Mt Hamilton Challenge

131 total miles, 8000 feet total elevation gain, 12 hours 25 minutes total time (10 hours 30 minutes on the bicycle)

It was time for my first big challenge in a long time. This was the third year I have attempted this ride, but I did not do it last year because I was not in shape enough at this point in the season. I am still not in my best shape, and have only found time for medium-length training rides sandwiched by annoyingly long stretches of bad weather and illness. In preparation, I rode an 80 mile, 6000 feet ride the previous weekend. Having done that without significant problems, I felt that my conditioning was in place for this one.

One problem I found on that previous ride was that my bicycle needed new tires. I got two flats in my rear tire, which I was able to fix because I usually carry two spare inner tubes with me. I also developed a rear flat at the end my last long ride. Getting frequent flats is an indication that the tire rubber has gotten too thin. Before this year, my last flat was almost two years ago. I have put on nearly 6000 miles on the current set of tires, which were the originals when I got the bicycle. This is much longer than most people hope to get from a set, so it was clearly time to change. I made sure to ride the bicycle to work the week before to ensure that the tire mounting was good.

6:15am, 0 miles, 0 feet

I woke up at 4:30am, got ready, ate a couple donuts, and had my father drop me at the start. I checked in, dropped off my packed food, and got underway. The morning air was a bit cool, but since the day was expected to warm up, I decided to shiver in my long sleeves for a while rather than put on my jacket.

Mt Hamilton Challenge

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The loop was ridden counter-clockwise.

The forecast was for clear, warm weather, and I had not noticed any prediction of strong winds. But, before reaching the first climb, we experienced some very powerful gusts. One blew me from the right side of the road completely to the other side, and almost off. I was about to dismount when it subsided. This did not bode well for the day, since fighting the wind can be miserable.

On the 4000 foot climb up to top of Mt. Hamilton, I made sure to pace myself. On previous rides I ran out of energy by the end, so this time I wanted to avoid that scenario. It was tempting to speed up while other riders were passing me at periodic intervals, but I forced myself to operate at about a 70% exertion level. (This is just an estimate since I do not wear a heart monitor.)

Still, the rest stop at the top was not as crowded as I had experienced previously, so I was ahead of the pack. It helped that I started before most riders also. I made sure to sit in the sun because the steady wind was cold on the summit.

9:50am, 35 miles, 4300 feet

The other side of Mt. Hamilton is much steeper, so it is usually a fast descent. I was most worried about wind here, because a sudden crosswind while descending at speed can be treacherous. Fortunately the air was much more still on this side of the mountain.

The remote, beautiful San Antonio Valley on the other side of Mt Hamilton.
Photo by Bill Bushnell.

This part of the route is the most scenic. The empty rolling hills and expansive meadows belie the area's proximity to a major urban center. With all the rain we received this past winter, everything was green and wildflowers were everywhere. Since there are no cross roads and no destinations besides several big desolate ranches, there is virtually no traffic. The only people on the roads were out for a scenic drive. There were many motorcycles, and there was one convoy of classic MG and Triumph cars.

12:35pm, 63 miles, 6300 feet

The second stop was at the halfway point. Most of the climbing was done. Although I had no problem eating at the previous stop, I had little appetite now. My digestive system usually slows down under heavy exertion. Still I did manage to eat the food I had packed. I had a hummus sandwich on white bread (simple carbohydrates and protein), potato chips (carbohydrates, fat, and salt), cookies (carbohydrates), and a soft drink (pure sugar). All of it was the "energy food" that I needed.

The stop was simply a small clearing by the road. Everyone leaned their bicycles against the barbed wire fence while they sat on the ground to rest and eat. At one point, a group of four of five large brown horses came running up to the fence and abruptly stopped. They sniffed all the bicycles on the fence near them, probably attracted to the salt of the riders' perspiration. They intently stared directly at the people near them who were eating, hoping for a handout. I was about ten feet away when one stood and stared at me for a while. When it became clear that I would not offer anything, it blew its nose at me. Fortunately I was upwind, so none of his mucus reached me or what I was eating.

2:50pm, 91 miles, 6300 feet

The next stretch was a long, mostly gradual downhill coast. This allowed me to relax and recover some energy. We descended from the hills down to the town of Livermore. Then we went along the city road west to the town of Pleasanton, where the last official stop was.

