I turned 59 last Sunday and I wanted to do a birthday ride in the mountains but last weekend I did a club ride and hurt my back.
This Saturday I went into the local mountains with a few friends and did some climbing. We were up there for 8 hours with a one hour stop for french fries at the only cafe on the route.
Ended up with about 70 miles and at least 7400 feet of climbing. Beautiful weather, legs felt good, and the back didn't bother me. A pretty good way to celebrate surviving another year.
I didn't take any pictures but I have some old ones from the route. Here is a view on the first climb up to that saddle.
After that there are a bunch of smaller climbs and descents until the next 5 mile climb which tops out at 7000 feet.
The Tour of California used this road a couple years back.
After some more rollers and small climbs there is another 5 mile climb up to 7900 feet. This is the turn-around for the day.
Anyway we stopped at this cafe and I had birthday fries, no pie, however. Felt good to get back up there and I hope to do lots more riding in those mountains this summer.
