Thanks for the pic of Palomar. I have not seen it since my field trip in 8th grade!
I was telling Lamonster when we were standing in the shade on Palomar, that the only other times I had been up there was to do the dirt downhill, Nate Harrison Grade, on a Greenspeed. The Greenspeed is an Auslralian recumbent (yes, human powered) trike with the two wheels in front. In the seat my butt was about 6" of of the road. I had mounted knobbies on all three wheels and loved doing fast dirt downhills. I would get someone to haul me up Palomar, on the paved road, in their truck and then I would ride back down the 12 mile dirt decent.
The mistake I made, when I did this the first time, was to be dropped off at the observatory thinking I wanted to start there. However, I had not realized that there is an uphill section of the pavement before getting back out to the restaurant - close to the start of the dirt downhill. Well it was a hot day and at about 5,000 feet and I felt like I was going to die, pedaling that trike up the road. There were spots where the trees shaded the road and at some of those I would just stop pedaling for a few minutes until I cooled off. The nice thing about a trike is that I could just come to a stop and sit there - no need to get off or stand up.
Needless to say, the next time I did this, I got dropped off at the restaurant and avoided the uphill. Sure I feel like a wuss when I watch the Tour de France, but I still have fun.
Riding that road on my Spyder, following Lamonster, for the first time since those recumbent bicycle (trike) rides, brought back all of those memories.
It was a lot less physical work this time, however!
