Did I see any of you at the Water Stop on the Primavera today?

I went through the 70K route as bike sweep.

Great exciting adventures. I'll post reports in the am: Here's some Pict highlight, some great stories for ya!

Me With Team Webcore... What a ride!

some friends I made and scenery...

I was riding the Primavera in reverse today. It wasn't my intention, I was actually test riding the southern half of the permanent brevet I'm submitting to RUSA, but my ride ended up being essentially the same as the metric route but in reverse. It was fun to see everyone pass by, and for miles I seemed to be the only one going in the other direction. I joked with someone that I didn't get the memo.

I saw someone with a Nor Cal BikeForums jersey near the false summit of Calaveras, and again as he was descending (& I was climbing) Palomares.

And I saw the birthday boy on Dublin Canyon Road. I yelled out "hey Pete" but he didn't hear me (at least, that's what I'm assuming )

Taxi777 –
Hermes and I were out in Livermore today doing laps of the Wente RR course in advance of next week’s race and we saw you and the Webcor guys. On the first lap we missed the right turn onto Greenville Road because we saw riders going straight (unbeknownst to us they were with your Primavera ride) and were distracted by the cowbells at the lunch stop. We knew we missed the turn when we hit S. Livermore Road. We turned around back to Tesla and that is when we saw you guys going the other direction.

This weekend was a "twofer" for me. Saturday I rode the Bike Around The Buttes ride with my family, and today I rode the Primavera with BF forum memvber Mhendricks.

The Primavera was everything the Bike Around The Buttes was not - windy, challenging, and complete with two arduous extended climbs that had double-digit gradients.

Mike and I left the start at about 8:00am, and hit the Calaveras "wall" at around mile 20. Relatively short but very sweet, we climbed an 11-13% grade to the top in gusting wind. The ride around Calaveras Reservoir was very nice and since it was sheltered from the wind, we had fun and recovered a bit at the same time. Once down on the flats, we were buffeted by wind all the way to the Dublin Grade - a shallow 4-5% but sustained climb into a ferocious headwind.

After summiting the Dublin Grade and descending down to the rest stop, we began our final climb of the day up Palomares Canyon. At first it was a pretty easy climb, but gradually got steeper. About 2 miles from the top of the 5 mile climb, the pitch went back into double digits and stayed at a solid 12% for the duration of the climb. By the time we crested, my legs were dead.

Again, the descent was into a heavy wind - and a bit technical towards the end, besides. We finally cruised into the finish dead tired and ravenously hungry. After knocking back Lasagna, garlic bread, brownies, and more garlic bread, I staggered off to my car and headed for home. Take a look at the Garmin trace - over 60 miles and almost 5,000' of climbing.

Some pics:

Look at those two climbs !!


My steed for the day - CF, baby!!


Random hairpin on the side of the reservoir:


Steers along Palomares:


Talking to the turkeys. I chirped in my best hen impression, and he set off to gobbling something fierce:

Say it ain't so!

Hey! I didn't know I was trying to break from the Webcore boys so I was in full testosterone mode! Plus in that wind I couldn't hear a thing. Sorry I missed you, I would have turned around for you!
Pete

Hey! I'm going to try to get out to see you guys for the Wente RR , I got an Email from Team Protech.. gotta check my schedule. Good Luck! I'll be rootin for ya!
Pete

I've got at least one of everything. And wait till you see what's coming via FedEx.

Hi Jo,
The wind was pretty fierce at the falls summit when you were calling something like bikeforums. I was picking up speed on the descent and I figured, its too late to turn back.
Coming down Palomares was fast and trying to catch Mike and Bigbossman was futile. Must be that gravity thing

Maybe, I was there in my LGBRC (Easton/SugarCRM/Specialized) kit. On a more interesting note, after I left the final rest stop; me and another rider where heading toward the final climb. When we smelt a strong odor of pot. I was wondering where the hell was it coming from. We passed a rider and I saw a joint in his hand. According to him it helps with the pain on the climb. After he was done chatting with us, he sped off and dropped us like a rock. Both of us were stunned and couldn't fathom riding "high". It gave us quite a few good laughs on the way back to the high school.

i was out there also riding solo...so much good food and super nice people supporting the ride.

I rode with the lady above in the pic with the felt TT bike for a bit also before moving on. Think i recognize that giant also...i was on a black motobecane and had a silver tribal'ish jersey, dragon tattoo on left calf

Oh... you didn't realize you we're talking to me??

'Cause you don't need a joint to be high. It's naturally occurring for you!

Hey Jack, no worries! I totally understand about not being able to hear over the wind & not wanting to disrupt a fun descent!

I was scanning the group you were with and I couldn't recognize anyone - maybe because I've never met you or your group.

Glad you guys had a good ride. So did I.

Hell - I was going slow and being cautious........

I went and rode the 100k route yesterday with a couple of friends. That climb up Palomares is a real killer!

taxi777, I remember you guys. I was the guy running the water stop.

parity, I remember asking someone about the Sugar CRM jersey, maybe that was you?

Thanks, I'll need it! I'll be racing with the Cat 4 35+ women. Weather should be better - hopefully less wind and warmer. I enjoyed your pics from Primavera. Seemed like a nice group too - we stopped at the lunch stop to check directions and they invited us to stay for lunch (we graciously passed on the offer),

Yep they we're cool! The ladies sang happy birthday to me! It made the guys jealous and they laughed at me when I got a flat after lunch... " hey there's the birthday boy with a flat...ha ha ha, boo hoo...

I was with a TT guy and the Benicia club but didn't stop for the water. After lunch I rode with the Webcore guys.
Pete

Wow Pete, quite the social butterfly you were.

.....Butterfly in a Hurricane!

Yep that was me.