Day 2 of Exhaustion

 

A mere 7 hours after completing the SFR 300k, and on a scant 5 hours of sleep, my alarm jarred me awake. It was time to get another ride in. I donned the garbs, prepped the gear, pushed open my front door into a still lamp lit morning, only to look down to a cellphone SMS telling me that my riding partner would be meeting me in Dublin as opposed to riding out from Oakland. Well, no point in turning back now, so I pushed off into the darkness toward the Oakland hills.

The early hours hurt. There is no denying that going up Redwood Road hurt more than it's ever hurt before. My legs were on fire and my morale was low. Not enough coffee just had me wishing the miles away. A strong headwind even further sunk my efforts across the shallow grade of Castro Valley Boulevard. I was glad to make it to Dublin, but wasn't sure how much I had left in me. I searched for a Starbucks or a Safeway, about the best these far East Bay suburbs have to offer, and reluctantly settled on a Panera Bread. I pulled out my phone and another friend, who was originally to meet out in Dublin had now bailed as well. I had felt like giving up. I checked in with Keli, to see her ETA, she was close. I figured I'd let her make the decision. She had fresh legs, so she wanted to destroy it, and god damn it, I'm glad she pushed me to do those extra miles in those brutal hills. The route was the Pitter Patter Pop (Patterson Road Populaire from San Francisco Randonneurs) and features one of those epic roads that truly must be ridden if you live feasibly close to a BART station.

After a bunch of suburban housing developments the roads opened up to green pastureland with distant hills.

Those distant hills became abruptly close.

I mean, REALLY close. I wish there were a better way to capture how epic the Earth split here.

Climbing is easy, whatever.

I still ponder at this sign. I get bikes, or long trucks, but pedestrians? Strange.

We both agreed not to agree that this next hump was the finish, but secretly I think we both decided it was the end until...

We crested and saw this, damnit!

The top for real.