Businessman Paul Berney (co-founder and Managing partner at mCordis) and friend of Ride25, explains how he gets the miles in on his bike even when he’s miles away from home (and his bike)…
On Saturday morning I rode with a group of five others on a 90km loop to Alpine Dam which is apparently the classic local’s ride. The six became five when one guy bailed out because of the pace (or to do a different route depending on who you believe). The route included riding over the Golden Gate bridge to get started before a couple of short climbs to get warmed up. We then hit a long drag up Pine Mountain to the dam and an even longer, steeper climb on the other side of the valley to ridgecrest where your ‘reward’ was more climbing up the Seven Sisters Hills. My riding companions carried on for another 10 minute climb up the east ridge but I bailed out to my shame as I was already hanging on for grim death. All the climbs range between 5%-10% on average with a few nasty steeper sections thrown in. We rode on a mixture of bike paths, main roads with wide bike lanes and single track road. The group were good enough to wait for me at intersections as I struggled to keep there pace both up and down the steeper hills (and when I was cowering by the roadside eating all of there spare food). The real rewards however are the fantastic views and the coffee at the end.
