Shogun
It's a funny thing to ride the Oakland hills on a beater bike. I don't know much about my Shogun, other than it's a Japanese bike and the eggplant color makes me think it's from the 70s. But I do know that it was the oldest bike in them thar hills today. Couple of raised eyebrows as I passed the lycra-clad on their Sevens, Cervelos and Calfees.
Uphill.
It's been raining a lot lately. So on the first fully sunny weekend after a spate of floods and downpours, I and the entire biking population of the bay area set out for a ride. Like most, I take Tunnel Road up to the hills; it's a nice, gentle climb, on a road that curves so graciously that it's fun going up or down. I knew that a mudslide had closed off most of the road during the week; but I also knew that it was walkable, from my inside source. So I wasn't too phased by the road-closed warnings from the bikers coming down the hill. Turns out They'd posted a live guard to keep bikes and people from walking on the footpath around the slide. There was no budging or bribing our gate-keeper, so I and another bike decided to kludge together an alternate route up to the top.
It was all downhill for a while, so bike guy peeled off onto a random uphill. I decided to keep going till I got to a road I recognized--which was just one more curve away. I knew I'd biked on Thornhill before, and knowing it'd get me somewhere, I decided to see where that was. On Thornhill, another nice, gradual up-slope, I passed what appeared to be a friendly neighborhood guy. And asked him whether I could get there (the top) from here. Yes, and he named a couple of streets and turns. But just as I was about to start off, he remembered a better route. Straight, then left, onto Thorndale, which is great, because there aren't any cars on it. You'll have to make another turn but it'll get you up there. Thanks, and away I go.
Turns out he was actually the friendly neighborhood sadist.
By 'straight,' he meant: straight up, as in up the 90-degree road, and then take a left. And he was absolutely right: there was not a single car on Thorndale. No small surprise, I discovered, as the road is practically impassably steep, with a blend of rut-gravel-mud terrain.
But it got me up there, gasping and cursing, and pretty glad I'd brought my thick-wheeled beater.
Uphill.
It's been raining a lot lately. So on the first fully sunny weekend after a spate of floods and downpours, I and the entire biking population of the bay area set out for a ride. Like most, I take Tunnel Road up to the hills; it's a nice, gentle climb, on a road that curves so graciously that it's fun going up or down. I knew that a mudslide had closed off most of the road during the week; but I also knew that it was walkable, from my inside source. So I wasn't too phased by the road-closed warnings from the bikers coming down the hill. Turns out They'd posted a live guard to keep bikes and people from walking on the footpath around the slide. There was no budging or bribing our gate-keeper, so I and another bike decided to kludge together an alternate route up to the top.
It was all downhill for a while, so bike guy peeled off onto a random uphill. I decided to keep going till I got to a road I recognized--which was just one more curve away. I knew I'd biked on Thornhill before, and knowing it'd get me somewhere, I decided to see where that was. On Thornhill, another nice, gradual up-slope, I passed what appeared to be a friendly neighborhood guy. And asked him whether I could get there (the top) from here. Yes, and he named a couple of streets and turns. But just as I was about to start off, he remembered a better route. Straight, then left, onto Thorndale, which is great, because there aren't any cars on it. You'll have to make another turn but it'll get you up there. Thanks, and away I go.
Turns out he was actually the friendly neighborhood sadist.
By 'straight,' he meant: straight up, as in up the 90-degree road, and then take a left. And he was absolutely right: there was not a single car on Thorndale. No small surprise, I discovered, as the road is practically impassably steep, with a blend of rut-gravel-mud terrain.
But it got me up there, gasping and cursing, and pretty glad I'd brought my thick-wheeled beater.
posted by aelis at 10:36 PM
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