Wildcat + San Pablo + Morgaga + Pinehurst + Skyline + Tunnel + Russel + Milvia

Length: 30.46 miles
Time: About 4 hours

The weather this weekend took a turn for the GORGEOUS on Friday and Saturday, so I was super stoked for my ride on Sunday, despite sore legs from walking up an effing CLIFF FACE in San Francisco, aka Folsom Street, the day before. It was sunny clear, with a projected high of 60 or so degrees - I could hardly scarf down my tofu scramble, potatoes, and green tea fast enough.

I had even more gear to play with this weekend; I finally bought a pair of gloves at Missing Link Bicycle Co-Op on Shattuck (10% off with my SFBC membership!), and Bike Friend Nathan was kind of enough to give me two old pairs of padded shorts and two jerseys. While slightly weirded out by the feeling, I fucking LOVE the shorts. My tender ladybits were not nearly so tenderIZED, even after over 30 miles. The jersey is lightweight, breathable, and has handy pockets situated on your back, which is nice, because before, I'd had my camera and cellphone in my sweatshirt pockets, which meant the weight of the electronics was hanging down in front. Not horrible, but not ideal, either.

I quickly found out how handy the gloves are as well; not only are they going to help out during wet weather, they also help counteract the slippage of my sweaty hands while riding in warmer weather.

I don't mean to give the impression that you have to go out and buy a bunch of shit to be a proper cyclist; I got all/most of my bike stuff at a discount (either through the nice Mr. Michael at Sports Basement, or my SFBC card) or free. It just makes rides, especially long ones, a lot more comfortable. You don't have to use/buy anything, as long as you're willing to put up with a bit of a sore crotch, etc etc! And I'm certainly no expert, so take everything I say with a big fuckin' grain of salt.

I planned for a 9am departure and managed to leave at 9:20am. The first 8 miles were familiar to me, being the same path (or part of it) I'd taken the last two weekends. The ride up Spruce was significantly easier this weekend compared to the last time and relatively uneventful. I nearly ran into a parked car when THE HOTTEST GUY EVER jogging without a shirt on went by on the other side of the street and I careened my neck around Linda Blair style to stare creepily at him. I also got the annoying short PEEP PEEP PEEP honks from a Sense of Entitlement Prius who wanted me and some other cyclists to get out of its way. Um, sorry, those parked automobiles to the right of me? They're SOLID. I'm not an X-man, I can't morph through cars. I could go on a rant about people who own Priuses (Priii?) and how the problem isn't the type of car, it's that there are too many cars, but I'll save it for a rainy day.

No turkeys as I made my way onto Wildcat, but far less traffic; only lovely quiet and the frequent "hello"s and "on your left!"s of other cyclists. I stopped near the end of Mile 4 for a quick water break. My goal was to make myself take frequent breaks, as I have a habit of trying to barrel through things and then I end up exhausted halfway through. The sunshine coming in through the trees was absolutely gorgeous, and wonderful spring warmth spread across my arms.





I stopped again at Mile 5.5, at what is clearly my favorite place to photograph, Inspiration Point in Tilden. Two French cyclist guys looked at me all weird while I was taking pictures; not sure if it was because I'm a girl, or because of my stomach pooge, or if they think cameras take your soul:





I got a little nervous going down E Wildcat towards San Pablo, especially when I came up to the point where the guy behind me took a spill last weekend, but there was less traffic this time and it was amazingly quiet, so I took some deep breaths, let up on the breaks a little and asked Lola to carry me safely; it was a very zen experience.

I turned right onto Camino Palbo road, which is where the new (for me) part of my ride began.



The road turns from secluded parkland into a more towny, busy-ish, 30-45 mph road, which sounds awful but there's a bigass bikelane for most of it. There were one or two terrifying, OMG what the fuck why is the bikelane ending moments, but it would pop back almost immediately and I think this road gets enough cyclists (it's a clearly-labeled bike route with signs every mile or so) that the cars know how to share the road. I tried to relax, enjoy the flatness and fastness (I have no problem going fast if I'm on flat ground, it's downhill that scares me), and remember what BFN had told me: "Just be confident and take lanes when you need to."

The road eventually turns into Moraga Way and most of it is pretty damn ugly: houses, shopping centers, a freeway onramp. I was pretty lucky, though, because by Mile 15 I had to pee something fierce, and right at the point where I turn from Moraga onto Canyon, there is a gas station with a single-stall bathroom that was big enough to take my bike into. SWEET.



The scenery changes almost immediately after being on Canyon for about half a mile. The housing developments fall behind and rural hills emerge from around corners. As I rode up to the point where Canyon ended and I could either go left or right on Pinehurst, tall redwood trees block out almost all the sun, dappling the dark asphalt with warm patches. Baby ferns and horsetails spring up along the sides of the creek that follows the road, and I think only two cars passed me the entire time.







Three older looking dudes with ponytails and bad shirts zoomed by me in expensive looking convertibles drove past (a Porsche and two other European looking things...mid-life crises?). It struck me that they think they look like hot shit; but to me, having a car and going for "drives" is not something I'd ever be impressed by. I felt kind of sorry for them, because I'm pretty hot shit myself.

After passing the itty bitty town of Canyon, CA (pop: FUCKING TINY), the landscape becomes more chaparral-like and the road begins to climb pretty steeply. It's an 8% grade for about 1/2 mile or so. I passed some amazing sandstone formations that might be Franciscan chert that I'd love to go back and take more time to look at, but I was so effing tired that I need all energy just to keep going. I really, REALLY appreciated my shoes at that moment, it was insane how much mental thought I was putting into forcing my muscles to push down and pull up with both legs. I finally got to a place to stop but the stratigraphy was much less apparent so I didn't bother taking many pictures and settled for neat tree roots instead.





I had to stop twice, and nearly forced a scream out of my burning lungs as I chugged up the last hump onto the Skyline/Grizzly Peak/Pinehurst intersection. I've decided that Pinehurst should be renamed PineHURTS.

I coasted slowly down back through civilization, and after just a little bit I was treated to a gorgeous view:





It was all worth it! My heart leapt as I realized that the remaining 9 or 10 miles was mostly downhill or flat, and my energy was renewed. Plus, I felt fucking badass. I'd just done 20 miles, which was about what my first ride with Lola two weekends ago was, and I was pooped after that. Now, I was embarking on 10 more, and I was going to fly.

The views from Skyline are phenomenal. Try to look at this as a panoramic shot:







Closer view of SF/Bay Bridge:



I wound my way down the hills back into south Berkeley, marveling at the houses built into the sides of the hills and how amazing it would be to live up here, away from all the noise and hubbub below. Then I thought about biking UP that hill I was flying down, and thought, "Eff that noise."

Skyline eventually becomes Old Tunnel, which becomes Tunnel, and runs along Hwy 13, which becomes Ashby. Tunnel is bike-friendly; Ashby is a fucking bike deathtrap, and unfortunately I didn't know exactly where I was and didn't turn off to get onto Russell (a bike boulevard) soon enough, so I had a scary 3 block ride where I was pretty sure I was going to get hit by a car. Russell was lovely and quiet, with a protected crossing at College and Telegraph, and from there it was an easy ride back home.

I felt amazing afterwards. I was so psyched about life, and bikes, and my body, and being a vegan athlete (HA), and I'm still feeling it today. Can't wait to do it again, except next time I think I'm going to try and do 40 and include Redwood!!

Lessons learned:
-Bring chapstick
-Bring a snack for any rides over three hours