The original idea was the usual Sunday ride, the one Kevin and I have probably done more often than any other- often called the “Coastal Classic”, riding over Old LaHonda, Haskins to Pescadero, north on Stage Road and back over the hill via Tunitas. But it was gray and damp-looking up in the hills, delaying our start long enough to come up with something different, something we hadn’t done in a while. Mount Hamilton. And what a fantastic day for the biggest hill (ok, mountain) in our area!

We took the train from Redwood City to San Jose, and rode up from there, just as we’d done in May 22, 2011. Only this time, we climbed quite a bit faster. Faster than I’ve done in maybe 5 years or so (Strava only goes back 3). It’s a bit of a pain getting there from the train station, with maybe 20+ traffic lights, nearly all intending to delay our progress, but no traffic lights, stop signs or even traffic once you get onto Mount Hamilton Road. Just 18 miles of pretty solid climbing, punctuated by two small descents on the way up.

About an hour 35 minutes for me, a minute and a half faster for Kevin (I told him to go for it, about 3 miles from the top). Kevin likely could have done a bit better, but when he took off, he took off too hard, too fast.

The ride back down was a bit nicer than usual since they’ve re-paved about 4 miles of the road starting from the bottom of the final climb to the top (about 6 miles to go).

The hardest part of the ride? Probably from the train station in Redwood City home. We stopped at Sanchos to pick up some burritos for dinner, and my legs felt like mush on the climb up into the Redwood City hills. But seeing 15 “accomplishments” on Strava made it all worthwhile.