A Restful Day

[shannon_a]

Found my lunch plans a little askew today because the Wendy's I was planning to eat at, up on Broadway, was partially dissassembled!!! Renovation?

After alternate eating, I went up to Temescal and read RPG history and took notes for an hour or so. I got lots done and it was restful, as planned. I would have probably read longer, but it was really bright and sunny, so I was getting hot and thirsty.

Then I decided to head up to the North Oakland Regional Sports Center, which is tantalizingly just above Temescal and which has been calling me for months. Turns out, it's pretty close, and though the ride is uphill all the way, it wasn't terrible. 

Although called a "Sports Center", the sports-y crap is all right at the entrance, and then there's a fire trail that goes up and into a fairly large wilderness area. I rode my bike up when I could, sometimes walking because I was tired or because the path was so steep that I was afraid I was going to flip my bike over. 

I found one branch in the trail, and I took the righthand path which would eventually loop me back into the park rather than up and out of it. (I must admit, it was the branch that looked less steep) At the highest point of that trail there's some sort of big water tank, and I was surprised to see that every direction from there was down. My altometer said I was at 900-1000 feet or so, which as high as I've ever made it into those hills on my own power.

I continued on past that and the trail finally ended at a magnificent outlook, which showed the whole Bay in a vast panorama. I just stood there and look for long minutes. It was totally beautiful. 

Hard ride and walk up that trail, but I'll do it again for that view (though I'll investigate that other path first).

Biked only about 13 miles total, but that included an ascent of 800 feet.