Northern California - East Bay Hills Ride 2: Just when you thought it was safe

NEW DATE TRYING FOR SAT NOV 22nd, 8:30AM....

So the polls have closed, here’s the route

Let’s start at Orinda BART this time @ 8:30am.

The default “Skyline Open” route is:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/EastBayHills2-Skyline

Orinda BART - Moraga Way to Glorietta.
Left on Glorietta, Right on Rheem and for the first climb of the day – go “wheeeee” on the nice straight descent.
Right on Moraga Rd and head towards Canyon. First regroup point at junction w/Pinehurst.
This time, turn LEFT on Pinehurst and follow the road through to Redwood, climb to junction w/ Skyline – second regroup here.
Follow Skyline to Grizzly peak, as per the first ride, to the junction of Lomas Cantadas/Grizzly Peak (“the little trains”) – Water and restrooms available here, last restroom is at Inspiration Point.
Follow Grizzly Peak to Shasta, then Wildcat, proceed cautiously down Wildcat (!) then do the 3 bears loop from SPDR, Castro Ranch, Alhambra, Bear Creek back to SPDR.
Return south to Orinda BART

For those who clicked on the “Berkeley Hills Death Ride climbs” option, we could quite easily throw in one or two extra climbs if the group splits into "two" again or everyone's good with it - let’s work that out on the day.

Who’s in so far:

Beaker
brentley
taxi777
reidconti
Lanceoldstrong
gpelpel
DG Going Uphill (maybe)
bigbossman
shatdow
RoboCheme (to SPDR)
ROJA (if in town)

I am good either day and either route.

I voted for the 11/1 original route but could probably be good for any of the options.

Nov 1st maybe a packed social ride... followed the next weekend by an all out every Man/woman take no prisoners combined Gladiator/Cheetah "Hazing" ride? ... with Tandems thrown in the mix...Maybe some TT bikes and lots of Plastic Phwoop, Phwoop wheels!!!!!

Nov 1st maybe a packed social ride... followed the next weekend by an all out every Man/woman take no prisoners combined Gladiator/Cheetah "Hazing" ride? ... with Tandems thrown in the mix...Maybe some TT bikes and lots of Plastic Phwoop, Phwoop wheels!!!!!

I have some angst with my side of the world...:mad:

Don't ask ! :innocent:

OK Pete - I won't ask about your second post ;) -- did your first post indicate that you're up for Nov 1st or it's a clash with another "social ride"?

Looks like Nov1st is out to an early lead....

OK Pete - I won't ask about your second post ;) -- did your first post indicate that you're up for Nov 1st or it's a clash with another "social ride"?

Looks like Nov1st is out to an early lead....

Yep, I'll try again for an East bay ride Nov. 1st is good.

Don't care; I didn't make the original so I'm down for anything, either day. Both days are low-key hillclimbs, which I plan to do, but who knows how many or which. I'll bail on the hill climb to come ride with y'all :)

I voted for the 11/1 original route too.

Sweet - Nov 1st it is. I'll get a little bit of discussion going around route shortly, but consensus appears to be original route. I'll give it some thought and post again in a day or so....slammed at work at the moment :(

OK - updated with route and rider list.

Who else is interested? More people participated in the poll than posted here, so I know there's more interest out there

I voted 30 times.

If I'm in town, I'll probably do this one.

I'm in.....

I don't participate much around here, but I'd like to change that. Count me in for now!

Good job you'll have an old timer like me around then shatdow, it's my second BF group ride...

I'm in (at least to SPDR).

I will try to join again if I'm in town!

Just getting back on my bike after 1-2wks off (hotel exercise bikes do not count) so...

http://www.penguin.com.au/covers-jpg/9781846462566.jpg

just over a week to go - looking forward to the ride

Bumping this up. I'm definitely in. Are we doing the Skyline open or closed route?

Cool, think dry thoughts for Nov 1st.

Sweet, Shatdow - glad to hear that!

Dan -- just....don't....say....that.....

PS -- I'm going to try to ride Skyline tomorrow and see what the deal is

Just got back from a nice 30mile loop - Skyline is still officially closed but it required much lower mountaineering skills to navigate than the last ride, so I think we'll go "Skyline Open".

I just did Skyline as well and made it through (did a quick ride from Hayward to North Oakland). There was a guy working to fix or put up more of the waist-high fence pieces (I had to climb over one of them at the North end and then go around the tall fence on the South side). Unless the situation changes, you/we should have no problem making it through.

Whoop! Whoop! It is Monday and officially time to start thinking about the weekend.
I can't wait for this ride.

Giggity! Can't wait.

Holy crap, didn't realize how far Orinda was from the south bay. Anyone wanna carpool up? Or alternately looks like I can get there if I grab BART @ Fremont at 6:50.

It is Monday and officially time to start thinking about the weekend.

I need a t-shirt with that on it.

Remember folks -- keep thinking positive dry-weather thoughts.

Unfortunately that dry weather ain't looking so likely. Does rain cancel? Also, Sunday looks like it will be dry.

