A Touch of Fall

This week brought us the first day of fall, and already a chill is in the air. It seemed like a good day for a short local ride.

Some folks in our group were in for a real treat, never having climbed Montevina before. With the marine layer hovering over the coast, though, they had to take my word for the view of Monterey Bay we were denied. We did get some close-ups of the ever-shrinking Lexington Reservoir. As we descended Montevina, we met too many cars coming up the hill—too many cars for a dead-end road, too many cars driven by people unaccustomed to the road. Something about a meeting for a llama (yes, the two-L llama) group.

One hill just isn't enough, so we headed back across the highway for a longer climb. The summit of Soda Springs tops out around 3,000 feet, and it was already colder than I expected. “Don't wait for me,” one rider warned. She expected to turn back, but ultimately changed her mind and followed us to the top.

We packed an impressive 4,860 feet of climbing into a short 27 miles. [Half of that distance was downhill. Think about it.]