Chabot loop from Rockridge (about 40 miles)

Browsing through my old blog notes, I was surprised to see that I had never written up this route, since I used to ride variations of it fairly often. I guess I haven’t done this ride for a while, and after today, I think I remember why. It’s not a terrible ride, but it’s a bit utilitarian, not very scenic, a bit ghetto, and slightly annoying with the hill profile. On the up side, it’s an easy way to get in a 40 mile loop from my front door. This ride is based on the Oakland Yellow Jackets routesheet, with some minor modifications at the beginning and end.

From Rockridge the route follows the standard bike route down to uptown Oakland/Lake Merritt (basically following my commute route). Then around the lake, under the freeway, and over to Alameda. Alameda is a pleasant little island community that used to a big naval base in the bay area. I was pleased to see that they’ve added a dedicated bike lane on the approach to the bicycle bridge connecting Alameda and Bay Farm. Sweet! No more cutting across traffic and getting on the sidewalk to approach the bike bridge.

From the bike bridge I like to go around the miniature airplane airfield and head out towards the airport. There’s a dedicated bike lane that runs parallel to the airport access road, which is nice. Today it was a bit of a wind tunnel, with breezes blowing from the south. From the airport the route goes along busy boulevards of San Leandro, and at mile 20, starts a short climb up to Lake Chabot. The climb up Fairmont to Chabot is slightly longer than a mile but covers 500 feet in elevation gain, so it’s a bit of a pain.

After the climb, the first of two scenic sections begins: the ride alongside Lake Chabot. Unfortunately it’s all too short of a stretch, and pretty soon you’re back in San Leandro. Now from here there are a couple of ways to get back to Oakland. One is a straight shot through the San Leandro and east Oakland ghettos.. not very nice. The other principal way is to follow Mountain Blvd as it meanders along just at the base of the Oakland hills. This route is slightly less ghetto but annoying with the terrain. You’re constantly climbing short steep risers only to drop back down again, so you get the pain of climbing without the sense of accomplishment.

Past the Mormon Temple, at Park Blvd, instead of turning left to return to Lake Merritt I turn right to rejoin Mountain Blvd through Montclair, a really cute little town. Past Montclair, the road takes you to Broadway Terrace and Lake Temescal (cut through via the multi-use path). From here wind your way over to Chabot Road in Rockridge and you’re done.



Total Distance: about 40 miles
Elevation gain: 2300 feet
Routesheet (on bikely.com): Chabot Loop from Rockridge

Time Trial: Old Tunnel Road

My three readers will recall that last week when I did my time trial route I was pretty disappointed in my time: 55 minutes elapsed from Claremont/College up to Grizzly Peak. This week I rode the same route on the aluminum frame Specialized Dolce, and my elapsed time was 49 minutes. This is much more in line with my expectations, and consistent with times logged last January at the beginning of the season.

6 minutes is a lot of time to shave off a 5 mile ride, and I know I didn’t improve my fitness in the past week. So, what happened last week? I think part of it has to do with the difference in the bikes. Artemis is a bit heavier and has much wider plusher tires. I think Artemis has 700x35s where the Dolce has 700x23. The two bikes also have completely different gearing, both in terms of the cassettes and the chainrings in front, with the result being that the touring bike has a couple more easier gears than the Specialized road bike. I think I may be hanging out in those granny gears a bit longer than I really need to, and that may account for the slower overall time. Next time I take the touring bike on the time trial, I’m going to try to stay out of my two easiest gears as much as possible to see if I can improve my time on that bike.

I was pretty happy with my time today, and it was nice to take the Dolce off the indoor trainer and get it out on the road for a change. I’ve been neglecting this bike a bit since I got the new touring bike in the fall, so it felt good to take it out for a spin.

Bike: Specialized Dolce
Total Time Clocked, from Claremont/College to Grizzly Peak: 49 minutes
Actual Ride time: unknown; probably 48 minutes
Total Distance: 5.4 miles

Time Trial: Old Tunnel Road

The rained stopped for about 2 hours today, so I hopped on the bike for a quick ride up Old Tunnel. About half way up I decided to make this a time trial, and I'm afraid the results were pretty sad. 55 minutes to get from Claremeont/College to Grizzly Peak! Last January I clocked this at 49 minutes elapsed time (actual ride time is usually 2.5-3 minutes less due to 2 stop lights).

Now, I am riding a slightly different route up through Claremont, and that adds about 3/10 of a mile to the total. And I'm riding the heavier Tournado with the fat tires, but still. Looks like I've got a lot of training to do.

Bike: Artemis (Dahon Tournado)
Total Time Clocked, from Claremont/College to Grizzly Peak: 55 minutes
Actual Ride time: unknown; probably 52 minutes
Total Distance: 5.4 miles