Northern California - Riding Mt. Diablo

Can I get suggestions on my proposed Mt. Diablo ride for sometime soon in December or early January?

My thought would be to start at Arbolado(sp) Park and ride thru the North Gate to the junction, down to the South gate, then back up to the Summit, then riding back down to the North Gate to finish.

I rode from Danville last year during December, and thought the Diablo Rd. approach was a bit dicey with traffic near the country club, but once off that expressway, from the Athenian School all of the ride was great. Does anyone know the total miles for this route? Any other ideas to get the most out of the mountain. Any good places near Ygnacio Valley Rd for post ride lunch? I'm coming from the north Bay Santa Rosa area. Your thoughts, experiences. Thanks.

No idea about food, but I've ridden from Arbolado Park several times. Never had a problem parking there. Head up Doncaster and turn left onto North Gate road (at the Mormon church) and you're good to go from there. There's a good bit of warmup riding before the main climb when you go that way.

I drew out that route on Ride with GPS, here's the link to the map (http://ridewithgps.com/routes/19846)

RWG says its about 36 miles and 5500 feet of climbing.

Arbolado park is a good place to start from, there's rest room facilities and plenty of parking. Well, plenty of parking unless there are a couple of soccer games going on.

There are a lot of places to eat on Ygnacio Valley Road, but after our Diablo rides Princess Zippy & I would often go to Sweet Affair Bakery & Cafe (http://sweetaffairbakery.com/Home_Page.html) which had pretty good soups and sandwiches (oh yeah, and desert). It's in the Ygnacio Plaza Shopping Center which is sort of across the road from Heather Farms Park.

An excellent route. I usually turn around at the tire poppers on South Gate Road rather than go all the way down to the school - avoiding the section of road that's in disrepair (it's really awful). Only reason to go farther would be if you were timing yourself for the Challenge route.

On Ygnacio and Oak Grove you've got two shopping centers with fast food and nicer restaurants. Encina Grande has a Taco Bell, a great pizza place, Applebee's, a sushi place, froyo, and a bike store too. Citrus Hill sort of kitty corner has Mary's Pizza Shack, a burrito place, Quizno's, a burger joint, and a fast Chinese joint.

I drew out that route on Ride with GPS, here's the link to the map (http://ridewithgps.com/routes/19846)

RWG says its about 36 miles and 5500 feet of climbing.

Arbolado park is a good place to start from, there's rest room facilities and plenty of parking. Well, plenty of parking unless there are a couple of soccer games going on.

There are a lot of places to eat on Ygnacio Valley Road, but after our Diablo rides Princess Zippy & I would often go to Sweet Affair Bakery & Cafe (http://sweetaffairbakery.com/Home_Page.html) which had pretty good soups and sandwiches (oh yeah, and desert). It's in the Ygnacio Plaza Shopping Center which is sort of across the road from Heather Farms Park.

and when are you and princess zippy doing this ride? I want PICTURES... that looks really hard!!!

Hi Trac' - -I only used to ride from Arbolado Park to the summit & back, but that was some time ago, I haven't been up Mt. Diablo in ages.

I don't know if PZip ever did the route as I mapped it, I wouldn't be surprised. I only mapped out the route that the OP described to see how many miles it would be.

The route I mapped for the OP does look like a really nice route though ... I hope I'm back up to a ride like that sooner or later. :)

I rode from Danville last year during December, and thought the Diablo Rd. approach was a bit dicey with traffic near the country club, but once off that expressway, from the Athenian School all of the ride was great.
You can avoid the nasty section of Diablo Rd. by following Alameda Diablo through the country club until you get to the short dirt path that leads to the hole in the fence along Diablo Scenic Dr. It's a very quiet and scenic alternative to the traffic on Diablo Rd. And it also avoids the worst pavement section shortly after Athenian.

Hi Trac' - -I only used to ride from Arbolado Park to the summit & back, but that was some time ago, I haven't been up Mt. Diablo in ages.

I don't know if PZip ever did the route as I mapped it, I wouldn't be surprised. I only mapped out the route that the OP described to see how many miles it would be.

The route I mapped for the OP does look like a really nice route though ... I hope I'm back up to a ride like that sooner or later. :)

you wil be soon enough! Just concentrate on stayin' in one piece k? :)

Hi Trac' - -I only used to ride from Arbolado Park to the summit & back, but that was some time ago, I haven't been up Mt. Diablo in ages.

I don't know if PZip ever did the route as I mapped it, I wouldn't be surprised. I only mapped out the route that the OP described to see how many miles it would be.

The route I mapped for the OP does look like a really nice route though ... I hope I'm back up to a ride like that sooner or later. :)

Can you play hooky? A few of your friends and I from last year's DR team are talking about riding Mt. D. mid-week sometime soon.......

JB

Argh, not very likely ... after the layoffs at my workplace, I'm doing the job of 2 and a half nowadays. :rolleyes: But thanks, keep me in the loop!

Mt Diablo with you guys would be perfect. By the time I made it up to the Junction I'd probably meet up with the rest of you heading back down from the summit, so I'd turn around and ride back with you all to the start. :lol:

Argh, not very likely ... after the layoffs at my workplace, I'm doing the job of 2 and a half nowadays. :rolleyes: But thanks, keep me in the loop!

Mt Diablo with you guys would be perfect. By the time I made it up to the Junction I'd probably meet up with the rest of you heading back down from the summit, so I'd turn around and ride back with you all to the start. :lol:
Oh, stop it! you've seen me climb, and I'm not fast. On a good day, a south gate summit ride might take me 90 minutes; lately, more like 2 hours! You could hang with us, no problem (although last time up I heard some whining when I didn't stop at the junction - I guess everyone else felt compelled to follow suit!).

JB