在灣區騎車

Picture 1. Mount Eden Loop (from Google earth)

There are more than 20 state parks, open space preserves and enormous biking trails (for both road bike and mountain bike) in Bay area, the place where Mark and I live. The greater San Francisco metropolitan is an hour away and High way 1 (next to Pacific ocean) is only 30 minutes away (driving) so location wise it’s extremely convenient and been considered as one of the best region for bikers in US.

Picture 2 Fremont Open Space Preserve

I took Mark to Fremont Older Open Space (see placemark on Google earth image) initially for a ride since it was my last training ground in early 2000, very soon I found it was a mistake since he is riding a hybrid (in between road bike and Mt. Bike), not ideal for the terrain, I stopped half way as well and can’t finish the climbing on the steep hills (must be more than 20 degree, harder than烏巖角). The photo above was taking 6 years ago during a family hiking trip, it does not show the steepness but overall a nice place all year round.

Picture 3. Elevation map for Mount Eden Loop

We then switch to the paved road and just finished the Mount Eden Loop, a 14.5 miles (24 KM) route with 700 feet (213 m) elevation changes in one and half hours, about the same pace as our 鐵馬環島行.  It’s a beautiful route passing through golf course, reservoir and mountain wineries.  We will continue the training and move to other trails with more climbing and higher technical difficulty, Mark is very confident he will be ready to complete the 單車環島 the next time.

I also attached two more photos for Mount Eden and Saratoga Gap areas shot in winter, 2001. You can see there were snows covered the road (a very rare event, only happen once every 10 years in Bay area) and it was quite a challenge to break and control the bike in snowy condition.

Please make sure you spare a few days in Bay area the next time when scheduling a trip to US West, Mark and I will definitely be the hosts and arrange a few biking routes to make your trip more memorable, so you can enjoy the 20K beautify in the golden state too.

Picture 4. Road covered  with snow

Picture 5. It's all clear at top of the mountain