Today’s ride was another one we could roll out from home, fully loaded for touring. Today we decided to head across the bay to the hills over there. There are a lot of good roads, but it takes a while to get there. To get more climbing, we combined two rides we’ve done before.

We got a bit of a rocky start. Just as we were about to roll out, Anne determined that her rear brake needed adjustment. So we paused for a bit to sort it out.

We rode out across Dumbarton Bridge. I’ve done this segment a thousand times as a commute, but not so much lately. But instead of turning down at University, we went a little further (and closer to Facebook) to Willow. I don’t think we’ve crossed 101 on Willow since they finished the interchange project. It’s actually quite nice now for bikes, with clearly marked lanes, and a road design that forces cars that want on the highway to cross the bike lane, rather than making bikes cross a car lane. Of course it would be more excited in heavy commute traffic, but I approve.

After passing through Menlo Park and Palo Alto, we started to get to the hills. We took a multiuse path that ran parallel to Alpine for a bit, near the Stanford golf course. I did not like it. It was not graded like the road, so went up and down and around, with some sharp turns and steep bits. Before too long my scowling was noticed and we went back on the road — which had a delightful shoulder and was just fine riding. It can be hard to tell ahead of time what the right route is.

We stopped for lunch at a venture capital/medical building, which was both quiet on the weekend and had a nice table next to the parking lot. It was posh enough I was vaguely worried about someone coming to yell at us, but nobody gave us any trouble.

Then it was back on Alpine, already partway through out first major climb of the day. Our route had us taking Alpine to the end/summit, then coming back down and turning towards Woodside. But Anne declared she was already feeling pretty worn out, and suggested we skip the out-and-back portion. That was a hard offer to refuse, so we cut off some 3 miles of climb (and 3 matching miles back down).

That also meant we immediately got some downhill, which was a nice change of pace. The roads through Portola Valley and Woodside weren’t exactly quiet, but wide enough to be nice.

Then it was up to the Redwood City Cross. This takes a winding set of roads, with expensive looking houses peeking out between trees. The average grade on the road is mild, but it comes in short very steep bits. I had Max in the trailer and the touring bags. The steep bits are short enough to power through (mostly), but then there’s barely time to recover before the next. But it’s only about a mile and a half to the top.

Once there we stopped to enjoy the view and eat the cookies we had saved from lunch. (and for me to recover more). Ruth and Max decided to switch places, so I’d have her in the trailer for the descent, and Max would ride the tandem. The descent is similarly winding, and with more uphill bits. I was nervous about my braking power, so went slowly. There’s more down than up, since there’s a long slow climb to get around to the back side of the hill.

The ride back through the cities to the bridge was uneventful. I was wearing out, so Anne took the trailer for the bridge.

Just as we were cresting the hill out of Don Edwards on the Fremont side of the bridge, I heard a hissing sound. I was worried about another flat on the trailer, which was right ahead of me. Eventually I looked down and realized it was my own rear tire that was flat.

We had what we needed to fix it, but were only a few miles from home. Rather than take the time to fix the flat and then try to get momentum again for the last part of the ride, we decided Anne would go home and get the van. She left behind the trailer and both kids, to go quickly. The kids entertained me with an impromptu dance show, and before long Anne came with the van to get us the rest of the way home.

Even though the ride wasn’t quite all that we had planned (cutting off some of the climb, flat, van ride home), we still got plenty of saddle time.