Northern California - Morgan Territory Ride Report

What a nice ride!!! Thanks BenRidin for putting it together. It was a real pleasure to meet new faces and ride with this group.
At 15 riders it was a nice group, all of them doing the 'A' ride up Southgate Rd to the Mt. Diablo junction and then to Walnut Creek, Ygnacio Valley Rd., Clayton, Marsh Rd., Morgan Territory, Highland Rd., Camino Tessajara, and back to Danville via Sycamore.
We had many regroup stops so we had ample time to socialize and have a coffee and goodies at Peet's in Concord.
Personally the climb up Diablo junction was well known so I could pace myself without surprises. The climb up Morgan Territory was another story. I stated a bit too fast and had to stop a couple of times on the way up. It is amazing how not knowing a climb work on your psychic. Nevertheless it was a beautiful climb through a very narrow winding road, they could improve the pavement though.
The two big descents were a blast especially the one from Morgan.
Another first for me was the pace line on Highland and Tassajara. I felt like a pro with his "domestiques" working in the front and saving me so much energy to the finish. Well... until cccorlew decided to pull away and left me up front. Ooops I had not planned on that one, I had no idea what rhythm I should keep and I am glad the hill with the facing wind wasn't too long. I was surely glad to see BenRidin pass me to carry the burden.
I really enjoyed the variety of this ride and the scenery and weather were just perfect.

That was a lot of fun, thanks to BenRidin. The pace was nice, and the company was great. It was a really nice day for a ride. I still don't know what they actually did when they "repaired" Morgan Territory Rd this summer!

JB

I still don't know what they actually did when they "repaired" Morgan Territory Rd this summer!

JB

They actually did a lot of patching near the staging area. It is much smoother near the top than it used to be. I know that's not saying much. :p When I ride it as an out and back, I wish I could magically turn my road bike into a mountain bike for the descent.

Glad you all had a good ride.

Veronica

They actually did a lot of patching near the staging area. It is much smoother near the top than it used to be. I know that's not saying much. :p When I ride it as an out and back, I wish I could magically turn my road bike into a mountain bike for the descent.

Glad you all had a good ride.

Veronica

LOL - by that point I was pretty happy to be going fast enough to keep my bike upright - I had stopped paying attention to the pavement quality!

JB

I wish I could have joined you guys - MT/Diablo is a favorite of mine. But I'm discovering my knee isn't healed enough to ride two days in a row. :( So lucky me, I spent the day helping to lay wood flooring. When we're finally done it will look great. But man it's a lot of work!

Veronica

I sure had a great time. Well done!

Try this like for a slide show of a few photos
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ccorlew/sets/72157603287894057/show/
If that fails you, try this for the photo page and click slide show yourself
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ccorlew/sets/72157603287894057/
Here's one photo I like from today

If there isn't a photo of you, you spent too much time way in front of me!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2415/2060559501_c86b4d8b75.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2415/2060559501_c86b4d8b75.jpg

Wow! Lovely.

Curtis,

Can you send me a full resolution copy of diablo 3.jpg?

Arrived at start point way to early, and it was freezing. Had plenty of time for a Latte and some cake.
People started arriving and as I started talking to them like the were BF’rs I quickly realized that they were I guess TT members and friends of John. They turned out to be a great bunch, enjoyed their company. AlainP showed up …great someone I knew. The sun peeked up over the trees and started to warm up a bit.
More familiar friendly faces. A little delay and we were off into the bitter cold. As soon as we hit the Diablo base instant warm up, Yeah! Got a chance to talk to Curtis most of the way up and had some great conversation and some great scenic shots. At the junction we all had time to hang and chat. 11am time to roll, unbelievable decent till I popped my rear tire on a rock screaming around a tight curve, pretty scary. Curtis stopped to help me thank God, my Co2 was messed up and didn’t work. So we used his pump. I was still on a super adreniline high and still kind of freaked about almost losing it on the corner. So he had the cool head to get me through it …(Sorry for the holdup Guys and Gals.) All those crazy short cuts and bike paths, I could never remember how to do that again, but a pleasant ride. Up Clayton to Peets to hang for awhile. After Peets MT came up pretty quick. I forgot how tough after 20 years that climb really is. Short break at top. Screaming decent down the other side, Ben ridin dropped me like excess baggage. Some great Pacelining although we could have used the Red Rider Tandem (What happened you guys). No Sesame Crunch either, next time for sure man. Gpelpel pulled like the French Foreign Legion, I was hanging on his wheel for dear life and starting to fade.
Then my Goo and Power bar kicked in and we started trading sprints! Awesome! Everyone was trying to out fox each other torwards the end AlainP just flew by like a tornado and I was done. By then the ride thankfully but sadly came to an end. Great ride guys really looking forward to the next one. I haven’t had fun like this in years and years. Yeah BikeForums!
Pete
Photos to follow

