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.

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.

It’s time to admit that we’re training for a tour this summer. The last two have been cancelled (2019 due to a bike frame crack we couldn’t fix in time, 2020 due to covid). I didn’t want to jinx it by talking about it too much.

We’re planning to do a tour very similar to the Cascades tour in Oregon in 2013, in early June. Our recent rides have been to get in shape for it.

Today was the first fully loaded training ride. Anne has been updating our pack list, and yesterday we collected everything and put it in bags. This will be the first tour with the tandem and no Chariot. We bought more bags for Anne to carry on the tandem, for the stuff we packed in Max in the Chariot.

For riding loaded I use a front rack. My bike doesn’t fit on top of the car with the front rack installed. Rather than reinstalling the rack before every training ride, the rest of our training will mean rolling out from home.

So we did a Calaveras out and back. We’ve done this ride in various incarnations. A loop. A loop in the other direction. An out and back. We generally prefer loops, but make an exception here. The return would otherwise be through mostly flat city streets, which isn’t very exciting. Returning means more time on the beautiful (and usually quiet) Calaveras.

After routing through Newark and Fremont, we rode through Niles Canyon. The road has a mix of nice shoulder and zero shoulder. And it’s a busy connection to Sunol and beyond. In the morning it was pretty quiet, though.

We stopped briefly at the train station in Sunol for restroom, food, and a Mother’s Day call to my mom. Then it was on to Calaveras.

Calaveras spends some time pretty flat, past a quarry, a tree nursery, and a regional park. Then the main climb begins. But the slope never gets much past 5%, enough to work but not enough to really suffer.

We stopped midway up at our favorite lunch turnout. I had secretly (maybe?) packed Mother’s Day gifts with the luggage, including a pot holder and card that Ruth made, and some river otter socks from me. Max couldn’t wait and gave his gift (a card and a collection of things that represent what he’s thankful for Mommy) days ago.

Then back on the road, to finish the main climb, and the rollers after. We stopped just before the descent for The Wall, which is a challenging climb in the other direction. We snacked, passed the trailer back to me, and also swapped the kids. Max would ride the tandem for the second half, Ruth in the Hase trailer.

We can easily adjust the seatpost on the tandem, but the Hase is harder. So Ruth would need to cope with too-close pedals. I asked her to help me with the uphill parts of the rollers.

And she did, helping to make the short climby bits not to painful. But the return is mostly a long slow descent.

On the last few uphill bits before Sunol I started having a hard time. I got my second covid vaccine dose two days ago. Yesterday I felt pretty miserable, but felt a lot better today. Between that, the bags, and generally wearing out, I was running out of steam.

We paused in Sunol. Anne said she was feeling pretty good, so took the trailer back. Everybody likes being with Mommy better anyways.

Niles Canyon was much busier than in the morning. Many drivers were not interested in waiting for an opening to pass, so just played chicken with cars in the other lane. But on the plus side, the return is mostly downhill, so it’s pretty fast. And the scenery is still lovely.

As always, the last few miles dragged. I was doing a bit better without the trailer and less climbing. But of course we made it home. And since we didn’t drive to the start point, we could just roll into the garage and start our evening.