Northern California - Patterson Pass Ride Report and Pics

Pics and ride report to come a little later. Just wanted to say thanks to all that came out. Beautiful day for a ride ... great weather, great company, and hopefully we won't crash the server ... :lol:

Gladiators

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Gladiators-1.jpg
Real Windmills!

The highlight of the day at least for me was when I went into a turn at just over 40 Mph that was posted as 20 Mph. I figured out very fast why it said 20 Mph. It was that feeling you get when you know you're a goner! The stomach flips and the scalp feels like pins and needles. I stayed within 2 inches of going off the cliff. I was amazed that I didn't!

The rest of the day was great. The scenery was stupendous! I'd never ventured out that far before, so the territory was knew to me. I was a little bonky before lunch and just after but I felt great towards the end of the ride. Ron, Curtis and I spent a lot of time at the back of the pack talking and joking around. It was a strange looking scene when we stopped to watch Curtis disrobing and then helped him pack all his clothing into any available pocket space. Any passerby might have taken it as some kind of roadside ****, especially when I was behind him forcing stuff in to his pocket while he somewhat bent over with legs akimbo! Ron was the consumate girl and just watched and Bit**ed at us.

There were a good number of us today- ten Gladiators, the pace was kept pretty high by the sparring of Glen and Ramone. I kind of felt like I was lagging a bit, but then I got really caught up in the picture taking and taking in the scenery.

The group picture was great at the Patterson Pass summit where we met another group that had just reached the summit. The descent was incredibly fast with a good line of sight most of the way.

Great day today everyone thanks for hanging out and spending the day riding.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Tag.jpg
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What a bunch of panzies, what with all the leg-warmers and jackets and stuff........

What a bunch of panzies, what with all the leg-warmers and jackets and stuff........
At least we were warm Panzies!:roflmao2:

What a bunch of panzies, what with all the leg-warmers and jackets and stuff........

It was <36 degrees when I left the house to ride to the meeting Place !

If its any consolation please let it be known that I was hotter than a Deep fried Pig in an oven later in the day :-)

Looks like a fantastic ride guys - wish I could have joined you.

just realized I didn't put a solo shot of Scott! I think he was hiding from me!! I wonder why?
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Scott.jpg

I wish I could have joined you. Today was a great day for riding. Zero miles for me though.

Great pics guys..........I need to do that ride :thumb:

Great pics Pete. Everyone sure looks exhausted in the lunch shots. I was on a little mini-bonk for the last 10 or so miles until our food stop and my gyro sure hit the spot

I won't be able to get the pictures/video off my camera until Monday night at the soonest since I'm not at home and don't have an SD card reader here :(

Thanks for organizing Ron and thanks for pulling so much Glenn :)

I was flying through the editing with the pictures and completely missed this great shot of Chris performing on his Unicycle!!!!!!

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa292/taxi777/Chris-10.jpg

So I had the original intention of completing my first century of the year (highly inspired by SilentBen), and planned to meet up with him, and Donald (dl33) in Fremont ... but I was running so behind, that I realized I wouldn't be able to make it at the pre-determined meeting time, so instead, I just met everyone at Dublin/Pleasanton Bart station.

Benridin arrives
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/IMGP1655.jpg

Jim brought his friend Scott
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/IMGP1656.jpg

SilentBen actually rode from Menlo Park, across the Dumbarton Bridge over to the start (meeting Donald, dl33, by Niles Canyon). I remember as I was driving over, it was really fogged in when I left Sunnyvale. The fog stayed around until getting over to 680. I also heard on the radio that there was a fog advisory on Dumbarton ... geez, Ben, and you had to pick today to ride across Dumbarton. According to Donald, the ride across Niles Canyon was really cold .. I think he said it was in the mid-30's. When he arrived, I let him sit in my car, just to let him thaw out. I say again, I'm really glad I was running late.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/IMGP1657.jpg

At the start, in Pleasanton, there was not even a hint of fog. As we rolled, it was sunny, and nice ... was still a little chill, so it was either light jacket, or arm/leg warmer weather.

