Anne had decided not to do Cinderella this year, since she’s rather spend biking days as a group for prep, and Cinderella is women only. So, as we’ve done before, we rode the approximate route ourselves ahead of the organized one.

Last night we packed as close to for real as we could. There are still a few items on order, but it let us know we were going to be able to fit everything. It ended up with about 11 pounds each side on the front, and 12 each side on the back. I think we’ve still got a bit of tweaking to do, but the pack list is just about done.

We actually got to the car at a reasonable time, with just one hiccup of my front rack not fitting with the roof rack on the van. We may do something else long term, but for today Anne tetrissed it into the back with all the trailers and wheels and stuff.

Just as we were congratulating ourselves for being timely, I realized I hadn’t packed the hitch arm for the Chariot. We couldn’t do the ride without it. We considered going home and doing a ride from there, abandoning this one. I convinced Anne we should send one of us home while the other got the bikes ready. So Anne took the kids on the one hour round trip to get the hitch arm. I took my time getting stuff ready until they got back.

Finally, we actually rolled out. It was still a bit chilly, which gave us a chance to test out how conveniently we had packed the cool weather gear (answer: good). On a tricky left, where cross traffic doesn’t stop, a small motorcycle group held the lane for us. They were the last vehicles at the time, but the gesture was appreciated.

We stopped for lunch at Robertson Park in Livermore. There’s a nice little playground, which the kids enjoyed. Except for when an pretty big unleashed (but attended) dog came over and walked straight for Max. Max turned and started running back to us, and I stood and scoped him up. The dog wasn’t acting aggressively, but still, people should not bring unleashed dogs to playgrounds.

We continued on to the main climb of the day. While we were climbing, Anne started playing I Spy with letters. It turns out Ruth really enjoys that game. Throughout the rest of the ride, she wanted to play. “Daddy” was a common choice for her – I must occupy a big chunk of her field of view. She came up with lots of others, though, and good guesses for when someone else was going. On busier roads it gets hard to hear though.

The ride through the hills to Danville was pleasant. It had warmed up enough that we had repacked the cold gear. Many of the trees were flowering pink. Lots of cows, horses, goats, sheep, and even a pair of deer watched us roll by.  Many items were I Spied. Traffic was light, and we even had a bit of a tailwind to dampen the rolling hills.

Once we hit Danville it was clear we wouldn’t make it back before dark. We considered cutting the ride short, but we decided to carry through. It’s all downhill to 680, where we took a pit stop at our favorite park and ride.

Finally, the last leg south back to Pleasanton. We took the Iron Horse Regional Trail, which I’m always mixed on. Cars are often easier to deal with than pedestrians. It was pretty lightly traveled as the sun set, and most of the road crossings were nicely configured. Eventually, it turns into a frontage path for 680, which was a bit less pleasant, but cut a nice line. Until it switched from concrete to gravel. I wasn’t excited about riding in gravel in the dark, so Anne found an alternative for the last mile or so back to the car.