY ANDREA ROOKS
“Lift your chin.”
I did, just a little, before releasing the string. It made a difference, enough that I smiled and quickly nocked another arrow. It was my last class at Central Coast Archery, and I was hooked. After my final arrow, I asked instructor Keira Brooks how to keep archery in my life. We walked off the range and chatted in the adjacent shop. Now that the fourweek beginning archery class was over, she said, my best bet was to rent a bow and arrows for an hour at a time. Do that a couple of times and see if I still wanted to make archery mine.
That was in September 2024. In late October, I got my own beautiful maple wood Galaxy Sage recurve bow, half a dozen arrows, and a quiver—and I’ve been returning to the range regularly ever since.
“We love new archers,” said Brooks, a second-year Cuesta College student who’s been working at
Central Coast Archery since 2020. “I love it when people come into my classes, especially in the adult class … and they’re like, ‘We have no idea; we’ve never done it before.’
“It’s my favorite to be the one to give them the experience because I loved it when I got to do that, and I hope other people like it too.”
As a newbie, the draw of archery is still fresh and grows every time I shoot. It’s mysterious on some levels—why in middle age am I now pursuing this hobby? Yet it makes sense: It’s physically and mentally challenging. It’s rewarding. It’s easy to get into.
And it’s not just me. On the indoor range in San Luis Obispo, it’s natural to chat with fellow archers. When the range is “hot,” we line up, focus on our stance before nocking, aiming, drawing, releasing, following through. Depending on where the arrows hit, we groan or cheer a little, compliment each other’s good
shots, and do it again until we’re out of arrows.
One of us then calls, “range is clear,” and as we retrieve our arrows from the targets 17 yards away, we inevitably strike up a conversation. We’re smiling, even as we’re thinking about what went right or wrong. “Just one more round, just one more.” We look at the clock as we return to the line, hoping our hour isn’t up.
“Addicted.” “Hooked.” “Passionate,” we say, trying to articulate our enthusiasm.
For the past decade, Central Coast Archery has been drawing archers to its indoor range and pro shop, tucked in a small shopping center between the Toyota and Honda dealerships on Los Osos Valley Road. Its owners—Scott Wilson and his son Joel—and their employees greet whoever walks in with a smile, calling most by their first name.
“We love to connect with
people,” Scott said. “A lot of our customers feel like family.”
Men, women. Young, old. Hunters, recreational shooters. Seasoned competitors and beginners alike all find not only a sense of accomplishment but community here.
“We have grandparents that bring in their grandkids to come and shoot and they both shoot. There’s college kids, there’s the hunter. We can get them all in the same hour,” Joel said with a laugh. “Even our marketing stuff—I’m always trying to figure out who’s our customer.
“It’s kind of everybody.”
‘We have to do it all’
This hub for Central Coast archers celebrated its 10th anniversary in October. About two decades before that, Scott had established and run the archery section of his family’s EC Loomis and Sons feed store in
PHOTO COURTESY OF BELLA OTTER
In 2023, Bella Otter, who shoots a compound bow, was ranked No. 2 on the United States Archery Team in the women’s under-21 division.
Arroyo Grande—after a customer introduced him to archery around 1990. “I was hooked immediately, after just a couple arrows.”
He continued selling bows, arrows, and gear when Farm Supply bought the feed store.
“We brought archery from our store to Farm Supply. We had a lot of customers—it was really starting to go at that point,” Scott said. “Both Joel and I worked for them, and at one point, we just decided to do our own thing.”
With input from the family, they opted for this spot near the dealerships, with more visibility than the cheaper-rent industrial areas where many archery ranges end up, Scott explained.
“We felt like we’d take a chance and spend more and have a better location, and it’s really paid off,” he said.
The shop’s aesthetic is lighter and more inviting than one might expect of a niche sporting goods pro shop, and that’s by design. Joel explained that they wanted big windows in the wall they installed between the range and the store, and both spaces are illuminated by bright lights and floor-toceiling exterior windows facing the parking lot.
“We wanted it to be like a coffeeshop feel almost—cool art, inviting, somewhere people would want to hang out,” he said.
They also recognized that the shop couldn’t be just a hunting store.
“It had to be more than that. The community is very outdoor based—a lot of young families, soccer moms, that kind of thing,” he said. “Even budget-wise we
couldn’t just last on hunting gear; we have to do it all.”
By “all,” Joel and Scott mean not just the retail side—including colorful kid-size bows, classic-looking recurves, compounds that look like Batman tech—but their workbenches for repairs, a regular rotation of classes and outdoor events, and their expertise.
“I can see that it would be kind of intimidating for most people to come here and do this,” Scott said. “I just want them to know that we never just hand somebody a bow and say, ‘Figure it out.’”
They’ll equip new archers with a bow and arrows and basic instructions and pointers.
“We make sure they’re going to have a good time in there. We want you to have a good experience here,” he said, “and with the sport.”
More fun
On a Thursday in early January, Atascadero resident Christie Carroll came into the shop for a minor repair and chatted easily as Scott worked on her compound bow.
“These guys are definitely awesome and helpful. And what a cool and unique addition to SLO,” she said.
“You’re energy’s always good,” she told Scott, “anytime we come in here.”
Carroll’s been shooting her bow for the past year
after a friend introduced her to archery several years ago. She and her husband already knew they liked target sports.
“We like to shoot guns, and you can’t really do that everywhere,” Carroll said.
With a few acres of property in North SLO County, they realized archery would be a fun sport to do at home.
“The problem with that, though, is that I’ll lose arrows and I’ll have to go hiking to find them,” she said.
Then she bought her husband a bow for his birthday so they could shoot together, “because then it’s always more fun.”
When she and her husband shoot together, they tend to be more competitive with themselves.
“I don’t know if we’re really competitive with each other necessarily, but maybe a little—if my shot’s better, I’m definitely going to point it out,” she said with a laugh.
When asked what sport archery is most similar to, she thought for just a second.
“Aside from something that’s obvious like shooting guns or something like that that requires a target and a good eye, I think maybe disc golf,” Carroll said.
“Golf in general,” Scott chimed in.
“Absolutely.”
“Archery’s way more fun,” Scott said.
On an early December day in the shop, Joel compared archery to surfing: “It’s this core group that’s very into their thing, and they’re willing to get up early and go out late. The hunting side of it feels like that. It’s its own niche thing.”
Joel and Scott hunt regularly and both have competed in the past. Joel said that since parenthood, his time’s more limited—though his 2-year-old has already picked up his first bow.
“I kind of have to pick and choose what I do. I like hunting, bringing back meat for my family, the adventure of it, the accomplishment of it,” he said, noting that he practices regularly, even without a hunt planned. “Even if I am competing, it’s always for hunting, that’s always the end goal.”
Joel said bowhunting stands alone, especially with the effort it takes to get as close as 40 yards to make the shot.
“You have to place an arrow at the right spot at the right time. It feels impossible a lot of the time,” he said.
