I started from home, rode to the start in Santa Clara, then did a slightly modified "Challenge" route, which included a stop for a hot lunch in Pleasanton. The weather was always at least somewhat overcast, making for interesting clouds and sky for most of the day. The wildflowers in San Antonio Valley were surprisingly vivid, although the color had probably already peaked.
I started from home, rode to the start in Santa Clara, then did a> slightly modified "Challenge" route, which included a stop for a hot> lunch in Pleasanton. The weather was always at least somewhat> overcast, making for interesting clouds and sky for most of the day.> The wildflowers in San Antonio Valley were surprisingly vivid,> although the color had probably already peaked.
If anyone finds himself in one of these pictures and wants to be> identified in the caption, please let me know.
Questions or comments are welcome.
1. The Spring on the east side of Mt. Hamilton is at MP3 and is graciously maintained by Don Axtell, a bikie.
2. The bazaar after the JCT is Ruthie's Emporium, not a junk shop.
Then comes the Blackbird, a ~600ft climb followed by the Double-S a 300ft climb.
Meanwhile I thought it better to ride down the coast to Santa Cruz and was surprised to find no wind at all and a glassy smooth Pacific Ocean with spouting whales from Pigeon Pt. to Davenport, after which the road is no longer at water's edge.
Beautiful surf at Lighthouse Point and lots of beach volleyball made a lovely spring scene in mild sunny weather with towering cumulus clouds over Loma Prieta as a backdrop. This back drop was so inviting that we rode to Aptos, took Valencia Rd., that is passable by bicycle, to Corralitos and up Eureka Canyon past richly flowing waterfalls to Ormsby/Buzzard Lagoon JCT where we turned uphill to Summit road.
Here we were in the shade of the clouds we had seen from the beach and rode to Loma Prieta where we stopped at the gushing spring before proceeding along the Loma Alma ridge to Mt. Umunhum. Here we descended steeply to Hicks Rd and took Shannon Rd. and Los Gatos. We were back in sunshine in the valley and returned to Palo Alto with a light headwind on mostly downhill Foothill Expy.
In article <jg6ee.431$T3.2598@typhoon.sonic.net>, jobst.brandt@stanfordalumni.org wrote:
1. The Spring on the east side of Mt. Hamilton is at MP3 and is> graciously maintained by Don Axtell, a bikie.>
2. The bazaar after the JCT is Ruthie's Emporium, not a junk shop.>
Then comes the Blackbird, a ~600ft climb followed by the Double-S a> 300ft climb.
Jobst:
Thanks for the corrections.
I missed seeing the sign "Ruthie's Emporium" that I had seen many times before. If you look carefully in the photo, you can see a gentleman bearing a slight resemblance to Santa Claus watching over things from under the tarp overhang. This same gentleman passed me going up the Blackbird climb in a small Toyota and turned into a driveway to the left of the road about 1/2-mile before the summit.
Perhaps the items inside the barn are in better condition, but from the road most of the stuff looks well-used and rusty.
