Bostic

Since I had to work on Saturday I took the afternoon off today and went riding. I climbed Kings Mountain for the first time today which was nice. Also a first was riding the other direction along 35. I guess I had not paid attention the previous times to the amount of hills present. It seemed forever until I arrived at Page Mill. About 58 miles from my apt in Sunnyvale and back.

BenRidin

This was my first "Dirt" ride since June. Wow, it took awhile to get back my form. Yep, I take Hwy 12 get there. To me Hogan's is a big fat "meh". It takes me an hour to drive there. It also takes me an hour to drive to other places I'd rather go to: Slamin Balls, Diablo Foothills, Rockville...

I'll give you a heads up for the next "dirt Ride".

BR

genejockey 

61 miles down to Los Altos and back. Tired myself out really well, too. I was rolling down Crystal Springs, almost to the stop sign at El Cerrito ave, and I hit a rock - pinchflatted my rear tire. Unfortunately, because I was riding a bike that won't hold a frame pump, I was carrying a mini. Fortunately, it's a pretty good mini - Blackburn Airstick. It took a bit longer to pump up the tire, but it wasn't as bad as one mini I used once.

That's two flats in two weeks, after no flats all in 2600 miles. Grrrrr. I hope this isn't the start of a trend.

spingineer

Took Caltrain to SF, then rode to the start of the BF ride to Mt. Tam. Did the ride, which was excellent. Rode Bart back to San Bruno, and along with msincredible and uspspro, we visited Blastradius. From there, rode south back home, and if it weren't for the fact that msincredible and uspspro were ahead of me (most likely waiting for me), I don't think I would have had the motivation to go. Thanks msincredible and uspspro for waiting for me. Hope you guys didn't wait too long.

I did get my October century in!

uspspro

Ron,

We didn't have to wait that long.

Somewhere half way through Sawyer Camp, I ran out of energy (like food energy... legs and cardio still felt great). So I was not moving very fast through there (which was ok, since there were joggers, walkers, etc.).

That bit of clif bar you gave me helped me get home. So thanks!

I don't think I ate enough calories for the day, so that took its toll shortly after mile 70 or so. And I know that I burned a ton calories, since I was really flying up those climbs (Mt. Tam).

msincredible

Hey Marco, it was nice to chill out on the pace you set on the trail. I think we were all running out of fuel by that point.

Anyway I got in 98 miles for the day, my longest so far. Thanks to Ron for the inspiration for trying for a century.

mtnwalker

Lets see, I rode up Mt Tam last Saturday. Today, I went up Mt Eden as part of my commute. Thats 2 mountains within 5 days! I'll be ready for the next BF climbing ride.

mazpr

Very similar to this one; https://www.petalumawheelmen.org/50-6...oadRoutes.html


Road my first 80 miles with two great guys; Scott and James.

Excellent perfect ride, super panoramic, insanely painful hills, super fast downhills.

Western Road, Spring Hill, Valley Ford, Coleman Valley, Freestone, Occidental, Bohemian, etc etc.

Freestone has a five star bakery, I ate one of those ginger lemon pastries and lots and lots of water.

Somehow there was a lot of traffic today, many vintage bikers along the way and the usual Ahole who does a 60 to 70 fly by, all in all a perfect day.

jonathanb715

Lots of kids' soccer games this weekend, so not much time for riding. I took off yesterday (Friday) morning, though and did a nice 48 mile ride starting in San Ramon, down to Sunol on San Ramon Valley/Foothill, then down Niles Canyon (now with even more narrow shoulders!) to Palomares, up and over to Castro Valley (hitting 48 mph on the descent!) and then back to San Ramon via Crow Canyon and Norris Canyon. A little chilly, but a great ride.

JB

'nother

Perhaps premature, but anyway:

Saturday: Welch Creek Low-Key hillclimb. Ugh.
Sunday: Pilarcitos CX Race #3 of the Bay Area Super Prestige Series (Cs). Another 'Ugh' expected, but who knows. Good thing there is Belgian beer for afterwards

DiabloScott

The Pig

taxi777

My brother 4yrs older, came out from NH for a few days. Haven't seen him in 7yrs. He hasn't been on a bike in 25+ years he's 57. I can't believe I talked him in to riding!! I brow beat him into bike shorts and long pull overs. Cycle shirt, gloves. I slapped some flat pedals on my KHS, down with the seat and forward. I only have one helmet and He wouldn't wear one, so I told him if he dies I'm not going to wear one! Oh well, maybe next time.
We walked the bikes down to the financial district. I couldn't see his first spin flying down California st with no helmet! Took off to the embarcadero, he was rrrreallly wobbley! but pulled it together and we rode from ATT park all the way to GG Bridge. Stopped for In and out Burger double cheese and fries...perfect bike food. Man did he bonk on the way back! 15.7 miles, but for 3 hours we were 10 years old again! One of the best rides I've ever had. He couldn't stop talking about it. He wants to go out on sunday, and little bro is comming up from L.A. Monday and I have 3 bikes!....I think they thought I was dying so they came up, but I'm fine and I might end up killing them...!
Great weekend weather.
Pete

alainp

That's a great story, Peter. Hope today's ride with both of your brothers was just as fun.

