Driving to rides -- how far will you go?

If you are just riding around the block, it doesn't matter much when
you start, but if you have an all day ride over Tioga and Conway (CA)
passes, the day has limited sunshine. I like to start rides that will
take most of the day before 7:00. That goes for my tours locally and
in the Alps

Was that really true back-in-the-day? I find it hard to believe I got going
early enough to join you on rides that started at 7am. Perhaps I was more of
a "morning person" back then.

--Mike--
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com

Mike Jacoubowsky writes:

If you are just riding around the block, it doesn't matter much
when you start, but if you have an all day ride over Tioga and
Conway (CA) passes, the day has limited sunshine. I like to start
rides that will take most of the day before 7:00. That goes for my
tours locally and in the Alps.

Was that really true back-in-the-day? I find it hard to believe I
got going early enough to join you on rides that started at
7am. Perhaps I was more of a "morning person" back then.

In Europe, where breakfast is part of the room in hotels, starting
early is hard to do unless you pay in the evening ans depart before
breakfast, eating on the road later. In the west, breakfast at
roadside diners and truck stops starts early but not early enough to
get a cool start on Sierra passes. For those, it's good to take
breakfast food to the motel and get riding at about 6:00 after eating.

On rides around the SF Bay Area, start at 7:00 is worth the
difference, especially when it's hot as the $th of July. That way you
can ride to the coast in cool air and catch early rays as you ride
down the coast to Santa Cruz, for instance.

I'm sure you saw the pix in Ray Hosler's site:

http://geocities.com/rayhosler/slideshow.html

Jobst Brandt