Northern California - Next NorCal Ride -- Sunday 7/22 -- East Bay Hills

For those of you who haven't wanted to wade through 100+ postings (and hats off to BlastRadius for the suggestion) I'm starting a new post with the ride info.

We'll meet Sunday 7/22 @ 9:30 AM at Orinda BART. Route is first a loop around 3 Bears, then up Wildcat Canyon to Tilden Park, Grizzly Peak Blvd, then Skyline. Then 2 alternate routes. Short loop (50 miles) goes down Redwood Road, Pinehurst, Canyon road to Moraga, Moraga Way to Orinda. Long loop (70 miles) continues down Skyline, through Oakland Zoo, Lake Chabot Road to Castro Valley, Redwood Road to Pinehurst, then the same as the short loop. Short loop is estimated at 5755 ft climbing, long loop is estimated at 7,093 ft climbing.

Route is courtesy of jonathanb715 who unfortunately may not be able to make the ride, so I'm filling in as coordinator. Here's a link to the long route created by Jonathan on routeslip.com. http://www.routeslip.com/routes/27068

All are welcome, pace depends on who's there. I'm fairly slow, so I'll probably sweep, so anyone who knows the route and is strong enough to be at the front is especially welcome.

There are water stops along the route, but no food especially on the short route, so bring energy food, snacks, or a lunch.

Here's who's on board so far -- I'll keep this updated.

50 Miles (5755 ft climbing):
Gee 3


70 Miles (7093 ft climbing)
SV Commuter


50 miles or 70 miles:
8lives
backinthesaddle
bigbossman
rincewind8

And here's the cue sheets, courtesy of S V Commuter:

Short loop:

Start NW on Camino Pablo
cont. on San Pablo Dam Rd 2.2 mi
R on Castro Ranch Rd 7.6 mi
R on AlhambraValleyR 12.6 mi
R on Bear Creek Rd 16.8 mi
cont. on Wildcat Canyon Rd 20.9 mi
L on Shasta Rd 24.8 mi
L on Grizzly Peak Blvd 25.3 mi
L on Skyline Blvd 31.6 mi
L on Skyline Blvd 34.1 mi
L on Redwood Rd 37.4 mi
L on Pinehurst Rd 39.9 mi
R on Canyon Rd 42.6 mi
L on Moraga Way 44.4 mi
Arrive at BART 49.1 mi

Long loop:

Start NW on Camino Pablo
cont. on San Pablo Dam Rd 2.2 mi
R on Castro Ranch Rd 7.6 mi
R on AlhambraValleyR 12.6 mi
R on Bear Creek Rd 16.8 mi
cont. on Wildcat Canyon Rd 20.9 mi
L on Shasta Rd 24.8 mi
L on Grizzly Peak Blvd 25.3 mi
L on Skyline Blvd 31.6 mi
L on Skyline Blvd 34.1 mi
bear R on Grass Valley Rd 43.0 mi
L on Knowland Park 45.2 mi
R on 106th Ave 46.1 mi
cont. under freeway 46.2 mi
L on Foothill Blvd 46.2 mi
bear L on MacArthur Blvd 46.8 mi
L on Estudillo Ave 47.5 mi
cont. under freeway 47.5 mi
bear R on Lake Chabot Rd 47.7 mi
L on Seven Hills Rd 50.8 mi
L on Redwood Rd 51.9 mi
R on Pinehurst Rd 60.7 mi
R on Canyon Rd 63.4 mi
L on Moraga Way 65.2 mi
Arrive at BART 69.9 mi

See you Sunday! :D

My friend backed out... family obligations.

So I'll be coming solo.

Gary (Gee3)

I'm really bummed I'm not able to make this ride! Enjoy!

JB

Would love to have made this ride, but my kid is in a H2O Polo Tourney that day.

BR

So how long do you estimate the ride to take? My wife wants to know about what time I'll be back home. :)

Thanks!
Gary

So how long do you estimate the ride to take? My wife wants to know about what time I'll be back home. :)

Thanks!
Gary

I'm guessing at a slow pace with maybe a couple of rest stops 50 miles back by 3:00. with a faster pace sooner. 70 milers might also be back at close to 3:00 if they go significantly faster.

I'm really bummed I'm not able to make this ride! Enjoy!

JB

we'll miss you, thanks for all your planning and organization, see you next time!!

is your bike repaired now?

