When I woke up yesterday morning and got a look at the temperature, I knew there wasn’t going to be the normal “Saturday, 8am, at the courthouse” ride. Although the skies were clear, the temp was a frigid 36 degrees in Fremont! Thats cold! Even got a text from the Kahuna up in El Dorado Hills saying it was way to cold (29 degrees) for a river ride. I agree. I ended up starting a fire and chilling with Barb and the pups. I figured once things warmed up a bit I’d be able to squeeze a ride in.
Around 1:30 Vandenbusch stepped up. Text messages back and forth and settled for meeting at 2:30. Young John Downing, the golden boy, and myself, off for a nice winter’s ride. Although not officially the winter solstice yesterday, the governing body determined that any ride done withing 24 hours of the solstice would we and should be considered a “Solstice Ride”.
The sky was blue but the air was cold. The Thankfully there wasn’t too much wind. We were all in shorts, and until I got a little warmed up, my legs were freezing! After we got going it was great. Hardly anybody on the trail, and we had mile marker 11 and the end of the trail picnic tables all to ourselves. It was beautiful out there. Low tide, quiet, peaceful, and warm! After riding for 35 minutes in a cold wind, just to stop made it feel warm! Took a nice break then headed back to Coyote Hills. Around the back side and up heart attack hill. Slow and steady, that hill NEVER gets easy, so its an accomplishment each and every time to make it to the top. At the very tippy top of Heart Attach hill is the old National Guard Nike Missile base. For some reason the gates were open and nobody was around, so we took a short cruise up the road and onto an historic piece of land that protected the SF bay during WWII. Now, just a handful of abandoned buildings, old missiles laying around, and towers for cell phone companies. Also a great backdrop for a couple of pictures.
