Anodyne

I finally got off my ass to join a group ride this weekend. Waking up late I bolted out the door not expecting to see any of the Team Alameda riders at the meetup spot anymore. Lucky for me I caught the tail end of the group as they were leaving Alameda.

It was a day of firsts for me. My first group ride, my first 50 miler (woohoo!), my first time on some really incredible roads, and my first 22% incline. Oh my GOD some of those hills were evil.... I was loving it though. I'll definitely be back next week!

The Tank

Sunday: Started in Daly City, rode Skyline to Big Basin down into Saratoga, then Foothill back up to Stanford where I met up with some friends. Legs were done so I took the Caltrain back up. Gorgeous day, almost perfect save for some jack@$$ motorcyclists and drivers.

BenRidin

Finally got on the MTB and headed over to Mill Valley for some single track goodness!


I got to sample the different climates while playing on the mountain.


Everything flowed together


And we found new trails to ride.


All in all, we ended up w/ over 5,100' of climbing and about 25 miles. Cold beer and homemade burritos were waiting for us at the end of the ride.

BR

ahpook

25 mi local loop on the tandem to celebrate the return of the babysitter! yay.

jen hadn't been up kennedy rd before so we pedalled up, had a good/tough climb, gawked at the crazy waterwheel contraption and then blasted down to almaden coffee for a tuna sandwich, then home.

(photo by slonie)

nachomc

I rode the Rubicon trail this week. There's some HUUUGGEEE slabs out there to ride. It was awesome.



Had a little shuttle help when I needed it:



Great trip!

rumbutter

Riding the Rubicon trail on my Mountain Bike is on my Bucket list. How long do you reckon it takes to ride and how far is it ? Is it doeable as a round trip in a day or is it a 2 day extravaganza ?

nachomc

I'd say make it a two day trip. I did five miles in about two hours, but I was cruising with the rigs to see the cool stuff they were doing, take pics, etc. I didn't spend as much time riding and playing on the granite as I'd have liked, but I didn't know the area and didn't want to get my self lost like a dumb ass (with all my supplies in the rigs). If you did it in two days, you could ride to the end, maybe stay the night in S. Lake (or camp along trail if you wanted), then ride back the next day. That would give you the time to play on some of the obstacles and granite, and take in the beautiful views. It's gorgeous out there.

Some of the stuff is a bit sketchy because the dirt on the rock is super slick and you can lose traction easy. I had some trouble with the big rock fields where I couldn't get momentum and the rocks were big-ish rocks were closely spaced. For most of the major obstacles, there's either bypasses around it that are completely ridable, or there's dirt on the sides you can make it through, and a lot of the time you can make a line through the compacted boulders or just up some of them, which I was enjoying . There are a few areas though, like by the Old Sluice before Buck Island, that were treacherous and I couldn't get the bike going from rock to rock to rock.

Few more pics:

nachomc

Oh - should add, I've read online that it's 22 miles total, but I can't figure out how far it really is from each access point. Some googling could probably turn that up, but I'm gonna get another beer.

edit again .. do it on a weekday. The guys were astonished at how quiet it was. They said on most weekends, especially holiday weekends, the place is a zoo, with thousands of people out there along the trail. They also said it's not uncommon for guys to be doing the trail and obstacles well in to the middle of the night, people being drunk and loud, etc. It was dead quiet out there when we were camping and so peaceful. Tuesday, man!

bigbossman 

Today I hooked up with MarkoPolo, and did a nice loop from his house in Saratoga. Up Hwy 9 to 35, south on 35 and then down to Old Santa Cruz Hwy and back though Los Gatos around the east side of Lexington Reservoir.

42 miles and about 4880' of climbing, with some excellent soft tacos and sidewalk scenery in Los Gatos as the reward.

Nice day.

bigbossman 

Word.

I used to do the 4WD thing, and The Rubicon is a hot mess on weekends. Unless you like crowds, noise, drunks, and other assorted nonsense around the clock.

MarkoPolo

It WAS a nice day, despite my riding partner's constant complaints about never-ending hills... but the sweet downhills made up for the suffering, as well as the 3 miles of rim-denting gravel trail at the bottom of Lexington.

