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On Saturday I did my November century which came in at 106 miles and 5500' of climbing including Sierra, Calaveras, and Welch Creek roads. Warning, long post without many pictures!

Counter-clockwise starting at the bottom in Los Gatos. Click for interactive map

It was overcast but completely dry when I started in Los Gatos at 6:55am. Ramon had tweeted something about the ground being wet but I didn't really give that a second thought. Two miles in and sure enough, the pavement became wet. Also the air got damp and misty and before long there was a slight drizzle and my tires were sending up nice rooster tails of water. Half an hour into the ride my shoes and socks were soaked through but at least it wasn't too cold out.

This was originally going to be ride with other BF folks but many chose not to do the ride because of the wetness. At the planned meeting spot it actually wasn't raining anymore but I didn't see anyone else and so after waiting around a bit I continued on solo. It turns out that Donald (dl33) actually did the ride and we missed each other by just a few minutes

I got to the base of Sierra road and tried to take it pretty easy knowing that my nemesis Welch Creek was still to come. At around 1100 feet up I could no longer see the valley below me due to the clouds. As I climbed it got mistier but it wasn't quite fog (visibility was still okay) and it wasn't really rain either. It was the kind of mist where at a standstill you don't notice it but with any movement through it and you will accumulate water droplets all over you and the bike. It was a nice climb though and I truly had the road all to myself. There were no other bikes and only 2-3 cars!

Descending the other side of Sierra was a much wetter experience than climbing it. First I was going much faster but also the mist had turned back into a light drizzle again. I was starting to think I should have joined the rest of the crew riding on the peninsula! Also I began having doubts of climbing Welch Creek in the rain since I especially didn't want to deal with the really slick wet cattle grates (more about those later)

With Welch Creek possibly out of the picture and since I was riding on my own in an area I don't explore much I decided to take the opportunity and check out some deadend roads that weren't part of the original plan. The first of these is a right turn on Felter. This is a short little spur about which there isn't much to write about except for some noisy goats near the end.

After getting back on course, the next detour was a right turn onto Marsh. This is a wide, smooth, freshly paved road that descends gradually before making a sharp turn over a bridge and dead ending in a small valley of farmland. It was a nice little descent for a rainy day in that it's very non-technical. Overall a fun detour with a scenic view at the end and I'd do it again.

So at this point, at the bottom of Marsh Rd, it was still rainy and the ride was going "okay" but not looking good for a century. It wasn't too cold and I wasn't soaked through to my skin or anything but my head just wasn't in it and I kept thinking about cutting the ride short. I had a sense of impatience, of wanting to get things over and done with, of being discontented being out on the road.

My sunglasses were covered in water droplets but I didn't want to wipe them with my fingers or gloves for fear of streaking them and making things worse. So I just took them off. This simple act was in a way a turning point in the ride because I could suddenly see everything a lot better and connect with the beauty of the green meadows and grey misty skies. Climbing back out on Marsh Rd I passed more cows that stared at me. The mother cows stared warily and their calves stared with curiosity. It was nice.

Then when I got back on course again on Felter Rd, I saw a group of cyclists coming the other direction, slogging uphill through the rain, and that lifted my spirits more knowing I wasn't the only one out there. Soon I made the right turn onto Calaveras road and a group of 7-8 motorcycles sped past me which helped even more in fending off the feeling of isolation. Previously I had entertained the idea of skipping not just Welch Creek but Calaveras as well but seeing other people out there made me want to press on. Also the rain was diminishing which helped too

Calaveras was very nice as always. In one of the right-hand hairpin turns there was a big giant black bull just hanging out about a foot away from the road. I heard that he chased some other cyclists on the Western Wheelers ride but fortunately he only glared at me.

On Calaveras is where the skies finally started to clear up. It was really beautiful seeing the clouds dissolve into mist and then finally give way to blue.

Stopped for a bit before descending the final stretch of Calaveras northbound

The last extra detour I took was a right turn onto Geary road which goes into the Sunol Regional Wilderness. It's about 2 mostly flat miles to the park. This would make a good water stop for anyone doing Welch Creek. However due to the cool temps I still had plenty of water in my bottles and certainly didn't need any more weight for a big climb so I didn't stop.

Yes, the big climb. I was finally in a good enough mood that I decided to climb Welch Creek for my second time. I went as slow as I possibly could and didn't push it whatsoever and it still hurt. A lot. Oh yeah the uphill cattle grate crossings were fun. I knew that powering my way over them would just spin my back tire out due to the wetness and probably result in a tip-over. So before each cattle grate I had to sprint up to about double my 5mph climbing pace and then use that momentum to coast over the slippery metal.

When I got to the top of Welch Creek I noticed my back tire was nice and squishy, I'm guessing about 60psi. I wonder how many watts that robbed me of on the climb? I pumped it up before descending to lunch in Sunol. But when I got to Sunol it was soft again! I just left it alone at this point and did the rest of the ride with a soft back tire.

On the way home I decided to change the scenery up a little bit. Instead of returning the same way I had come I headed west across the Dumbarton Bridge and then back to home via Foothill and various residential streets and made it home around 3:45pm with plenty of sunlight left.

Also posted at bikeforums.net