Pictorial Panoche Road

Club ride today on Panoche Road out in Paicines, aka bucolic country.   Some club members offered to carpool.  Yay, no driving for me.

We started, in my opinion, much too early, with the temperature hovering around 40 degrees.  

 Despite blue skies and a bright sun, I found the temperature not to my liking.  It did warm up some but my body was meant to be in a bikini, on a beach with white sand and clear blue water along with a waiter serving me a drink with an pink colored  paper umbrella and some pineapple.  Note to self:   buy wool jersey.

LKHC Soda Springs

Time for another Low Key Hill climb -- arriving at the start of Soda Springs.  Whew, not exactly a bikini weather day.  Quite chilly in fact.  High 40s maybe 50 degrees.

When I was a little girl, I used to host tea parties for my dolls and stuffed animals.  We'd discuss Schopenhauer and Kant while painting our nails and eating bonbons.  After tea time, I'd get out Barbie who would then proceed to call Ken and G.I. Joe (borrowed from my brothers' collection).  Even as a child, I realized that there was something anatomically incorrect about their bodies, but still, Barbie had herself a swell time.  What does any of this have to do with biking you ask.  Well, nothing really, other than I'm sharing the sorts of things that run through my mind while climbing 2,368 feet on the longest continuous climbing road in the Bay Area (8.41% grade).

Alison caught me at mile 3.41.  I was determined to meet my goal of beating my previous LKHC time back in 2009.  How'd I fare?  Back then, 66.32.  Today, 60.11.  Now, off for a hot bath with my rubber duckies.

Licking the Mountain

I received an invitation to do Mt. Hamilton on Sunday.  We were blessed with warm temperatures, blue skies, and no wind, in other words, ideal conditions for this ride. I should have worn a bikini! 

I zipped up the mountain until the last 3 miles where I lost a lot of steam.  Descending was a pleasure, especially the section where it felt like we were gliding, so smooth and silky.  Some trees have turned yellow and red, reminding us that Fall is here but today, it felt like a summer day.  Enjoyable.  For once, I felt like I "licked" it even with the stumble the last few miles. Thank you for inviting me to do this climb.  I had a really nice time.