Mt. Hamilton - I CLIMBED IT!

A couple weeks ago Francois, founder of mtbr.com, organized a "SuperBowl Sunday" group ride. My schedule was clear and I always wanted to climb up it, so I got on board. I loaded up the Tarmac and headed south to San Jose.

After everyone getting ready in the parking lot, the massive group took off, I want to say there were about 40 of us. The interesting thing about this group is the fact that we are all "mountain bikers" and can be found typically on dirt trails. But Francois persauded many to come out and bring the road bikes, some even biked up with their mountain bikes. I have no shame in my "roadiness" and I came all decked out in my roadie attire :)

The pace was social for the first four miles but once we got to the start of Mt. Hamilton, some people took off and the group fractured into a bunch of "mini" groups. I've never been up the hill so didn't know how to pace myself so I took it easy but soon found that the grade was pretty consistent and I could pick it up a notch so I started passing groups every so often and ended only a few minutes back from the fastest group. The climb took me 2 hours flat, which is 11.3mph average speed over 22.67 miles and 4,676 feet of climbing.

I was hoping to get some great shots while at the top but unfortunately it was foggy as you can see and so COLD! Luckily we all got into the building and enjoyed the heat and restrooms for a little while. But it was just delaying the inevitable, the fast cold descent down the mountain! It got better once we got to about 1500' elevation. The sun started to shine and the temperature increased dramatically. Here is a good picture of the San Jose, great day if you are at lower elevations haha.

Here is a link to the Garmin GPS Data of the route : http://connect.garmin.com/activity/24213136

Ended up being 45.25 miles with 5,500 ft of climbing, took me a little over 3 hours. I would like to do it again but at my own pace, no group, I bet I could knock 15-20 minutes off my time.

Below I linked a video Francois made as the massive group made its way up the mountain. You can see me in it, toward the later half and I wave.