A Ride Up Mt. Hamilton

Mar 3, 2012

This might be a tough one, I thought. I'd done a 10 mile run just 36 hrs before, running from home to "science hill" at UCSC up through the Pogonip and felt it in my legs. Mt. Hamilton, from Alum Rock parking lot, is over 5,000 ft of climbing. But in fact, I felt fine and did fine. Weather was beautiful - perfect warm winter day. Diane called the day before; "7am at Pasatiempo where we'll carpool. Don't be late!". It was me, Laura, Dave and Diane, Dan, and Dino & Joyce. Our route was from the parking lot at Alum Rock State Park, up through the park, past SJ Golf Course, up Miguelita Rd to Mt. Hamilton Rd, and on up the mountain. Dan was nice enough to double back a few times. He and Dave got to the top and continued on down the back side to the bottom, and back up. Everyone got a great workout. I tested out a bottle of "5 hr Energy" as I had the previous week on my 62 miler. That, and a power bar, and half a bottle of Accelerade was my sustenance, and it was all I really wanted. (till a great turkey sandwich later in Los Gatos....)

My Lumix had apparently come back to life, in pre-ride tests, so I brought it along for the adventure. But, alas, it crapped out on me in the clutch. Again. I got precisely 0.2 shots out of it. This partial pic below, where the lens cover opened just a peep. Very frustrating. Diane will send along some more shots taken at the top and afterwards, sometime soon...

Diane succeeded in getting a not-quite-ready look...

That's me, in front of the dome for the 40" Nickel scope

After the ride, we converged on La Boulangere in Los Gatos for some good sandwiches and salads. Magnifique'!