Operation "I ❤ Hills": Alpine Dam

This former Texas flatlands girl has resisted hill climbing since moving to San Francisco 5 years ago... a futile fight. Since it occurred to me that I might like hills if I got better at riding them, I've decided to start embracing the vertical. And when I decide to do something, I'm all in.

A couple friends invited me to do the Alpine Dam loop this weekend. 4000+ feet of climbing. Yes sir, may I have another?

It really wasn't as hard as I'd expected, although I couldn't have done this on my old bike. Climbing is much easier on my new bike; I did a good job staying out of my new easiest gear but definitely was glad to have it for a couple pretty steep ascents.

The scenery on this loop is fantastic. After the initial climb from mile 20 - 25, you drop down to a lake nestled in the hills; we stopped on the dam to eat and take pics:

Notice the fog coming over the hill in the pic below? From Alpine Dam, we climbed up another 1400 feet directly into that fog bank.

... which made the temps drop from lower 70s down to lower 60s. The fog was so thick that the condensation created "rain" from the trees. It was beautiful (albeit cold):

After climbing out of the trees, we hit some rollers along a ridgeline that probably has a fantastic view on a clear day. Unfortunately the fog was so thick that visibility was minimal. For most of this section, the fog was blowing hard up the hill on our right and going straight over our heads, leaving this small bit of visibility at eye level and below.

Then some pretty technical downhill cruising into Mill Valley (along with gusty blasts of refrigerated air), where we stopped to warm up and have lunch (buffalo burger, yum) and get back on the road. 8 miles from home, we made a sharp right turn to get onto the bike path, and I should have unclipped my right foot, not my left. This is what happened:

Honestly, not too bad. A bit bruised and bloodied, but I'm fine. We were pretty close to my friend Rich's house so I headed there to clean it up, and he offered to drive me back to my place. I waffled a bit; I'd really wanted to get the full mileage and elevation in, but between my sore, stiff knee and the bike lane being closed on the bridge (creating a nightmare of tourists, locals, bikes, pedestrians) I took him up on the offer. Forgot to stop my Garmin so my last few miles I averaged a speedy 60+ MPH. Ha. Wish I could figure out how to edit Garmin data.

So: the first assignment in Operation I Love Hills was a success. Looking forward to more climbing on the bike and run, and getting a lot stronger!