No, the shop received the new frame today and has started building it up but won't finish until Monday.

JB

Sorry guys, but I am not going to be able to make it tomorrow. Too much family stuff piled up. I'll have to get a solo make-up ride in on Monday.

Hope to see some of you at the Mt. Tam century.

Hi everyone,

I am still planning on making it but as usual my time is compressing a bit. I'll probably opt for the 50 mile route and ride over to Orinda from Berkeley. Thought ought to add another 15 miles or so total and be more time efficient than driving.

Aaron

Have fun guys. I won't be able to make it ... I'm in LA.

Oh, BTW, dodgers won! :D

Hi all,

Sorry bout that - I had to get home for a conference call I intelligently scheduled for 2:00. Hope you all enjoyed the ride!

Aaron

Ride report?

Ride report?

Quick report, more with pictures to come.

7 riders, 6 bikes (1 tandem). Total miles per my Garmin (long route) was 72 with 6869 ft climbing. (That included a couple of miles retracing the route up a hill, actual route mileage was about 70.3.

The tandem (Rincewind8) did 3 bears, then went up to Grizzly Peak (1600 ft) then took short cut back to Orinda.

8lives rode 10 miles to the start, went out in the lead group, since I was in the back I never saw him again, he headed back home for a 2:00 appt, don't know yet how many miles he rode.

BigBossMan and Gee 3 did the short route (congratulations to Gee 3, did 50 miles, I think his previous longest ride was 15 miles). BigBossMan was the trip photographer, hope he posts soon.

SV Commuter and yours truly did the 70 mile route. I was my usual slow and steady. I also got a flat tire 1/2 mile from the end :mad: SV commuter's first big ride was our Memorial day ride, he's just jamming through now, eats hills for breakfast.

Great ride, good weather, we hit Redwood Road climb late afternoon with a mild breeze so it wasn't as hot as it might have been.

Thanks to all!!

Hi all,

Sorry bout that - I had to get home for a conference call I intelligently scheduled for 2:00. Hope you all enjoyed the ride!

Aaron

Sorry I didn't get to see you at Inspiration Point. What route did you take and how many miles did you log?

The tandem (Rincewind8) did 3 bears, then went up to Grizzly Peak (1600 ft) then took short cut back to Orinda.
According to routeslip.com we did ~32miles and 3965ft of climbing. The decent towards Orinda was so steep, that we had to stop several times to let the brakes cool down.

Sorry I didn't get to see you at Inspiration Point. What route did you take and how many miles did you log?

Since I ride round here all the time I decided to take a different route from the bears - Over Happy Valley through Orinda to Pinehurst, then to redwood road, and more or less back up skyline to home on Grizzly Peak. 61 miles but the two traverses through Orinda meant only about 5,200 feet of climbing. I di get home by 1:15 though...

Hey everyone...

First off, thanks to everyone for making my first group ride back in the Bay Area a fun one. The scenery was great especially the peak where we could overlook Berkeley/Cal's football stadium and the SF skyline.

Backinthesaddle - Thanks for being a great embassador and ride leader! Mr. slow and steady! But you can kick my butt on mileage!

Also thanks to Bigbossman for breaking off with me for the 50 mile ride and the EPO, I mean endurance pills...!! haha! Also thanks for the gel near the end. I think I was partially dehydrated, hence the cramps on both thighs! But the rest and the gel got me through to the end.

SV Commuter - thanks for letting me be a wheel sucker for lots of the ride!! For someone that just picked up cycling again after taking several years off you hauled butt up the climbs!

Rincewind8 - I hope your girl's knee is feeling better. Maybe one day I'll get a tandem and my wife will go with me too. But unlike Bigbossman and yourself my wife would kick my butt if I brought home other "projects" to work on. hehe!

8lives - It was nice meeting you and eating your dust! You jammed out of there!! Hopefully you got to your appointment on time.

I'll post my ride report in a little bit after I get some work done here in my box! hehe!

Gary

Damn, I wish I hadn't missed this.

My efforts to mix GF with cycling aren't working well enough ;)

I just finished (finally) getting the fit good on her Bianchi I built. We had to switch handlebars to something more short/shallow.

Now that it's done, I hope there will be no excuses!

Ok - so I'm the last to check in here.

This was a fun ride, and thanks to jonathanb715 for initially planning, and Jerry (Backinthesaddle) for executing the event.

