Woke up Saturday morning with the intent of doing a ride. But I had no intentions of riding with the group I used to since they seemed to think it was funny to put me out in the lead and then take a turn off in another direction. They would have ended up at the same point in the end but I think that the third time was the charm and I won't ride with them anymore.
But I decided that there was a 25 mile ride that was interesting since it had a little climbing and it was short enough that the cold wouldn't completely freeze me. While 45 degrees isn't all that cold over most of the country, in San Francisco we sure as hell could use some more of that phony global warming.
In any case it is all city riding up to the base of Cull Canyon which dead ends at the entrance to a nudist colony. So after starting up the Canyon you have to always be aware of the nudists are in a hurry to get their cloths off. I assume that they have a warm building. But one time in disbelief of the rumor of a nudist colony I rode in there until I reached a sign that said, "No Clothing Beyond This Point". (Shiver)
Not only were there a lot of traffic heading in, but they were mostly large "manly" pickups. Now there is farming, a winery and horse ranches on the way in, the trucks in those areas are normally 1/2 tonners and often 4 passenger. Not the huge 3/4 tonners with no hitches on them. And often clean as a whistle snow tires, reverse rims and jacked up body.
I hit the top 13.6 miles from my home. I rested only about a minute. When you first start doing Cull Canyon you get the idea that it is uphill both ways mostly because a large part of it is rollers mostly up going into the canyon and then when coming out and you are tired the ups seem to get to you. But I'm well past that stage and the way out seemed all downhill and I was riding mostly around 25 on the way out.
During Obama most of the horse disappeared and those that hadn't all looked like walking skeletons. Now there are a lot of horses again like there were during the Reagan years and they all look fat, sassy and healthy. There are a couple of horse crossings that I always slow down for because not every horseman looks in both directions while trotting across the road.
Finally getting home it was sure good to get out of that cold wind. Though after Cull Canyon it was fighting traffic all the way that didn't want to give you your right-of-way. Either they would pull out in front of you so that you had to slam on your breaks or when you came to a complete stop at a stop sign to allow other traffic right-of-way they would wave you through which is EXTREMELY dangerous since other traffic then may not take their turns. I still have injuries because of that.
Got home with almost 27 miles and almost 1100 feet of climbing. For the year I still have a tad less than 300 miles and less than 7200 feet of climbing which in a normal year I could do in four rides. So it ain't my imagination that it has been cold and rainy.
I figured that I'd add a photo from yesterday as I stopped along the bay in Alameda. You can see the San Francisco span of the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Bridge that was built in 1936. That was 8 years before I was born but even as a little kid when we would go to San Francisco to visit aunts and uncles, we would take the car ferry because it was cheaper than the bridge toll. Hell if you bike it is still cheaper to take the ferry than to drive across a bridge that is going to be $7 toll.
But I decided that there was a 25 mile ride that was interesting since it had a little climbing and it was short enough that the cold wouldn't completely freeze me. While 45 degrees isn't all that cold over most of the country, in San Francisco we sure as hell could use some more of that phony global warming.
In any case it is all city riding up to the base of Cull Canyon which dead ends at the entrance to a nudist colony. So after starting up the Canyon you have to always be aware of the nudists are in a hurry to get their cloths off. I assume that they have a warm building. But one time in disbelief of the rumor of a nudist colony I rode in there until I reached a sign that said, "No Clothing Beyond This Point". (Shiver)
Not only were there a lot of traffic heading in, but they were mostly large "manly" pickups. Now there is farming, a winery and horse ranches on the way in, the trucks in those areas are normally 1/2 tonners and often 4 passenger. Not the huge 3/4 tonners with no hitches on them. And often clean as a whistle snow tires, reverse rims and jacked up body.
I hit the top 13.6 miles from my home. I rested only about a minute. When you first start doing Cull Canyon you get the idea that it is uphill both ways mostly because a large part of it is rollers mostly up going into the canyon and then when coming out and you are tired the ups seem to get to you. But I'm well past that stage and the way out seemed all downhill and I was riding mostly around 25 on the way out.
During Obama most of the horse disappeared and those that hadn't all looked like walking skeletons. Now there are a lot of horses again like there were during the Reagan years and they all look fat, sassy and healthy. There are a couple of horse crossings that I always slow down for because not every horseman looks in both directions while trotting across the road.
Finally getting home it was sure good to get out of that cold wind. Though after Cull Canyon it was fighting traffic all the way that didn't want to give you your right-of-way. Either they would pull out in front of you so that you had to slam on your breaks or when you came to a complete stop at a stop sign to allow other traffic right-of-way they would wave you through which is EXTREMELY dangerous since other traffic then may not take their turns. I still have injuries because of that.
Got home with almost 27 miles and almost 1100 feet of climbing. For the year I still have a tad less than 300 miles and less than 7200 feet of climbing which in a normal year I could do in four rides. So it ain't my imagination that it has been cold and rainy.
I figured that I'd add a photo from yesterday as I stopped along the bay in Alameda. You can see the San Francisco span of the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Bridge that was built in 1936. That was 8 years before I was born but even as a little kid when we would go to San Francisco to visit aunts and uncles, we would take the car ferry because it was cheaper than the bridge toll. Hell if you bike it is still cheaper to take the ferry than to drive across a bridge that is going to be $7 toll.
