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.
Thanks for joining us for the ride, Scott! Just across the road from that porta-potty, if you ride through the campground gates and make a left, there’s a much nicer full restroom and water fountain. Good information for next year! Also, we have our 4th Annual Monterey Peninsula Vintage Ride coming up on Saturday, September 26th. More info will be posted when we get closer to the ride. It’s a fifty-mile ride along the ocean with lunch at Pebble Beach, and unlike Hamilton, it’s pretty darn flat (OK, there are lots of rollers). Hope to see you at future rides!
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