Remembering a Great Ride in Nicer Weather
rain - rain - rain
That’s about all we’ve been getting here in Northern California - for what feels like weeks!
Ok, it has really only been the last week, but with barely a glimpse of the sun and forecast that only include more constant rain, it is a bit depressing.
To escape that reality, here is my recap of the last sunny outdoor experience I had:
Last weekend, on what the weather forecasters predicted would be the nicest day of the week (which it was), I decided to go on a ride. The purposes was not only to get out and enjoy the sun and relatively warm temperatures in January, but also to get some training in for my upcoming Solvang Ride.
My original plan was to go solo up the Calaveras hill, which I consider my “training hill”. I planned on starting in Pleasanton so it would have made it about a 30 mile loop.
However, my biking friend Jerry had a better idea. It was a ride he has done many times, but I had only seen on paper - The Niles Canyon / Calaveras Road Loop.
I would finally get to see what was on the other side of the Calaveras Hill and see the infamous “Wall”, a very steep road that cyclists much more talented than I ‘enjoy’ going up….of course I was planning on seeing it going down not up!
We met at a small neighborhood park off Mission Blvd and Niles canyon, then started riding on Niles Canyon towards Calaveras. For most of the ride, the scenery and riding was very enjoyable! Towards the end however, with about 10-12 miles to go, we were back in busy streets packed with buildings, people and cars and I was tired.
Jerry knew I was done when towards the end, with less than 10 miles to go, we were coming down a small hill and I looked ahead and saw another rolling hill to go up, I just yelled out, “we’re not going up that are we?!” I was really hoping we weren’t and the cars were just around the corner…but we did go up it and a few more and the cars were not just around the corner.
However, the first 25 or so miles were very beautiful and a great ride too!
After it was all done we ended up logging 38 miles with 2000′ of climbing in 3:20 hours.
Related posts
Discussion Area - Leave a Comment