Beautiful day for a ride – and a nice shakedown for me. 53.1miles, 5360ft up, 3h 37mi riding time, 14.6mph average.
I headed out just before 8 into a chilly sunny morning and headed for the three bears loop. I’ve become quite fond of riding that in the reverse direction – you get the nice long climb up the back of papa bear and a great down hill to Briones. I stopped off there as I was getting an annoying rattle from my bike – couldn’t work out whether it was my seatpost, headset or what. Tightened a few bolts to be sure, then slowly removed stuff from my bike – water bottles (rattling cages?) – nope, pump knocking frame? – nope, seat bag??? – Yup. I honestly thought my headset was loose, but it was the tools in my recently re-packed seat pack. Anyhow onwards.
One of my favourite stretches of Bear Creek – the open Road beckons
The other benefit of doing the bears in reverese is that the flat stuff out by Alhambra Valley Rd, is actually a gentle downhill as opposed to being a false flat. I also enjoy the spin up San Pablo Dam Road by the end of the dam. It’s a nice 34x17 type spin before pacing down the Dam Road to Wildcat. I’ve learned over the last few years that riding SPDR at 9-10am is a pretty good plan as later in the day the winds invariably get up making it a pain.
Climbing up Wildcat Canyon it was time to loose the wind vest. I got one for $40 from Hammer during their year end sale last year, and I have to say it’s excellent. Very lightweight, but really helps on a chilly morning, yet it rolls up small enough to easily fit in a jersey pocket.
View to San Pablo Reservoir from Inspiration Point
The Beaker Bike
After refueling, crossing myself at the ROJA memorial latrine (the future’s so bright…) I headed off to climb up Shasta and Golf Course Road and then headed south on Grizzly Peak. For some reason I always find that route slightly irritating – Shasta/Golf Course is steep enough to warrant little gears, but not very satisfying. Grizzly Peak is just enough of an incline to slow you down, but not steep enough to be a challenge. Still the view across the bay today helped make up for that.
SF from Grizzly Peak
I then descended Claremont (nice), and climbed back up tunnel. A stop at Sibley to refill the bottles before enjoying the descent down Pinehurst (that’s getting a little easier, a little quicker each time I do it), through Canyon then through Moraga for a last little climb up Rheem. That’s always got a sting in the tail, forcing me to stand in my 34x24 to reach the summit. I looped back for my 53miles.
It was a good day to be riding, and a reminder to me that it’s been almost 3months since I rode anything greater than 40miles. My legs told me that when I stopped. I also did pretty well with a brand new saddle to be honest. It’s a better fit than my Arione – I don’t know that my backside was any worse than my legs, but I only made one minor tweak out at 30miles. The Antares will be my century saddle now, so I’m going to spend the next couple of weeks getting acclimated and fine tuning.