Yeah - I've been anxiously watching the same forecasts too. I was planning on calling it on Friday evening - there's supposed to be a dry patch between systems that could work in our favour, but at this point, Saturday doesn't look pretty, and the same weather system seems to be in the picture until Monday(?)

My take is if it's likely to be rain let's reschedule, if it's looking like a dry patch or only light then we'll go if people are up for it - I have to say that some of those descents could be a little sketchy in the wet.

I'll repost on Friday night and take it from there - any other opinions?

if it's looking like a dry patch or only light then we'll go if people are up for it - I have to say that some of those descents could be a little sketchy in the wet.

I'll repost on Friday night and take it from there - any other opinions?


I lean towards light rain = ride, with cautious descents.
We don't want to we repeat this.
http://gpelpel.startlogic.com//photos/biking/BF-9-20-08/BF-9-20-3.jpg Heavy rain = cancel.

Yeah - I've been anxiously watching the same forecasts too. I was planning on calling it on Friday evening - there's supposed to be a dry patch between systems that could work in our favour, but at this point, Saturday doesn't look pretty, and the same weather system seems to be in the picture until Monday(?)

My take is if it's likely to be rain let's reschedule, if it's looking like a dry patch or only light then we'll go if people are up for it - I have to say that some of those descents could be a little sketchy in the wet.

I'll repost on Friday night and take it from there - any other opinions?

If it's light rain, I'm taking the fat tired bike...I'll be the slow guy:o

Heavy rain and I'll be the no guy!

I'm putting fenders on my steelie. Too bad this ride starts too early for me on Saturday. The CX race on Sunday should be nice and sloppy.

http://gpelpel.startlogic.com//photos/biking/BF-9-20-08/BF-9-20-3.jpg



Oh sure, now I'm the poster child for what not to do... well I guess on this particular route, I deserve it.

Just thought I'd chime in: the knee is 95% healed (with a nice, gnarly scar), while the shoulder is still only about 75% (with the tell-tale separated AC protrusion - mostly popular with snow boarders, I hear). The next dry day, I'm doing a ..doctor approved.. test ride. With my new helmet.. always with the helmet.

Seriously.. do be careful out there.

'til next time

Hey Frank - nice to hear from you. Sorry to hear that the shoulder is still taking some time - hope to with you again soon. That Wildcat Canyon descent is a nice challenge in the dry, but in the wet...

Honestly, I'm not optimistic about tomorrow's weather, based on what I'm seeing right now, but will confirm this evening.

Deal me out on this one. :(

My sister decided she wants to get married Saturday. How frickin' inconsiderate is that? :innocent:



Besides, tomorrow's forecast for San Ramon: "Chance of T-storms, 80% chance of precipitation"

I know a lot of you guys are on plastic bikes, but I'd have a lightning rod between my legs. :twitchy:

I know a lot of you guys are on plastic bikes, but I'd have a lightning rod between my legs. :twitchy:

Now wouldn't that be a stimulating experience ... :roflmao:

weak, I wanna ride. Haven't touched my bike for over a month now. Sat mornings are reserved for GMAT studying until I take it.

Have a great ride and be safe!

OK - I think we're cancelled boys and girls. Every forecast I'm looking at and reading calls for the worst of the rain to be tomorrow, starting in the small hours/early morning.

Officially. Bummed. :(

Still, this provides an opportunity to do this ride justice in the sunshine - hopefully we might be able to get jinws and BlastRadius in as well - so let's start thinking about when we'll do this properly. 15, 22 and 29 Nov are potentially OK for me. 8th is iffy, but not impossible. Any other rides/events clashing with this?

FWIW Low Key takes on El Toyonal/Lomas Cantadas on the 22nd, which is right in the middle of this route.

I know a lot of you guys are on plastic bikes, but I'd have a lightning rod between my legs. :twitchy:

Yeah, and the bike ain't bad, either . . . .

Good call. Looks like I will be starting The Wire and enjoying some quality time on my trainer.

Good call on the cancel Beaker. Bummer though. I will check my calendar for date compatibiltiy

Looking forward to the 'Beaker' ride later in the month.

Looking forward to the 'Beaker' ride later in the month.

Isn't it "George's ride"? :innocent:

That is a bummer, I was looking forward to meeting everybody. I'm interested in a do-over on 11/15, but I'll be out of town on 11/8 and 11/22.

What, can't a guy post a remix of someone else's ride anymore? If you look really hard at the route, there is a short but ENTIRELY NEW part.

Really. There is.

What, can't a guy post a remix of someone else's ride anymore? If you look really hard at the route, there is a short but ENTIRELY NEW part.

Really. There is.


And Georges last ride had donuts and crashes (see the photos in some other threads)

And Georges last ride had donuts and crashes (see the photos in some other threads)

..and I was responsible for both. 1 good + 1 bad = 0. I'll work on that.

if we would have been out this morning we would be miserable, some of the descents on Beakers route would have been awful when they were this wet.

Frank I hope your knee is healing nicely as well as your shoulder.

OK Starting a new thread - - this is getting complicated

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=483932