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Diablo07016.jpg

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Diablo07019.jpg

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Diablo07021.jpg

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Diablo07022.jpg

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Diablo07023.jpg

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Diablo07029.jpg

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Diablo07034.jpg

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Diablo07041.jpg

Great report, Georges and Peter, and great photos, Curtis and Peter.

Had a blast today and I'm sure the body is gonna remind me about it tomorrow. Left the house on my bike toward the designated start point to discover it was freakin' cold :eek:! Didn't get more than a half mile from the house before deciding the headband I started out with was inadequate and subsequently switched to a balaclava. Ahhh, better. I arrived at the parking lot to see Pete's (taxi777) and John's (JohnathanB715) warm smiling faces. It was great seeing all the familar faces and meeting the new (to me) folks from John's TnT buddies. They're a really vibrant bunch and it was great riding with them.

The weather was great, although, the first few miles from the lot to the junction had me a little worried as my face and hands were getting really cold to the point of numbness (and runniness!) and my body started shivering much more than I preferred. I learned that regular full fingered gloves and just a headband are not enough on cold mornings such as today's. Needless to say, I went out after the ride and picked up a pair of appropriate gloves and I'll be wearing my snowboarding face protection on days such as this.

Had a few personal bests on a bike (most time, most mileage traveled, highest speed) and "firsts" (first time taking the shortcut through the "hole in the wall" on the way to Mt. Diablo, first time riding Northgate, first time riding Morgan Territory, and first time in a paceline). By the way, sorry if I bypassed all rules of paceline etiquette :). I was just hoping not to run into anyone's wheel.

The last few miles along Camino Tassajara/Sycamore were really fun and exhilarating as everyone set a furious (relatively speaking) pace and trading leads. My legs were burning trying to keep up with the front runners. Had a smile on my face the whole way. When I got home, I was spent. I thought I ate a lot on the ride (two clif bars, a balance bar, and 4 bottles of liquids) but just about scarfed down dinner in one breath and inhaled another couple large glasses of liquids on the next.

Thanks for setting this up, Ben!

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Diablo07034.jpg


Ok, a few names to go with the faces (from left to right):

alainp, I'm not sure, Pete (aka taxi777), Caroline, Shelley (both Team in Training friends), BenRidin, Curtis (aka cccorlew), gpelpel, Chris, K. Sue and Mike (all front row, all Team in Training friends), myself (half hidden) and William in the back (again, Team in Training), Nancy (Team in Training - we have a trend going here), BigBossMan and Andy (one more Team in Training friend).

Everyone had a good ride - maybe a few of the TnT folks will start posting here.

JB

Ok, a few names to go with the faces (from left to right):

alainp, mtnwalker, Pete (aka taxi777), Caroline, Shelley (both Team in Training friends), BenRidin, Curtis (aka cccorlew), gpelpel, Chris, K. Sue and Mike (all front row, all Team in Training friends), myself (half hidden) and William in the back (again, Team in Training), Nancy (Team in Training - we have a trend going here), BigBossMan and Andy (one more Team in Training friend).

Everyone had a good ride - maybe a few of the TnT folks will start posting here.

JB

"I'm not sure" is Tony (aka mtnwalker)

"I'm not sure" is Tony (aka mtnwalker)

Thanks! I hate when I ride all day with someone and then can't remember his name! I must be getting old.

JB

Great pics, everyone. Looks like you had a lot of fun.

That ride looks awesome. What a great bunch. Wish I were there.

