Mt. Hamilton Century

Did a century with Seth, Khalid, Bradley, and Adnan (Khalid's bro) on Sat.

An amazing day, almost too hot. OK, it was too hot on the uphills fo' shizzle (I had to stop in the shade and dump water on me once). Never put on a jacket or legs for the long ride.

Here's the route.... (zoom out once.)

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Mt. Hamilton is the tallest peak in the bay area, at over 4,200 feet. For comparison, Mt. Diablo (3,800 ft) and Mt. Tam (2,500 ft).

It's a popular ride for folks in the S. Bay, and we saw more bikes than cars for most of the ride. The Hamilton Challenge does a similar route in April.

This was the first time in the area for me... although it's surrounded by civilization, the area is quite desolate. Read this interesting article by David Rains Wallace to get a good idea of what lies out there...

It's an awesome ride, but it does require a drive... out to Livermore.


The first stop was at the Junction Bar in 30 miles, after what Khalid calls "rolling hills"... I thought it was more like a few standard hills with a few smaller hills mixed in.


Poster in the bathroom... si... quiero mas energia..


The Junction Bar is deep in the middle of nowhere. Kind of a biker bar and surprisingly crowded. Felt right at home entering in my spandex asking for water next to guys wearing leather or all camouflage with a boar hanging off the wall. They've got a book exchange wall, frozen snickers... and next time, I'd like to do the route backwards, so I can ride the last 30 miles downhill after a few Sierras.


This was also Seth's first century ride... which was awesome, as this was pretty challenging.

Going up Mt. Hamilton was tough, and hot. But you did get great views, like this one... you can see the Sierras covered in SNOW!!!


Hamilton was the halfway point, but the next 25 miles were mainly downhill... to the DONUT store! Woohoo.

Donuts = key to success. I had 3. And a huge ham & cheese croissant. That I scarfed in a few seconds.


In the 2nd second of eating...


We rode up Calaveras Rd. (Where I'm doing air sampling for work), and completed the route with no light to spare. Woohoo... 7 hours on the saddle.


After driving Bradley and Seth home, I rode my bike straight out to Ocean Beach (couldn't get enough), where I had an idea to have a bonfire the night before, and my fellow peers followed through. There... I finally got to drink beer. And some 17 and 18 year old ballet proteges joined us. Then we went to the Beach Chalet. Then to Danny Coyle's... I remember dancing... long night. Woke up not knowing where any of my stuff ended up... my bike, or jacket, or bag... luckily Mingus was asleep in his bed. Cooked up a fine breakfast with Matty, went over to Alameda and played Beach Volleyball all day.


Some more pics from the day.