The weather was great the day before, and this day's weather was forcast to be rain in the late afternoon, but windy all day. It was windy at the start, and the sun was out. We figured that we could be back down before the rain came. It was a big decision on each person's part as to what and how much clothes that they should take with them.
Finally we were off. With the large range of paces, I thought that the group might split up quickly, but surprisingly we pretty much stayed together all of the way to Alum Rock Park. The key here was that Jennie managed to catch almost every traffic signal on a fresh Red, so that the group was able to join up again along the way.
Once on Mt.Hamilton Rd, the group was finally able to go at all their own respective paces. Jennie and Gary were off the front, Jeff and this new rider, Scott, were next, followed by me. After a while Dan caught up, and we stopped in at Grant Ranch where we found Jeff and Scott. I ate my 2nd sandwich of the day, and then I was off, followed by the others. I was sort of timing myself again, so that I could compare with my last time up. The 2:05 last time included a 5 minute rest break at Grant Ranch, and the break was 8 minutes this time, so I didn't want to delay any further.
Jeff, Scott, and Dan were soon off the front, getting further and further ahead of me. Before yesterday, I had been off my bike for a full two weeks due to the rain, and I was also 5 pounds heavyier, and I was also a bit tired from yesterday's ride - so I knew that I should be going slower, and I was correct. My total time this round was 2:24, but I was happy with it as I did finally make it to the top. That last 6 miles is always tough, both physically and mentally. Mentally I tried to tell myself to just keep pedaling, and I managed it by splitting up the road into half-mile increments. At each half-mile mileage marker, I would congratulate myself on making it that far, and try not to worry about how far I still had to go.
I passed Scott about 5 miles from the top, and I could tell that he must have "hit the wall", as he looked very tired and was probably going about 4 mph, while I was holding 7 mph. I felt a bit guilty later for passing him by, but I was at the moment more concerned with getting myself to the top in a reasonable time.
Close to the top I could see that the summit was again in sunshine, as it had been hiding inside a cloud for most of the trip up the hill. All of the riding so far had been with the sun shining, but if I looked out aross the valley behind me, I could see major big dark clouds everywhere, and some heavy raining over by Alum Rock Park. It looked to me like most of this weather would pass by to the north of us, and so I figured that we still had a chance of not getting too wet.
Finally at the top, I saw that everyone was there except for Gary, who was the only one to go down the back. Jennie was standing in front of the heater, enjoying the warmth. No backside for her today, even though she still needed it. The top was now back inside a cloud, so we could no longer check the weather by looking out at the clouds, because we could no longer see.
We were at the top, hanging out, for quite awhile, when Scott finally showed up. He was totally tired, and said that he had never felt that tired in his whole life. It turns out that he did not have any food on this trip, and so ran out of energy a long way down the hill. He says he kept coming, as he did not know this area, and so didn't really know how to go back down. Scott pulled out some money, but needed change for the food machines. We gave him change, but then he said that he was too tired to buy anything. Scott sat down next to the heater, and we proceeded to buy him food and to give it to him. Scott ended up eating 2 cokes, 2 snickers bars, and a power bar.
While we were waiting for Scott to recover a bit, it started raining. I figured that it would just be a quick shower, so not to worry, we'll just wait it out. After a while, Gary came up from doing the backside. He said that most of the climb was in the sunshine, but that it was just the last bit that he got wet.
We waited some more. People are putting on all of their clothes now, and wishing that they had carried some more along. Jennie is worried that she didn't have enough. She was standing near the trash can, and looking at her, a thought came into my brain. I told her that they sometimes put extra trash bags down at the bottom of trash cans. Jennie then took the lid off and I reached down below the top one that was already filled with trash. Then it was just like pulling a rabbit out of a hat. Magically, I found a whole bunch of large trash bags, enough for everybody.
We're all there poking head-holes and arm-holes in the bags, when this man appeared from the main part of the observatory. Oh-oh, caught in the act! Jennie asked if he was the person that did the trash, and he said that he was. Jennie then asked if it was ok for us to take the bags (which we had already taken), and he said that it was ok, and he even offered to go get us some more if we didn't have enough. I didn't use a trash bag for myself, as I already had enough clothes, but everyone else had one and was glad that they did. It was definately a "Kodak moment", with everyone standing around with their trash bags on.
I still hoped that this rain would finally blow over, and also that we would soon drop down beneath the cloud, so that we could then see the extent of the storm. We didn't get either, as it rained all of the way and we were also inside the cloud the whole time. We didn't get any letup until we were finally heading down Quimby.
I followed along behind Dan, who was following behind Scott. Dan was being a good ride leader, keeping watch over Scott to make sure that he was able to do the descent. Dan made sure that Scott kept turning his legs to keep his blood flowing, and made sure that Scott kept talking, to check on his mental functioning. It was a very slow descent, and it took lots of patience to go that slow. It was raining, the wind was really blowing, the fingers were getting stiff, and the brakes weren't working as good as they might have.
I was glad when we finally got down to Smith Creek and could begin the small climb up the other side. A chance to warm up a bit. Part way up the hill we came upon Jeff, fixing a flat tire. I stopped, and Gary did also. It was good to see Scott and Dan keep going, as they could use the head start.
