We have officially started prepping for the summer West Coast tour.  This ride starts our training period.

We do the Mission Loop with some regularity when we’re not feeling super creative.  Anne did a ride at Alum Rock Park in San Jose in the Cinderella training series last year, and has wanted to go back.  We decided to do both.

As we went down the Alameda Creek Trail, we saw a guy fiddling with his kid’s bike.  The chain had slipped off the single-speed, and he was having a hard time getting it back over the rear cog.  I stopped to help, but sadly I had left my Leatherman at home, so I couldn’t help take off the rear wheel.  Fortunately, he got it, and we continued on.

The ride down towards Alum Rock was fairly straightforward, if a bit boring.  Once we got to the park, it shifted quickly from suburb streets to a narrow, twisty road, with a small but steady upslope.  There was a bit more traffic than I would have liked, which had a hard time having enough visibility to pass us.  Everybody was sufficiently patient, however.

Near the top, there’s a visitor center and a nice playground.  The kids ran around, and we had lunch.

Then it was time to continue up, this time on a paved multiuse path, rather than a road.  After a bit of climbing, we had a nice, straight descent.

On the ride back, it started to cool off, and we had to fight a bit of a headwind.  Ruth started to get antsy.  But we made it without incident.