Riding with the Leaders

San José is the tenth largest city in the US, but the beauty of California is that you are never far away from wild land. We started today's ride in the shadow of downtown skyscrapers, but left all that behind in less than eight miles as we crossed the freeways and climbed the foothills toward Alum Rock.

The skies were threatening, the winds were blowing, and there was a damp chill in the air. The landscape is a bit dynamic here; we passed through a section where only one lane of the road is hanging on (barely), and also traversed a few segments of dirt. We saw hawks circling overhead, fields of wild mustard, and even a stray heifer on the wrong side of a fence.

Once the climbing was done, I enjoyed a screaming fast descent (44.5 mph, max) on our way back to the start. Lunch awaited, and I had worked up an appetite.

Today's ride was a generous thank-you from our bike club, ACTC, to all the members who had led rides in 2008. Our pre-lunch ride was thus a rare group - all leaders! Nonetheless, we took direction well, and needless to say, no one got lost.