I biked the Briones / San Pablo Dam Reservoir loop yesterday. Man, that was taxing. Of the three “bears” on the route, two are killers: those two hills go on and on and on and up and up and up. The total climb on the route was nearly 1626 feet, and it took me almost two and a quarter hours to go less than nineteen miles. But I didn’t stop until I reached the top of each hill!
Strange thing: as I was biking up Mama Bear and then Papa Bear, I felt drained, slogging for minute after minute after minute up the seemingly never-ending slopes. But when the ride was over, I felt fine. Maybe I was reinvigorated by the rapid, kinda scary steep downhill after Papa Bear—extra exhilarating because the wind was gusting unpredictably, destabilizing the bike.