Sunday, August 12, 2007

SSP in cali day 2-Sierra the Great


Day 2 brought the arrival of the Sky Captain and his lovely Queen and we decided to head out to so one of the coolest rides in the bay area: Calaveras road. The road snakes along the back side of the foothills east of the bay and has been featured as the last part of a stage in the last 2 years of the Tour of California. We headed out on Calaveras road which snakes it's way along the hillside, above a reservoir and winding through Oak groves. We headed to a little town called Sunol where we got some lunch then made our way back. I won the KOM points on the way back after a suprise attack from the captain. Really the only traffic we saw on the road was a random cow that had wandered onto the road. We headed back to town and the Sky Captain and I broke off from Eugie to ride up Sierra Road. This climb is a beast. Its not the length (only 3.6 miles) but rather the grade. It starts off right away with a 16% pitch and on some of the switchbacks kicks to 18%. The climb never gets easy. Once you're at the top though you get unspoiled view of the sprawling city below and are rewarded with a fast and exhilarating descent back home. This is one of my all time favorite rides and it was great to ride it with eugie and the Captain.
Stats: 57 miles, 5500 feet climbing, 1 bown cow, and a heaping bowl of suffering on Sierra.

No comments: