I sprang forward yesterday with one of the most spectacular bike rides I’ve ever been on. 45 miles of gorgeous scenery. Well, maybe 40 miles of gorgeous and 5 miles of neighborhood but still – it was amazing.
The most amazing part about it was that I used to see people biking up the Berkeley Hills and think ,”They must be crazy! How can anyone DO that? That’s gotta HURT!” So now I’m crazy, too – crazy cool and crazy strong and crazy in love with that ride.
The day was perfect – PERFECT! We left at 7:30 from our respective homes and rendez-vous’d (you French speakers didn’t know that was an English verb, did you??! ) at 8:00 to start the real ride. I was excited because I finally felt ready to tackle what I thought was ‘the hill’ – going up Wildcat Canyon Rd. When we got to the top I felt like such a stud because I DID IT! Little did I know that the real hill still lay ahead of us. First we got to go down and I was sure that was it – we were going down the other side of the hill but oh no. We got to a stop sign and after hanging a quick left immediately had to start going up again. ‘WHOA! I yelled. WRONG GEAR!”. Cindy called back, “I was going to warn you but getting a reaction from a first timer is too much fun.” ha ha!!
I dropped the gears and started climbing. At this point we were back in a neighborhood where they had spectacular views of the San Francisco Bay. We all live on the other side of the hills where our view is of the back side of hills we had climbed (duh!) so we got all excited and started yelling “OH MY GOD! LOOK AT THAT VIEW!” and then realized it was 8:30 on Sunday morning and we were probably waking everyone up with thoughts of ‘for the love of God be quiet – so what?” Well people who live in the hills please do NOT take your view for granted. You are very lucky people indeed!!
After climbing for what seemed forever we got to go down the back side in heavily wooded areas with wildflowers popping out of the undercover and the smell of eucalyptus and pine filling the air. I can’t tell you how beautiful it was – you just had to be there. I took one picture with my phone but it hardly does the scenery justice so these photos are all culled from the internet. Trust me when I say they are representative.
More Pics including an elevation map (’cause I loves to look at those) after the jump.
Elevation Map
The Vistas… ahhh the vistas….
A piece of the road:
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Ooooooh! Beautiful! And if I lived there, I’d forgive you for yelling about it.
12 Mar 07 at 2:45 pm #Awesome post about your bike ride. I have a question, not being a cyclist, but a marathoner… I am in marathon shape but have had to sit out for the last 2 months due to a bad left shin splint. I have been riding an exercise bike pretty hard 4-5 times a week for about 6 weeks, anywhere from 1-2 hours, probably 25-30 miles each time. If I wanted to do the local MS150 coming up in mid-April, probably riding 75 miles each day for 2 days, do you think that is feasible? Thanks for any input.
12 Mar 07 at 3:46 pm #Thanks for sharing your awesome ride and lovely pix! (I think I need to start riding hills….and SOON!)
12 Mar 07 at 5:12 pm #sweet! keep workin’ it!!
12 Mar 07 at 6:41 pm #It sounds like you definitely got the right bike. Great post; makes me happy just reading, cuz it reminds me of how I feel after an especially good run.
12 Mar 07 at 8:16 pm #Wow, you are now officially hardcore! Beautiful hills, awesome ride, and brilliant rider!
13 Mar 07 at 3:40 am #Wow! Sweet ride. Those are some gorgeous pics! I can only imagine what the actual, panoramic view must have looked like.
13 Mar 07 at 5:38 am #You are crazy
But in a good way! Awesome job! You are getting stronger every day.
13 Mar 07 at 9:46 am #Just like “The Little 21st Century Mom That Could”
I think I can, I think I can! Woot!
13 Mar 07 at 11:44 am #Wow! What a climb! That must have been great:)
13 Mar 07 at 11:46 am #The views are so gorgeous. What a ride for you!
14 Mar 07 at 4:19 am #and you used to be afraid of those hills? you are rocking, mom! great job. those views are absolutely amazing.
14 Mar 07 at 9:39 am #Hey lady – I’ve been behind the times but found you and updated my link!
14 Mar 07 at 10:15 am #