We met Glenn in Pleasanton, as we passed through downtown. Pretty soon, I went from being the lead, to trailing the pack ... a position that Curtis and I competed for ... :lol:

After a Starbucks stop 12 miles in, we were on our way to Patterson Pass. Glenn showed us an alternative route, via a newly opened Bike Path ... it cut out a lot of the traffic light route, and that was nice. Thanks Glenn for the nice alternative route.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/P1300076.jpg

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As soon as we got back on the route, the pack dropped me, and Curtis, like a "badly microwaved potato". Thanks Jim for trying to reel me in, but there was only so much that I can do when the legs just don't have it.

Luckily, for me and Curtis, the group was there waiting for us before the climb up Patterson.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/P1310083.jpg

Ok, now for the first climb. This is what we had to look forward to:

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/P1310085.jpg

Of course, I was trailing in the back, but eventually caught up with Curtis, and we continued to ride up to the top. This is where we were treated with an amazing view of the windmill farm.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/P1310086.jpg

Ok, we're at the top ... and it's time to descent down the hill ... and Pete, gives us the sign it's time to go when he says "you guys all suck", as he proceeds to fly down the hill.

We did wind up back on Flynn Rd, and I knew I wanted to do this part of the ride, but I had completely forgotten how gorgeous it is over there. IMHO, that was the prettiest, and the best part of the ride.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/P1310103.jpg

Of course, it had a nice screaming downhill to go along with that.

We stopped for Starbucks (about 50 yards from Mark's (rumbutter) house). After re-fueling there, we proceeded on a really "spirited" 20 miles back to the start. I really think I worked harder on this part of the ride than the climb. I was able to hang in with the pack until we made the right turn on Highland ... same thing that happened last time I did that ride. Some things just don't change.

All in all, it was a great ride, great weather, and great company. Thanks Glenn for leading us through the bike path. Thanks Jim for trying to reel me in with the rest of the pack. And thanks Mark, for leading us back from Livermore to Pleasanton. I hope everyone enjoyed this ride, as much as I did. It was just the perfect day for this ride.

More pics

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/IMGP1659.jpg

Chris, introduces Pete to us
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/IMGP1660.jpg

Gathering for the ride
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/IMGP1663.jpg

Taxi and Bostic
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/P1300066.jpg

Chris, leads the pelaton
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/P1300067.jpg

On the roads of Livermore, we saw many other groups riding in the reverse direction. This was one such pack:
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/P1300069.jpg

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/P1300073.jpg

Another shot from the bike path
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/P1300077.jpg

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/P1310081.jpg

Did I say this ride had windmills?
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Descending Flynn Road
http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/P1310109.jpg

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/P1310110.jpg

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Rest of the pics at http://s174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/spingineer/Patterson%20Pass/

^^

Awesome pics Ron. Thanks for capturing a few of the windmills for me. :thumb:

I'm going to have to try that route some day.

Wow. I would give just about anything to be out with you all. Looks like an amazing day.

Thanks for a great ride today. I got my century and really enjoyed riding my local roads with old friends.

^^

Awesome pics Ron. Thanks for capturing a few of the windmills for me. :thumb:

I'm going to have to try that route some day.

You're welcome. It was a terrific day. We ended up finishing back at Pleasanton Bart by around 3 PM. It's just the right length of ride. Only thing is you do it later in the year, it might get too warm. The winds were non-existent today, so that's another issue.

Thanks for a great ride today. I got my century and really enjoyed riding my local roads with old friends.

My pleasure, Mark. It's always great to ride with you (whenever I can). And thanks for leading us through your "hood".

It's pretty cool to see these pictures. As a kid, windmills were pretty much my favorite thing ever (okay, I still love them), and my favorite thing to do for my birthday was for my parents to drive me to "the windmills", which I'm fairly certain was the Altamont Pass Wind Farm.

Thanks for sharing. That looked like a great time.

