Sawyer Camp Trail

Today was a warm and sunny day, perfect for a bike ride! We got up early (well, early for us), had coffee on the way, and went up to the Sawyer Camp Trail between Crystal Springs Dam (in Hillsborough) and San Andreas Dam (in Millbrae). According to the guidebook, it is a 1 waterbottle ride, running 12 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 250 feet. By the time we arrived, there were already lots of people (especially walkers and runners), but luckily they were concentrated mostly in the first few miles of the trail and not towards the end. It was a really pretty, shady/sunny, curvy ride. It was mostly flat in the beginning, but had one little hill at the end (at around mile 5) that really winded me. I'm still getting accustomed to the whole gear shifting thing, so it took me some time to figure that out. I'm sure we had a great advantage with our fancy road bikes, though, compared to the other bikers struggling up the hill. We took a snack and water break at the turnaround point and went back (with lots of downhill and me braking most of the way!). Along the way, we passed the Jepson laurel tree and the site where Captain Portola discovered the SF Bay. See, not only is this a physical experience, but we're also learning so much about the Bay area. It's educational. Not only that, we had an impromptu, casual scenic drive around the surrounding hillsides of Palo Alto while driving to and from the trail. (In other words, we got lost.) Unfortunately, the total driving distance was about 50 miles to earn our 12 miles of riding, so there's still some imbalance there. All in all, it was great...I achieved double digit mileage (better compared to last week's measly 6 miles), didn't hit any little kids, tried a hill, and only fell once! I even rode with a little boy for part of the trail when I was going slow...so he is my first bike buddy (unbeknownst to him, of course) besides Mel. Everyone seemed pretty fit and relaxed on the trail; some were nice and talked to Mel. So, this is what people do on a Saturday morning when I'm usually lying around in bed! Amazing!

See how pretty it was? The weather was great!

Here's us at the break during the turnaround point (mile 6)!

Tomorrow, we are biking again! It's good to keep practicing and Mel did great despite her recent cold. There's more pressure because Mel's super-duper biking friend is coming along with us. I think I will practice on a quiet stretch of the path while they do loops around me. Still not brave enough to tackle a 2 waterbottle ride, but I know someday in the future, we'll have to...