Not much detail to add. I was pretty much dead-ass last all day, so I had a lot of time to take pics:

Diablo:

Going up:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Morgan%20Territory%20112407/a32b84fc.jpg

More climbing:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Morgan%20Territory%20112407/bf84b99b.jpg

Looking west - a little bit of fall color in Danville:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Morgan%20Territory%20112407/7326262f.jpg

Morgan Territory:

Starting into Morgan Territory - pretty much my view most of the day:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Morgan%20Territory%20112407/f89b1451.jpg

A ranch:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Morgan%20Territory%20112407/530bcbef.jpg

Looking northwest - both Diablo peaks, from the summit of Morgan Territory:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Morgan%20Territory%20112407/a34a4ba4.jpg

Looking west towards Pleasanton, midway down the Morgan Territory descent:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Morgan%20Territory%20112407/6dc4ad08.jpg

So I show up early into the designated meeting place. Darn, the lot says "4 hour parking". I'll deal with that later. As I start to get ready, I quickly find that I left my shoes at home. #!@%** is what I'm telling myself. What a maroon. This can't happen. Not on my 1st BF ride.

Curtis is the first one to arrive. I walk over and introduce myself, tell him what's going on. He looks at me in disbelief. BigBossMan rides up and I tell him the same thing. He asks what size I wear and then explains he has a pair of shoes in my size not far from the meeting place at his house along with pedals. We rush over there to do the change. I've cashed in some Karma points.

Thank you John for letting me use them. You saved the day. The next beer is on me.

Getting back to the parking lot, and all the cars are gone. We guessed correctly the 4 hour limit has prompted everyone to move. Behind Peet's we find them. Perfect spot. I get ready quickly and everyone is assembled. After some quick discussion on the route (there was no "B" ride) we are off.

It was a cold start, but as we ascended Diablo, the sun was out and things warmed quickly. Southgate on a Saturday morning. Does anything get any better than that?

A rejoin at the Junction, picture taking, laughter at Pete's funny tales, then we are off on the descent. Curtis sneaks off first, followed Mike and I. Pete catches up and passes us. We all pass Curtis in a blur. As we round one of the final "left's", Pete catches a small rock and pinches his rear tire. "PSSssshhhh" is noise I hear and like a professional racer under total control, Pete peels off to fix his problem.

We wait and rejoin at the bottom of Northgate, then ride over Ygnacio to Peet's. After coffee and cookies or whatever, it's time for Morgan Territory. But first we have to go through Clayton and a quick up and over Marsh Creek. I was worried about the traffic on this section at this time of the morning, but it wasn't that bad.

Morgan Territory was fantastic with no traffic what so ever. Only an occasional Motorcycle and a few Cyclist was our worries. Morgan Territory on a Saturday afternoon. Does anything get any better than that?

The grins were large as each rider came into the staging area. If you have yet to ride this section of Conta Costa, do your self a favor and do it. You will be happy you did.

The descent down to the valley is fast. We rejoin again and then paceline it over to Blackhawk. Another rejoin and it's back to the barn. This quickly turns into a game of cat and mouse with small races to and from each light. Too much fun.

It was a good time and I am glad we all had fun and make it back safely. It was nice to meet you all. Again, big thanks to BigBossMan for the shoes and pedals.

Thanks Curtis, Pete and John for the pix. Those are great.

Til next time.

BR

Hey you GPS folks. I have no idea how those things work, but can't they generate a map of where we went? I'd love to see one.
Is it possible interface the results with Google Earth and make a Fly over?

Here's a google map I made of the ride
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=108934249164107713328.00043fc47db409235cec1&z=11&om=1
But I bet a GPS could do better.

...Is it possible interface the results with Google Earth and make a Fly over?...

Click Here (http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/kml/episode.kml?episodePkValues=4505243) for Google Earth.

Snap...Google Earth isn't working with this link. Darn Motion Based.

Here's mine (http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4500428). Might look a little weird since I added some extra miles at the end and it looks like I doubled back in some places. Seems to have some issues with the new motionbased map player and firefox. Says the SVG Viewer only plays in explorer.

Oh man, that is tooooooo cool. Thanks!
I've never seen the motion-based site before with data. Even though they kinda hose mac users on the flythrough, the rest of the data is way cool.
So, do I add a 305 to the Christmas list, or hold out for the newer versions?

Hey you GPS folks. I have no idea how those things work, but can't they generate a map of where we went? I'd love to see one.
Is it possible interface the results with Google Earth and make a Fly over?

Here's a google map I made of the ride
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=108934249164107713328.00043fc47db409235cec1&z=11&om=1
But I bet a GPS could do better.

This is right off my Garmin - looks a lot like yours!