The wind was more calm here, and it was bright and warm. I finally took off my arm warmers. To this point it was too cool to be in just a short sleeve jersey. Now my appetite really was gone. Knowing that the next stretch contained the final climb, and that was where I previously ran out of energy, I knew I had to force myself to eat.

It did not help that all day the swirling winds had blown dust, pulverized leaf bits, and other grit in my mouth. This gave me a bad taste that I could not flush. Instead of the 15-20 minutes rest I took at the previous stops, I spent about 30 minutes here in the hopes that the relaxation would kick-start my digestion. I did manage to eat (most of) another sandwich and chips, but I packed the cookies for home.

5:20pm, 115 miles, 8000 feet

I paced myself in the flat section approaching the final climb to conserve energy. The gradual, 1000 foot ascent would normally be an "easy" climb for me, but the question was how many functioning muscle fibers were left in my legs. Surprisingly, there were more than I expected. Instead of putting in the lowest gear and crawling, I was able to keep a steady pace in third gear. Though not particularly fast (I passed no one, three riders passed me), it was much better than I thought. I had plenty of energy and my legs were functioning fine.

As usual, I stopped at Ed Levin Park. This is not an official stop but it has a restroom and I usually need to use it by this point in the ride. But it was just a quick in-and-out because I did not need to rest, and it was downhill and flat the rest of the way.

6:20pm, 126 miles, 8000 feet

I reached the finish feeling good. I was able to keep a relatively fast pace on the final flat section. I checked in, received my ride patch, and headed home. I opted not to have anyone pick me up at the finish since it is an easy 4 mile ride back home.

6:40pm, 131 miles, 8000 feet

I have to call my ride a success. I was worried about my conditioning but had no problems. My final time was very similar to the last two times I tried it.

Now I need to decide what other major rides to to this year. The only one I have signed up for is the Seattle to Portland ride this July. That one is 200 (mostly flat) miles over two days. I should have no problem staying in shape for that. I will probably do one or two local events before that.

Mt Hamilton Challenge

130 total miles,
8000 feet total elevation gain,
12 hours 10 minutes total time
(10 hours 20 minutes on the bicycle)

I decided to do my first century of the year. I did the Mt. Hamilton Challenge last year, and this year it fit perfectly in my schedule. The three weekends before and two after were not available due to travel. I could not pass up the chance to do this challenging ride since it fell on an open weekend.

But there were several obstacles in my way:

1. I have not been doing long rides regularly for months.
2. I was recovering from a sore hamstring.
3. I had been sick with a cold since a few days before the ride.

Number (1) did not bother me too much because I have been keeping in shape riding my trainer, so I knew I had the stamina. My concern with this is since I have not given my muscles this long a workout for several months, they could cramp.

I was not that concerned with number (2) because my leg felt good the night before the ride. I do not know how I injured it. It was sore from one week before the event. I had been careful to stretch it each morning and evening to get it healed and loose, so it had been getting better.

Number (3) was the main concern. I do not get sick that often, so I was annoyed that it would happen on the date that I wanted to do a century. I did not know if it would be possible to ride while sick, so I was hoping for a full recovery before the event.

I went about my preparations with the assumption that I would be fully healthy by the day of the ride. I planned all the details, and even cooked pasta Thursday night for the ride. (We have to provide our own food for this ride — I give them one bag of food for each rest stop.)

By Friday night, I still had congestion, runny nose, and a headache. My only hope was to continue preparing as though I would be recovered by the next morning. If that happened, I would ride. If not, I would cancel.

I went to bed early, but did not sleep restfully. I woke up once with body aches, and woke up several other times to blow my nose. I woke up at 5:00 am with a sinus headache. That was not a good sign. I optimistically drank my coffee and started my preparations, even though I could not see how I could do it.

Somehow, by 5:45 am, I felt a rush of energy. My sinuses cleared and my aches went away. Maybe it was just adrenaline, but I now felt that the ride was doable. I finished my preparations and had Vaishali drop me at the start in Santa Clara (4 miles from home).

6:50am, 0 miles, 0 feet

The start ended up being a half hour later than I had planned. I had taken extra time getting ready in the morning because I was deciding whether to go or not. There was a contingency plan in case I started feeling sick again — I could decide at the top of Mt. Hamilton whether I would continue or whether I would abandon and coast back down to the start.

I was planning on keeping a relatively slow pace up Mt. Hamilton. Even though I was feeling better, I was still a little sick, so I did not want to exhaust myself early. Plus, I did not want to strain my leg in case that problem would return.

10:22am, 35 miles, 4300 feet

It was a relatively cool morning, and I expected it to be cold at the top. However, because it was completely sunny at the summit, it was not too bad. I sat in the sunlight and ate the peanut butter jelly sandwich I packed. I had also packed a small bag of cookies for each stop so I could eat them on the bike if I needed energy. I ate a few of these and put the rest in my pocket.

I was feeling still full of energy. My leg was feeling normal. This was enough for me to decide to continue with the ride. I put my jacket on for the steep descent. There have been some late rains this season, so there were many wildflowers in bloom in the meadows on the other side of Mt. Hamilton.

1:08pm, 63 miles, 7000 feet

The second rest stop is at the halfway point. By this point, the majority of the other riders were ahead of me. They either started before, or passed me. This stop was less crowded than when I did it last year because I was in the trailing group of slower riders.

Here I ate some of the pasta I made. I could tell that I lost a lot of sodium because the potato chips I packed did not taste salty at all, and neither did the V8. I also ate the croissant I packed, and was totally full. I had finished the cookies in my pocket along the way, and replaced them with a new bag.

By this point, the majority of the climbing was done. It was all downhill or flat to the next rest stop. Along the way, I started feeling some tightness in my leg. I kept this under control by standing and pedaling (to stretch the leg more), and by rubbing the back of my thigh as I rode. I kept doing this periodically for the rest of the ride and the leg never became a problem.

The final 10 mile flat stretch to the next stop were actually quite difficult. We had to ride straight into a strong wind. This slowed me down quite a bit. Last year we had no such winds, but it was hotter. Each is a different difficulty, but I would probably pick the heat if I had a choice.

3:33pm, 91 miles, 7000 feet

I pulled into the third rest stop and immediately gave Vaishali a call. The roads are so remote that there was no cell phone reception at either of the previous two rest stops. She knew that if I had any problems, she would have heard from me earlier. Still, she was happy to hear me report that I was doing great.

I had the same amount of food packed for this stop, but was less hungry at this point. I needed the energy, but did not want to overstuff myself and cause a stomach upset. I ate most of the pasta and some of the chips. I pocketed the croissant and another bag of cookies (I ate none from the previous bag on the way here). I guessed that these would make it back home untouched.

I was just a little concerned about the final 35 miles back to the start. I still had a good amount of energy, and the route was not as challenging as the first part, but last year I totally crashed here. This year I rested for at least 30 minutes at each stop to allow the food to start digesting properly.

The few small hills on this part of the route were difficult in my weakened state, but I took them slowly and steadily. I handled them much better than last year.

7:00pm, 125 miles, 8000 feet

I rolled to the finish feeling very happy with my decision to do the ride despite all the issues. When I talked to Vaishali at the previous stop, I told her not to pick me up here. Instead, I would just ride the 4 miles to home.

7:25pm, 130 miles, 8000 feet

I came home feeling triumphant and exhausted. I cleaned up, ate some dinner, and went straight to bed. As my adrenaline wore off, my illness symptoms returned. I felt chilled when I went to bed, and I woke up feeling hot in the middle of the night. I had nasal congestion again the next morning. Basically, I was still sick. I could not say if the ride made the illness worse. But it did not matter — I was willing to pay that price for the accomplishment.

This was not the hardest route I had ridden, but all the circumstances and timing made it difficult. It was a good test of my core fitness, and it felt great to pass.

Thanksgiving Ride

I have not been able to do most of the recent Low-Key Hillclimb rides, so I thought I would try to do the season finale — Mt. Hamilton. Instead, my friend Ravi invited me to join him and a couple other friends for the same route. Since I had not seen him for a while, I thought I would ride it with the smaller group.

I met Ravi a couple miles from home at 7:00am. After a few minutes, we were joined by Suraj, for whom this would be his first attempt up Mt. Hamilton. We rode the 15 flat miles to the base of Mt. Hamilton where we joined the final member of the group, Atri.

We started the climb at 8:40, which was 50 minutes before the Low-Key start. It was a cool and overcast morning, and it became even colder as we ascended. Fortunately the internal heat generated by the effort of climbing kept us comfortable. I expected to have a reduced fitness level since I have not been on the bike for long climbs for weeks. Yet, I decided to push myself and keep the same pace as Ravi. Suraj and Atri kept slower paces, so we stopped a couple times to regroup.

Ravi and me taking a break on the lower slopes. Photo by Suraj.

As we approached the summit, it became steadily brighter since we were reaching the upper level of the cloud layer. Then we started getting passed by the faster riders of the Low-Key group. Even with our head start, they are too strong for us.

With the final approach to the summit, we burst through the cloud layer. After stopping at the destination (Lick Observatory), we looked down at a vast white sea of clouds as we took in the warmth of the bright sun. We had reach the summit at 11:00am.

Looking down from the summit, we see that the very top section the road is in sunlight, while the lower part sinks under the cloud layer.
Photo by Stephen Fong, who rode the concurrent Low-Key Hillclimb.

We waited as first Suraj then later Atri arrived. We relaxed for some time before bundling up for the long, cold descent. The road was wet, but luckily not enough to make the descent treacherous. After reaching the bottom, Atri departed on his separate route home, while the rest of us retraced our morning route. I got back to the house at 3:10pm.

The ride was 6 hours total, and 8 hours 30 minutes on the bicycle. I reached home hungry, tired, and sleepy (since I did not get much sleep the previous night). It would have been a perfect time for a large Thanksgiving feast, but this year we were just having a quiet holiday at home. I ate a big lunch and took a nap.

Mt Hamilton Challenge

125 miles, 8000 feet total elevation gain,
12 hours total (10 hours on the bicycle)

I made a late decision to do my first century of this year — the 39th annual Mt. Hamilton Challenge. I thought that this one would be good preparation for the Death Ride, since it is the same distance although only about half the elevation. It is definitely easier than the Death Ride, but it fits into my training plan nicely and it starts and ends very close to my home.

This is one of the more low-key organized centuries. They do not provide any food. Riders bring three bags of food to the start, and they transport one to each of the three rest stops on the route.

Click for an interactive map.

6:30am, 0 miles, 0 feet

I woke up at 5:00 to get ready, eating a few cookies to get some fuel into my system. Vaishali dropped me at Wilcox High School in Santa Clara (very close to our old house). I got signed in at 6:15. My friend Ravi (who I mentioned in my last report) decided to join me for just the first part of the ride, so I waited for him.

Click to see a larger picture.
This is Mt. Hamilton viewed from Wilcox High School (the start).
The white buildings on the summit are Lick Observatory, the location of
the first rest stop. It is 35 miles away from and 4100 feet above the start.

We left at sunrise (6:30) and most of the city roads were still empty at that time. We traveled through Silicon Valley for 10 miles to get to the base of the hills, and then started the climb of Mt. Hamilton. There were quite a few cyclists on the road. Some were doing the same century, but many were just riding on their own. We encountered two guys on a training ride who were Death Ride veterans, so I chatted with them about their experiences.

9:45am, 35 miles, 4300 feet

We reached the summit faster than I expected. I had kept a faster pace than I normally would have because I wanted to push myself. Since there was food and support along the route, there was no worry of getting stranded.

We rested at Lick Observatory at the summit and ate some food (I packed an orange, banana, and a few cookies). After a 20 minute rest, we parted. Ravi returned the way we came, and I continued down the other side of the mountain. This part of the route is very scenic and feels totally remote. There is no development along the road except for a few scattered ranches.

The biggest single climb was finished with Mt. Hamilton, but this part of Mines Road has several smaller ascents and descents. Although much of the road is flat, we were going directly into a steady headwind. I had not expected that, so I was using much more energy than I thought I would be.

12:25, 63 miles, 7000 feet

The second rest stop was set up on Mines Road at roughly the halfway point of the whole route. I was pretty tired when I reached this point, though not exhausted. I was told that the rest of Mines Rd to Livermore was all downhill. This meant that I did not have to take a very long break here since I would be using less energy for a while.

