Night Ride

Bill Bushnell — Saturday, November 20, 1993

As I pulled into the Gunn High School parking lot, a few bicyclists were hanging around waiting for the “Nighttime Adventure” ride I had planned. Present were Gardner Cohen, Mark Spiller, and Scott Seligman. We waited until about 18:15 before setting out in case there were any latecomers.

Our route took us up Arastradero Rd. to Purissima, and then up Elena, Natoma and Black Mountain Rd. While we climbed Black Mountain Rd., Debbie Dunkley drove past and parked up near Altamont. Debbie had called me earlier asking about the ride, but she missed us at Gunn, and suspecting we had taken the same route as last month’s night ride, which she also missed, she followed us up the hill until she caught up with us.

At Altamont Rd. we turned right and continued up to Page Mill Rd. At Page Mill Rd. we turned left and began the long climb up to Skyline. The air was cool, but the climb was not difficult. We had a good time comparing our lighting systems, but we were not able to spot any wildlife by the road, I suspect, because we were too noisy. Mark led the way up on his mountain bike.

When we reached the Montebello parking area, we turned off our lights and enjoyed riding in the light of a quarter-moon. We paused briefly at Page Mill and Skyline to debate whether or not to climb Borel Hill. We decided to pass on Borel Hill and continue instead to the vista point about 1.5 miles north on Skyline.

While we waited a motorist came by and stopped in the intersection.

“How do I get to Boulder Creek?” he asked.

“Continue south six-point-eight miles and turn right on highway nine.”, I replied.

Everyone snickered as I said “six-point-eight”, and as it turned out, I was not entirely sure of the distance to the nearest tenth of a mile anyway. I knew it was 6-point-something, and the “something” was a number with a rounded-looking numeral between five and nine. This ruled out “5” and “7”, and I didn’t think it was “9” otherwise I might have chosen not to play my silly game and just tell him it was 7 miles. That left “6” or “8”. I guessed it was “8”. It turns out it is 6.6 miles, so I was wrong anyway. Most numerically-challenged people assume you know what you’re talking about if you can quote figures to meaningless precision, much as Mr. Spock did on Star Trek. I figure numerically-aware people will manage rounding the number themselves, though they may think I’m a little odd.

At the bottom of the dip just before the vista point, I saw my first wildlife: A deer bounded across the roadway not more than 20 feet in front of me as I was zipping along at the bottom of the hill. I quickly remembered Jobst warning me of a deer crossing at the bottom of the “ski jump” hill on Los Trancos Rd. and of how such deer had “been the undoing of a few riders”.

At the vista point we stopped for a moment to enjoy the view and to take a few time-lapsed pictures. The temperature was about 52F—not warm, but not too cold either. Yet, those of us with warmer clothing put it on for the descent ahead.

When we reached CA-84 the temperature was precisely 42F. I hadn’t worn my clear glasses, and since my eyes were unshielded from the wind, my right contact lens had been blown out. Fortunately, it was still sticking to my eyelid, so after getting some saline solution from Gardner, I popped the lens back in and continued down toward Woodside.

The temperature was an even colder 40F at the bottom of the hill. Poor Mark was only in shorts and a long-sleeve shirt. Without much talking we rode quickly Portola Rd. to Sand Hill Rd. and then back toward Palo Alto. At Santa Cruz Ave. Gardner and Mark turned right and headed back toward Gunn. The rest of us, Scott, Debbie, and I, continued to Fresh Choice at the Stanford Shopping Center where we thawed out our bodies and feasted on food. We arrived shortly after 17:00.

After dinner we rode through the Stanford campus, took the bike path through Bol Park. Scott turned off at Bol Park and headed home, while Debbie and I continued to Arastradero Rd. We retraced our route up to Debbie’s car that she had parked up at Black Mountain Rd. and Altamont Rd. Since I had eaten a very large meal, my belly ached and I belly-ached all the way up the hill. Eating raw vegetables followed by moderate to hard exercise does not a pleasant combination make.

After leaving Debbie, I continued up Altamont to Page Mill Rd., but halfway between Black Mountain Rd. and Page Mill Rd., I noticed my rear tire had gone soft. Darn! I pulled over and discovered a nasty sliver of glass had pierced the tread. My helmet-mount light came in handy while I worked to patch the tire. Several motorists drove by each probably wondering what I was up to under my small, bright cone of light. I’d hear a car approach, and as recognition occurred, I’d hear the car accelerate away.

Soon I had fixed the tire, and I continued home without further incident, arriving just after midnight. My main headlight beam had started to go noticeably dim.

Ride stats:

distance: 46.3 miles

climbing: 3770 feet

total time: 6:30

riding time: 3:46

maximum speed: 38.5 mph

average speed: 12.3 mph

index: 61

irp: 9.4

mirp: 16.3

cd: 81 ft/mi

An article on indexing can be found here.

©2004, Bill Bushnell

Please do not publish or distribute for profit without permission.