“It’s not something to be taken lightly—you’re taking a life to feed your family, so you want to be as perfect as you can be as far as technique and how you execute the shot,” he added, likening making that shot to the shock of a car wreck. “You’re trying to think back on it, there’s so much adrenaline and so much intense emotion going on that you almost kind of shut down a little bit.”
Process over outcome
When it comes to competitive archery, the sport shares some
ARCHERY continued page 22
PHOTO BY JAYSON MELLOM
Joel Wilson, an avid hunter, is co-owner of Central Coast Archery.
Keira Brooks teaches classes for all ages at Central Coast Archery.
PHOTO BY JAYSON MELLOM
Take aim
Central Coast Archery is located at 12334 Los Osos Valley Road, San Luis Obispo. For information about classes, gear, store hours, or to book a lane, visit centralcoastarchery.com or call (805) 439-1570.
similarities with gymnastics— there’s a routine and the athletes are aiming for the highest score— and while archers also compete individually, some of the bigger archery tournaments hold team events, said Bella Otter.
The Cal Poly senior and Atascadero native got her first bow for Christmas when she was 12 and has been at Central Coast Archery,
as a student and now a coach, ever since. She started competing at 13 and won her first national championship in 2020.
The intensity of competition has taught her to “take refuge” in her process with each shot.
“It’s about really being able to know what to tell myself, knowing what to think about, knowing what to visualize,” she said.
Otter noted that many pros
compare the mental game of archery to that of tennis and golf.
“A huge part for me is the unending emphasis on process over outcome,” she said. “I can only control giving myself the best opportunity to win, and that only comes from executing my process well.”
Both Otter and fellow Central Coast Archery employee Chris Garcia said that tournaments bring together people who compete to win but also uplift each other.
“You’re standing next to all your competitors. You’re seeing all the guys you’re trying to beat right next to you,” Garcia said.
“And at the end, whoever won, you’ve still got a smile on your face even if you lost the match.”
The welcome he received at his first tournaments made him want to return again and again.
“You realize this is more of a community—we’re all competing, but it’s more of a community coming together to help everybody enjoy the sport,” he said.
Getting into archery more than a decade ago drove Garcia to push himself out of his comfort zone, beyond the difficulty of honing his focus and process when shooting on his own.
“You add a tournament pressure situation and then things go numb. You don’t feel your body the way you normally would when you’re just practicing,” Garcia said. “You might have to scream at yourself in your head to get you to go to that next step to finish that shot correctly just so you can score as well as you know you can.
“Now I’m diagnosing myself the same way I would diagnose my shooting—what do I do, how do I react to being under that pressure?” he said. “Then trying to figure out how to calm your heart rate, how to deal with your muscles tensing because of all the adrenaline … and trying to get that out so you can make a shot.”
ARCHERY from page 21
ARCHERY continued page 24
PHOTO COURTESY OF SCOTT WILSON
PHOTO BY ANDREA ROOKS
Rec shooters, hunters, and competitive archers can draw from Central Coast Archery owner Scott Wilson’s more than 30 years of expertise.
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from page 22
For Otter, the hunger to improve—and earn a red, white, and blue jersey—motivated her to compete at higher levels.
“I kept seeing these people at those tournaments with USA jerseys on, and I was like how do you get that?” she said. “Especially because they were compound shooters like myself, and compound archery isn’t in the Olympics … but they have USA jerseys, so what’s the deal?” She was around 18 when she first competed in the national circuit that would secure her a spot on the United States Archery Team and the coveted jersey. In 2022, Otter began competing professionally and earned the No. 2 ranking in the under-21 category. She’s since stepped into the professional women’s category and last year was ranked No. 10. Her goal this year: to get into the top eight.
Otter’s spot on the team led her to compete alongside and against some of the women she’d looked up to for years. In 2022, she was invited to be one of four women
representing the U.S. in Paris for stage 3 of the World Cup—basically the Olympic-level tournament for compound shooters. After Paris, she was among the four women invited to compete in Colombia for stage 4 of the World Cup. In her second elimination match, she faced Sara Lopez—“one of the most dominant women in compound
archery in the world,” she said. Lopez was the first pro Otter had ever heard of, back when she was in the Junior Olympic Archery Development program at Central Coast Archery. “So to hear her name at 13 and be like, … ‘You can be a pro? I want to be a pro,’” she said. “And to actually be competing against her in her home country,
a head-to-head match, was such a surreal experience.
“She, being the world champion that she is, she won,” Otter said with a laugh. “But I felt like in my own heart of hearts, this is such a win.” In 2022, the first year Garcia competed barebow—a recurve without added sights and stabilizers, which also isn’t in the
“We
PHOTO BY JAYSON MELLOM
Chris Garcia gives a private lesson to Qui Vong of Santa Maria.
Olympics—he went to tournaments that contribute to national rankings, “just to find out where I was in the nation score-wise.”
He did well at several tournaments and won the outdoor USA Archery national target shoot, which put him on the team and got him invited to the Pan American games in South America. But because barebow tournaments are self-funded, he said, “I had already spent all my money and effort to go to those tournaments … otherwise I would have gone.”
With this year’s indoor tournament season just beginning, both Garcia and Otter headed to the Lancaster Archery Classic in Pennsylvania, Jan. 23 to 26— the largest indoor tournament on the East Coast.
Pretty much everybody
Standing in the bright indoor lanes at Central Coast Archery, it’s hard not to feel something primal as I hold my bow. I remember to lift my chin and not let my shoulders cave in. The past hour of shooting has tired me out, but I draw one more arrow.
“It’s such an ancient sport. There’s something really satisfying about loading an arrow—even just on a recurve bow, just a simple stick and a string—and drawing it back and launching that arrow and figuring out how to make that hit what you’re aiming at,” Scott said. “I don’t know how to explain that.”
And with younger aspiring archers, many no doubt want to be the next Hawkeye or Merida or Katniss.
“My favorite is when I’ve had some kids come in to shoot and they just know shows like that or movies like that and they’ll try to replicate how they shoot in movies—and sometimes how they shoot in movies is not what I would teach,” said Central Coast Archery instructor Brooks. “I have to kind of dial that back and get creative.
in with that sort of role model—when they have that attitude, they’re always the more enthusiastic kids, which is really sweet.”
No matter the archer’s age, the sport is accessible, Otter said. “I’m teaching kids from 7 years old to 70-year-old adults. … I love making it work for pretty much everybody.”
And each archer has a different reason for returning to the range.
“Some people, it’s just like a therapy almost. They can come in and shoot arrows and they have to focus on that so they don’t think about the rest of their life,”
Joel said. “Some people like the technical side of it—there are so many steps involved to make it perfect, and they want to nail every single one of them and they’re not going to stop until they do.
“Everybody that comes in the door is here to have fun.”
Garcia said that most people who jump in are hooked from the first few arrows. “You can see it on their face. They always smile or they’re excited to grab that next arrow to shoot again.”