I don't have too much to add to the ride report. The first half was the typical East Bay rural riding that I know and love - rolling oak woodland with sparsely traveled roads. I've never done the 3 Bears before, so that was fun. It was sort of hard for me to tell where one bear stopped and another started, but looking back on the Garmin profile it becomes readily apparent. The descent off the last bear was very, very nice. Wide open, excellent pavement with fantastic sight lines - we're talking an easy 40+mph downhill for a couple of minutes or so. Sweet. I'll go back just for that, alone.

The second half was up Wildcat Canyon Road (steep!!) and then skirting along the west side of the Berkeley Hills. There was a little more traffic here (well, a lot more), but other than that one maniac in the red sports car trying to kill Jerry is wasn't an issue. There seemed to be a lot of climbing here, even after "summiting" at Inspiration Point, but there was a pretty nice descent going down to Redwood Road, and Redwood Road itself was a blast - another extended, cruising descent that was very enjoyable. So enjoyable, in fact, that Gary and I blew by the turn at Pinehurst (but only be a little bit). after climbing up Pinehurst, the final treat was the twisty-turny plunge through the redwoods into Moraga. That was nice!!

I had originally planned to do the full 70, but truthfully by the time we reached the split I had pretty much had enough climbing for the day. All I could think about was my hammock and a cold rum n' coke, so I was glad that Gary wanted to split off and used the opportunity to wimp out.

Garmin Data (http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=100574&unitSystemPkValue=2&episodePk.pkValue=3423470) shows the totals for me at 50.2 miles and 4,837' of climbing.

Elevation profile:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Three%20Bears/3bears.jpg

Some random scenic pics:

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Three%20Bears/sign.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Three%20Bears/road.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Three%20Bears/esses.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Three%20Bears/climb-1.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Three%20Bears/city3.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Three%20Bears/briones.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Three%20Bears/1stclimb.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Three%20Bears/buzzard.jpg

Some people/action shots:

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Three%20Bears/tandem.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Three%20Bears/rider.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Three%20Bears/paceline.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Three%20Bears/paceline-1.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Three%20Bears/lunch.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Three%20Bears/Group.jpg

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Three%20Bears/Gary.jpg

Nice report. Hopefully you all can make the next BF ride.

According to routeslip.com we did ~32miles and 3965ft of climbing. The decent towards Orinda was so steep, that we had to stop several times to let the brakes cool down.

Did you do El Toyonal back to Orinda? That's so notoriously steep I've never tried it either up or down.

Ok - so I'm the last to check in here.

This was a fun ride, and thanks to jonathanb715 for initially planning, and Jerry (Backinthesaddle) for executing the event.

I don't have too much to add to the ride report. The first half was the typical East Bay rural riding that I know and love - rolling oak woodland with sparsely traveled roads. I've never done the 3 Bears before, so that was fun. It was sort of hard for me to tell where one bear stopped and another started, but looking back on the Garmin profile it becomes readily apparent. The descent off the last bear was very, very nice. Wide open, excellent pavement with fantastic sight lines - we're talking an easy 40+mph downhill for a couple of minutes or so. Sweet. I'll go back just for that, alone.

The second half was up Wildcat Canyon Road (steep!!) and then skirting along the west side of the Berkeley Hills. There was a little more traffic here (well, a lot more), but other than that one manic in the red sports car trying to kill Jerry is wasn't an issue. There seemed to be a lot of climbing here, even after "summiting" at Inspiration Point, but there was a pretty nice descent going down to Redwood Road, and Redwood Road itself was a blast - another extended, cruising descent that was very enjoyable. So enjoyable, in fact, that Gary and I blew by the turn at Pinehurst (but only be a little bit). after climbing up Pinehurst, the final treat was the twisty-turny plunge through the redwoods into Moraga. That was nice!!

I had originally planned to do the full 70, but truthfully by the time we reached the split I had pretty much had enough climbing for the day. All I could think about was my hammock and a cold rum n' coke, so I was glad that Gary wanted to split off and used the opportunity to wimp out.

Good riding with you again, and thanks for the great pictures! That descent down Redwood Road is really sweet.

Good riding with you again, and thanks for the great pictures! That descent down Redwood Road is really sweet.

