Biking Outside Again!

I really missed biking outside during rehab. Yes, you can get a good workout on a stationary bike (or in my case a trainer). But for me it is nowhere near as fun as being outside in the fresh air and scenery. And I really missed standing up to pedal which, as I’ve mentioned previously, is the closest feeling I can get to the flowing, meditation-in-motion feeling of running. You can stand up to pedal on a stationary bike or trainer (if it is sturdily anchored like mine) but to me it feels awkward and you just don’t get that feeling.

I finally snuck back out on the road (carefully!) after 8 weeks of rehab. I’ve gone several times now and my confidence is completely back. It helps that both my bikes have full size sturdy wheels. So now I took my bike off the trainer. I’ve just done my first really long ride- 3 hours. It was a hot day here- there is a heat spell all over the southwest US caused by the jetstream straying further north than its usual course. But I went early in the morning when it was still cool and had a blast.

I passed through the small rural town of San Martin, just south of home (Morgan Hill). Here is the entrance to CourdeValle, a nice golf club and resort there:

And further down the same road, some rural land with the Gabilan mountains in the background :

I avoid roads with no shoulder like this unless they have extremely low-traffic.

This is later on, on Watsonville road. Uvas road, which leads into Uvas valley, starts to the left in the notch between the mountains.

The start of Uvas road, with some of the campsites of Thousand trails:

This is the start of the beautiful Sycamore Drive from the south.

I climbed the hill on Sycamore drive the easier way from the south. Locals call the steeper side from the north “the wall”.

The view from the top of the hill on Sycamore Drive, looking north:

All of this sure beats grinding away in my garage on a trainer!