And who knows where it could lead.
“The process itself is really meditative, and there’s the sublime feeling of executing a perfect shot and that instant reward of actually seeing it hit the target where you would like. In that sense, I would say that it’s addicting,” Otter said.
“But I would say that more than any of that, what keeps me coming back to it and keeps me as engaged as I am is all the people that I’ve met, and all the community I’ve been able to find in it.
“But it’s very cute when they come
“That ultimately for me is … the foundation of it all. Obviously that started at Central Coast Archery.”
PHOTO BY JAYSON MELLOM
Embrace the flow
Operation Surf emphasizes wellness in surfing and
the curative power of giving back
BY BULBUL RAJAGOPAL
The waters of Avila Beach became former professional surfer Van Curaza’s arena to learn and play 50 years ago.
After leading an adrenalinefueled and often dangerous life, Curaza turned to the ocean again. But this time, to heal and give back.
“My own recovery through addiction was the start of it, because I realized that being of service and helping others was part of my own recovery,” he said. “Changing my mindset on what I need to do for me turned into, ‘What do I need to do for you?’ which gave me a sense of purpose and value to get out of self.”
Curaza wanted to serve the military population, especially combat veterans who had witnessed the horrors of war. In 2007, he met a group of vets who were recovering at rehabilitation facility Center for the Intrepid in San Antonio, Texas. He took them surfing, deepened his bond with them, and realized that the sport was helping them just as it helped him. In 2009, he created Operation Surf—a nonprofit that helps military and veterans achieve wellness through curriculum-based programs and peer-to-peer support.
The longest program offered by Operation Surf spans three months. Called OS3 and kicking off in Avila Beach, the sessions are for active duty, active reservists, and honorably discharged veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces. It’s free of cost thanks to financial and in-kind donations from sponsors and wellwishers.
“They learn not only the basics of beginning surfing [but also] get to learn forecasting, tides, ocean conditions, ocean safety, safety period, giving back to others,” Curaza said. “Then, they are on a surfboard and [in] a wet suit at the end of it.”
There are two weeklong programs, too, with one meant for special operation forces and their spouses, and the other for the same group eligible for OS3 along with those with service-connected injuries and people who served in combat deployments and post-9/11. One of the most significant aims of Operation Surf is to build a community of like-minded people. Past participants, Curaza said, often come back and help new people.
“It’s about holding yourself accountable and being accountable
OPERATION SURF continued page 30
COURTESY PHOTO BY ROGER SMITH
to other people, along with learning something new that is out of Mother Nature that is pushing you, testing you,” he said.
One such former student surfer is Operation Surf Program Manager John Hallett.
The medically retired Army captain found the surfing wellness group through a friend who did the sixmonth program in SLO County. Years after serving as a combat veteran in Iraq and Afghanistan, Hallett moved from Texas to the Central Coast and took part in both OS3 and the weeklong surfing course.
Surfing, Hallett said, is one of the hardest sports to learn.
“It certainly isn’t something you can pick up overnight,” he said. “Some people can probably pick it up really quick, and when I say quick, like a year. Other people take many years. I’ve gone eight or nine years now, and I still feel like I’m beginner to intermediate level.”
The challenge lies in not only discipling oneself to the physicality
of the sport but also in going with the flow—literally.
“The ocean is very powerful, and it can be very humbling,” Hallett said. “There are subtle differences that the ocean throws at you at any given moment. One day it’s nice and peaceful. You come back six hours later, and it’s a whole different animal out there.”
Hallett went from participant to alumnus to full-time veteran manager by 2020. His role as program manager lets him work closely in the six-month program, and he connects with new and old Operation Surf members on Monthly Surf Days.
Every second Saturday of the month, Operation Surf hosts a
meetup that’s open to both veterans and the public. The 8 a.m. meeting takes place at different locations. The exact venue is announced a week prior through email.
“Our program doesn’t only just help our veterans, it helps the people that are participating and volunteering in our program also,” Curaza said. “When you’re helping
COURTESY PHOTOS BY ROGER SMITH
others to overcome and be better. It affects you, too.”
Is there a favorite beach for Operation Surf? The answer changes from surfer to surfer depending on where they enjoyed the waves the best, according to Curaza.
Join the operation
Usually, participants start at Avila Beach to familiarize themselves with ocean conditions. And a public access program for the Hollister Ranch was a gift to Operation Surf. “We’ve been able to bring our warriors to surf to Hollister Ranch, which is private and very serene,” Curaza said.
Visit operationsurf.org/programs/ monthly-surf-day to join the email list. To participate in programs or sign up for volunteer opportunities, email Operation Surf at info@operationsurf. org. Donations can also be made to the group on operationsurf.org.
Stress Disorder, conducted a study on Operation Surf’s programs. According to the group’s website, his research showed that 36 percent of participants showed a decrease in PTSD symptoms, 47 percent of them displayed lower depression levels, and 68 percent showed an increase in self-efficiency. Crawford’s complete quantitative study is available on the Operation Surf website.
Playing Outdoors Helps Children Grow Healthy and Strong
Playing outdoors is important to the healthy growth and development of children. Research shows that children who play outside regularly are healthier and stronger.
Taking play outside helps children connect with the natural world. It also improves coordination, encourages active imaginations and can help reverse childhood obesity rates.
Starting a child’s appreciation of nature can begin early, with walks in a stroller. As the child grows, visit playgrounds and parks, or spend time exploring the backyard.
Driven by the power of results, Curaza and his team also incorporated scientific research into the wellness of surfing.
Author Dr. Russell Crawford, who wrote The Impact of Ocean Therapy on Veterans with Posttraumatic
“If you come in to surfing with a high expectation that you’re going to do this and that you’re most likely going to set yourself up for failure, because you’re most likely not going to achieve what your expectation is,” Curaza said. “What we do is we set people up for small, attainable goals. This is why a professional instructor and mentor is so important.”
Unstructured outdoor play can be especially beneficial because it encourages social skills, too. Children create games, take turns, make decisions together and learn about sharing as part of unstructured play.
David Ikola, M.D. Shane Rostermundt, D.O. Joseph Nunez, M.D. Dr. Michele Kielty, D.O.
Geronna Leonards, N.P.
Lynn Peltier, C.P.N.P. Jessica Prather, C.N.P.
The push for trees
BY SAMANTHA
Trees. A focal point for any ecosystem, an important component to a community, and the prime player in combating climate change.
“Trees are really good at sequestering carbon, so they take carbon from the atmosphere and hold it in their leaves and in their bark and especially in their roots,”
Brian Metcalf from the Rotary Club of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa said. “You also don’t get the benefi t of insects and birds and the entire food web and pollinators when there are no trees around.”
The Rotary Club of San Luis Obispo de Tolosa is committed to planting 1,000 trees in SLO County to help improve quality of life.
