Emily asked me to ride the Hamilton loop last weekend but I was doing my double so we rescheduled it to today. Originally I thought it was just going to be us but it grew to 9 people. The weather was a little hot at times but mostly it was perfect. So perfect but Emily STILL insisted on bringing her puffy. At first I forbid her from bringing it but she claimed it was her comfort jacket so I acquiesced. At the end of the ride, she agreed she didn't need to bring it (and she never wore it). It just filled up most of her bar bag. We climbed Mt. Hamilton at a pretty chill pace and mostly all together. Everyone was able to chat the whole way up which was nice. Irene was having some back issues with the fit of her bike and her and Margaret were a little behind us. They even swapped bikes to see if that would help, which I think it might have? While we waited for Irene and Margaret, Zoe and Ant were amazed by the vending machine. Emily was doing these legs swings to stay warm? To stretch? No, to kick me! :) Emily wanted to do this star-posed photo. She originally asked me to help pose the photo and handed me her phone, before I knew what she was talking about. I'd never seen this (trend?) before. Irene ended up directing everyone and at one point swung her arms backward just as Zoe moved forward to also help and end up getting smacked in the face. Ant, Zoe, Irene, Margaret, Suzanne, and Peter went back down because they couldn't do the full ride for various reasons. Emily, David, and I continued on. After the descending the backside of Hamilton, my rear brake was just touching enough to squeal for longer than normal. Thankfully it eventually went away and didn't last the whole ride. Emily was on a mission and most of the rest of the ride she was really pushing the pace. I was lucky to survive to the end of the ride without dying. Early on she said she was worried about getting back before sunset but I assured her that wouldn't be a problem. Later she was just caught up in her own thoughts and smashing because of the way she was feeling? 10-15 miles from The Rainbow Junction, I felt some spray. I'd been riding behind Emily but I wasn't sure if that was her sealant or mine. A few miles later and on at least 5 occasions, her rear tire would spray for a couple revolutions and then seal itself. So we kept on riding and plugged it at The Rainbow Junction. I forgot they close at 2p. We got there about 20 min. before and were glad we got food. Some people came in after that weren't so lucky. We also met some guys that were doing the 4 Peaks ride, started with Mt. Diablo and were on their way to Mt. Hamilton. Dang, doing in the hard way and seemingly starting late in the day. But maybe it makes sense to finish with Mt. Tam when there's less people and cars. They did it in 19:27 moving, 26:36 elapsed, which is pretty good! Going in this direction, there are two medium climbs basically right after lunch which isn't great but it is mostly gently going downhill which was very nice. Iron Horse Trail was one of my favorite parts of the ride. It was just so pleasant riding among the trees. And then later being separated from the traffic making the trip to Meadow Lark, much, much, nicer. The line at Meadow Lark was longer than I've ever seen it and Emily wanted to bail initially when she saw it but I knew they're pretty fast so we stayed. It was worth it! It was pleasant in the shade on the way to Calveras and also pleasant because I led and set a reasonable pace. David took over once we got to Calaveras, also setting a nice pace but then Emily took over just before the climb and started smashing again. When the climb started, she didn't downshift, just continued to smash so I reverse dropped her and David who sort of went after her. Eventually, the pace stabilized and I even caught back up. Since we were going harder than I would've liked already, I thought I might as well push to the top to see if I could get a PR. That probably wasn't a good idea because with the remaining climbing on the rollers, my legs started to feel like they were ready to cramp. Especially towards the end of Calaveras. Luckily, I was able to manage it and they never actually did. I wanted to descend first so on the final little rise I sprinted passed them. I thought they'd be right behind me but instead I dropped them pretty hard. Because I was out of sight, they turned left toward Sierra instead of right to go down initially. Meanwhile I was having a blast going down! :) We happily made it back before sunset and then went for some Vietnamese food in Emily's (now) favorite mall. :)