Biking again

Since I could not find any hikes scheduled last Saturday (i.e December 18), I decided to do some biking: Go to the Shoreline Park in Mountain View and come back. I have done this twice now, once walking (painful) and once on the bike (painful again). Surprisingly, this time it was quite okay, probably because I followed a different route. Last 2 times I went on El Camino Real which is a busy street with lots of signals. This causes a lot of interruptions during the commute, plus I guess its more polluted, so the experience is not that enjoyable. This time, I decided to use a different (and slightly longer) route: Get off El Camino on Wolfe and go to the intersection of Fremont Ave and Grant Rd in Los Altos. Then take Grant Rd (north), cross El Camino in Mountain View to reach the south end of Stevens Creek Trail (that's about 4.7 + 2 miles if Yahoo maps is correct). I then covered the trail up to the Shoreline Park (another 4 miles), sat there for some time and was back (another 4 + 4.7 + 2 miles). That means I bicycled a total of 2*(4.7 + 2 + 4) = 21.4 miles!! Wow, I can't believe that, its 34.4 km.

Let me tell you though, it wasn't very tough (Although I would be lying if I said if my legs didn't pain at all) because Fremont Ave has lot of slope, so its the gravity that carried me for 9 miles. Also, Fremont Ave and Stevens Creek Trail are both pleasant with lots of trees etc, so it much more comfortable riding there. Also the bike lanes on Fremont let you ride freely and there are not many signals, so in future, that's my preferred route for biking.