The group has a focus on planting California live oak trees, native to the Central Coast, which
Metcalf said have a lifespan of up to 600 years and will hold onto carbon until they die. Adding these to a community will help provide shade, a cooling effect, and a better aesthetic.
“We actually collect our own acorns from around town and stratify them and germinate them, and then we plant them when they’re only like 3 or 4 inches tall,” he said.
In fact, Metcalf said California live oak does more than just sequester carbon—its acorns have been used as a food source for local indigenous cultures for thousands of years.
“We’ve gotten away from it, and I think it’s probably because it’s just a lot of processing,” he said.
“But it’s a full-on food source, and the culture survived on it
forever, for 15,000 years. So it’s a super important tree in not only California but lots of places.”
The Rotary Club isn’t the only organization in SLO County focused on increasing the number of trees in the community.
Grant Helete, program coordinator of the Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo (ECOSLO) said they’re committed to planting 10,000 trees in the county through volunteer support.
“They bring a lot of benefi ts to a community like San Luis Obispo. There’s core benefi ts like carbon sequestration, but trees have other benefi ts,” he said. “They act like insulators, so they reduce a lot of urban noise, which is great for noise pollution. They help with wildlife, especially in urban communities.”
With communities experiencing record-breaking temperatures year after year, Helete said one of the most important things trees provide is a cooling effect on urban areas.
“It gets hot here in the summer, and it’s only getting hotter,” he said. “Urban trees can go a long way to breaking up a lot of hard pavement environments and reducing what’s called the heat island effect. That’s when you have a lot of paved area that just really radiates the heat.
Trees suck in that heat and hold it, so it can go a long way with reducing temperatures and reducing energy usage.”
Helete said ECOSLO partnered with the Cal Poly Urban Forest Ecosystems Institute (UFEI) to help address the increasing need
COURTESY PHOTOS BY GRANT HELETE
HERRERA
for improved management of urban forests in California.
The institute is taking the push to plant trees further by collaborating with Cal Fire to help boost the state’s tree canopy by 10 percent by 2035.
Cal Poly biology sciences professor Jenn Yost said this will help some of the most disadvantaged communities in the state, which experience the largest burden of climate change and heat-related problems.
“Trees provide people with all kinds of epic ecosystem services,” she said. “They do stormwater mitigation, they protect cities from flooding and massive events like that, they
provide clean air, they provide habitats for animals.”
Using AI remote sensing, UFEI can pinpoint every tree in every California city to help locate the areas that need more tree canopy through the help of Cal Poly economics, computer science, geography, biology, environmental management, and forestry students.
UFEI also has tools available to the public that explain what trees are school friendly, talk about the trees that are good for planting in your yard, and categorize every public tree that has been inventoried in California, Yost said.
To learn more about California trees, visit ufei.calpoly.edu.
TREES from page 32
Feature Safety third!
The SLO Little 500 bike race blends bicycles, beer, bravado, and maybe a little brainlessness
BY GLEN STARKEY
Since 2010, a few times a year at an undisclosed location and a time and date so secret you must check social media to discover it, a gathering of rogue, fun-loving bicyclists participate in an underground, unsanctioned, and arguably illegal bike race known as the SLO Little 500.
Once there, each team of four riders shares the same 700cc, single speed, dropped-handlebars bicycle quipped with only a coaster brake, each team member riding a maximum of two laps before they’re required to pass the bike to a different teammate. The race is timed, between 20 to 30 minutes, and whichever team completes the most laps in the allotted time celebrates under a shower of beer spray before having to haul off a monstrosity of a
trophy and return it to the next race with something added to it.
Oh, and the looping dirt track has a “beer shortcut,” where a racer can stop, chug a beer, and bypass part of the loop. Did I mention all racers have to chug a beer when the race begins and then run to a pile of the various teams’ bikes and extracting their own before taking off down the track? Teams conjure up themes and costumes, making the event a real spectacle.
Genesis
The race can trace its origins to two dudes, Tim and Kyle (we’re using fi rst names only to protect the guilty), who both used to work at Cambria Bicycle Outfitters.
“You know the movie Breaking Away?” Tim asked over a nonalcoholic
beer (Thanks, dry January!). “That’s where this comes from.”
A coming-of-age comedy, Breaking Away (1979) starred Dennis Christopher, Dennis Quaid, Daniel Stern, and Jackie Earle Haley as the “cutters,” four working-class Bloomington teenagers who are treated poorly by the rich college kids attending Indiana University. After a dustup between some frat boys and the cutters (so named for stonecutters at the nearby rock quarry that supplied much of the stone for the university), the school president invites the cutters to field a local team to compete in the university’s annual Little 500 race. It’s a real underdog story.
“I thought, ‘Man, that seems like it’d be fun to do a relay race, but I don’t want it to be a competitive thing,’” Tim recalled. “‘In fact, I wish there could be a way to punish people for being too fast.’ Kyle and I started brainstorming, and we were like, ‘What if there’s a beer shortcut?’ If you drank more than the fast guys, you could [skip part of the loop].”
According to Tim, Kyle—who’s since moved out of town—knew a perfect place “up on the hill.”
“We try not to put the location, time, and date all in one place, but it’s on Instagram,” Tim said, “so it’s pretty public now. People know that it happens.”
That’s part of the fun. Seek and ye shall fi nd the info for the upcoming race, readers!
Equipment check
To stay true to the film and make their race as fair as possible, Tim and Kyle decided all participants must ride the same kind of bike that was used in Breaking Away, but with all the new technology and materials— even 15 years ago when the race started, those kinds of heavy, steelframed one-speeds with coaster brakes no longer existed.
“Kyle said, ‘We work in a bike shop. We can just make ’em,’” Tim recalled. “So we just made a bunch of bikes, and they were terrible. That’s the other thing. The bikes are always
SLO LITTLE 500
COURTESY PHOTO BY MYLES LUCAS
terrible. They’re always falling apart. They’d make it through the race, and then we’d take them back, have a bike build party, and fix them.”
The SLO Little 500 maintains anywhere between seven and 10 bikes that they loan out, but at any given time there’re also about five to seven bikes “out in the world,” Tim added, “so there are teams that have their own bikes.”
No one will ever know
Despite its dubious legality, the race has endured for years.
“There’s such a great local bike culture,” Tim explained. “I like to say this race exists because we stand on the shoulder of giants like the Bike Happening [a bike flashmob that forms on Thursdays in downtown SLO after the farmers market], which was kind of the grandfather bike event in town. I don’t think I would have said, ‘Yes, we can totally do this,’ if it wasn’t for the bike culture in town. There’s also a rebellious element of the bike world that I’m sure we drew upon.”
The race takes a lot of pride in its ethos.
“There’s a really strong ‘leave no trace, take care of everybody, respectful vibe’ about the race,” Tim said. “We’ve heard stories about city officials going up after the race and being like, ‘Oh, this is cleaner than it normally is.’ Sometimes [during cleanup] it’s like we’re [a search party] walking a grid in a field looking for pieces of a downed plane, and I’m like, ‘Hey guys, there was probably some garbage up here before we got here.’”
