Up to the Redwoods!

RIDING & WORKING. Had an unfilled weekend so I decided to mix in a long bikeride with my work today. My immediate goal was to pick up some Taco Bell, ride it to Lake Temescal, eat it, them ride up to the Shepherd Canyon Trail and work for a while there on Designers & Dragons. I was successful in all of these goals and managed to eat, and make it up to Shepherd Canyon where I edited about half of my Gamescience article by 1.30 or 2.00 or so. I would have worked there longer (and in fact had a total of four articles ready for editing), but it just got too cold! I had this problem last time I was up on that Trail too, so this time I had double layers (overshirt & my increasingly old windbreaker) plus fingerless gloves, but it still got too chilly as the afternoon wore on so I decided to move on.

REDWOOD REGIONAL PARK. Afterward, I decided to take a second stab at riding up to Redwood Regional Park. I'd tried on one previous Saturday, but got too tired working up the hills. This time I had a new plan: get up to the end of the Trail (which would put me at about 800 feet) and try to reach the easternmost RRP parking lot from there. And I succeeded! Granted, I have to walk the last five blocks or so to get up to Skyline Boulevard, but from there I could bike up to the Park.

I don't think I've ever been up there before. It's a really beautiful park. I biked out onto the East Ridge Trail first, and I was stunned by vistas of valleys and hills in every direction. Some of the riding was slightly hard before the path kept being cut up by big (now empty) riverlets, doubtless from the recent rain, so I had to be careful more than once. But it was really nice. I absolutely love being able to bike in a scenic, beautiful place like that. However, I noticed I was generally heading downward (from about 1250 feet at the Skyline Gate to maybe 1100 feet), and I decided I didn't want much more of that, as I ways already tired from the ride up to the hill. When I hit a really muddy area that was unbikable for 50 or 60 feet, I decided I'd had enough. If I'd tried to do the whole park circuit I indeed would have dropped down to under 700 feet, which would have resulted in some real work on the way back.) So I biked back up to a bench with lovely vista of a mountain to the east that everyone thought might be Mt. Diablo and I sat down on a bench that offered a magnificent view of the Park ahead and (probably) Diablo to the left ... and I finished up my edit of Gamescience.

The main Ridge Trails on Mt. Diablo are off-leash dog areas and there were many dogs on the trail. Many ran around me while I worked, and one even jumped up and put his paws on my leg so that he could get his nose in my pannier. The owner was quite apologetic and explained that he was a rescue dog that she was training. A very cute rescue dog, I should note. In any case, I liked the dogs.

Afterward, I biked back to the Skyline Gate, then decided to follow the West Ridge Trail all around the north end of the park, then to take the Bay Area Ridge Trail out to the Chabot Space and Science Center. What I didn't realize is that the park actually ascends as you go from east to west (and even further up to Chabot). I'd actually entered the lowest entrance on the north side of the park when I went through Skyline. Which probably explains why I couldn't make it to the park last time I'd tried, as not only had I started lower, but I'd also been aiming for a gate that was higher up! Who knew!?

Anywho, not a big deal today, as the West Ridge Trail wasn't very steep, and I can do hill climbing if it's not too steep, even if it goes on forever. I was also surprised by how different the West Ridge Trail was from the East. Instead of vistas, I got more tight foresty areas that even felt a little rain foresty at times. Very cool also, but I had to be much more vigilant while riding, to make sure there weren't people (or dogs) (or snakes!) just around a corner. Another great ride!

When I turned southward toward Chabot, I found the ascent started to go up even more. Fortunately at a beautiful lookout I talked to some nice folks (I talked to a lot of nice folks today) and they mentioned that the last bit up to Chabot was really steep, but only for a hundred yards or so. That's very helpful when you're deciding to go on or not, so when I got to that really steep part (and it was really steep), I just walked it (and it was less than a hundred yards). 

CHABOT. The Chabot Space & Science Center looked very nice. I'd love to go up there some time with Kimberly to investigate it more. I also noted that they have free telescope usage after 7.30pm on Friday & Saturday, which sounds cool. But from there I pretty much headed downhill for the next 45 minutes or so, past all the North End of Redwood Regional Park, back down to the Shepherd Canyon Trail, back through Montclair, back down to Lake Temescal, and finally back down into Berkeley. It was fun. (Oh, and I stopped at one great overlook of the Bay, before I got much past Chabot.) Skyline Blvd turns out to be a really nice biking road if you're going downhill. I know I was running at 30 mph for a while, which is faster than I'm usually comfortable at, but was OK there because the road was wide and clear and well-paved.

Pretty tired when I got home, as the entire ride was 21.5 miles with a climb to 1500 or 1600 feet. Been mostly relaxing since!