For the Vicars!

So this is another post/photo montage of yet another bike ride. But at least this one is in a different park, although you may not be able to tell. Also, I am posting more photos and entries about my physical endeavors so my father can live vicariously through me. My dad, who is also a sports junkie, is recovering from shoulder surgery which was the result of his rescuing seventy kittens from a near tragic catnip factory fire...or something...I am not really sure. Its probably more like he got excited and pointed at a constellation and BAM, shoulder explosion.

I say this partly in jest, and also because I have noticed that how I get injured has changed. In the past I would have a slight limp the next morning after an ocelot attack or some equally impressive event. Now its because I slept on it funny. So in the spirit of rekindling my youth and resuming my ocelot hunting, here are photos from my newest trail ride in Briones.

This park is huge and has a lot more connected trails than the one I normally ride so it was fun to check out a new place and do some exploring. I, of course, selected the only trail with a black diamond on it (meaning advanced) in the whole park, not because I have something to prove, but mostly because it was the only parking lot I could find. So I began my climb and kept climbing and climbing, until I literally entered a new plane of existence. It is much nicer up there. There's more oxygen, which was good because I really needed it.

Rolling hills on the Lafayette Ridge Trail

I then hit a part of the trail that had some gnarly rolling hills and continued bombing up and down in a roller coaster fashion for the next couple miles.

On the way up to Russel Peak

Then I met a hiker named Harold and he told me I should try riding up to Russel Peak, which sounded inviting until I remembered that peak means top.

Victory Sammich

I did it anyway, and after some more climbing and cursing Harold's very existence twice, I made it to Russel Peak, where I enjoyed my sammich and kept a wary eye for ocelots.

View from Russel Peak

 Once refueled and fairly certain I was going to survive, I headed back to complete the loop and end up magically right where I parked my car. 

Except that it wasn't that easy. Apparently the trails do not care when you have hit your limit on hills and there seemed to be one after every turn. But for the most part it was downhill and using my pdf map...thank you East Bay Parks...I found a connection trail that would take me back to where I parked...in theory.

In reality, I came to the end of a trail and having literally no strength to ride over an anthill, I found myself in the foothills taking more than one wrong turn and began to believe I would just have to live out my life here.

On the way down...

Finally, I found the way to a trailhead and eventually to a road, that appeared to be the correct street to get me outta there. Sadly, in this part of California all of the street signs merely inform what street you are crossing, not which one you are actually on. I stayed the course and eventually made it all the way back to a cross street I recognized and voila! The parking lot. The entire ride was about three hours and only took a minor toll on my sanity.
 



So here is my rating/recap of the ride:

Wise words from the bike...

Degree of difficulty (out of ten): 7 so much climbing...
Times uttered "Are you f@#king kidding me: 3
Near death experiences: 2
Ocelot attacks: 0
Sammiches enjoyed: 1
Consistency of legs after the ride: jello
Overall Fun: Almost too much.

So that's it! My first time on the trails at Briones...there will be more to come, I am certain.

Three ocelots were harmed in the making of this post...but don't worry, they had it coming.