(written by Oleg)

Since I was visiting Berkeley I wanted to get in a Descenders ride with recent NorCal transplants – Keith and Dave Voris. We met at Castro Valley and soon were climbing up Redwood Road, which offers some of the most beautiful views.

The descend down Pinehurst was superfast and superfun! It moved into shaded redwood area.

Climb up Pinehurst was pretty hard – with Keith pushing the pace at the front. We stayed together but Keith easily pulled away towards the end to take the bragging rights.

We turned on Skyline and descended towards Redwoods from where we retraced our tracks back. There were some more fast descending and of course more climbing and then some more descending, with some roller sections in-between. Almost zero flat miles! Not much traffic and very few stop signs.

Our cooldown was done on a road very appropriately named “Seven Hills Rd.” It was like riding on a rollercoaster. We extended the cooldown by doing an extra loop, and then went to a nearby Chipotle for a few burritos and some catching up.

36 miles and 3,300 ft climbed (Voris got 500ft more than me, it must be adjusted for height or size).

A fantastic ride with some great Bay Area Descenders, you should have come!