Today I finally did the circuit ride through the western hills that I’ve been eyeing for ages now. It turned out to be harder than expected, largely because the ~2km of Redwood Gulch Road in the middle is insanely steep, the entire way. I walked that entire bit… I was already tired from just getting there (although I don’t think I was any worse than last time I rode to that point). I didn’t think I was doing that badly, but twice other riders going past asked if I was okay or needed help… bah.
The ride back was cool, because I finally got to use up all that gravitational potential energy, and it’s all downhill from there ’till you hit civilisation again. Though it was a bit cold, in just shorts and sleeveless shirt. And I became acutely aware, while keeping pace with the cars, how little there was protecting me from the rather rapidly moving bitumen.
So all in all I covered about 35km (of which 2km was walking, as noted). Reasonable. Still a bajillion miles short of my aim, to make it to the coast. Still, it didn’t take all that long this time… I seem to remember the first few rides I did, up into the western hills, taking three hours or more… this whole circuit, even with rests and the walking and whatnot, didn’t take more than two and a half. Probably less… my casual timing got screwed by the daylight savings change.
And that peeves me… I was promised an extra hour, but that was a lie… now it’s 1:13am, and I do indeed have work today, but I’m not tired yet. Grr.
