While in the middle of training for the Boston Marathon in April, I got the bug to do a double century so I signed up for the Solvang Double Century. It is a 200 mile cycling adventure but with less than 7,000 feet of climbing.

Still I knew I needed to get in some longer rides so yesterday I did an ACTC (www.actc.org) ride called Cheese Burgers at the Junction. This is a ride that starts in San Jose and goes up over Mt. Hamilton, down the backside and out to the junciton. There had been considerable email traffic on the ACTC website warning about the terrible conditions for this ride, considering it had been snowing up there two days before. I was prepared to ride in the snow, and the sand placed on the road due to the snow. What did I find? A beautiful sunny day with temperatures at the summit in the mid 50′s and over 70 degrees coming backup the back side of Mt. Hamilton.

The following link shows the data that day from my Polar Heart Rate Monitor. As you can see, I was taking it easy because I was dealing with an running injury to my right Achilles.

This coming Saturday I plan to do even a longer club ride, part of the Long Distance Training rides, with 125 miles and similar climbing as yesterday. This time I get to go up Mt. Diablo.

Categories: Cycling Group Rides
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