Weekly Mountain Bike ride - 5/12/10

On this week's mountain bike ride (every Wed. at 5:30), my coworker, Jason (I know, it gets confusing sometimes), thought to bring his helmet-cam.  So, I thought I'd share some photos.  This was the Waterdog trail in Belmont.  Since it's the closest to work, this is the trail we'll ride the most.  It's getting busy, so we might look to taking the trek up to the trails off Skyline soon.

This week's ride, Simon took us on his usual route - from the top of Carlmont, take some steep switchbacks, ride the crest, then loop back a bit lower.  It's all single track, so that's fun.  The initial climb is a real leg burner though - not the warmup like the fire road off Lyall which I'm more used to.

Speaking of biking, today was Bike to Work Day.  I finally decided to participate... thinking, "it's just a couple miles" and I don't have any meetings today or anything like that... It turns out it's 4.4 miles.  I rode a little harder than I needed to, so I was unexpectedly a bit warmer when I got to work.  At least the helmet hair wasn't an issue.  And, it was actually faster than driving (or at least just as fast).  I think the ride home may be faster too, even though it's uphill.

Dealing with traffic wasn't as bad as I thought it would be - even over the "dreaded interchange".  Actually, the Holly overpass wasn't tough at all if you want to wait for cars and ride in the shoulder.  The toughest part is crossing lanes to get into the left turn lane.  And with a pack on your back that swings wildly, it's not easy to look over your shoulder (note to self, traditional backpacks are better).  Anyway, it's definitely a unique perspective that I will keep in mind next time I design some bike lanes and reconfigured or new roads.