On a previous episode of this blog, I documented my adventure to nearly the tippy-top of Loma Prieta, upon which I took a photo of the nearby, yet frustratingly inaccessible Mt Um.
Well, not so much inaccessible, but rather "can't get there from here". I've ridden to the top previously, and I decided it was about time to do it again. On Monday, specifically, because it was supposed to start raining on Tuesday. Supposed to. Hasn't yet, but whatever.
Anyway, the ride. It was cold. It was very, very cold. While in absolute temperature it was warmer than Friday's ride to Loma Prieta, the pattern of the temperature was rather unfortunately inverted: it was warm down in the valley where I was sheltered from the wind, and cold as all hell up at the summit where the wind was blowing pretty strong.
As usual for winter rides up Mt Um, it actually wasn't all that bad until I got up to the ridge line at the summit, which is a fairly flat 2 miles on the very unsheltered west side of the mountain. Being flat means that I'm generating a lot less heat than when I'm climbing, and also going much faster through the wind than when I'm slugging it out against gravity. To make things worse, I was also soaked with sweat by that point.
Anyway, the actual tippy-top of the peak of Mt Um was closed for construction. I guess they needed to patch Log4j on the transmitter that broadcasts the signal that makes all the frogs gay. Or something, I dunno. So instead I stopped at the picnic area just below the summit and munched on a clif bar, then snapped a photo of Loma Prieta from Mt Um.
Of course the wide-angle lens is working against me again, so enjoy some potato-zoom.
It's kind of like a selfie, but separated in both space and time. You can see the ridge line in this photo where the fire road leading between Mt Um and Loma Prieta remains frustratingly inaccessible.
Speaking of selfies.
I'm not smiling, my face is just frozen in that position.
I think I'll stay off the mountains for a while, until it warms up a little.
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