New ride series: Hill Climbing for Beginners
We will be doing a series of eight beginning hill climbing rides again this year, beginning on Saturday, Jan. 28, and continuing through April. The rides will be the same eight rides led and organized in Winter 2011 by Deb Ford, this time led by Russell Reagan and Terri Richardson.
These rides are aimed specifically at riders who are new to hill climbing and want to increase their confidence and skills in hill climbing, and who really desire to work their way to the big challenge of climbing Mt. Diablo...and make it to the top!
The first six rides start and end in Winters, with the option of riding from Davis. The last two rides will be Howell Mountain, stating/ending in St. Helena (Napa Valley); and Mt. Diablo, starting/ending in Danville. The eight rides are spread out over about three months, usually on alternate Saturdays, with a couple of them on consecutive Saturdays.
The first ride of this series on a very gorgeous Jan. 28 was very well attended, similar to last year's "Hill Climbing Clinic" rides. The remaining seven rides (as of newsletter publication) will be on 2/11, 2/18, 3/3, 3/17, 3/31, 4/7 and 4/21.
For more details go to:
The last two rides with the greatest elevation gain will occur in April as part of the April Alpinsanity challenge, a new DBC event this year.
Seasoned hill climbers of course are also invited and encouraged to partake. The emphasis will be on encouraging the newbies and taking it relatively slow: just the right pace to complete the climb and then have plenty of energy left to return to where we started the ride and socialize afterward at Steady Eddy's (or similar venue in Napa Valley/Danville).
Looking forward to some great hill climbing!