While Jeff worked on his flat, I adjusted my brakes, tightening them up, so that they grabbed with only a little bit of movement. I also took this oportunity to wring the water out of my gloves, which they really needed. During this time Gary stood by and waited, but he was shivering uncontrollably. I told him that he needed an extra layer of fat on his body, like I had.
It was a joy to finally begin to go up hill again, as it did warm things up a bit. On the downhill into Grant Ranch, I went off the front, now happy that my brakes were working much better. Jeff was the slow one now, as his brakes were not working too good.
Gary and I waited for Jeff at the start of Quimby. Gary was still shaking. Jeff arrived after a while, but was unsure about if he could manage to go down Quimby or not. He was thinking that maybe he might have to walk. I suggested that we could tighten his brakes up like I did to mine. Since Gary was still shaking, we decided to wait and adjust the brakes at the top of Quimby, to give Gary a chance to warm up again.
It worked; Gary finally warmed up enough by the time we reached the summit. We fixed Jeff's brakes, noting that his back brake shoe was worn almost all of the way down, then off we went. I followed Jeff, to make sure he was doing ok, and it looked like he was going to make it. The rain had finally stopped for awhile, and we could look out over the valley. It looked like we were going to make it ok.
Just at the top of the double-switchback, who should appear but Jennie in her car. She had come back up to make sure that everyone was getting down ok. Jennie had thought that Scott might need assistence, but then found that Scott and Dan were ahead of us and doing ok. So she came on up to see if we needed a ride. I thought that maybe Jeff would want a ride because of his brakes, but he declined. I also thought maybe Gary would want a ride because of his shaking, but climbing Quimby had now warmed him up.
With everyone looking out for each other, everyone finally made it down the hill from Mt.Hamilton ok. This had turned into another epic ride. Both Jennie and I had thoughts of our other epic ride, the "1995 Big Basin Snow Ride", and decided that this one wasn't quite as bad as it was that day. The temperature on Mt.Hamilton was a relatively warm 42F, so that there was no snow, and the fingers were not quite as cold. Also, we were all wearing our winter clothes this day, while the Big Basin ride was in April, so we did not have our long-fingered gloves along.
Climbing Mt.Hamilton is always an adventure. But, as with all adventures, it is best to be prepared. Bring extra clothes to put on at the top. Bring along some food, and remember to eat, as it takes lots of calories just to make it to the top.
-Don
Go back to the top.
Dan was a good ride leader yesterday....he's learning from the best!! He was also giving Scott some tips at the parking lot after the ride....what to bring (food), what to wear (jacket, tights), etc. Scott was very appreciative of all the help everyone gave him!
--JP
Go back to the top.
-Pete
Go back to the top.
Things looked pretty bleak but we kept moving ahead and kept reasonably warm. We fell a couple times in the mud. The brake pads were all ground away. The water in the stream crossings had risen well above the bicycle hubs. We had a great time! We saw the park in nearly every weather condition, even if the panoramic views were cut short. We got home, had hot showers, and went out to a good hot dinner. It was a lot of fun to have come so close to having a disastrous bike trip. This evening I worked on wheel bearings. Tomorrow the bikes get new brake pads.
-Bob
Go back to the top.
After reading Your Mt Hamilton ride experience, I felt inspired to tell mine. Although I am not presently an ACTC member, after reading the stories, meeting some ACTCers and riding on the Tierra Bella the last two years, it is time to join with this crew!
Story follows:
Since Mt. Hamilton is one of my favorite rides, it seems fit that it was my last ride of 1997. The day before the ride, Dec 21, was very windy, with gusts over 50mph.
On the morning of the 22nd, when my brother Darrell showed up, the trees were moving a little, but what's a "little" wind. We started out in the Evergreen area near my house and other than a "little" crosswind occasionally amd the temperature was in the low 40s, no problem. When we got to Clayton, a little more crosswind, but it was still OK. It wasn't until we got about 1 mile up Clayton when we came around a corner and the gust just about knocked me off of the bike. And it just continued to get better from there.
At one point my brother turns to me and yells, "Are you sure you want to do this, I think it's going to be and epic ride." Once we got to Mt. Hamilton road, it started getting really bad. All the way to Grant's ranch, it would either almost stop the bike or steer us like sail boats. It seemed to be gusting from more than one direction. Very rarely, it would be a momentary tail wind.
The last climb was really a challenge as we were starting to run out gas from both the climbing and fighting the wind. When we got to the top it was getting pretty cold. We hung out in the observatory for a while to refuel and rest when a worker there mentioned that it was 28 degrees out (my Cateye confirmed this). He also said that on a nearby peak the winds were gusting at about 60mph!
I had on about 4 layers, but parts were still getting numb. The ride down was really technical as the speed of descent coupled with the severe cross winds led to some scarry moments. We had planned on taking Quimby back, but changed our minds when we considered what a descent down Quimby would be like with the wind. We took Clayton back to my neighborhood. Fortunately, once we got down below 2000 ft, we started to warm back up. It ended up taking about an extra 30 minutes to get to the top and maybe 15 extra minutes on the descent.
Dan Swiger