Video of rest stop #2.

I had been drinking plenty of water during the ride, but surprisingly I urinated very little. The day was fairly warm, and predicted to get to the lower 80's in Livermore and Pleasanton, so I needed to make myself drink even more to avoid dehydration.

Because I was so tired, I had no appetite. Still, I forced myself to eat everything I had packed (orange, pasta, few cookies) since I knew I needed the energy. I drank as much water as I could and filled my two water bottles. This time it was a 30 minute break.

2:45pm, 91 miles, 7000 feet

Mines Rd headed downhill for 18 miles to Livermore, then the route took us east to Pleasanton and was flat. This was the easiest stretch of the whole route. I even managed to keep a 20 mile per hour pace on the flat ground. I did not expect to have enough energy for that.

Two short (and very shaky) clips of Mines Road between rest stop 2 and Livermore.

This rest stop was at a city park, so we ate our food on picnic benches. Again, I had zero appetite but made myself eat all my food (same what I had at rest stop 2). And again, I barely urinated despite drinking plenty of water. When I reached this rest stop, I, and many other cyclists, had a layer of salt encrusted on our faces; evidence of how much water and salt we were losing.

The one thing I forgot to pack was pretzels. I planned on keeping some with me so I could use them to replenish my salt. But so far I had not been feeling any serious effects of dehydration.

Cyclist relaxing in the shade at rest stop 3.

Like at the last stop, I rested for 30 minutes. Upon leaving the rest area, I felt surprisingly tired. The majority of climbing was finished, but I still had 1000 feet of elevation gain on Calaveras road in the 35 miles remaining. Considering that that was a fraction of the elevation and mileage that I had already done, I was not too concerned.

The route to Calaveras Rd was mostly flat, and Calaveras has no steep slopes — it is a mostly steady ascent followed by a descent. Once I started climbing, I began feeling the effects of exhaustion. I had burned all my available energy stores, and the food from the last rest stop was not digesting. I had a headache, nausea, and felt light-headed. Drinking water was difficult because that increased my nausea. I was tempted to stop by the side of the road, but instead I just kept a slow pace.

5:45pm, 110 miles, 8000 feet

After the gradual descent, Calaveras turns into a steep descent back to Silicon Valley. I did not feel comfortable doing this descent while still feeling dizzy. I knew there was a park at the beginning of the steep descent, so I stopped there.

I found an empty picnic table and sat down with my head on the table. I rested like this for 15-20 minutes. That made all the difference. After getting back up, I did not feel the food sitting like a brick in my stomach like I had earlier. Clearly it had digested because I had energy again.

6:45pm, 125 miles, 8000 feet

The descent back to the valley was no problem. Now I had just 10 more flat miles back to Wilcox high school. I and a small group of riders got bunched together by the timing of the signal lights. The ride back to the start was uneventful.

7:15pm, 130 miles, 8000 feet

I called Vaishali when I finished and told her not to pick me up — I wanted to ride the extra 4 miles home. I had the energy, and after 125 miles, an extra 4 on flat ground is really nothing. I felt pretty good when I got home, but I was tired. I showered, told Vaishali about the ride and showed her some pictures, and drank a can of soda (to replenish blood sugar), then went to bed before 8:30.

It ended up being a very enjoyable ride, despite the battle with exhaustion. The mistake I made was that I should have rested longer at the last rest stop to allow the food to digest, and I should have consumed salt to replenish the massive amount of sodium I lost. The exhaustion may not have hit me (or at least not hit me as hard) if I had not become dehydrated.

I think my performance indicates that I am getting close to being in shape for the Death Ride. Of course that route is harder, but I would be keeping a slower pace that what I did on this day. I have plenty of time to increase my conditioning and I feel confident that I will.

Tour of California, Stage 3

I don't really follow bicycle racing, but I could not pass up the chance to watch an elite race in person. A couple co-workers and I decided to watch one stage of the Tour of California (ToC). The ToC is a seven stage race, with the third stage finishing in downtown San Jose.