Here's one more, taken from Inspiration Point. A panoramic view of San Pablo Reservior with The 3 Bears somewhere in the background:

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Three%20Bears/brionespanorama.jpg

Did you do El Toyonal back to Orinda? That's so notoriously steep I've never tried it either up or down.
That's right, we took El Toyonal. It is very steep. On the decent one guy road bike passed us down (he was going scary fast for such a narrow curvy road) and another one was riding up :eek:.
It was great riding with you guys.

Okay, here's my ride report: Hot and lots of hills! I'm used to the fog over Daly City so it was nice not having to wear arm warmers or a jacket.

So here are my observations (or general nonsense) on my first "long" ride since moving back from Texas last Sept:

Don't forget to bring more bags of the drink powder to keep the electrolytes and stuff going. I had only one extra bag and I ran out of gels! Hence my dehydration and cramps at the end of the ride! Doh!

Watch out for "invisible" chains at rest stops! I'll let Jerry expand on that one if he so wishes. ;)

Fast descents are killer...!!! Road buzz from aluminum frames are killer on the feet and hands!!

Wheel sucking isn't that bad... if you're the sucker! hehe! I promise to pull more next time, but SVcommuter is a stronger rider so I don't know if I'd be able to pull fast enough for him! And at the end my cramps got the best of me so I couldn't have pulled Bigbossman if I tried!

Long winding hills suck! Especially when you think you're at the top and the flat area is just around that bend...

Be careful when clipping back in! I slipped and my nether regions were right over the nose of the saddle. Whammmooo!! Not fun, nor did it feel too good!

Looonnnngggg descents are lots of fun!

Long hills are a pain but the view at the top makes it worth the work.

I'll add more if I can think of them...

Thanks again to everyone out there. It was good to finally put some faces to the screen names!

Gary

Gary,

You forgot one......

Drafting a tandem is Da Bomb!! :D

remember: you need to climb a hill to descend one ;)

Looks like it was a beautiful day. The pictures are wonderful! Thanks for the reports...

I get to do my make-up ride tomorrow all by myself :(

Gary,

You forgot one......

Drafting a tandem is Da Bomb!! :D

True dat!! hehe! I remember last year in TX I saw 2-3 tandems all drafting each other. They flew by us like we were standing still and we were already flying at about 20+mph!

When's the next ride? Hopefully I can go again!

remember: you need to climb a hill to descend one ;)

Not necessarily! We rent a cabin up in the mountains every August (hmmmm... coming up!!). From the door fo the cabin to the nearest town (Downieville) is about 25 miles down Hwy 49 following the Yuba River drainage. All of it downhill, with a couple of small rollers towards the end. On the last day of our trip, I start out and the wife heads down in the truck after me about 1 hour after I leave. She picks me up in Downieville, we have lunch, and head for home.

It is a blast!!!

When's the next ride? Hopefully I can go again!

If you guys are interested in riding out in the San Ramon/Diablo Valley area, I can try to whip something up.

If you guys are interested in riding out in the San Ramon/Diablo Valley area, I can try to whip something up.
Yeah, that'll be fun ... but would have to be either the weekend of 8/11 or 8/25 for me. Mt. Tam/Marin Century is 8/4 and Cool Breeze is 8/18.

Last weekend of the month was our designated BF group ride day no? 8/25 would be good for me.

How many miles you guys want? Lots of climbing, rollers, fairly flat, a mix?

How many miles you guys want? Lots of climbing, rollers, fairly flat, a mix?

There's typically a wide range of riding skills, so it wouldn't be bad to have a couple of options, or some bailouts, if possible.

That's my 2 cents...

If you guys are interested in riding out in the San Ramon/Diablo Valley area, I can try to whip something up.

Thanks for offering!

I may be able to do 8/25. I have a long ride scheduled for 8/18 so if I do 8/25 I'll want a shorter option probably no more than 50 miles.

Question: is it likely to be super hot out there in late August??

Also, can I suggest you start a new post for this ride, so more people will see it?

Can you find a 50 mile long descent with no climbs? hehe!

Bigbossman: thanks for taking and posting the pics! I could have sworn that buzzard was licking his chops when I rode by...!!!

Thanks for offering!

I may be able to do 8/25. I have a long ride scheduled for 8/18 so if I do 8/25 I'll want a shorter option probably no more than 50 miles.

Question: is it likely to be super hot out there in late August??

Also, can I suggest you start a new post for this ride, so more people will see it?