The danger zone
So let’s get this straight: a bunch of beer-buzzed cyclists ride in a loop on a dirt track, passing each other, taking a beer shortcut, switching off the bike from one rider to another … what could go wrong, right? Any injuries?
“Nothing that we were like, ‘Oh, that’s really scary.’ There’ve been some collisions, a broken thumb, a broken toe. I don’t think there’s ever been any stitches-worthy thing. Basically, people are bumped and scraped up. The blood rarely reaches the sock,” Tim joked. “We always tell people safety third, but we do think about safety. It’s in the top five!”
Rule 1, have fun. Rule 2, do whatever you’re doing to have fun. Rule 3, be safe. So, what about four and five?
“There’s no four and five,” Tim
joked. “There’s a little concrete geology marker up there, and I remember us thinking, ‘That looks dangerous,’ and putting a cone on it. I look back on that and I go, that is the least of our problems. There’s a tree and a bench. People are throwing sticks in people’s spokes. We’re constantly saying, ‘You can have this much fun, but not too much fun.’
“There, beer shortcut guys say, ‘It’s hinder, not harm,’” Tim continued. “You can jostle people around, but you can’t try to knock them off their bike or break anything. There was a guy who was throwing beer cans—empty beer cars—but overhand, you know? And I was like, ‘Hey, man. Just throw them underhand.’ And he said, ‘I’m not going to hurt
anybody.’ And I was like, ‘It looks … it feels … just don’t.’”
Does this beer shortcut actually save time?
“It’s slower nine times out of 10,” Tim admitted. “I think it’s hard to go through the beer shortcut and drink the beer quickly, but the younger guys, they can do it. They’re like … [pantomimes shotgunning a beer can].
“One year we went up there and there was mustard weed growing overhead, so we pushed down the mustard weed into a spiral [maze], and if you didn’t take the beer shortcut, we made people go into the spiral, which was so punishing that people were like, ‘I can’t drink any more beer, but I really don’t want to go in there.’ It was awesome. People were just disappearing into the grass.”
Organization? Nah
Tim describes the entire event as very organic. The organization is, let’s say, loose.
“People are like, ‘What’s the theme this time?’ And I’m like, ‘I dunno. Come have fun?’ Actually, costumes were never part of the original scheme,” he said. “We decided to do the [race], and the very first time people showed up in costumes. We were like, ‘Oh, OK!’” They’ve had live music at the event. Someone sewed up a flag once with the “Safety Third” motto, but they spelled safety wrong, “so now our favorite thing is the ‘safty third’
SLO LITTLE 500 continued page 40
SLO LITTLE 500 from page 36
COURTESY PHOTO BY MYLES LUCAS
COURTESY PHOTO BY MYLES LUCAS
U M M E R A M P S , O T D O E D U C A T I O N , N A T U R E A T R E T A , E D D I N G E V N T S & W R K S O P S ,
C A M P O C E A N P I N E S C A M P O C E A N O P I N E S P I w w w . c a m p o c e a n p i n e s . o r g w . c a m p o a n p i n e s . o r g
flag,” Tim laughed.
Why does Tim think people—both the racers and spectators—keep coming back for more?
“It’s just another funky little thing in SLO. I think people look at San Luis Obispo and go, ‘It’s a nice little town, but there’s not much happening here.’ But there are pockets of funkiness that people are trying to keep alive. The race is one of them but there are others. Jason out at There Does Not Exist [taproom] does a bike rodeo once in a while,” he said.
After the bike happening, Central Coast Brewing used to have bike sumo contests. Despite a lot of complaints about SLO building too many bike lanes and catering to bicyclists too much, there’s unquestionably a strong bike culture here, and the SLO Little 500 is emblematic of that.
“I wish I knew why it works,” Tim pondered. “I don’t know. We just did it. That would be our message. Just do
something. Just do it and people will show up. We just did it, and people started showing up and having fun, and then we did it again.”
Get weird and don’t expect answers
It all feels a little illicit, a little dangerous without actually being dangerous, and it appeals to people who aren’t afraid to play.
“It’s a place that you come and be just a little outside of your normal self,” Tim explained. “It’s like dressing up for Halloween. It’s outside up the hill. You might get a little hurt but not too hurt. Even people organizing the event don’t know what’s going to happen at any given moment. My favorite thing to tell people who run up and ask me what’s happening next is, ‘I don’t know.’ ‘How much longer is the race going to go?’ ‘I don’t know. I’m not sure. Are you tired?’ Sometimes a random person will come up and ask, ‘Hey, when’s the next race going to be?’ ‘I Don’t know. When are you
free?’ ‘I’m free on this date.’ ‘Great, let me see if that works for everybody.’ It’s been planned that way before.”
This whole seat-of-thepants vibe has worked for 15 years. Someone suggested the race supply a first aid kit.
“No,” Tim said. “People need to be responsible for their own safety.”
Someone else suggested the race organizer supply a repair kit.
“So, the next race I brought up a broken crescent wrench I didn’t like and said, ‘Here’s your repair kit,’” Tim said with a laugh. It’s a college town, and in Breaking Away, the Town vs. Gown vibe was paramount. Do the college students participate?
“Yes! We welcome them,” Tim said. “The college kids are great. They’re great, and they’re generally super respectful.”
In one case, a team of four college kids damaged the bike they’d been loaned, so they went and bought a gift certificate from Foothill Cyclery as a gesture of apology.
“They said, ‘Thanks. That was the most fun we ever had. We’re going to come back again next time,’” Tim recalled.
Meet a racer
Willy is a current member of the Trash Turtles, always the slowest team in the race and frequent recipient of the DFL trophy (Dead ‘fill-in-theblank’ Last).
“I found out about the Little 500 through the big, green house I moved into about 11 years ago called the Establishment,” Willy said. “Early in my time living there, one of our 19
housemates rallied as many people as could be found around the house to walk up the hill for the event. I watched in amazement as dozens of strangely dressed adults with varying degrees of sobriety mounted strange bicycles and rode in circles as fast as they could. I was hooked. I’ve been a part of the Little 500 on and off for seven or eight years I’d guess.”
Willy wasn’t always on the slowest team.
“I participated in the race with a few teams over the years but most recently established the ‘Trash Turtles,’” Willy explained. “I wanted to form a team that went against the grain, that showed people how to not just participate in the race, but how to enjoy the race. We never rush—we’re along for the ride, and we understand that it’s about the journey, not the destination. You can find us lounging in the grass by the beer shortcut, soaking in the sunlight, mounting our beloved bicycle steed only when the moment feels right. Tired? Take a sit. Feeling uninspired? Parallel park that bike across the racetrack and chat with your neighbors! Bored of the route? Zigzag across the track at whatever pace suits you. Hell, go backwards!”
I guess the beer shortcut is right up the Turtles’ alley.