For anyone reading this who is not familiar with bicycle racing, a stage race takes place over several days. Each day constitutes a "stage". Each stage is usually around 100 miles. The course is usually designed so that each stage is a different profile — some are mostly flat, some are hilly, etc. Usually the stage routes are modified slightly each year for variety and to involve more cities.

This year, the stage 3 would be going over Mt Hamilton, which I have ridden. The south side (from San Jose) is the side most people ride, and is moderately steep. The north side is steeper, and that was the direction the race would be coming. I rode that side a few months ago with my co-worker Michael. We decided to return there to watch the race. We expected fewer people there than at Sierra Road, which is the next climb after Mt. Hamilton and is much closer to downtown and easier to access.

Michael managed to get a press pass via his brother at the Toronto Sun, so he was going to drive there. The road would be closed to cars, so the press pass would give him access. Since he could drive, our other co-worker Jim decided to join him. They would be going there early to set up at a good location to take pictures, since they are both avid photographers.

My plan was to drive to the county park that is halfway to the summit, then leave the car there and bicycle to the summit and down the other side to where Michael and Jim were. I needed to reach the final location before the road was closed to traffic, so I arrived at the park at 8:00am. The distance to the summit from there is about 10 miles.

Because I wanted to pack extra clothing and food for the 3 hour wait,
I packed all my gear in my commute bike. The weather on the south
side of Mt. Hamilton was nice and clear.
(Click on the picture to see the full album.)

As I pedaled up the hill, I did not encounter any other cyclists, and few cars. If more people were coming to watch the race, none of there wanted to come as early as me. When I reached the observatory at the summit, there was a policeman preventing cars from continuing to the other side. The few people who drove parked their cars at the summit and walked down the road. He let me through since I was on a bicycle.

About one mile down the road from the summit, I saw Michael and Jim (plus Michael's friend Brendan, in whose truck they drove). They had found a place where the road curved into the hillside giving them a long view of the road ahead. There was a wide spot to park so they were there with another vehicle, which belonged to Versus (the cable channel that covers bicycle racing). This location was at 4100 feet elevation, which was only 100 feet below the summit. It was on one of the steep sections of the road, so the riders would not be going by too quickly, and they would have more time to take pictures.

Now we just had to wait. I arrived at the spot around 10:00am, and riders were expected to arrive at this location around 12:45pm. Riding up the hill, I was not wearing a jacket but still was hot. Standing around here, we all were cold. The temperature was in the upper 30's. I had brought extra layers since I knew I would need them.

As time went on, more and more people arrived on the road. Since our location by the side of the road was fairly big, quite a few joined us there. Some came the same way as I did, but others parked on the other side and bicycled from there. We all killed time by chit-chatting. People walked up and down the road to try to warm up.

As it got closer to the expected arrival time, we saw race officials drive by in greater frequency. Then some more police cars came by. Then another race official came by with loudspeakers, telling us the riders are only 5 minutes away. Then more police cars and motorcycles passed.

Finally the riders appeared around the corner. There was a lead pack of about 10 riders. There were some team cars (which carry spare parts, food, coaches, mechanics, etc.) behind them, plus some more riders. After the lead pack passed us, the main pack arrived. It looked like there were about 40 riders in this pack. After them came a large pack of team cars.

As the riders went by all the spectators were yelling encouragement to them. Most of them followed the sport enough to recognize the individual riders, but I did not really know them. We were all just by the side of the road, so they passed within arm's length of us. The official cars and motorcycles were interspersed with the cyclists.

After the main pack passed, several other straggling individual riders and small packs came through. At the tail end, there were several official cars, and the final police car labeled "End of Convoy". And that was it. People started leaving almost immediately. The road was now open (although everyone was required to remain behind the convoy).

I packed up my things and said goodbye to everyone. Michael, Jim, and Brendan needed to still pack up all their gear. There were quite a few cyclists still leaving at the same time as me. It was cold, but I made it back up, and then down to the car without trouble. By the time I got back home, it was after 2:00pm. It took most of the day just to see the cyclists for 5 minutes. But it was a new, fun adventure.

Mt. Hamilton (from the other side)

This weekend was a two-ride weekend. Besides my usual Low-Key Hillclimb yesterday, I had made plans to do a ride with my coworker Michael and his friend Tom.

