Cycling from SF to Yosemite

OK, my oldest said I was mad, and she's right. But last week I ended up cycling for 2 days from SF up to Yosemite. It was one of those things that seemed doable knowing what it's like to ride longer distances, but still seemed daunting given the lack of ride support (disclaimer: I've done two double centuries but this was way different).

The hardest part of the trip was the climbing (no kidding), and the heat (turns out to have been over 100 on each day). As my friend texted me during the ordeal: loads of water, electrolytes, food.

The heat and hills combined to double team my sweat glands--you could almost just watch sweat pouring down my arms later in the day.

But one thing that I've noticed is that distances are different from the seat of a bike. What I mean is that in a car distances can seem long, while on the saddle of a bike they seem less so--it's almost as if you are more connected with your surroundings and therefore distracted a bit more as the wheels keep turning.

Now a couple of photos--start of the journey (Glen Park station to Dublin/Pleasanton):

My only detour--construction on Kasson Road on the first day. A nice construction lady let me through the heavy earthmovers to this field I could walk through:

And at the end of the first day in Oakdale I felt like this wouldn't have been such a bad idea:

Cute little Knights Ferry (near the start of the second day):

And finally before the first (and steepest) climb: