I heard about this ride through several of my social media accounts. It's been a long time since I rode Mt. Hamilton, and I decided this would be a righteous challenge.
The folks that organize it are general vintage bike enthusiasts, and while that's not exactly my focus, I certainly qualify. In fact - the question frequently comes up "How 'vintage' is vintage enough?" so I developed this scorecard below. This will not meet with universal approval, but it gets most of the way there. I usually explain to non-cyclists that the dividing line is about the era where building bicycles was a craftsman enterprise and ended in the era of exotic materials, aerodynamic components, and machine assembly. This scorecard is not copywritten - I authorize its use by anyone who wants to post it for whatever reason. Mention me if you're feeling generous. I propose a minimum score of 60 to qualify for C&V events.
The organizer "JoeBass" met me at the start and gave me a copy of the poster above, and took this photo of me. He was enthusiastic and supportive. Note the vintage jersey - it has no pockets and it's itchy, so I wear a modern jersey underneath.
There were all kinds of bikes, but the riders were predominantly old white guys.
I attached myself to a group that I figured was about my speed and hung with them for the first 4 or 5 miles, but mountains have a way of separating riders based on climbing prowess... and I was off the back after that.
The only rest stop was a staging area for hikes - they had a disgusting porta potty. This was about mile 7 and I think a lot of people turned around here because the upper mountain was not nearly so occupied.
Pretty good weather; a little chilly and foggy down low, a little warmer and sunny up high. For some reason - totally my fault - I was thinking the summit was at 14 miles; I paced myself and fueled myself for a 14 mile climb... but it was really 18.5 miles. So I was running on empty the last few miles - my quads were turning to rubber and my hamstrings were cramping up. I'd left my Endurolytes in the car and I was stopping every 10 minutes or so toward the end just to massage the pain out of my legs. Those rolling/downhill sections always trigger my cramp response - I think it's the frequent change in cadence... once I get the first one, I'm going to have them for the rest of the ride.
I also had technology issues with the Diablo Bike Cam - it's been going wonky with not recording or short battery life, it gave up the ghost at about mile 15... I think it was an SD card problem and may have been a one-time glitch, but I gotta keep an eye on it.
There aren't any really steep bits anywhere on this side of Hamilton - so any particular section is easier than any particular section of Diablo... but the total effort to reach the summit is quite a bit larger. Took me three hours to get up and one to get back down.
Good ride, friendly people; I'll probably do it again next year.
