Highs and Lows

With another wave of heat forecast to smother the Bay Area, a shorter (and shady) route was in order. After a refreshing climb through the redwoods, we headed up Mt. Bache for a view from the ridge below Loma Prieta. On the plus side, with no fog in sight we had a clear view of Monterey Bay. On the minus side, even though we tackled the climb early, we were baking. It seemed much harder than it should have been, but then some of the ever-so-patient riders in our group consoled me with reports that the grade hits 11%-13%.

It's a bit early in the season for the ghouls to be out, but we did find a couple of meat-loving fiends at the Summit Store. Having survived the brutal climb along the ridge, we had no fear of looking these devils in the eye. We snacked and hydrated and clustered beneath the patio umbrellas before torturing ourselves with the next climb.

The group began to splinter, with some riders tackling more hills (extra credit), and some ending the day a bit earlier. Most of us coasted down to Los Gatos Creek at Wrights Station, just so we could climb back up. [Really, cyclists are a bit daft.] There was little water trickling beneath the bridge, but we were grateful for the towering redwoods. The cool shade was so tempting ... why am I not stretched out with a good book in one of these groves?

I continued with my original plan, following Los Gatos Creek from the other side, through Aldercroft Heights back upstream (and, of course, uphill). Oh, wouldn't it be swell if we could have simply biked back along the creek from Wrights Station? Just look at the map. But alas, it's private property, festooned with razor wire.

The ride was a couple of miles shorter than I had estimated, and [ahem] a bit hillier: 33 miles, with a stout 4,100 feet of climbing. I so wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon napping in the forest, but ... home I went.