A quick update, because, to channel steve weller, i'm in the pain cave without a flashlight.
The ride today was a lot of fun. it also turned out longer than I thought-- 115mi, with 11,000ft of climbing. unfortunately, i didn't take my camera, so no pictures. It was a beautiful day, though.
On the ride,
- 1) a bunch of thule elk got startled and caused a landslide above us, raining rocks onto the road
- 2) there is now a whole bunch of squished newt on my bike
- 3) I saw a murder of crows, and many hawks.
- 4) Everyone in the group but me fell on the black ice on the descent. Yes, i'm a badass.
- 5) that ride was ridiculously long. Fun, but too long for my taste.
- 6) On calaveras rd, there is a nursery that runs alongside the road for literally 4miles. I've never seen so many potted trees. Apparently most every landscaper in the bay area gets there stuff there.
- 7) All the climbing in the route was done by mile 70. So, we did the last 45mi ridiculously fast.
- 8) One guy in the group works for Hexcel, a big carbon fiber manufacturer. They make the carbon fiber for Maclean Composites, as well as Hed and Trek. Something I didn't know about making carbon fiber-- you start off with acetonitrile, and then burn off the nitrogen in a 1200 degree oven. As a fake chemist, I thought that was cool.
- 9) near the beginning of the ride, we descended sierra road, which in the tour of california is one of the premier climbs they do. Apparently, most of the mexican national team dropped out of the race on that climb.
That's about what I have to say.
Some pictures I scrounged online:
Looking down from the observatory on Mt. Hamilton at the climb up.
Lick Observatory. As the Observatory is quite remote, the researchers actually live up at the top of Mt. Hamilton.
Mines Rd.
Mines Rd.
matt
