Unlike
last year (2004), when the ride was called off due to really bad weather (I
woke up to rain slamming horizontally against my window), this
year's ride saw remarkably-nice weather, even better than forecast.
About 47 degrees at the start, mid-30s at the top and just a bit
cooler on the way back down as some rain managed to move in for the
last few miles of the descent. Very few people on the hill this
year; perhaps no more than 30 (other years we've seen between 25 &
200). I have a feeling that a lot of people decide to ride or not
based on the weather forecast, rather than how the weather actually
turns out. You miss a lot of nice riding that way!
All of these photos may be clicked on to see a larger version.
You just know it's going to be a nice day when you wake up to a
rainbow like this!
Don't let the
weatherman rule your life; he's often way-wrong!
9:12, about
10 minutes into our ride, and we're really enjoying life. Broken
skies, green hills, damp but not messy roads and great company.
Normally
I'd sort out and eliminate a lot of near-duplicate photos, but
figured I'd put them up for the time being in case somebody who was
on the ride sees one they'd like to have (just
drop me an email, including the name of the photo, which can be
found by right-clicking on it).
Chain Reaction's Todd N
leading the charge just before the first descent (at 9:22am & 6
miles) into Grant Ranch.
At this point you've
climbed about 1500ft before descending 300ft into Grant Ranch, at
7.75.
At 11 miles you've
reached the second little peak at 2360ft. Next you drop about 200ft
before the final assault.
I held up briefly here
for Jeff (one of our Sonora Pass veterans) to catch up.
The final 7
miles up to Mount Hamilton are serious business for some, just plain
fun for others, and the final straw for a few. Fortunately, nobody
we saw was in that last category! But there were a few who were
taking no prisoners.
10:44am
You can see these guys passing us and literally fading into the
distance, as the clouds we're now climbing into aid their escape. We
were only 6 minutes from the top at this point, but had no way of
knowing that since you couldn't see much of the road ahead and never
once saw the observatory until we were almost on top of it (on a
clear day, you can see the observatory dorm while you've still got
an hour more of riding to get there, and it seems like you just
never get any closer).
Y'know,
those other guys (the ones who passed us) might look tough, but
we're the real thing! In the left-hand photo we have Ron on the
left, Jeff on the right and I believe Pete sitting on Jeff's wheel.
We finally hit a small amount of snow just prior to the very top,
which was somewhat disappointing. After all, it was cold enough
anyway... it would have seemed much more impressive if we'd had
walls of snow on the sides of the road!
10:52am
and this part of our group makes it to the main observatory, where
on a clear day you can see Monterey, the Sierras, San Francisco...
but today wasn't that day! Still, we weren't complaining, as the
weather had been much kinder than it might have been.
Todd on the left, Ron
in the middle, and Bruno, who'd arrived late as was chasing us, on
the right.
What's with
the shoes? The sign outside the door that says "No cleats inside
building." So do you protest discrimination against cyclists, or are
you thankful for a nicely-heated building? One guess.
The two
guys on the left had heard about this ride from our website, and
were enjoying their first ride up Mt Hamilton!
As Sal
arrives (in the left photo, coming through the door), the gang is
definitely all here! We were in no hurry to go back outside, as the
"official" weather station (on display in the building) was showing
32 degrees. But descend we must, so at 11:20am you can see us all
bundled up in the right photo, just before heading down the hill.
As we
re-enter the cold, cruel world (which, because we were dressed for
it, really wasn't all that bad), we encounter a few more cyclists
making the best of the new year, including long-time Chain Reaction
customer Sanborn, seen dismounting her bike in the middle photo. But
it's time to go so pleasantries are quick (although I did hang up
our departure for a couple minutes as I struggled to re-pack my seat
bag, which isn't so easily done with double-gloved hands).
11:49am
and we've finished descending the nastiest, coldest stretch of the
mountain, and actually look forward to the brief climb ahead!
But on
that brief climb we hit a bit of a snag, as one of the riders in our
group had a flat tire, and of course a spare tube that was flat, and
then a pump that didn't work quite right, and finally a tire that
had worn through to the cord and had to be booted with a $5 bill.
Meantime,
while everyone else was working with the flat tire, Sal is putting
on latex gloves???!!! He claims they're to keep his hands warmer.
It's about 12:10 when we finally get moving again, finishing in the
rain around 1pm.
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