We continued our outdoor exercise activities with this ride. This one took us through Niles Canyon again, but this time turning off at Palomares for a loop to the northwest.

Anne took Max in the trailer (along with Ruth on the tandem) for the first section through town, then I took him just before Niles Canyon.

The first part of Palomares is quite steep, but I was pleased we all made it up without stopping. We continued along up the hill, but after a while I started dragging. We stopped for a snack, and again for a breather. Eventually Anne stopped and told me she would take Max again for a while. I knew it was probably the right call, but it still made me angry, though I tried not to show it.

Eventually we made it to the top, then came down the other side. We stopped for lunch before getting all the way to 680, since 1) it was time and 2) we knew that the 680 frontage road had no shade and was not a great place to stop. I took Max again before we started moving.

The exposed climb up into Dublin went by fairly quickly, then we were onto the rolling hills on Foothill. I started dragging again on the uphills, to the point where I called for Anne to stop, with the intent to switch Max over again. But she was too far ahead already and didn’t hear me. At the top of that hill she stopped and announced it was her turn for Max again, so I got my wish after all.

Coming back through Niles Canyon had more traffic that we’ve seen the last few times. Cutting back through town, we got home and treated ourselves to ice cream before dinner.

I generally felt much weaker on this ride than I felt I should. Fortunately Anne was up to picking up my slack. The lack of bike commuting is definitely showing. I’m going to do some moderate weekday solo rides to get stronger again.

Ruth classroom meeting was canceled, so Anne reshuffled our other obligations, I took a vacation day, and we went for an essential outdoor exercise ride.

We’ve been doing morning walks, and once in a while switch it up with a 15ish mile loop around town. We haven’t done any regular full rides recently. We’re still holding out hope for the bike trip we planned for June, so we definitely need to train. Today was the day.

In recognition of the shelter in place orders we wanted to roll out from home, rather than driving somewhere. Since many public restrooms are closed, we needed to be sure to get away from civilization in case we needed to water any bushes, ruling out most of the cross bay loops. The natural solution was to head east into the closer hills. We selected Calaveras clockwise.

Max has been asking for Mommy to pull him in his trailer. Since Anne is on a tandem with Ruth, that makes for a very long and heavy bike. Anne agreed for the first part, knowing I would need to take the trailer once we got to the hills.

We biked across town to get to Niles Canyon. Niles Canyon is a lovely road, but it has an intermittent shoulder and sometimes heavy traffic. Fortunately, with most workplaces closed traffic was very light today.

Once in Sunol we paused to adjust jackets and move the trailer to my bike. Then it was time for the big climb of the day, up Calaveras. Coming out of Sunol there were a bunch of big trucks carrying loads of gravel, but that stopped as soon as we got past the aggregate plant just out of town. From then on there was almost no vehicle traffic and just a light scattering of other cyclists.

The climb up Calaveras is not too steep, and broken up with flatter bits and even some short downhill. Most of it is shady forest, with some meadows for variety. The view to the north shows a wide mostly undeveloped valley. The weather was 60s to maybe 70 and cloudy, with some sun. We stopped for lunch most of the way up in a turnout.

Then it was down The Wall, the much steeper approach from the other side. I went ahead, and paused at the bottom, where it turns and gets more local traffic. Anne and Ruth barreled past me, with Ruth laughing uncontrollably. Max and I opened up and followed, with a pickup between us.

Then it was the long flat ride through town back home. Next time, Anne suggested that we turn back at the wall and turn it into an out-and-back. It would be a bit longer, but more interesting as most of the return miles are the interesting Calaveras and Niles Canyon, rather than straight and flat residential and warehouse districts.

For today’s ride we repeated one we did a few years ago. Head across the bay, loop around the back of the hills in Redwood City, and go visit the giant cross on the top.

We started with a nasty headwind going across Dumbarton Bridge. The hope was that it would make a nice tailwind for the return.

I brought about a half-sized touring load. I’m still not in top form, but we all managed the climbs without significant stops.

The descent back down the hill in Redwood City was hard to enjoy. The road was winding and narrow enough two cars would have a hard time passing each other. There wasn’t much traffic, but it was a residential area, so there could be one around any corner. The wind blew us around.

The return wasn’t too much of a slog. Just as it threatened to become one we got the tailwind we had been looking forward to all day. We got back just as it started to get dark — later than we would have hoped, but pretty standard for us. Anne hasn’t figured out the headlight situation for the tandem yet, but we got back before it was dark enough to really be a problem.