The original plan for today had been something including Palomares, a nice climb off of Niles Canyon. But a construction project recently started in Niles Canyon, which reportedly has blocked off large sections of what limited shoulder there is. So we scrapped that. Instead, we combined two rides again into one super ride, to try to get more climbing in while still rolling out from home.

This will likely be our last full training ride before our summer tour in Oregon. We still have next weekend, but we usually do something smaller the weekend before, as something of a cool down.

I adjusted my brakes while I was fixing my flat a couple days ago. My rear still isn’t quite right, so I ended up stopping a couple times for fine tuning.

We took Paseo Padre through Fremont on our way south towards Alum Rock Park. We haven’t ridden Paseo Padre much. It’s got more short rolling hills than Mission, which made for slow going. But it’s a nice road to ride on.

We stopped for lunch at a park with the trifecta – tables, restrooms and a playground. As we getting ready to leave, Anne chatted with some other cyclists about what were up to. With the tandem, trailer, and bags we’re quite a sight.

Alum Rock Park made our single biggest climb of the day. The grade was moderate (mostly 4-5%), but I was suffering with the trailer. We paused for a snack and I felt much better for the rest of the climb. I must have been more hungry than I had realized. The descent is along a multiuse trail (really a single-lane road closed to the public), which fortunately wasn’t very busy.

The ride back towards Mission was a bit of a slog; residential streets with small ups and downs. When we got close to Mission, we came to a road that’s usually a descent for us. But today, for maybe the first time, it was a climb. It’s so much fun to go down I were worried with how hard it would be to climb. But it wasn’t as long or steep as I feared.

The rest of the ride would be diversions from Mission (more climbing!). Anne took the trailer back for “the Animals”, a series of streets off of Mission names for various animals. We ended up taking Antelope, Lynx, Cougar, and finally Hunter. The turn to Cougar is a steep kick in the pants, but all the kids helped the Mommy Train get to the top.

We had planned to stop at a toilet at a park at the Niles end of the Alameda Creek Trail. But the toilet, which we’ve used many times over many years, was gone. Anne found another one further town the trail, which also gave a chance for people to suit up a bit against the cooling temperature. I was starting to wear out, and the stop killed our momentum (especially when Anne forgot to make the Mommy Train turn back on the road and we had to stop and realign in the driveway on the far side), but it was still a good idea to stop.

Then it was just a few more miles home, for cake and ice cream and a late bedtime.

Max reported a sore spot on his back that we think is where the water bladder was pushing into his seat. We’ll need to adjust it. We also need to make the final pack. But otherwise I think we’re just about ready for the tour.