Morgan Territory Ride Map (http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http:%2F%2Ftrail.motionbased.com%2Ftrail%2Fkml%2Fepisode.kml%3FepisodePkValues%3D4500437&ie=UTF8&z=11&om=1)

Here's the Google Earth image. I was able to load and view a flyover in Google Earth, but am not sure how to link it here:
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t267/jd6572/Morgan%20Territory%20112407/328d586c.jpg

So, do I add a 305 to the Christmas list, or hold out for the newer versions?

Don't know if this will make your decision any more difficult or not, but if you get a 305 before 11/30, you're eligible for a $75 rebate (see attached) :). I got mine at amazon but others have had good experiences with www.geomangear.com (http://www.geomangear.com). The newer, bigger, colorful versions coming out look cool too.

Don't know if this will make your decision any more difficult or not, but if you get a 305 before 11/30, you're eligible for a $75 rebate (see attached) :). I got mine at amazon but others have had good experiences with www.geomangear.com (http://www.geomangear.com). The newer, bigger, colorful versions coming out look cool too.

If I read this right that makes it cost less than $200?
That's almost affordable!

Don't know if this will make your decision any more difficult or not, but if you get a 305 before 11/30, you're eligible for a $75 rebate (see attached) :). I got mine at amazon but others have had good experiences with www.geomangear.com (http://www.geomangear.com). The newer, bigger, colorful versions coming out look cool too.

Actually around $160 for the HR or the CAD varieties with the rebate factored in.

Thanks for the mention! We appreciate that!

Here are the Profile and Route from my Garmin.
Curtis, the new units are cool but quite expensive and larger and heavier. They have a color screen that is larger than the current monochrome one. The 705 is the one you would need in order to have the same functions as the 305. What you gain are a color screen and directions as in a car GPS.

http://gpelpel.startlogic.com/photos/biking/Profile-capture.jpg

http://gpelpel.startlogic.com/photos/biking/Satellite-capture.jpg

Actually around $160 for the HR or the CAD varieties with the rebate factored in.

D'oh - that's practically free. :D

Wish I'd waited a year and a half - I feel cheated........

So, I hate to hijack this thread (but at least we're getting cool maps out of it!)
Battery life?
Worth getting it?
Are you Mac based? What software do you use? Garmin? Ascent?

I use the 60CSx on doubles and when we're touring. We like it's versatility. It can go on any of our bicycles, Thom's motorcycle or in the car and be extremely useful. We use it a lot!

http://tandemhearts.com/coppermine/albums/dmd-2006/v_not_happy.jpg

This is what it looks like on a bike. I have a locking unit for it, since I'm a tad paranoid.

Veronica

So, I hate to hijack this thread (but at least we're getting cool maps out of it!)
Battery life?
Worth getting it?
Are you Mac based? What software do you use? Garmin? Ascent?

Don't know about battery life since I've never run it down to empty. But, yesterday, I had it on from 7:30 in the morning and didn't get home until around 3 to 3:30 and had about 2 bars (out of 4) left on the battery life indicator. I read somewhere you can get around 12 hours but can't verify that. Worth getting? That's subjective. I'm easily amused with electronic gadgetry. It has a lot of cycling specific features which I've not yet uncovered and I think it's pretty durable. When I had my crash, it was attached and it pulled through like a champ so no complaints in that regard. I'm pc based and use the included Training Center software. Not very impressed with it since you can't plot a course with it and enter it into the 305. Instead, I use some of the free internet services like www.mapmyride.com to import courses into the 305.

Hope that helps :).

So, I hate to hijack this thread (but at least we're getting cool maps out of it!)
Battery life?
Worth getting it?
Are you Mac based? What software do you use? Garmin? Ascent?

Battery life: That's where the 705 might have an advantage over the 305 but probably not a lot. The 305 gives you about 8-9 hours. For longer rides I use the MintyBoost, a kit that you can easily built. It fits nicely under my stem for an additional 4-6 hours and works on 2 AA so these can easily be replaced for extended battery life.

Worth getting it: I think so. Of course it's not a necessity... it doesn't make me go faster. But it's fun and can be a nice training tool as you can compare your ride with a previous one on the same route. For me it has the most important features: HRM, cadence, elevation, computer link. The GPS route is a nice toy.

I am a Mac user, life is too short to settle on imitations ;) and I use Ascent. Ascent is a no brainer if you use a Mac, nothing comes close. The software support is second to none with updates every couple of weeks.