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Over the Hills (and Through the Woods)
May. 26th, 2013 11:20 pmThe Hill Ride. So it's been about a year since I started riding up in the hills above Berkeley, Oakland, and other nearby communities. One of my goals was to be able to ride over the hills, and I did that today.
Technically, that's a little less of a milestone than it sounds, because I've previously ridden up to the peaks of a few different hills, and I was pretty sure that I could just point my bike downward and end up in Orinda, Lafayette, or wherever. But today I actually did it (in reverse).
Kimberly and I BARTed out to Lafayette to eat lunch at Baja Fresh, and then when she BARTed back home, I headed southward on my bike (cleverly brought over on BART), to the Lafayette-Moraga Trail. I took it all the way to its end (~8 miles), then turned onto "Canyon Road", which becomes "Pinehurst" and that took me over the hills back to Oakland. I ended up right at the top of Shepherd Canyon Road, so I headed from there down to Shepherd Canyon Trail, then over to Lake Temescale, both of which are among my regular destinations.
The trip was *very* pretty. I love that part of Contra Costa County in general because its got lots of rolling hills and lots of trees. The Lafayette-Moraga Trail is particularly attractive because you go right up into those hills, but at a fairly light slope. I think I'd ridden to the end of the LF Trail maybe twice; if so, this was a third time. Afterward, I was really surprised by how nice the lower part of Canyon/Pinehurst is. It's a very quiet road that goes gradually upwards through heavily wooded areas, full of redwoods and other beautiful old trees. I really enjoyed it.
I was worried that I'd hit some big slopes at the top of the road, but the whole thing turned out to be rideable to me. Mind you, I took a few breaks near the top (where it did get steeper), but I never got to the road that I was expecting to see: which would look really steep and which would be too much to do after (by that point) 13 or 14 miles of biking.
Mind you, the last half mile or so was grueling, and I waS pretty tired when I got to the peak. Much of the Shepherd Canyon Trail went by in a virtual blur, and I've been pretty exhausted since I got home ... but great ride. 22.22 miles total, though the first 2 or so were getting to the Rockridge BART station. An ascent up to just short of 1200 feet (I think) then back down. Through Lafayette, Moraga, the unincorporated community of Canyon (population: 80), Oakland, and Berkeley.
Good stuff.
The Guest Cat. The other excitement this weekend was a visit yesterday from my sister Melody and her fiance Jared to drop off Tai Chi, who we cat sit whenever they go to Hawaii. Seeing the two of them was nice. We did the normal lunch & hang-out thing ... and since then we've had a third cat in the household.
Lucy is totally and surprisingly nonchalant. She clearly remembers Tai Chi well enough to not be scared by him any more -- which is impressive as this time it's been a year since his last visit. Sometimes she avoids him and sometimes she seems to purposefully hang out very near him, but there's no drama
Callisto unfortunately seems afraid of Tai Chi and/or angry that he's in her territory. She's very jumpy when he's out and about and more than once has crouched near him hissing and growling. Continuously. Sigh. At the moment she's laying mostly under the TV, clearly totally exhausted.
Tai Chi for his part wanders around and tries to pretend that there isn't an insane woman bitching at him -- which has been his approach whenever he visits here. (Munchkin and Cobweb used to hiss at him too, and Lucy used to stalk him.) I think it often stresses him out, but he does his best to shrug it off. I've also been locking him up in the Family Room a few times a day thus far to give everyone time to relax.
Hopefully things will quiet down in the next couple of days ...
Technically, that's a little less of a milestone than it sounds, because I've previously ridden up to the peaks of a few different hills, and I was pretty sure that I could just point my bike downward and end up in Orinda, Lafayette, or wherever. But today I actually did it (in reverse).
Kimberly and I BARTed out to Lafayette to eat lunch at Baja Fresh, and then when she BARTed back home, I headed southward on my bike (cleverly brought over on BART), to the Lafayette-Moraga Trail. I took it all the way to its end (~8 miles), then turned onto "Canyon Road", which becomes "Pinehurst" and that took me over the hills back to Oakland. I ended up right at the top of Shepherd Canyon Road, so I headed from there down to Shepherd Canyon Trail, then over to Lake Temescale, both of which are among my regular destinations.
The trip was *very* pretty. I love that part of Contra Costa County in general because its got lots of rolling hills and lots of trees. The Lafayette-Moraga Trail is particularly attractive because you go right up into those hills, but at a fairly light slope. I think I'd ridden to the end of the LF Trail maybe twice; if so, this was a third time. Afterward, I was really surprised by how nice the lower part of Canyon/Pinehurst is. It's a very quiet road that goes gradually upwards through heavily wooded areas, full of redwoods and other beautiful old trees. I really enjoyed it.
I was worried that I'd hit some big slopes at the top of the road, but the whole thing turned out to be rideable to me. Mind you, I took a few breaks near the top (where it did get steeper), but I never got to the road that I was expecting to see: which would look really steep and which would be too much to do after (by that point) 13 or 14 miles of biking.
Mind you, the last half mile or so was grueling, and I waS pretty tired when I got to the peak. Much of the Shepherd Canyon Trail went by in a virtual blur, and I've been pretty exhausted since I got home ... but great ride. 22.22 miles total, though the first 2 or so were getting to the Rockridge BART station. An ascent up to just short of 1200 feet (I think) then back down. Through Lafayette, Moraga, the unincorporated community of Canyon (population: 80), Oakland, and Berkeley.
Good stuff.
The Guest Cat. The other excitement this weekend was a visit yesterday from my sister Melody and her fiance Jared to drop off Tai Chi, who we cat sit whenever they go to Hawaii. Seeing the two of them was nice. We did the normal lunch & hang-out thing ... and since then we've had a third cat in the household.
Lucy is totally and surprisingly nonchalant. She clearly remembers Tai Chi well enough to not be scared by him any more -- which is impressive as this time it's been a year since his last visit. Sometimes she avoids him and sometimes she seems to purposefully hang out very near him, but there's no drama
Callisto unfortunately seems afraid of Tai Chi and/or angry that he's in her territory. She's very jumpy when he's out and about and more than once has crouched near him hissing and growling. Continuously. Sigh. At the moment she's laying mostly under the TV, clearly totally exhausted.
Tai Chi for his part wanders around and tries to pretend that there isn't an insane woman bitching at him -- which has been his approach whenever he visits here. (Munchkin and Cobweb used to hiss at him too, and Lucy used to stalk him.) I think it often stresses him out, but he does his best to shrug it off. I've also been locking him up in the Family Room a few times a day thus far to give everyone time to relax.
Hopefully things will quiet down in the next couple of days ...