Mt. Hamilton
Challenged Again
May 22, 2000
[Related Ride] [Related Story]
It is amazing what a difference two weeks makes! My previous assault, two weeks ago, on the Mountain was cold and wet. Yesterday was the antithesis of that.
The ride was supposed to start at 7am prompt. The Highway Patrol had other ideas. They closed Highway 680 approaching Calaveras Blvd. so that the power company could put up high power lines. They didn’t divert traffic they stopped it right on the freeway. It was about 7:20 when I arrived at the ride start. There was nobody else there. This didn’t surprise me. With record breaking heat predicted for the day I half expected to make the ride alone.
In short time other riders did appear. Mike and Vicki Stockwell plus my bike commute buddy Bob and his friend Mike. There was five of us as we rode to Mt. Hamilton!
Mike and Vicki were just doing the Mt. Hamilton ascent. This was a nice sane distance, about 50 miles round trip! Bob and are Mike are faster riders. The last I saw of them was Grants Ranch. There was no way I would be able to make the ride if I tried to keep up with them so word got passed up to them to ride there own ride.
At the top of the mountain the Stockwells and I enjoyed the view and rested drank liquid and ate. They headed back west and I continued east. I enjoyed the descent down the backside and seeing the places I saw on the climb two weeks ago.
It was very hot on the backside. When I reached the junction I ate and drank a 20 ounce Gator Aid and then went back in and got another one. It was so hot that the water in my water bottles was hot. The climb north on Mines road was not pleasant. The road is in a gully and there was no breeze, just the sun. As I climbed, what I call the rollers from hell, I wondered what I was doing there. There was no turning back. It must have been over a 100, not including the reflected heat off the pavement. The tar in some places where the road was patched had liquefied. After I crossed the summit I hit a head wind. At least the head wind brought relief from the heat!
I forced myself to drink the hot water. By the time I hit Livermore, about 75 miles into the ride, I promised myself the first public lawn that had a tree in it, I would stop at. I found a shady spot and took a break.
After I got riding again I found a liquor store and had a 32 ounce Gator Aid. It was so hot. I was fighting severe dehydration and starting to cramp!
The ride through Pleasanton and Sunol was generally bearable. I was weak but able to ride the flats. Calaveras was another story! I had no strength and had to spin hills I would normally stand through. The water I had was hot and turned my stomach. But, I forced myself to drink until it ran out. Turning the pedals was a struggle and it seemed the climbing would never end. I stopped several times. It became rollers. Every time the road peaked I would slow my descent just to enjoy the ability to make forward motion without having to work.
Finally I hit the last summit and flew downhill into Milpitas. On the way home I stopped and got a Venti Mocha Frappachino. Sue made a great dinner and I drank a lot of COLD water. I got terrible cramps despite having consumed calcium. Sue said, "how could you be so thick headed as to do a ride like that when it was so hot and miserable." I said, "I am a guy."
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This page last updated:
June 01, 2000
Steve Sloan, San Jose, CA, USA