Lamorinda Trail on a bike - Done

Last summer, I surprised myself by riding all the way up Skyline Blvd from Canyon Road to around elevation 1200 feet. As I recall, it wasn't particularly a difficult trip. In fact, it was a lot scarier coming down as I wasn't wearing a helmet at the time.

Now that I have purchased a new helmet, I decided to try the Lamorinda Trail which is a 15+ mile trail that circles around Lafayette, Moraga and Orinda. I did a shorter version last week, riding down to Lafayette via the bicycle path from Moraga, turn left on Mount Diablo Blvd, left again on Acalanes Road which turned into Glorietta Blvd at the top of the hill, before turning left again on Moraga Road coming home. The ride was hard as the climb up to Glorietta from Acalanes was slightly steeper than I had anticipated and I had to walk the last 50 meters to the top.

Today, I decided to cut out the steep climb on Acalanes and turn right onto Hidden Valley Road which lead to the bicycle path that ran parallel to CA24 and ended in Orida's Theater Square. Like last time, the ride to Lafayette was very easy. It was mostly down hill. However, I noticed that the broken peddle on my left was getting worse and I wasn't able to peddle hard when needed. So, I stopped by Sharp Bicycle in Lafayette and bought a new pair of peddles before continuing my way. The replaced the original peddle that came with the Bianchi Advantage Hybrid which my parents bought for me 20 years ago for my 30th birthday.

The bike peddled much smoother with the new peddles and the ride was good the rest of the way. The Lamorinda Trail, via Hidden Valley was definitely an easier ride, though longer in distance than going through Glorietta. The ride up Moraga Way from Orinda was fairly easy. The slope was relatively gentle. I was able to stay in the highest gear (3-7) until Glorietta before shifting down one large gear to 2-7 which took me to the highest point of Moraga Way. The cruise home was quick and easy.

Overall, with the 20 minute stop at Sharp Bicycle, I did the loop in about an hour and 20 minutes. Not too bad for a 50-year old man.