“Partaking in the beer shortcut is a personal decision for each Turtle, but in the end, why not take a break
PHOTO BY GLEN STARKEY
COURTESY PHOTO BY MYLES LUCAS
and enjoy a Tecate Light in the sunshine? And if it wasn’t already clear, a true Turtle would never shotgun a beer. It’s simply too ... rushed,” Willy said. “The Little 500 is one of those beautiful—and sometimes hard to come by— opportunities to get real weird, real creative, and put it on display for all to see. I see it kind of as a big participatory performance art piece. Every town should have one—or like, 20 of them.”
How the dinosaur went extinct
“You asked about injuries,” Tim said. “I asked some guys if they had any words of wisdom about the race that I should include? Dylan said, ‘Hot sauce is why dinosaurs are extinct.’”
Cryptic! It’s a kind of disgusting story, so read on at your own peril.
“One of our buddies went up there. He always dresses as a dinosaur,” Tim said. “My buddy Connor filled a cup with about this much beer and the rest was the hottest hot sauce he could find, and he told the winning team, ‘OK, you won, so you must drink this,’ but he meant for each person to take a sip, but dinosaur man drank the whole thing. He was on the floor, puking.”
That’s one version of the episode. Here’s another from Team Celery riders Sean and Craig (aka dinosaur man). First, you should know Team
Celery is the most hated team in SLO Little 500 history, according to Tim, because they win too often. Sean and Craig take slight umbrage at this notion.
“Everybody is trying to ride their bike and stay on it and drink beer, have fun, but we just happened to do it faster than everybody else,” Sean explained. “I’ve never approached this as anything other than to have a good time. That’s the whole point of the race: be silly and have fun.”
So what’s this about extinct dinosaurs? Craig used to dress in a dinosaur costume when he raced, so was he hurt?
“Emotionally hurt, definitely,”
Sean joked.
“My wife was pregnant with our first child, so seven years ago exactly Team Celery was in this particular race, and we won, and the post-race celebration was occurring,” Craig recalled.
Sean explained that somebody— presumably Connor—handed Craig a cup of beer and told him he had to drink, and drink he did, about two-thirds of it before passing it to Sean who finished it off, and then in sort of a delayed reaction, they both realized there was something off about the beer. It had been spiked with super-hot ghost pepper sauce.
“I experienced the most pain in my life,” Craig recalled. “The
SLO LITTLE 500 from page 40
SLO LITTLE 500 continued page 44
PHOTO BY GLEN STARKEY
COURTESY PHOTO BY MYLES LUCAS
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hot sauce did something terrible inside my stomach. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t throw up. I just was incapacitated.”
He had to be carried off the mountain, thrown in the back of Connor’s van on a mattress, where he finally ralphed and was rolling and writhing in his own hot saucelaced vomit.
“I don’t know if it was stomach acid or hot sauce, but it was burning my skin.”
He ended up being hosed off in
his underwear in the front yard of his house and then rubbing yogurt over his skin to stop the burning.
“I’m apologizing to my wife, smearing yogurt over my naked body,” Craig said with a laugh.
Was that his last race?
“Yeah,” Craig said sheepishly. “Those things have consequences.”
“So [the injury] it had nothing to do with the cycling itself,” Tim noted, “but afterward his wife said, ‘You can’t do that race anymore.’”
And that’s how the dinosaur went extinct.
SLO LITTLE 500 from page 42
COURTESY PHOTO BY MYLES LUCAS
Propane can ban
Starting in 2028, reusable propane cylinders will be California campers’ only option
BY CAMILLIA LANHAM
It can cost up to $65 for a jurisdiction to deal with one single-use propane cylinder that was disposed of improperly.
“These things have exploded. … They split open,” said Nate Pelzcar of the California Public Stewardship Council. “We saw these issues arising, and they’ve gotten nothing but worse.”
The cylinders he’s referring to are typically a forest green 1-pound metal canister, sold under brands like Coleman and Benzomatic. They fit and fuel camp stoves and gas lanterns and are meant to be used up and tossed. But most people don’t trash them correctly, Pelzcar said, which can be dangerous.
“It’s almost impossible to get all that gas out,” he said. “The proper way to get rid of those, as it always has been for products like this, … is to take those unwanted cylinders to those hazardous waste processing facilities.”
More than 4 million singleuse propane cans are purchased annually in California, according to the Stewardship Council, a nonprofit that works to write and pass legislation and ordinances to regulate toxic products and hold their manufacturers accountable.
Director of Administration Pelzcar said that it costs local governments millions of dollars annually to fish those cans out of the waste stream and properly deal with them.
That’s why the council worked with state Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) to get Senate Bill 1280 passed in 2024, banning the sale of single-use propane cylinders in the state. The governor signed it last year, and the ban goes into effect in 2028. But 2024 wasn’t the bill’s first attempt, and an outright ban wasn’t always the goal.
“It actually took three tries,” Laird said.
Former state Sen. Bob
Wieckowski (D-Castro Valley) was the first to introduce a propane ban bill, Laird said. But the governor vetoed it and requested that the Legislature work with the industry to craft an extended producer responsibility bill, where propane canister makers would be involved in helping get the cylinders out of the waste stream and crafting a recycling program in the state. But Laird said the industry resisted.
Pelzcar called the discussions “slow-rolling.”
“Obviously in an effort to maintain the status quo,” he said. “They simply weren’t interested.”
The biggest resistance, Pelzcar and Laird said, came from Worthington Enterprises, which distributes Coleman and Benzomatic one-time use propane cylinders as well as other brand names. With a leading manufacturer holding up the process, Laird said he re-introduced the original bill— an outright ban—with a three-year lead time built in to give the state time to build the infrastructure to support refillable 1-pound propane cylinders.
It’s the first bill of its kind in the U.S.
He did this for a couple of reasons. One-time use canisters aren’t disposed of properly. Campers stash them by dumpsters, people throw them in the trash or recycling, and it’s up to taxpayers to foot the cost of disposing of them properly. Yosemite National Park, Laird said, spends between $70,000 and $100,000 annually on the problem.
And they can be dangerous. They often still have gas inside when they’re thrown out. When trash trucks compact their loads, the cans—which are under pressure—can explode.
“We shouldn’t put it on cities or national or state parks to clean up the aftermath of these that are discarded,” Laird said. “It’s an issue on the Central Coast because of the number of beaches. … People just leave them or they discard them in trash cans.”
San Luis Obispo County spends between $18,000 and $24,000 per year on the issue, Integrated Waste Management Authority (IWMA) Executive
PROPANE TANK continued page
PHOTO BY CAMILLIA LANHAM
Casa Ramos Art Gallery is the Central Coast’s destination for contemporary fine art. Discover original oil paintings by John Ramos, surfboard furniture, ceramic sculptures and more.
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DRAIN DOCTORS PLUMBING
Director Peter Cron said.
