This is the last ride before our 2021 Oregon tour. As we usually do on last training rides, we kept it small, as sort of a cool down. Minimal baggage, mileage, and climbing. Ruth wanted to ride her own bike, putting Max on the tandem.

Ruth picked out the route, as she’s been threatening to. There’s a playground near the midpoint of our Mission loop ride that we often stop for a few minutes at. She thought we should go there and had a pretty clear vision for how to get there. Anne helped her pick a return route.

Since it would be a short ride, we left after lunch. Ruth rode between us in sandwich mode, and did a good job riding on busy streets. Mission has some ups and downs, especially the last mile before the park. I could tell Ruth was working hard, but she didn’t complain.

When we got to the park, Ruth wasn’t as eager to get on the playground as usual, further evidence she had been working hard on the bike. After a few minutes (and water and snacks) she livened up and joined Max on the swing.

The return had us riding along Mission Creek Trail (which was new to us). Then we headed onto Paseo Padre (which was not), and finally Thornton back into Newark (new as a biking road to Anne, not to me).

We cut through the parking lot of our regular pizza place. Max called out a pizza order to the building, but sadly they didn’t hear. Then we were home, strangely much earlier after 20 miles than 50.

Ruth did well on her own bike on this ride, making a new distance record for her. Max did well on the tandem, too. Now it’s just a few days before we head north for the tour. Hopefully we’ve trained enough.

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.