Synopsis
It was something I wanted to do for a while – to ride a bike around the bay. The new bike lane on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge made it a whole lot easier to cover the loop of the San Francisco Bay proper – the Northern part of the bay is actually San Pablo bay, so it could be skipped – plus the logistics would involve at least 60 extra miles and likely make it a 3-day journey. Doing the ride in one weekend was essential for the group was a bunch of working dads with various aged kids that went together on the ride.
In
early 2020, COVID-19 cropped up – some upped training others dropped off, the
ride was planned for mid-August, but an early ramp into smokey fire season
caused a delay. December 5-6 was decided, and I was really a last-minute
addition to the mix as I do some biking but am not a regular or consistent
biker. As far as I was concerned, I couldn’t have done the ride in August, it
was too hot and school was just getting going again. So, for this timing, the good:
cooler temps; the bad: shorter sunlight and more clothes to wear and carry.
Training
I am generally a runner, putting in 20-30 and sometime more
miles per week. As we all know, those don’t necessarily translate from one to
the other. During the August and September smoke, I brought a trainer inside
and started riding my road bike again – and as the smoke cleared, I got out for
about 350 miles of training during September though mid-November. As I was
behind on my 1000-mile annual run goal, I decided to focus on running and not
bike for a while.
The decision
Not that this deserves its own section, but I calendared the
event about 3-4 weeks prior to it and told my wife. She was not the most enthusiastic
but seemed okay if I really wanted to do it. A week or so before Pancho texted
me to ask if I was going to join. I asked again and was given permission to go.
April was surprised I asked her about, as she was just assuming, I would be
going. Having a support/sag vehicle available
did play into easing my mind around going. I didn’t spend the most time staring
at the map – all the planning was done and I booked a hotel room in Palo Alto
and took a suitcase with clean clothes and my gear to load into the Sprinter.
Execution of the ride
Day 1: A crisp cool fall morning dawned and we met up at
Pancho’s – I took my car down to his house so as to not climb a hill at the
start of the first day and the end of the second day. We took off, probably a
little too fast, south-east to Danville through Dublin and Pleasanton and into
Sunol. We climbed into the Sunol wilderness on Calaveras Road and wound in and
out of the curves taking us into the shade of eucalyptus heading east and then
onto the exposed treeless sections of road as we headed west along the canyons formed by
streams running down to the lake. The descent down into Milpitas was a screamer,
though I got stuck behind a truck going 35MPH, so it was slower than it could have been.
We stopped for lunch at a Vietnamese place and had some very
greasy, garlicky food, and got back on the bikes to head to Palo Alto only an
hour or so away. As we road, we started
talking about doing an extra 5 miles into Woodside from Palo Alto. As we wound across Stanford’s campus, towards
Sand Hill Road, the other guys started to push the pace a little more – or maybe I
was just tiring out. Anyhow, a few blocks onto the Sand Hill climb, they were
walking away from me. I managed to ride
right past the Whiskey Hill Road turn, but recovered fairly quickly and finally
made it to Woodside. I looked for the Sprinter,
but it wasn’t around. I checked my phone and found a text – “we are going to
ride up Canada road. Meet you along the road, you’ll see the van.” In other words, the goalposts moved for the
second time in an hour, meaning I would be riding another 40 minutes of so up
the road. I met the van on Canada road, right across from Filoli garden, an
amazingly beautiful place that in nestled into a beautiful landscape.
Night: Check-in at the hotel didn’t go smoothly at all. But,
even though they couldn’t find my reservation, I ended up taking 30+ minutes to
complete the process and the guy at the counter gave me a giant suite, which we
used to unwind and share beers and tales after dinner at the Alpine Inn in
Portola Valley. The food was good there, and it looked like it would be packed,
but in reality, the dining was all outside and the menu was online and servers
just dropped off dishes at tables. Plus, by the time we got there, we only had
an hour before they closed. Anyhow, sleep, and dreams came fast after the few beers and ride of the day. The alarms
were set for 6.
Day 2: Woke up at 4AM. Couldn’t go back to sleep. Had to
drink water, coffee, water… took care of business, cleaned up, ate three energy
bars, drank more water, and got dressed for the ride. Once we hit the van, guys
went to McDonald’s but Pancho and I hung in the van and waited. We drove back
up to Canada road and got to our spot. The cold fog was biting at first and
even as we got rolling, arms, faces, and feet were cold. As we made our way up
Skyline, I turned where I usually did, onto the Crystal Springs Reservoir
running trail. The other guys were ahead and had stayed on Skyline (HWY 35). As
I wound past the lakes, I wondered where those guys were, and before I knew it
I was in Millbrae – checked my phone to see texts about mechanical issues, so I
just pressed on to Ocean Beach, our first arranged stop. I got to Ocean Beach
and saw more texts – more flats and more. It was warming up at the beach so I
took off my shoes and thawed out my feet, getting them to dry. I ended up
waiting an hour or so at the beach until everyone else either arrived or sorted
out their needs to go to a bike shop, etc. Anyhow, we took off past Seal Rock
and the VA into the Presidio and across the golden gate into Sausalito… grabbed
lunch and some more waters and electrolytes. I convinced the group to not take
Camino Alto from Mill Valley to Corte Madera – we could save time, miles, and
climbing. We wound out the peninsula toward
San Quinten and to the Richmond bridge. From there it was straight along the
bay into Albany and Berkeley, up to Tilden and down into Orinda and then home. As
I was steering down the hill to Inspiration point, my steering seemed to be
less good – a little soft. By the time we reached the bottom of the hill in
Orinda my front tire was empty. I used a
CO2 cartridge and filled the tube, hoping it would take me home. Luckily, it
did and the ride ended just as the last bits of sunlight were fading into
darkness. I turned on the hot tub at my house before I loaded my bike on the
car for the few miles home. It was fun, ending it was a bit sad, but also
joyous that the torture for my legs would end.
Day-after thoughts
Ooof. My legs. My abs. My shoulders. It is harder to stand
up than I thought it should be. Lots of water, lots of food today… and by the
end of the day, thoughts about the next adventure. Probably not on a bike, and
maybe not in 2020, but this was a good way to start the final month of 2020 – being
active, being reflective, spending time with friends, and pushing closer to the
limit than you do on a day-to-day basis.
Now back to normal work. I wish we could all spend more time
doing endurance efforts like this regularly. But now, being December 2020, we
have COVID-19 lockdowns that started right after this ride ended.
Thanks
I have not used many names in this entry, but I should thank Jake
Block for driving the van all weekend; not an easy task and probably nearly as
tiring as riding. Of course, I should thank Pancho Silva for providing the van and inviting me on the ride. My other riding companions also deserve a lot of thanks for their
patience and understanding about my slower pace - Jason Frasier, John Hughes, Brett
Wilson, and Andrew Jensen. It goes without saying (but I will say
it anyhow), special thanks to the wives and families of these guys (and my wife) who
tolerated us leaving for the weekend to do this ride.
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