Processing trash involves compacting it and bailing it together, Cron said. Although the IWMA has a process for sorting and removing the cylinders at its processing facility, staff doesn’t always catch them all.
Refuel Your Fun
cylinders and educate residents and local businesses about them. Cron said the California Product Stewardship Council helped with promotional work and getting places like The Mountain Air to commit to the refillable program.
Find out more about propane canisters and how to find and refill reusable ones at refuelyourfun.org.
The Mountain Air in San Luis Obispo and Miner’s Ace Hardware stores from Paso Robles to Nipomo carry Little Kamper brand 1-pound propane tanks that are part of a tank exchange program. You can purchase one and exchange it for a new one when it’s empty at the same store. They fit all standard appliances, such as camp stoves, grills, and heaters.
“When packed into a cube, they will ignite,” Cron said. “There are times when they ignite and they don’t cause a lot of trouble. … There are times where they ignite things inside the bail and cloud up the sensors and shut us down for an hour.”
It’s not uncommon for something like that to happen three or four times a year, he said.
The IWMA received a grant from CalRecycle to help the county distribute 350 refillable propane
Refillable canisters are more durable and sturdier than singleuse cylinders. They’re doublewalled and made to be refilled up to 100 times, Cron said, adding that people often have the misconception that the single-use canisters are refillable. They aren’t.
He encourages residents to take their used ones to a household hazardous waste collection site. Visit iwma.com to find one near you.
“I think it’s cool that California is the first state to do this,” Cron said. “We buy the most propane.”
BY LIBBEY HANSON
Iget it, skiing is an expensive sport. By the time you buy or rent gear and book accommodations, you still haven’t even paid for a day pass—which is typically no less than $100 per person.
I ran into a fi nancial dilemma during ski season in Utah. Wanting to ski at least twice a week, a season pass was the only option,
but those started at $800, and I could only ski at that one resort. If my friends didn’t have that same season pass, I’d be solo, which defeats one of the primary purposes of skiing for me.
Three years ago, we all signed up for the Ikon Pass—one pass that gets you into more than 50 ski resorts throughout the world at a similar price to a season pass at a single
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resort. With six locations right in our state, it was a no-brainer. California has four locations on the Ikon Pass: Palisades Tahoe, Mammoth Mountain, Big Bear Mountain Resort, and June Mountain. They all offer unlimited days at each resort, except on blackout dates that are usually during the holiday season, according to Ikon’s website.
Darryl Buck is the trip officer of SLO Skiers Inc. and said that 80 percent of the club members have an Ikon Pass, and the club regularly plans trips together, like its upcoming trip to Steamboat Ski Resort in February and Solitude Mountain Resort in March.
“And when you buy it through your ski club, you get an additional discount. So, people should always
PHOTO COURTESY OF BIG BEAR MOUNTAIN RESORT
join a ski club,” he said.
As an avid skier with a trip to ski Ikon destinations in Japan close on the horizon, Buck said the Ikon is ideal.
“There’s no better deal out there by any stretch of the imagination,” he said. “You can ski to your heart’s content on those mountains.”
Big Bear Mountain Resort just became available on Ikon this 202425 ski season, and Advertising and PR Director Justin Kanton said the pass has brought skiers back to its smaller mountain because they can so easily ski with the pass.
“From a budget standpoint, they didn’t really have the flexibility to, you know, come over to the mountains here and then take a trip to Mammoth or vice versa. So we think it’s helped in terms of bringing some of those people back to us, either early season, when people are looking to get their legs underneath them,” he said, “or if they have kids, maybe put them in a lesson so that they’re a little bit more acclimated before they do take their big trips up to, you know, Utah, Colorado, Mammoth, Tahoe.”
The Ikon Pass is offered by
Denver-based Alterra Mountain Company, which curates family destinations using recreation, real-estate development, and retail, according to its website. Palisades Tahoe PR Manager Patrick Lacey said the additional
means of money helped the resort to improve its facilities and operations.
“Upgrading snowmaking, upgrading our food and beverage operations, as well as our baseto-base gondola that connects Palisades to Alpine, you know,
that probably would have never been possible if it wasn’t joining forces with Ikon as well as Alterra Mountain Company,” he said.
More skier access means more people on the mountain, and Lacey IKON PASS continued page 52
PHOTO COURTESY OF PALISADES TAHOE
GAIA’S GALLERY
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said Palisades Tahoe has seen an uptick in skiers and traffic, resulting in the resort installing a parking program where skiers register for parking the week prior or are encouraged to carpool.
“We’re not trying to increase traffic. We’re just trying to increase visits, so we are trying to change people’s behavior coming to the resort,” Lacey said. “We’ve definitely seen a huge difference between people carpooling, less traffic flowing in and out of the valley.”
When it comes to traffic, SLO Skiers’ Buck said that’s just a part of the deal.
“Of course, there’s traffic. That’s just the way it is,” Buck said. “It probably has contributed to lots of traffic on Fridays and lots of people showing up and skiing Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and lots of traffic leaving on Sunday. But that’s what they want. They want the mountains full. They’re very capable of handling more and more people.”
According to its website (ikonpass.com), the pass is no longer for sale for the 2024-25 ski season, but it typically goes back on sale in early spring.
IKON PASS from page 51
PHOTO COURTESY OF PALISADES TAHOE
To get your business listed here or to get more information about the Get Outside business directory email advertising@newtimesslo.com
A
Kayak Shack
10 State Park Rd. Morro Bay
805-772-8796 morrobaykayakrental.com
A Superior Crane
8355 Carmelita Ave. Atascadero
805-462-9727 superiorcrane.info
Ancient Owl Beer Garden & Bottle Shoppe
6090 El Camino Real Atascadero
805-523-2899
3197 Duncan Rd. San Luis Obispo 805-460-6042 ancientowlbeergarden.com Boomers
2250 N. Preisker Ln. Santa Maria
Business Directory
Arroyo Grande
Parks & Recreation
1221 Ash St. Arroyo Grande 805-473-5478 arroyogrande.org
Bello Forno
119 E. Clark Ave. Orcutt 805-623-7111 belloforno.com
Black Sheep Bar & Grill
1117 Chorro St. San Luis Obispo 805-544-7433 blacksheepslo.com
Boo Boo Records
856-281-4777 boomersparks.com/santamaria
Bricks & MiniFigs
863 Marsh St. San Luis Obispo
805-439-3788 bricksandminifigs.com/slo.ca
978 Monterey St. San Luis Obispo 805-541-0657 booboorecords.com
Branch Street Deli and Pizzeria
203 E. Branch St. Arroyo Grande 805-489-9099 branchstreetdeli.com
California Therapy That Works
1 244 Pine St. Paso Robles
805-423-4028 californiatherapythatworks.com
Cambria Bike
1239 Monterey St. San Luis Obispo 805-926-2207 cambriabike.com
Cambria
Garden Shed
2024 Main St. Cambria 805-927-7654 gardenshedcambria.com
Cambria
Vacation Rentals
784 Main St. Cambria 805-927-8200 cambriavacationrentals.com
3400 East Hwy. 246 Santa Ynez 805-686-2163 chumashcasino.com
City of Santa MariaUtilities Dept.
