This club ride got rained out last Thursday, so the name was changed from Preview to Revisited. It's rain date was Monday, April 28. Light rain or showers were predicted, but we all wanted to ride anyway. At least make it up to the top, we hoped.
Kim Carr and I carpooled over to the start at Landess and Morrill, getting there just in time. Deb Lefferts, Art Cruz, and Jon Kaplan were already there. On the drive over we got a few sprinkles on the windshield, but nothing serious, and by the time we got to the start, we were in sunshine.
Good. It looked like this ride was going to happen after all. I was worried that it might be raining at the start, and then we'd cancel, and then I'd have nothing to do all day, and no good excuse to just hang out with my friends. But here we were, all ready to ride.
We all stayed together for the 5 miles over to Alum Rock Park and the start up the hill. Alum Rock to Migueleta to Mt.Hamilton Rd, using the same route as the Mt.Hamilton Challenge two days before. Going through Alum Rock Park we all noticed that there was alot of water, muddy water, flowing in the stream. I didn't remember it being alot of water before, so it must have got some good rain overnight.
Once on Mt.Hamilton Road, the group split up, with Jon and Art going ahead with Kim at the front, while Deb had "Donny duty" with me at the back. I was quite satisfied to be riding with Deb. And since it was her turn, it was good to see that she seemed content to be riding with me also. On yesterday's ride, Deb was the one riding at the front, leaving Donny-duty to Debbie Wade. Deb told me that she and Pam Downs used to talk with each other about who would be stuck riding with me, and that person would have Donny-duty. I'd much rather have it be "the winner gets to ride with Donny" instead of "the loser has to ride with Donny", but as long as someone rides with Donny, then I'm okay with that. I don't like to ride alone or with just a bunch of guys. So it was me and Deb riding up the front of Mt.Hamilton. And life was good.
Since Deb rode hard on her Sunday ride of 87 miles with 6000 ft of climbing, she was a bit tired climbing today, but we kept up a good steady pace up the hill. Mostly the weather was cooperating. Lots of clouds around, but we were able to get some sunshine every so often. Then, when we got to about 2 miles from the top, a cloud came up from behind and started an easy rain for the rest of the way up. Enough rain to make you damp but not enough to get really wet.
Finally at the top, it was good to get in out of the weather. Kim had a head start on getting her clothes dried out and warmed up. We joined her at the heater and added to the arrangement of clothes pinned to the bulletin board above the heater. The outside thermometer ranged from 35.6 to 34.5F while we were at the top. A few times we could see the light rain switch over to a few flakes of snow, but nothing to be worried about.
Art asked the mailman if he had room in his car for a ride down the hill. He did, but Art would need to wait an hour before he was ready to leave. Art said that he was just kidding, but he must have been thinking about it, since he asked. Kim offered Art her extra windbreaker, and it even seemed to fit, but Art didn't want to get it all sweaty so he turned it down.
We all stayed at the top for an hour after Deb and I arrived. It finally cleared up enough, and our clothes were now all dried out, so we decided to start riding again. The 4 of us decided to go on while Deb decided to turn back. But just a few minutes later, we were glad to see Deb join us again. She had changed her mind. Good It was good to have the group all together again. We told Deb that it would have been raining all of the way back down the front anyway.
Going down the backside was a strange experience. We were now out of the cloud at the top so we were getting some spotty sunshine. In between we seemed to be going through little foggy patches on the road. It looked like it had just finished raining and the road was trying to dry out, and so all of this vapor was coming up off of the road.
We all made it down safely, then stopped to remove excess clothes at the bottom. For the next few miles I rode at the front with Kim, assigning her Donny-duty for at least awhile. We regrouped again at the summit near the 13-mile marker. From here it would be a quick downhill and then a very nice tailwind all of the way to The Junction. Once in the tailwind, we all started telling each other to remember to slow down and smell the flowers, as this stretch had the best wildflowers blooming for as long as anyone could remember. Everyplace was just covered with flowers today.
We made it to the Junction Cafe with no more rain. We all ordered Jerry burgers with cheese and fries, except for Deb who got a rib-eye steak with fries. It was alot of food, but everyone turned out to be very hungry, so everything got eatten. While we were eatting, a little rain cloud passed by, but it was clear again by the time we were ready to go on. The Junction stop was also an hour long, so it was now close to 3:00 PM. We didn't discuss options but just took off to complete the loop, heading on towards Livermore and back over Calaveras.
I was hoping that we'd have a tailwind all of the way, since we had one at the moment. It lasted for a few miles, getting us up and over the Arroyo Mocho climbs. But then about half way to Livermore it seemed to have switched on us. Closer to Livermore, it was very definitely a headwind, and so our speed slowed down a bit. I was riding at the back again with Deb, but this time we were joined by Art. Kim had gone off the front with Jon and we didn't see them again until Livermore.
From Livermore to Pleasanton we all stayed together as one group, forming a paceline, as we now had a solid headwind all the way. In Pleasanton we first turned the wrong way, but then were able to find the little store that we always stop at. Since it was now 5:30, their deli was closed, but we were still able to buy other stuff and to have a good sit inside out of the cold. We made a few phone calls, letting people know that we might be a bit late in getting home. By 6:00 PM we were ready to go again, with an estimated 8:00 PM finish, but only if we kept us a steady pace.
Luckily, the headwind seemed to disappear on the ride towards Sunol and Calaveras, and maybe even turn back into a tailwind. Again, we all rode as one group up to the start of the Calaveras climb. On the climb, the group split up again, but this time it was Deb riding off of the front, so I joined her there.
We made good time climbing the hill. I thought that maybe Deb might be pushing it too hard, as we easily pulled away from the others, but Deb seemed to be climbing ok, so we continued on. Deb told me that she didn't want to slow down the group, and so she would ride at the front as long as she could. We made it all of the way up the long grade and then over all of the rollers before the others finally caught up for the quick downhill.
We arrived back at the cars at 7:57 PM, not too much before it started to get dark. Coming in to the finish, Art announced "Are we tough, or what!!", since we all survived the ride and the cold. I think that everyone was sufficiently tired from the ride. Many could have done without that final 27 mile stretch, and would have been happy to have had a ride waiting for them back in Pleasanton. But there was no ride waiting, and so we all had to persevere for the last two hours. And we all made it back in time. We are tough.
-Donny