taxi777

Just got back...Later with the report here's a teaser pict




I was a little apprehensive about what I was getting myself into today, especially when I saw what Chris was wearing...

but it all turned out OK. I was pretty bonky after Sierra. It was my first time and I didn't really enjoy it too much. I had lead legs all the way down Calaveras and Glen tried to pull me through but I just didn't have it together. I skipped Welch Creek and went directly to lunch, which really help with my energy level.
Marco enjoyed his lunch date with Ruth as you can tell...


The day ended with Glen's ride to " ****** Bag summit "

Glen said-
"It's hard to explain what's at the top, but it's really cool and the picture taking opportunities are astounding!"
I raced everyone to the top and here's what I found-


Highlights- Everyone gave me the finger for some reason...


Marco and Ruth make it to the top of Sierra...


Scenery was awesome...


70 miles and 50,000 feet of climbing!

x136 

Hell of a SAG wagon.

Bostic

Tough ride. I just showed a huge sandwich who is boss.

uspspro

We just split an entire large Pizza from Speederia in San Carlos.

We strapped it to the rack of the tandem on the way home.

It was brutal for us, not being in the saddle for a hard ride in a while.

mellum76

I'm happy to be home, safe and dry. Thanks, everyone, for making this another great BF group ride.

silentben

I don't think my quads have been this sore in a long time. I thought they were going to explode on Welch Creek. All my switchbacks towards the top probably added a mile to the climb I had gone out a little too hard on Sierra and paid for it on this climb.

My "Southwest" sandwich in Sunol was tasty but I felt kind of sick for the next hour or so after scarfing down all that food so fast. On the ride home across the Dumbarton I finally got a second wind since my body had finished assimilating my lunch.

Thanks for the ride Glenn

x136 

Awesome.

How's your own medicine taste, sir?

silentben

Fremont BART




Filling up before Sierra Rd.


Before the day's first big climb


Loitering in the gas station parking lot


At the top of Sierra


Top of Sierra bike shot


Pete's bike du jour


Death march up Welch Creek Rd.


Posing with the firetruck in Sunol

taxi777

gw_12

Thanks folks. I had a great time, but my legs were complaining when I climbed the stairs in my house. I hope you guys made it back over the bridge without getting too wet. I felt a few drops riding back to my car and it was drizzling in Niles Canyon on my drive home. I didn't take too many pictures today but here's a few.

Pete summiting Old Calaveras:



Gray skies most of the ride:



Marco and Ruth summiting Old Calaveras:



The top of Morrison Canyon: (my camera was in "invisibility cloaking device" override mode )



Pete's makeshift tripod:

gw_12

Here's the ride profile from my Garmin Edge. Looks like I lied about the Morrison Canyon climb. I said 600 feet. I guess I was recalling the climbing to the Vargas Rd junction. Looks like it was more like 800 or 900 to the top.

spingineer

Great ride report. Somehow, I'm not too sad that I missed it.

uspspro

Ruth & I were not having a good day, so we skipped Welch Creek, and stopped at the "Y" on Morrison Canyon a little before the top.

We still got in our century.

109.5 miles with 4800 feet (but a tough 4800 feet) of climbing.

Beaker

Congrats guys - kinda sad to have missed an opportunity to try these climbs out, although given how little mileage I've got this year, that may have been a blessing in disguise!

taxi777

Well, you guys kept me company and that's a good thing

jobob

Well done, people.

I, on the other hand, managed to bonk on Old La Honda Road yesterday.

I'll be ready for a Glenn ride, someday...

powpow

Great ride everyone! The Sierra/Welsh Creek combo was tough, my legs are worked today.

Here are a few pics at the top of Sierra from my crappy iPhone camera:

dl33

Here's a few of my camera phone pics.

Like everyone already mentioned, a great hard ride. I started out in the morning think about getting the extra 35 miles for my century of the month, so I rode out to Niles and got on the Alemeda Creek Trial and time trialed out to Coyote Hills, tried to make it out on the Bay but ran out of time so headed back to Bart with 25 miles in the books. By my calc, I needed 3 miles at the end for a round 100. Started felling the quads and hammie cramp on Calaveras, must not have been drinking enough in the morning. Legs where locking up basically all the way up Welch Creek until the guys started coming down, so turned around about .5 miles for the top. Turkey Sandwhich and Mo Creek didn't agree!

Ended up with 96 miles, 6970 ft climbing and ave speed of 15mph. Also top speed of 50mph down the back of Sierra. Never did get the last 4 miles, thought about riding around the block 10 times but ....

chrisoco

Here's my report. Thanks for planning this Glen. I had a great day. It was epic as I ended up with 112 miles, my longest since 2006. WE had the 68 from the ride proper, plus 33 round trip from Menlo Park Caltrain, plus about 11 to and from home.

I really enjoyed Calaveras Rd, even though my front derailleur cable broke there. The cloudiness helped even though it was cold on top of Sierra Rd. We had a few sprinkles leaving Fremont (after 5 pm) and then again on the Peninsula, but nothing more than that.

Here are some of my photos, Part 1:
In the morning


In the evening


Bikeforums ID
L to R: taxi777, ruthness, uspspro, mellum76, silentben


L to R
dl33, Bostic, gw 12, powpow


Sierra Rd






Welch Creek

chrisoco

Photos Part 2 of 2

Welch Creek


Morrison Canyon

BlastRadius

Very nice. Looked like a great time. I'm still recovering from a two-week old cold so I'm trying to limit my outside-in-the-cold time to a minimum.

jonjon0nline

Looks like a fun time. Hope to make it out there some time.

reidconti

I'm jealous of the Speederia dinner... love that place (I work in redwood shores so we go there for lunch often)

Bostic

Thanks for the great pics everyone. So I did the calculations for the gearing on NYChris bike with his mountain bike cassette. 39x28 and 39x32 are lower than 34x24 and 34x27. Boo.

uspspro

Yeah, it was pretty funny.

I took the rack trunk bag and strapped it (inverted) to the top tube.

Then I used bungee-cords to strap the pizza to the rack. I clipped my tail light to the pizza box. I wish we took a picture of that.