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Club Member Spotlight Brad's Annual Birthday Ride
Story and photos courtesy of Brad Baldwin
An intrepid group of riders gathered at 7am in Niles on October 20th for the 12th edition of what's become an annual club event -- the 107 mile long (7,700 ft total climbing) Mt. Hamilton loop ride.
A brief history behind how it got started: The ride was first held July 2002, on the same day as the Markleeville Death Ride (as it was named then), to honor those in the club that had signed up to do that brutal ride. We ended up suffering like dogs through temperatures above 90 with that memorable 107 degree blistering stretch of road on the backside of Mt. Hamilton. Because of this I decided maybe holding the ride in July wasn't such a great idea. So we checked out June for a couple of years -- better, but still a bit too toasty! In 2005 I decided to test the fall weather of mid-October (around my B-day). The weather was great and we've been on that schedule ever since.
Tim O'Hara and Andy Saas took on the duties of ride leaders this year, and we also had SAG support. In addition to supplying water and snacks SAG helps as a safety net given the remoteness of most of the route. The weather was gorgeous this year and all 23 riders that did the loop seemed to have a great time!
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