Sierra [gulp] Road [or, WWIT]

This morning’s ride was from the “is this too much too soon?” / “what was I thinking!” file…OK, maybe just 3.75 of the first 5 miles…

I decided to give Sierra Road a “try” this weekend; even after reading about it on a few blogs, checking route maps and elevations, and test driving it during the week. Oh, did I mention that I haven’t done too much hill training and that I ran a half marathon on Saturday? GO BIG, OR GO HOME!

The plan was to do a 33-mile ride (door-to-door) up Sierra, out to the northern end of Calaveras Reservoir, back to Milpitas, and then home – knowing full well that the first 5 miles would take a fair amount of time and be at a sloooow pace. Having mapped out the course, I was willing to suck for five miles to enjoy the rest of the ride.

I started out early to avoid traffic and other cyclists making the climb (read: avoid embarrassing myself.) I made it up the first incline and stopped. Went a little further, then stopped. I repeated that for a while; but ended up fast walking the bike for several sections in between rides. Not sure if walking the bike is kosher, but I didn’t care. In my mind, forward progress was still progress, regardless of the means…and I was not about to go back down Sierra and reroute that way. I wanted to ride the planned route.

I made it to the summit in about an hour, ending up with avg speeds of 8.4, 5, 4, & 4.5 for miles 2 though 5. After that, it was downhill and rollers – Weeeeee! I ended up with an average speed of 12.8 for the entire ride and had a top speed of 33.5.

When I got to the turn toward Calaveras Reservoir, I looked at the time and decided not to head that way. I opted to do an out-and-back leg to Fremont and extended passed my homeward turn to stretch the ride to 27 miles.

All in all, it was a great and challenging ride. I do need to work on climbing, though I don’t know that I’d ever be able to do Sierra Road without stopping. I think I will come the other direction next time.

Here are some shots I took on the ride. I also had my GoPro mounted on the bike and may post part of that video later this week – sans the walking parts.