both sides now

ride report, monday august 27

tom b had a big idea for today: attempt climbs on both sides of the bay. never done that before. it implies at least two major climbs, of course, but then a lot of distance since a 'bay' is a large body of water... so the plan was to climb mount hamilton in the east bay, cross the dumbarton, and get up to skyline boulevard somewhere on the peninsula.

met the boy at the train station at 8 am for another run to that siren, the white double dome of the lick observatory on mount hamilton. we reprised the route from two weeks ago, out the east side, through alum rock park, and up crothers to connect with mount hamilton road. crothers is the wake-up, steeper than anything to follow since we'd already let go of climbing sierra road. the inversion layer over silicon valley was quite a bit lower than two weeks ago, so soon we were riding in the clear above the smog. mt. umunhum (3400') and loma prieta (3800') stood out clearly across the valley.

we crossed the first ridge at about 2000' elevation and made the short descent to perfectly-positioned joseph grant park. there's really nothing else out there beyond that first ridge, so it's nice to have the water and bathrooms at mile 20. from there, the observatory is just over ten miles by road: the three-mile climb to twin gates trailhead, the nice relief of the half-mile or so descent to the cdf station, then the last seven miles of consistent but unrelenting grade to the observatory.

california state highway 130 lays on the mount hamilton slopes like a carelessly-tossed ribbon, back and forth across the contours through the open scrub oak, swinging to whatever compass point offers that steady 6% grade, throwing glimpses of the big white double dome at you, first on your right, then your left, always above and always tantalizingly near but deceptively distant. there are especially clear views from four, two-and-a-half, and one-and-a-half miles out. at the big right turn with just over a mile left, the larger dome looms almost directly overhead on the left, shining white and baking in the desert sun. i mean, it's RIGHT THERE for god's sake, how can it be over a mile away? two long traverses of the summit massif still ahead...

the observatory is closed mondays, but the views are still ok. we picked out mt. diablo peeking over a high shoulder to the north, and mount tamalpais above the golden gate fog blanket to the northwest. to the east, the central valley was hazy, unfortunately. on a clear day the sierra nevada snow pack comes into view. to the southwest, monterey bay was socked in. probably forty degrees cooler there...

just over 30 miles by then, but lots of vertical in our legs. back down that rough twisting road that makes you think about wearing a mouthguard. on the final slide back down into the smog, tom's big chain ring stopped cooperating, so we decided to stop for lunch at a chinese place on the east side. he adjusted his derailleur and we both ordered big plates of fried rice. carb me up.

good thing we decided to skip sierra road and just head for the bridge. no way more than a quarter of that fried rice would have made the summit. we stopped for cokes on mission in fremont, then took the alameda creek trail toward the dumbarton. it was a little cooler nearing the bay, and the wind picked up. the bridge was icky. traffic kicked up plenty of road grit, and that wind threw it right in our faces. from the peninsula side of the bridge, it's not far to tom's place in redwood city, where we regrouped at 4:30 pm, mile 90.

now we had to guage both our ambition and the remaining daylight. page mill had entered both our minds, but that was too far and too stupid anyway. kings mountain was closer but still more than we wanted. so we settled on old la honda, a thirty-mile loop from tom's place, with a half-hour climb and a photo op next to the skyline boulevard sign. that's the first time i'd ever ridden a century and THEN climbed that road. it's been easier.

over to alice's restaurant in skylonda, then down the smooth swooping highway 84 with no cars in sight. we hammered home down woodside road, the alameda, and atherton avenue. finished the day with 120 miles, and tom's garmin recorded over 10000' vertical before it hiccuped us in a beeline from somewhere on old la honda to halfway down 84. we took the less-direct route.