To Ride or Not to Ride, That is the Question

The rain is a welcome gift from the gods of nature. Or it is simply a natural act of precipitation and other such natural phenomena that have been going on for millions of years before the advent of man and will continue on for millions of years after we are long gone. Either way, we riders are faced with this: To ride or not to ride, that is the question. If someone goes with me I will usually elect to ride, rain or shine.

But now the question is: Where? With all of the trail closures (a tolerable inconvenience) we are left with very few choices.

Russ and I had our own solution yesterday. We decided to do a big ~20 mile loop up Hicks Road and all the way around into Almaden Valley. Basically we just rode all the way AROUND Quicksilver Park. Granted, it was not as fun as going through it, but it worked. The ride had everything you need: long steep climbs, gradual climbs, steep and fast descents, long flat sections, beautiful views, and even some dirt and mud. There was very little rain and the cloud enshrouded mountains were a sight to meditate on. Below are the ride stats:

• Distance: 19.15 miles
• Total time: 1:56:58
• Average Pace: 6:06/mile
• Average Speed: 9.8 mph
• Max Speed: 32 mph (Russ), 37 mph (Eric)
• Total Ascent 1408 feet
  

If you are using Google Earth, open this link, the view it there.

One great thing to remember is that the single track on Camden is never closed. I can imagine a ride that just goes up and down that a few times would be a lot of fun and quite dirty.