Up at 6am, I checked the weather forecast, hoping that the radar image would show the rain still heading in a south to north east direction as it was when I went to bed shortly after 9 last night.

Hmm, nope now it’s moving in a more west to east with a slight north track to it. Still too dark to see the Ham cam. The forecasts varied between 10-50% chance of rain or shower for San Jose for most of the day.

Two riders had already cancelled, both for non-weather related reasons. So at 6:30 I sent a cancellation email to the other riders.

At about 9am, I checked the Ham Cams, foggy or misty at the top without a doubt, so hopefully it was a good call.

Perhaps a Mt. Hamiton in the Spring ride for 2011!

A couple of years ago, I joined Chris Thomas in Fresno for an ALC Central Valley ride, and I enjoyed it so much, that I thought I would ask Chris if we could do another one? So he put together the route, a modified version of the Climb To Kaiser’s Millerton Metric. Chris and I were joined by an ALC8 rider Doug, who met me at Casa de Fruta to carpool, which worked out great for both of us.

We started with a nice flat warm-up through Old Town Clovis on some very clean bike lanes. Heading into the foothills on Watts Valley Road our first climb was Wildcat Canyon, with a wonderful descent afterwards, This was followed by the second but longer climb up Burrough Valley, with great views of the Sierras on both climbs.

We stopped for lunch at Humphrey Station and then it was pretty much a gentle downhill all the way back to Clovis, except for Crybaby Hill; fortunately it did not make any of us cry. Now maybe on the return if I were doing the Climb to Kaiser, but I don’t think that will be happening any time soon.

We had one other RSVP but he had to back out due to a scheduling conflict, a new ALC rider, who did meet us at the end to chat us up about the ride and all. Thanks again Chris for putting together a great ride. We should do this again in the spring!

You can see the complete photo gallery here.

Listed as the Not-so-mellow metric by none other then our fearless web master, Jerome, I happened to be privy to the route ahead of time, so there was no need to find it the undisclosed location or unlock 16384 bit encryption to see it. What two hills from HELL am I referring to? Two that I was aware of but had never attempted: Redwood Gulch and Hicks Road. I was the only other rider to join Jerome for this epic ride! I had promised I would join him ahead of time. What the heck, they are only hills and the worst that could happen would be a little cross-training.

Redwood Wood Gulch is a 1.4 mile climb going from Stevens Canyon Road up to Highway 9, it’s notoriety is mainly from hearing about it thru some friends. It doesn’t even rate a spot it The Complete Guide to Climbing (by Bike) in California. It does climb 703 feet and averages a 9.4% grade. This was the gentler of the two climbs this day, not only was it shorter, but it was under the cover of redwoods, as this day did turn out to be a bit of a scorcher.

Our planned lunch was for the Blue Rock Shoot in Saratoga, but we arrived in Saratoga to a road detour, some sort of street fair had the area of Highway 9 and Saratoga-Sunnyvale Road all blocked off, so we continued on to Los Gatos for lunch at the Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company instead.

I first heard of Hicks Road from Chris Thomas, he was out doing a test ride for an ALC training ride he was listing, and at the corner of Shannon and Hicks Road, he turned right instead of left. Hicks Road does make a listing in the Complete Guide to Climbing: “This hill is very steep and scenic and may be the most difficult in the Bay Area. Jerome and I arrive at this same corner and I asked if he was sure we didn’t want to turn left? Nope. And so we turned right and it is a very pleasant road for the first couple miles, then you hit what the book refers to as the cruz stretch: the first mile of the climb which averages 14%. Averages.

Then add a flat tire on the second section after Guadalupe Reservoir, needless to say, I had no choice but to walk the bike up to a section of road that measured under 10% grade, just to change the tube. And in the shade too.

I finally arrived at the top, where one can do the optional Mount Umunhum climb (no thank you, so glad it was not in the plan today). Jerome had a bee fly into his unzipped jersey and sting him under the arm, fortunately there was only a minor reaction. We then descended the south side of Hicks Road, a pretty road, but very, very steep. From there we passed by Almaden Reservoir on our way to McKean Road and the final job to Calero Reservoir and then over Bailey Road and back to South San Jose.

Considering it was 90+ degrees, and the bulk of the 3800 feet of climbing we did in 64 miles was in these 5 miles of climbing, I have to say I was pleased overall. Even with some cross-training. Thanks, Jerome!

That was the description given to the section of the Napa-Lake Berryessa-Pope Valley loop ride, a joint Seismic Challenge training ride, co-led with Joseph Pulice. This was an extended version of the ride Stephanie Clarke led for last year’s Wine Country Weekend; instead of starting and ending at Lake Hennessey, we started and ended at the foot of the Silverado Trail. With 13 riders, two flats and one alien, it was a great day, despite the heat.

