Pesky Penguin got Squashed

What a glorious day! It was a perfect day for a ride up Mt. Hamilton ... the pesky penguin was nowhere to be found. Instead, plenty of warm climate birds flying around, chirping happily along.

It's days like these that make you thankful you live in such a climate where you have to worry about sunscreen in the first week of December, 3 weeks from the beginning of Winter!

It started out pretty cool ... I was a little worried I didn't bring enough, as I only brought light jacket, light long fingered gloves, and short fingered gloves. I rode over to VTA, then took that over. The McKee VTA stop is only about a mile from the start of the ride. Nice alternative. Just in case, I brought my Ecopass, which allows me to ride any bus or lightrail in Santa Clara Valley free. Today, there was no one on VTA checking for tickets. Of all the times I have ridden VTA, I have only seen someone check for tickets twice, and that was on a work day.

Anyhow, I misread the schedule, and got to McKee at 9 am, and not 9:30 am. Oh well ... I was able to find a coffee shop in the shopping center at Kirk and McKee. Interestingly, the name of the establishment is "The Coffee Shop". Very imaginative, eh? It's a small coffee shop with good pastries. And what's more important, they have a restroom! And a clean one at that ... I think I'll make it a point to go there more often, to support the little guys.


After getting my Zucchini Bread ... mmm ... saw the early group there. It was around 9:15 am ... hey, I thought BBM said 9 am sharp. Well, look who's sharp now ... So the early group left around 9:20 am. I stuck around to wait for the rest of the 10 am gang.

Half of the 10 am crew went the Quimby route, the others went on the normal route straight up Mt. Hamilton. As I mentioned earlier, the weather was perfect. I hooked up with a few friends of mine from Western Wheelers. It was good to hang off Ken's wheel for awhile, before I realized it was him. Not too many people have a Seven, with a blinkie, held to the frame with a rubber band. I could spot that bike anywhere.

Knowing Ken, he is a much stronger climber than I am. So I let him go on ahead. Soon after passing the park, we caught up with the early group. We said hi, then continued on.



Rusty and I were pacing each other up the hill, until it the pitch got steeper. He went on ahead, while I pudged along. Soon, I was passed by other Western Wheelers I know ... they must have had a ride up Mt. Hamilton today ... good seeing them. I haven't seen them in a long time.


About 3 miles from the top, I saw AlainP, and his son Nicholas. What a cute kid ... I got a kick out of AlainP pushing Nicholas, passed me, and seeing the little dynamo pedal along. I think the kid had more energy than I did.

Got up to the top of the climb, over 2 hours ... I didn't reach the 2 hour mark. Oh well. Later on, the Quimby group arrived ... it was fun to be at the top before the usual gladiators.


When we saw Pete, we couldn't help but yell out "BONK". He heard us.



We were up at the top for quite awhile, as we were waiting for BBM and the AutoBus. We could see them stop for who knows what ... where are they?


Oh, they are at the horseshoe ... they were stopping to take this picture, and having a bit of rest.







After chit chatting awhile (for about 1.5 hours I think), we head down the hill. Almost everyone passes me down the hill. I don't have the confidence I used to descending. Better to be safe than sorry. By the time we all got down the hill, it was getting late. It was around 3 pm, and it was decided it was best to skip Sierra. It's a good thing, because I think I would have been caught in the dark. It's kind of a blessing in disguise, as I really didn't want to do Sierra ... Hamilton then Sierra is just too much for me. I can't imagine some of the Gladiators did Quimby, then Hamilton.

I have more pictures on http://picasaweb.google.com/ronster/PeskyPenguin#