Red Rider

We met Curtis and Tricia and rode up Mt. Diablo this morning. We had a bit of a later start than we'd planned (someone forgot her helmet and didn't wise up until we were 7 miles from home), so they turned back at the Junction as they had a time limit.

We soldiered on and even passed a few cyclists on that last couple of miles; we even passed a guy on the Wall. We made the top and took the requisite pictures, mentioned how much we wish C&T had been able to ride with us, chatted with other cyclists, and headed downhill. The weather was darned near perfect, and there weren't many cars, either.

The first time we attempted this climb, 11/07, we were on the tandem and failed to conquer the Wall. This was a huge psychological achievement for us, and we're stoked!

nachomc

We went and rode Donner Lake Rim Trail, and Hole In The Ground today. It was pretty awesome up there..

Norcal_Cyclist

Rode the Mt Shasta Summit Century yesterday.....did the "super" option for a total of 16,500' of climbing over 138 miles. Honestly the most scenic ride I've done in Northern California.

taxi777

55 mile ride SF to Tiburon loop back and through Ocean beach/GGPark. I Rode my SE fixed gear. Stopped at Velo Rouge for a Levi Leipheimer breakfast burrito. It was the most mileage in one day since two months ago.

galyons

Boring, solo 62 mile ride from Pleasant Hill to Sunol and back on the usual route!! Surprised a bit by the heat, but otherwise a great day!

Geary

BlastRadius

Glad to see you back. I hope to join you for a ride soon.

jmpsmash

solo'ed up Mt. Diablo today. temperature at Athenian was 89F. the temperature got better near the top but the gradient got worse.

spingineer

Did Bohlman, On Orbit, and Hicks on Saturday, and it kicked my butt.
Sunday, did a 31 mile recovery ride, with < 500 feet climbing! Basically rode as many bike trails as I could find, starting from Santa Clara, and the San Tomas Aquino trail, then onto the Bayland trail, scooted across to Stevens Creek trail, to Shoreline, then returned via surface streets back to Stevens Creek, then home. Very leisure, perfect for a fixie.

ahpook

44 miles on the tandem, from campbell to palo alto for fraiche frozen yogurt (hey you gotta have a goal!) and back.

we went out the nice way (cupertino , foothill, junipero serra, sand hill) and back the fast-and-dirty way (central and san tomas expressway)

taxi777

Went out for a nice ride down to the park with the better half and was happily surprised to find out that it was "Streets Sunday" and the whole Park and Ocean Beach were closed to traffic! There were tons of bikes, kids and fun people all around. We had a really great time and we got a good ride in to boot...

Cathy with the Pesky Penguin!

MarkoPolo

Under the category, "Whose stupid idea was this?" Bikingshearer and I did a Morgan Territory loop (clockwise) today. The answer to the question is Rich's "friend" Carl, who suggested the route and then bailed the morning of, claiming he had broken a spoke on his minimally spoked wheel so couldn't risk a ride into the outback. While we did see Carl at the meeting spot (it was selected so he could drop his daughter off at ballet school), neither Rich nor I ever saw this supposed damaged wheel.

Terse mode report: It was hot; we climbed; it got hotter; Rich told bad jokes; we solved the political issues facing the state of California (now if only someone would listen to us); we climbed some more; hotter still; we descended (nice!), then it got really hot as we slogged back on on Manning/Highland/Tassahara (Livermore hit 96 today); I flatted (next to the only shade tree on Highland); we cooled and refueled at Blackhawk and made our way through Danville and Alamo back to Walnut Creek. Totals were 52 miles; 3300 feet of climbing; and 39 utterances of the phrase "Whose stupid idea was this?"

Rich on Marsh Creek Road


Morgan Territory view


Resting (again)

Beaker

Nice write up Mark!

No riding for me this w/e after Friday's climbfest up Sierra/Welch Creek. I did see a blue/white NorCal kit riding down Moraga Way into Orinda ~lunchtime today, but didn't recognise the rider. Anyone out there??

Red Rider

We rode the tandem from Buellton to Lompoc, visited with some non-cycling friends, them rod back to Buellton. 35 or so miles, pics tomorrow after my battery recharges. The rollers weren't bad at all.

DiabloScott

We were there too. 11 mile loop was a bit of a challenge for my daughter but it was really a kick - sort of a cross between critical mass and a roller skating party.