When we got back to the start, we were all comparing mileages, and for some reason, I was the only one with 60 miles ... everyone else had 65, and some had 70 or 80, depending on if they rode to the start. Well, after uploading my Garmin data, it appears that I inadvertently stopped my Garmin while we were waiting at Highland and Camino Tassajara. Doh! It didn't catch our aggressive ride to the finish. Damn! At least the mystery is solved.

Sounds like an epic ride! Thanks for the reports and pictures. It was a family day for me, so I only managed a quick local one-hour loop.

Hey Ron or anyone else with a Garmin, could you post up the Motionbased data? Seems like a route I'd like to try sometime.

Here's mine ... minus the last 11 miles on Camino Tassajara to the end.

I also uploaded all the photos to slide.com. I haven't re-arranged the photos in order, but at least you can get a quick slide show of all the photos here.

http://www.slide.com/r/VMphs9Cc0z_kjeEa4B7z_xVrJF5rpVAE

http://home.comcast.net/%7Ecccorlew/hosting/spinride1.png

http://home.comcast.net/%7Ecccorlew/hosting/spinride2.png

Link to Garmin Training Center Data (http://home.comcast.net/%7Ecccorlew/hosting/31-Jan-09%2009_18.tcx) (TCX format)

I had fun, and thanks to everyone who waited for me!

Great pics, great ride, except for Niles Canyon. When I left my house, it was around 44F degrees, so I went with arm warmers and left the jacket at home. Going through Niles it dropped down to 35 plus the wind chill, the only way I survived was tucking in behind Ben. Finally warmed up at the Bart station, thanks for the jacket Pete and for letting stay in your car Ron. Then on the way back to Fremont, I bonked on Niles (mile 98). Limped back to Mission Blvd where I got a super burrito, scarfed that down and rode down Mission back home.

I ended up with 112 miles and 4400 ft of climbing.

I figured out why the mileage was off for me. When I removed the front wheel to fit in the second bike in my car, the speed sensor shifted to the left a bit. I noticed that on today's ride up Moody road where the speed was 0mph every time I stood up.

I had a great time on the ride. It was a really good group of guys, strong riders, good riders. Here are some more photos. Group 1 of 2

Pete - Your not happy to see me?
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/chrisoco/a007-1.jpg

http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/chrisoco/a041.jpg

Our leader leads
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Photos Part 2 of 2
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Nice pics! Sounds like a good time. I definitely have got to do that ride, it looks fantastic.

Wow, great turnout and ride. That looks like the best bike path in the northern hemisphere. Where is it?

Wow, great turnout and ride. That looks like the best bike path in the northern hemisphere. Where is it?

It is somewhere in S. Livermore. gw_12 led us there and I was just following so I don't know the details.

But yes, it was nice. Here are a couple of more shots from there.

This was just outside the entrance
http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/chrisoco/a013-3.jpg

http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/chrisoco/a016.jpg

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http://i468.photobucket.com/albums/rr41/chrisoco/a020-2.jpg

Great ride yesterday guys. Thanks for the invite. I've always had a good time on the few NorCal BF rides I've joined. Gotta do it more this year.

The Livermore bike path mentioned in this thread opened about a year ago and runs from the intersection of Wetmore and Arroyo Rds to Marina Ave near Wente St. It's a nice way to bypass a few of the traffic lights and stop signs and suburbia of South Livermore when heading from Pleasanton to the east Livermore Hills or to Mines Rd.

-Glenn

Thanks for a great ride today. I got my century and really enjoyed riding my local roads with old friends.


I ended up with 112 miles and 4400 ft of climbing.

Sweet! I got mine too at 103 miles. I left home at 6:05am and it was dark and 35 degrees out. The ride through Menlo Park and out to the Dumbarton Bridge was really nice since there was hardly any auto traffic and I breezed through intersections that I normally have to stop at. As I crossed the bridge I could see the sky gradually turn from black to gray to pink as the sun came up. It was totally clear out until I got into Newark and then I entered a mass of fog that lasted until just before I got to Mission Blvd.

This was about 18 miles in for me when I met up with Donald and it was really nice to just cruise along at an easy pace without any traffic lights or other interruptions to my rhythm. It was worth getting up early for :)

Great Pictures everyone