Today I went up Mt. Diablo from the house and back. Took me about 2.5 hrs to do the 30 or so miles (slow, I know) but had fun doing it. Weather and visibility were great... hope it keeps up.

Bostic

Yesterday I rode up Mt. Hamilton via Quimby from the Target parking lot (Calaveras ride) in Milpitas. Just under 51 miles there and back. I'm quite happy that I made it up without stopping but the final straight section of Quimby I was zigzaggin at 4mph.

Today was about 22 miles from San Francisco out to the Marin Headlands and back. Great view and not too much wind at the top of Hawk Hill.

bigbossman 

Did a "vintage" ride yesterday, with a few folks from Classic Rendezvous. All of us on vintage bikes - it was pretty cool. We did a scenic loop around the Livermore Valley, and stopped for lunch at a local winery. About 36 miles all told, with maybe 1,000' of climbing.

The group - I'm front right, in the blue kit, riding a mid 70's Swiss Mondia Super:

SesameCrunch

Great story, Pete!

BenRidin

35 miles in Auburn doing MTB! Just because there is nothing better than fall MTB riding. Especially in Auburn

Went w/ locals who showed me some new trails. You just know they're out there and it was great. A lot of climbing (over 5k) and I was pooped. We had three single speeders that started and one that finished the whole ride.

Was another beautiful fall day. One that makes you so stoked to be living in Norcal. After ride beverages were provided by Auburn Ale House. I whole heartily recommend the Fools Gold Pale Ale.

Today was dedicated to doing chores around the house.

BR

BR

BlastRadius

That awesome Pete. It's always great to see family get together.

Knubby

After reading the thread on the Carquinez Scenic Drive, we thought we would ride the mtn bike tandem out there today. But as we rode into Crockett, the sight of the Carquinez Bridge and the desire to cross it into Vallejo changed our plans. It was my wife's first time riding across that bridge and we stopped a few times to take some pics. A great day for the both of us.

genejockey 

64 miles from San Mateo to Skyline via Kings Mtn, 84 back to Portola, then the extended loop and home. Beautiful day to ride, wasn't it?

msincredible

Sounds like everyone had a nice time, great story Pete. I did my 50-mile RT commute on Friday, but was home sick this weekend, figures with all the nice weather.

Hermes

On Saturday, Velodiva and I rode our singles to the top of Mount Hamilton starting at Alum Rock. From our starting point, it was 19.2 miles to the summit, the site of the Lick Observatory. The starting temperature was in the low 60s rising to 80 degrees when we finished. The winds were light.

The climb is in three sections separated by a two-mile descent and a one-mile descent. The first section is of moderate difficulty followed by an easier section and finally a 7-mile steeper section.



Below is an elevation profile from our Garmin.



We had to drive 40 miles from our house to the base of Mount Hamilton. We struck up a conversation with the guy parked next to us who was celebrating his 57th birthday by riding up Mount Hamilton. He had an Orbea Orca as does Velodiva so they were admiring each other’s bikes. He had Zipp 303 tubulars on it and Velodiva was trying out her new Easton Tempest II carbon tubular wheels for the first time. He rides Mount Hamilton a few times each year and two years ago did the Death Ride.

After the first descent, we pulled off to the state park station for water. Here is a pic from the stop with the top of the mountain with the observatory in the far off distance.



Off we go and find the next section much easier than the first with a flatter portion right before the downhill.

Below is a pic from the next leg of the ride.



View from the mid point of the climb.

We stopped for some photos before the next descent - this is a pic of Velodiva with her new Roche team kit and Easton wheels.





The Lick Observatory in the distance.

At the bottom, there is a sign that says 7 miles to the summit. As we made a turn the road pitched up to the toughest grade, we could see the observatory in the distance.



This is the cyclist we met at the start on his birthday ride in his Death Ride jersey and Orbea Orca.



Hermes and Velodiva at the top.



This is the climb to the observatory.



The observatory.

The descent itself took about an hour – there was a lot of gravel kicked up in the middle of the turns in addition to some potholes. Velodiva’s rear wheel spun out on one turn – fortunately, she was able to control the bike and ended up just sliding her right hip in the side of the hill. We hope the weather for the Thanksgiving day low key hill climb is just as nice.

On Sunday, we rode our tandem from Canada / Edgewood to Peet’s in Los Altos via the maze - Beautiful day.

uspspro

Nice report!

Bostic

I was up at the observatory at the same time, as well as some Stanford cyclists. It was a great day for riding.

superunleaded

I went to the Stone Mountain from the Perimeter Mall in Atlanta, about 60 miles RT with a lot of stops checking my map just to make sure I'm on the planned route. I met a fine BF forumite from the southeast. His handle is RonH and he showed me around how its done the Atlanta way I posted in the southeast section for help and over here (or there, depending on where you are) and I got a good response. BF works . Will post my new cannonball ride as soon as I get to pull it off from my camera.