The alien? One of the Seismic Challenge riders wore colored stocking, a full jacket and long fingered gloves all day, and she was given the nickname. We don’t think she sweated, so she must have been an alien. Check out the 1947 Packard we saw at Lake Hennessey on our return trip too!

The full photo gallery is here.

I was thinking about putting a ride on the calendar for the Monday of the Fourth of July weekend, but had not gotten around to it, when David asked if I’d be interested in co-leading a Palo Alto-Pescadero loop. Heck yes, no route sheet to prepare for a change!

The gorgeous weather continued (was this weekend in July our summer?) Jerome, David and I enjoyed a wonderful ride, up Old La Honda and then over and down the west side of OLH to Highway 84, then Pescadero Road and Haskins Hill (David suggested this alternate route since the winds were predicted to be the opposite of normal). I have never riden Stage Road that quickly, great having a tail wind! When we got back up to the west Old La Honda turn off of Highway 84, I opted to just continue on 84 because my mind thought going up OLH would be tough and we already had a good day of climbing. It may not have been any worse. Maybe next time.

Jerome, David & David at the top of Old LaHonda, guess who was last…

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/65651/embed

I had an ulterior motive for posting this ride, an AIDS/LifeCycle training ride leader BBQ in San Anselmo, so David graciously accepted my request for a co-leader, knowing I would be continuing on to San Anselmo for the BBQ and riding back to the city later. Joining me for this was Rick McJenkin and his friend Conrad Corpus.

Conrad and Rick at Rullie Gran Caffe, Larkspur

Rick, Conrad and I were riding on to San Anselmo from Larkspur for a BBQ. I heard from many training ride leaders (all were invited to join the ride), that the traffic getting there was horrendous, over an hour just on 19th Avenue, so my idea (purely just to get some miles in), was a good one!

What a great turn out, 17 riders enjoyed a mostly sunny day as circled the City, counter-clockwise from the Ferry Building, many of us wearing our DSSF rainbow jerseys, to the cheers of many through out the city (and in areas where one might think the response might not be so positive, too!) A great time was had, and a new DSSF Pride tradition is born. Maybe next years route might be different, one suggestion was doing it the opposite direction to avoid the headwinds on Geneva in the afternoon, ideas?

The ones who live the closest are bound to be the last to arrive…

Sal and David G x 2

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/62479/embed

Steph suggested this ride up Mines Road from Livermore to David Goldsmith, Nancy Levin and myself, to ride out and enjoy the wildflowers on in the San Antonion Valley on the way to the backside of Mt. Hamilton. We got a date together hoping that the recent rains would have kept the wildflowers blooming just a bit longer. It was a gorgeous day for it, after the rains we have had through the month of May, a 100 degree day would have been acceptable perhaps, though not preferred. It was comfortable in the 70s and 80s.

We were joined by Tony Moy and Roger Hoyer, on single bikes, not the tandem; Doug Sabo, back on the bike after several months of traveling; Doug O’Neill, Jerome Thomere, Roger Sayre and new member, David Rickabaugh, and Heather Gilmour who recently moved to the Bay Area (and thanks to Lorri with VeloGirls sharing notice of this ride, Heather found us!)

The description mentioned a “challenging climb at the beginning”, it started just a mile into it and continued for about eight miles with a 1300 foot gain. There was a race of some sort going on, and we had packs racing down Mines Road as we headed up, lending a bit of excitement to the day too! At a wildflower photo op, Tony and Roger caught up and as he saw Jerome with the camera, he immediately threw both arms up in air, winning the race (unfortunately the shot wasn’t captured, and you had to be there to appreciate it.)

While the climbing didn’t stop there, we had a chance to get some miles in and a gentler climb. The last two climbs on the way out, Eylar Mountain (2,800′) and Red Mountain (2,700′), are relatively short, before the final descent in to the Junction at Del Puerto Canyon Road, San Antonio Valley and Mines Road. The “Junction”, a bar/restaurant recently re-opened, after changing management this spring. It’s kind of a funky place in the middle of nowhere, mostly cylists and bikers, or lost motorists.

After a lengthy lunch break (service for our food orders was a bit slow) some headed back immediately, and the rest of us took a brief jog out San Antonio Valley Road, hoping that the wild flower field were still green and gorgeous as they would be in April, with all the rains. Things were a bit dry and so we headed back. Good thing we were treated to lots of wildflowers on Mines Road, even the Arroyo Mocho still had water running in it. The return back down Mines Road was challenging as the headwinds were strong. A few of us tried to get a paceline going, but just Jerome and Steph jumped on my tail, and I, and we took a few turns till the final descent back to the ride start. I think we found a new annual spring ride! Thank for suggesting it Steph and for putting it together.

http://ridewithgps.com/trips/47109/embed