Mission Peak

Bill Bushnell — Saturday, December 26, 1992

On Saturday, Brent Silver and I rode across the Dumbarton Bridge to Fremont. We then hooked up with Alvin Chin’s Western Wheelers “C” ride going up the Alameda Creek path. He had at least 20 people on his ride. The moderately vigorous pace was just about right for us, but he described his ride as an easy spin in the newsletter. Maybe if I advertise my rides as easy spins I’ll get more people.

When we got to Niles Canyon, a cold wind was blowing from Sunol, and frigid fog was licking the grassy tops of the nearby hills. We stopped briefly to eat. The temperature was 42F. We then continued up Mill Creek Rd. and then up the back side of Mission Peak. The last mile and a half is a very steep dirt road with lots of large, loose gravel for about 1100 feet of climbing. Fortunately, the temperature at the top of the mountain was a warm 65F. The view was fantastic.

We rode down the steep dirt road on the front side of the mountain and then continued home on the flats through Milpitas, San Jose, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, and Mountain View. Since Brent lives in Sunnyvale, he split off at Central Expressway and Wolfe Rd.

Ride stats:

distance: 62.4 miles

climbing: 2770 feet

total time: 7:05

riding time: 4:41

average speed: 13.3 mph

maximum speed: 34.0 mph

index: 74

irp: 10

mirp: 16

climbing ratio: 0.44

An article on indexing can be found here.

©2004, Bill Bushnell

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