OH, we had a good ride Saturday! It was hot; damn hot. John B. drove up from San Jose to try the roads in my area: nothing but hills. OK, one need not ONLY ride hills here, but that’s what the day called for.
John was impressed with my meteorological and map study that brought headwinds on every climb of a loop ride. Shout-out to Our Lady of Perpetual Headwinds in NJ.
Twenty-five miles, 2,300 vertical feet of climbing. Damn hot. Right out of the gate, we climb about 6.5 miles; a little undulating, and then climb some more. John was riding a mountain bike with street tires, hauling a rack with a thermal lined lunch-box-sized bag on back and he kept and set the pace! When he gets his road bike, he’ll be dangerous. Once we pass the Chabot Observatory, we get what we worked for: a quick descent on Skyline, to a long, fast shot through Redwood Rd.
We turn onto Pinehurst and guess what? We start to climb again! But that is precisely what he came here to do and we are having a great time. Descending the south end of Pinehurst heading into Canyon is a winding, twisting succession of quick turns. John throws his mountain bike through them like he’s been riding this road for years. The long shallow, yet mounting climb through Canyon to the base of the Climb of the Day takes its toll and we stop to catch our breath at the first hair-pin turn. John opens the cooler bag and pulls out COLD iced tea enough to share! In the seriously 40 years of riding those hills, I have NEVER had cold iced tea on Pinehurst. We climb on as the road steepens all the way to the summit, undulate through to the last and quite painful climb, then it is all down hill to Peet’s Coffee and Tea on Domingo for large Mocha Freddos.
Calories and ice-cream headaches well earned.
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