Ok, I can map out several 30 to 50 milers, no problem. Will it be hot? Roll the dice, my friend. Could be triple digits, could be 65 and windy. You never know where you'll hit in the the weather cycle. Count on hot, I guess.


I can start a new thread......

Dang, I just remembered, there is a Lake Tahoe ride on 8/25. So looks like that's out for me.

Actually, it's a BF ride, but being coordinated by SoCal BF. I wonder if they realize it is technically NorCal? :D Anyways, here the thread on that ...

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=276765

Hmm, what about a combined Norcal-Socal Lake Tahoe ride?

Considering how bad I suck at sea level, I don't want to find out how bad I suck at 6-7k feet...

Damn... It's way too far to go on a bike ride.

I'd be nervous during the entire ride over that my bike would fall off the car on I-80.

Other than the drive over, I would love to do it!

Damn... It's way too far to go on a bike ride.

I'd be nervous during the entire ride over that my bike would fall off the car on I-80.

Other than the drive over, I would love to do it!

I drive to So Cal once a month, with my back on my rack on the back .... yes, they are niiiiiice racks ..... sorry, had to throw that in. So far, my bike hasn't fallen off.

Looks like a great ride - I'm glad everyone had fun. I'm still really bummed I couldn't make it, but I finally picked up my rebuilt bike today, so I'll be on the road again!

JB

Hi gang, sorry this took me so long to post, I've been traveling this week, hope it's not stale news by now.

Here's the ride profile for the long ride last Sunday, also some pictures. (the ride profile includes a couple of extra miles and climbing when I backtracked to sweep the route)

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/backinthesaddle_photos/East%20Bay%20Hill%20Ride%207-22-07/bikeforumsride7-22-07.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/backinthesaddle_photos/East%20Bay%20Hill%20Ride%207-22-07/IMG_0463.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/backinthesaddle_photos/East%20Bay%20Hill%20Ride%207-22-07/IMG_0464.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/backinthesaddle_photos/East%20Bay%20Hill%20Ride%207-22-07/IMG_0465.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/backinthesaddle_photos/East%20Bay%20Hill%20Ride%207-22-07/IMG_0475.jpg

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/backinthesaddle_photos/East%20Bay%20Hill%20Ride%207-22-07/IMG_0474.jpg

one more set of pictures, this is the panorama from Grizzly Peak (plus a view of Memorial Stadium at Cal) I intended to stitch it together, never had time. Golden Gate, Angel Island, Alcatraz,Bay Bridge, SF, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland. (Hope I'm now completely wasting bandwith with these pictures, enjoy!)

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/backinthesaddle_photos/East%20Bay%20Hill%20Ride%207-22-07/IMG_0467.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/backinthesaddle_photos/East%20Bay%20Hill%20Ride%207-22-07/IMG_0468.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/backinthesaddle_photos/East%20Bay%20Hill%20Ride%207-22-07/IMG_0469.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/backinthesaddle_photos/East%20Bay%20Hill%20Ride%207-22-07/IMG_0470-1.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/backinthesaddle_photos/East%20Bay%20Hill%20Ride%207-22-07/IMG_0470.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/backinthesaddle_photos/East%20Bay%20Hill%20Ride%207-22-07/IMG_0471.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/backinthesaddle_photos/East%20Bay%20Hill%20Ride%207-22-07/IMG_0473.jpg

Watch out for "invisible" chains at rest stops! I'll let Jerry expand on that one if he so wishes. ;)

Not my proudest moment: in the first 1/2 mile of the ride led everyone to a rest stop in a park and slammed and flipped over a low hanging chain closing off the park entrance which I didn't see in the morning shadows. :o Fortunately, it could've been a lot worse. Wheel OK, straightened out the handlebars, a few minor bruises, went off and rode the rest of the ride. But perhaps with an excess of caution I've ordered a replacement for my carbon fork, so it wasn't a cheap mistake.

On the way back,on the last 1/2 mile of the ride, I flatted. I could have walked back to the BART station in the time it took to change the tube.

Conclusion: in the future I'm going to avoid riding within 1/2 mile in all directions of Orinda Bart.

Excellent pictures everyone. Looks like it was a great day for the ride. I'm bummed I wasn't able to do this ride.

I compiled images from these postings, and put it on my BF picture site. It is at http://web.mac.com/ronng/iWeb/bikeforums/East%20Bay%20Hills.html

It also has links to some other rides I have done with NorCal and SoCal BF groups.