Way too hot but more wildflowers than a few weeks ago. Also more soft serve ice cream too. 🍦🥳 I think of all the big climbs, I've climbed Mt. Hamilton the most this year which isn't normal. Bob wanted to go see if there were more wildflowers now out in the San Antonio Valley and thought that it was going to be warm but not too hot. The forecast I saw said it was going to be hot but I thought it would be okay. I was wrong. The ride actually started off cool and overcast and like dummies we actually brought layers that we would never need. As we climbed, we quickly got about the clouds and even before we got into the sun we could feel humidity in the air. On Mines it got even hotter the further we went until we got over Euler Ridge when we got a cooling headwind. Back in Livermore it was hot all over again. I thought I just didn't have the legs but really I just didn't want to put in any effort because of the heat. When it cooled down after we went for soft serve at Meadowlark Dairy, my legs were feeling great. Probably a combo of food and the temperature. South of Del Puerto Canyon was the largest and prettiest display of wildflowers. We stopped several times to take photos. Since The Junction is closed, I knew we wouldn't be having lunch until 70+ miles into the ride. I'm so glad I went with Superfuel for my first two bottles. Before we were done with Mines I had already had ~1600 calories of food. I felt like I could've eaten one more bar. Well it turns out I had one more bar and didn't find out until I got home. 🤦🏻‍♂️ Glad the water was working at the fire station. We wouldn't have made it otherwise. We even hosed down our heads which helped alot but only for a little while. I went from being foggy headed to thinking and seeing clearly while I was riding. Sonny had some issues. The headset bearings on his bike were rusted and falling apart and the only place he could get them was from Germany. So he used his old bike which had issues of its own. Old and cracking pulley wheels that luckily he had a long cage he bought but never used and was able to scavenge the parts from it. On the ride though his bike was making all kinds of noises. He was able to fix one of them. It turned out he didn't tighten down the skewer for his front wheel enough. But later it sounded like he was ride with loose ball bearings rattling around. He also didn't eat enough and was struggling towards the end of Mines. I think everyone felt way better when we finally got lunch in Livermore. On the way over to Pleasanton, we did a little gravel. I don't know if it was the dust or maybe pollen in the gravel that got kicked up but from that point on, my allergies kind of flared up and I had a tickle in my nose. I still do now actually. Like I mentioned before, after the soft serve, it was much cooler and we all felt much better. That was great because we actually were able to do the final climb up Calaveras without suffering. I wasn't expecting to get back so close to sunset. I really thought we'd get back earlier. I guess it was still pretty comfortably before sunset.