They were planning on cycling from Livermore, over Mount Hamilton, and to San Jose. Michael's wife was dropping the two of them in Livermore in the morning. Unfortunately, they could only carry two bicycles on the car, and since Vaishali was out of town this weekend, I had no way to do the whole ride with them because I had no way to get dropped off in Livermore.

But I figured out a way to do at least a part (the most interesting part to me) of the ride with them. My plan was to drive up the San Jose side of Mount Hamilton, park at the observatory at the top, ride down the Livermore side of the hill until until I crossed paths with them. At that point I would turn around and pedal back up to the top.


I was happy to have a solution because I have ridden the San Jose side of Mount Hamilton but never the other side. The Livermore side is steeper, which made it irresistible to me.

I woke up Sunday morning with my legs still sore from the Saturday ride. This was a little surprising because I did not think it would have been that much of a strain. It was most likely because after the previous day's ride, I spent the rest of the day with friends and did not get to bed as early as I usually would before another ride. The soreness was not enough to make me seriously consider skipping the ride.

I woke up at 6:00, got ready, and left home at 7:15. There was little traffic on neither the highway nor on the road to Mount Hamilton from the San Jose side. But as I approached the summit, the wind became noticeable. All the vegetation was being blown vigorously, and I even felt the effects driving the car.

When I reached the summit, I parked at the observatory parking lot and walked to the building. I was not able to even walk in a straight line because the wind gusts were pushing me around. There was no way I could seriously consider riding down the other side of the mountain under these conditions. Any crosswinds while descending can make riding downhill tricky, but at these wind speeds it would be dangerous.

At this point I had two options. One was to skip the ride all together. The other was to drive down the other side to the base of the hill, and attempt to ride on just the flat part of the road. Cycling on flat ground is not tremendously interesting to me, especially if it is a two hour one-way drive from home. But there was a possibility that the winds would die down later in the morning, which made me decide that I should try riding.

I drove down the other side of Mount Hamilton. All along the descent, I could tell that it was still windy by how the vegetation was thrashing about. After five miles, the road leveled off and I found a very wide shoulder where I could park. I stepped out of the car and found that there was still some wind here, but much less intense. It seemed rideable, though a little cold.

I started pedaling towards Livermore, and after one mile, I warmed up and no longer felt cold. Although I thought the road would be flat, it rarely was. It winds through several dry creek valleys and over small hills. It is a narrow road with no outlet for miles, so there is usually little traffic. There were many more motorcycles than cars since the winding backroads all over the Bay Area are popular with motorcyclists.

After 18 miles of up and down cycling, with all combinations of headwinds, crosswinds, and tailwinds, I finally crossed paths with Michael and Tom. I turned around and joined them. They had left Livermore mostly when they had planned. Michael reported that the road out of Livermore contained a significant climb.

I explained the situation with the wind at the summit, and how my car was parked at the base of the climb. We made a brief stop at the only junction on the road (at which there conveniently was a cafe). Then we continued to where my car was parked. At this point we all shed our outer layers of clothing since the sun was now higher in the sky and we would be generating a lot of heat on the five mile uphill climb. This was also a good point to have a quick snack.

We started off together, but I fell behind fairly soon. I told the guys to just continue at their pace. If I had any problems, I could just easily coast downhill back to my car. For me, this stretch of road would not normally be particularly steep and difficult. But my legs were noticeably lacking energy this morning, so I could only keep a snail's pace.

I eventually reached the observatory at the summit where Michael and Tom were already getting some snacks from the vending machine and refilling their water bottles. When I first arrived here earlier in the morning, I was the only person. Now there were several cars and motorcycles, and just a few other bicycles here. I had exhausted my two-bottle water supply, so I filled up also.

At this point, we parted ways. They rode down the San Jose side to get picked up by Michael's wife Julie, and I headed down the Livermore side towards my car. It was a short ride back. To get back home, I had to drive back up the summit and down towards San Jose.

I needed to pick up Vaishali at the airport later in the day, so I had just enough time to pick up some food to eat and clean up before doing that. I reached back home at 4:00, so it was a long day of cycling (47 miles) and driving (82 miles). It was satisfying to have done this ride, especially since I had reconsidered it at several points.