2065 E. Main St. Santa Maria 805-925-0951 cityofsantamaria.org
City of Santa Maria Utilities Dept. - Water Conservation
Community Health Centers / CHC
2050 S. Blosser Rd. Santa Maria
866-614-4636 communityhealthcenters.org
Downtown
Paso Robles
Main Street Association
835 12th St., Suite D Paso Robles
805-238-4103 pasoroblesdowntown.org
Drain Doctors
Plumbing
205 South St. San Luis Obispo 805-544-1214
draindoctorsplumbingslo.com
Ed’s Handyman
1287 Cayucos Dr. San Luis Obispo 805-541-0373 edshandymanca.com
Family Tree Service PO Box 492 Atascadero
Cambria Vacation Rentals
VACATION RENTAL
HOMES
2280 Sunset Dr. Los Osos 805-550-7379 carolyn-elliott.com
Casa Ramos Art Gallery
2065 E. Main St. Santa Maria 805-925-0951 cityofsantamaria.org
Clark Center Association
Flower Carriage
2255 S. Broadway #15 Santa Maria
805-922-0578 mscardel.com
FOXEN
Cambria’s only independent vacation rental company for over 30 years! 784 Main Street Suite A Cambria, CA 93428 (805) 927-8200 Call (800) 545-5079 for Information & a Free Brochure www.cambriavacationrentals.com
1034 Los Osos Valley Rd. Los Osos
805-215-5859 johnramos.com
Central Coast Kayaks
1879 Shell Beach Rd. Shell Beach
805-773-3500 centralcoastkayaks.com
487 Fair Oaks Ave. Arroyo Grande 805-489-4196 clarkcenter.org
Coastal Community Builders (CCB)
P.O. Box 13 Pismo Beach 805-556-3060 coastalcommunitybuilders.com
72 00 Foxen Canyon Rd. Santa Maria 805-937-4251
foxenvineyard.com
Gaia’s Gallery
750 Higuera St. San Luis Obispo 805-545-9566
uniqueselectionsca.com
To get your business listed here or to get more information about the Get Outside business directory email advertising@newtimesslo.com
Great American Melodrama
PO Box 1026
Oceano
805-489-2499
americanmelodrama.com
Halter Ranch
Vineyard
8910 Adelaida Rd. Paso Robles
805-226-9455
halterranch.com
KCBX
4100 Vachell Ln. San Luis Obispo
805-549-8855
kcbx.org
Klondike Pizza
PO Box 920
Arroyo Grande
805-348-3667
klondikepizza.com
Krobar Craft
Distillery
1701 Monterey St. (The Hub) San Luis Obispo
805-467-9463
krobardistillery.com
Lopez Lake
Marina & Store
6820 Lopez Dr. Arroyo Grande
805-489-1006
lopezlakemarina.com
Margaret Biggs
Fine Art
967 Osos St. San Luis Obispo
850-776-7119
margaretbiggs.com
Margarita Adventures
22719 El Camino Real Santa Margarita
805-438-3120
margarita-adventures.com
Business Directory
Melby’s Jewelers
1140 E. Clark Ave.
Santa Maria
805-925-1678
melbys.com
Mike’s Shoes
487 Madonna Rd. #3 San Luis Obispo
805-547-9593 mikesshoessanluisobispo.com
Moats Laser & Skin Care
525 E. Plaza Dr. Santa Maria
805-928-1000 moatslaser.com
Moondoggies Beach Club
837 Monterey St. San Luis Obispo
805-541-1995
781 Dolliver St Pismo Beach 805-773-1995 moondoggiesbeachclub.com
NatureTrack Foundation P.O. Box 953 Los Olivos 805-866-2047 naturetrack.org
Nunno Steel
3461 Dry Creek Rd. Paso Robles 805-238-6801 nunnosteel.com
O’Connor Pest Control
3905 State St. Fleet 7-196
Santa Barbara 866-331-3295 oconnorcentralcoast.com
Orcutt 76
100 E. Clark Ave. Santa Maria
805-937-5340 orcutt76.com
Pacific 805
640 S Frontage Rd. Suite F Nipomo
805-723-5050 pacific805.com
Patrick James
641 Higuera St. Ste 100 San Luis Obispo
805-549-9593 patrickjames.com
Pediatric Medical Group
1430 E. Main St. Santa Maria
805-922-3548 pmgsm.com
Point San Luis
Lighthouse
Avila Beach
805-540-5771 pointsanluislighthouse.org
Ragged Point Inn
19019 Hwy 1
Ragged Point
805-927-5652 raggedpointinn.com
Rancho Maria Golf Club
1950 Casmalia Rd. Santa Maria
805-937-20019 ranchomariagolf.com
Renaissance Festival
San Luis Obispo ccrenfaire.com
Richardson
Sotheby’s International Realty
711 Tank Farm Rd. San Luis Obispo
805-781-6040
richardsonsothebysrealty.com
Robbo Music
Morro Bay
805-801-9841 robbomusic.com
Santa Maria
Public Airport
520 Higuera St. San Luis Obispo
Shen Yun Performing Arts shenyunperformingarts.org
Sierra Club
Santa Lucia Chapter PO Box 15755
San Luis Obispo
805-543-8717 sierraclub.org
SLO Botanical Gardens
3450 Dairy Creek Rd. San Luis Obispo
805-541-1400 slobg.org
SLO County Parks & Recreation
1144 Monterey St. San Luis Obispo 805-781-1318 slocountyparks.org
SLO Rowing Club
330 Village Glen Dr. Arroyo Grande 805-459-8874 slorc.org
SLOCOG / Rideshare Public Information
1114 Marsh St. San Luis Obispo 805-781-4362 rideshare.org
Solarponics
4700 El Camino Real Atascadero 805-466-5595 solarponics.com
Island Packers 1691 Spinnaker Dr. (Ste.105 B) Ventura 805-642-1393 islandpackers.com
Templeton Recreation
599 S. Main St. Templeton 805-434-4900 templetoncsd.org
That’s Fetch
3564 Skyway Dr. Santa Maria 805-361-0802 thatsfetch805.com
The Back Porch
4 850 S. Bradley Rd. Santa Maria 805-938-1965 backporchflowers.net
The Haunt in Atascadero
5805 El Camino Real Atascadero 805-774-2868 thehauntinatascadero.com
The Luffa Farm 1457 Willow Rd. Nipomo 805-343-0883 theluffafarm.com
The Villages of SLO 55 Broad St. San Luis Obispo 805-543-2300 villagesofslo.com
The Wildflower Experience
228 Cook Ct. Templeton wildflowerexperience.com
West Coast
Detailing
723 Woodbridge St. San Luis Obispo 805-543-9274 westcoastdetailslo.com
