Time in the Saddle

Summary: biked 15.5 miles (~1 hr 10min)

Monday was a rest day. Tuesdays are biking days. I didn't even look to see what we were supposed to do (distance, time, intervals) and I just went for a ride at lunch time.

My car is still in the shop, so I just did a ride from the house. After two couple of quick stops to drop stuff off at the library and post office, I went down through town to the Berkeley Aquatic park and crossed the pedestrian bridge over interstate 80 to the Bay Trail and then rode the Bay Trail for a couple of miles towards Emmeryville & back and then retraced my route back home. Berkeley has a lot of streets designated as "Bicycle Boulevards" which means they are a bit wider and have things like speed bumps or cement barriers every several blocks to discourage motorized vehicle through-traffic. Even so, the ride though town is kind of stop and go as you have to cross many busy streets and stop at 4 way stops, etc. So, not the greatest of training rides, but still "time in the saddle". It was about 5.5 miles from our house to the spot where I joined up with the Bay Trail. Aside from the steep hill I live on, the ride through town to the Bay is a gradual downhill. Which of course, means a gradual uphill on the way back. And then the last half mile or so of my ride is very steep. There's no "cool down" as the steepest part is the last quarter of a mile before our house. I sometimes ride tight circles in our driveway to spin my legs a bit. Much easier circles when there's no car in the driveway!

It was a gorgeous sunny day here with temperatures in the mid 60s. The cherry trees are blooming and the air smells really good. Spring has definitely arrived in Northern California or at least the Bay Area. I snapped a couple photos from the Bay Trail so I could give you all a visual of my training grounds. Once I download it from my camera, I'll update this post.