Beaker

Stay tooned for tales of adventure, daring, bravery, and the riding of bicycles.......

oh yeah, and of three flat tires, one lost article of clothing, and the perils of retrieving personal belongings from human waste

ROJA

Awesome ride, guys! Beaker, thanks for organizing and leading. More details surely to follow, but for now, here is our motionbased data: https://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7186741

55 miles
4250 ft of climbing
15.5 mph average speed
1:09 for the Bears Loop (not including time spent fixing a flat and BSing with Brentley and Pete)

gpelpel

Thanks Richard for organizing this ride. I am sorry I had to bail out before the Bears but I just made it back home at the time I needed to be back. Good timing. I am glad we had the Starbucks stop after Wildcat so I could leave you guys after the social gathering.
Great group, as usual, a bit faster that on previous rides. After 4 weeks off the bike (aside from some short MTB rides) I could feel a lack of form compared to a month ago. Amazing how fast fitness goes down the drain after too long a ride drought.
Rheem was definitely a quick way to get it going, I hit 46.84 mph on the descent, my pb on that one. Going left on Pinehurst after Canyon was a nice change from my usual route up to Skyline. The climb starts quicker but then the descent to Redwood is a nice break. Redwood is not too challenging, however I found Skyline a bit of a workout until the Chabot Observatory.
We really had great weather today and the view over Oakland, Berkeley, the Bay and SF up to the GG Bridge was fantastic.
Our group was a good match as we never had to wait much before the caboose arrived at the station. The longest stop must have been my flat; thanks for waiting for me. I had quite a big laugh when I tried to put a little bit of air in the tube before mounting it. I was my first time using the AirChuck inflator that I got before the Death Ride in order to save some weight. This thing is light but surely not very smooth to use. Instead of a little bit of air the tube got a full blast and was soo big in diameter I could have stepped inside (well almost).
The rest of the ride up Grizzly and down Wildcat is just one of the most gorgeous route around and the descent down San Ramon Dam Road a blast.
The best part was to ride with you guys again, I hope to be able to make it for the Mt. Hamilton climb.

gpelpel

1:09 for the Bears Loop, pretty awesome guys!

I ended up with 32 miles and 2700".

taxi777

Cliff Hanger! Stay tuned!

x136 

Dude, ew.

alainp

Ewww! Is that the bottom of a porta potty

Beaker

I can't believe you posted that

Beaker

Great ride today - really enjoyed it. Roll call - Cliff/RoboCheme, Justin/ROJA, Brentley/Brentley (!), the omnipresent Pete/taxi777, Georges/gpelpel, Chris/Ygduf and yours truly.

https://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...Hills2-Skyline

Climbing Pinhurst


Fantastic weather and great company - perfect. This was my first real ride with Pete, and I have to say, he's like a ninja with that camera, striking improbable poses/capturing pictures when you least expect them…It was a great group, well matched and with different folks taking the lead. Chris deserves special mention as he was frequently charging up the hills - with less than a year of riding in his legs. Ride with him now folks, cause next year we'll all be eating his dust.

View across the bay from Grizzly Peak


Starting out at Orinda BART there was a steady stream of cyclists, some Lifecycle folks out on a training possibly some LowKey'ers. Flat #1 was earned by Cliff on his way to the rendez-vous point. It was pretty cold first thing though -- I couldn't feel my fingers when I arrived, but the short climb up Rheem fixed that - I hit 45.2mph on the way down.
Then it was on to Canyon, but left up Pinehurst - a nice meandering climb with a sweet little descent to Redwood.

This man will not be going home with these...


Climbing Redwood is always nice and it's not too steep - onwards to Joaquin Miller then Skyline with a bit of a climb up past the Chabot Space Center and on to Grizzly Peak.

Bottom of Pinehurst - look who's hamming it up


Georges crests on Redwood


Followed by Cliff and Brentley


Georges got a flat (#2) on Grizzly Peak and decided to stop on the side of the road while everyone else pulled up to a turn out further up. Pete went back to investigate and offer motivational words.



Mine's bigger than yours…hang on…


We stopped off at the little trains at the top of Lomas and the parking lot was swarming with cyclists (mostly Team Alameda). Then it was on to Tilden and Inspiration Point. This was a natural biobreak point - no need to go into details, but while waiting outside the little hut there was a huge exclamation of "*****" which could apparently be heard in Martinez. Justin sheepishly emerged having lost his sunglasses in a bad place. Pete investigated but no-one was rolling up their sleeves for Justin.

You rang??


Then came the descent down wildcat - no slip/sliding this time and nice dry pavement. Lot's of talk about how Frank's doing - Frank are you out there? We all crossed ourselves as we went past that corner.

Beaker

A brief interlude at Starbucks was followed by the Bears. We had a mini BF paceline thing almost going for a while. Chris was a monster, we paced up Mama, Papa and Baby Bear. Quote of the day was when me and Chris passed a fellow cyclist about 1/3rd of the way up Mama and were regailed with "Farking youngsters!" (all in good humour).

I was just relaxing at the top of Baby Bear when I realized I was missing my vest so I went back and climbed up half of Papa again before deciding "screw it" and heading back. That and to compound his earlier misfortune, Justin got a flat (#3) before we hit Papa Bear.

Pete leads the pace on San Pablo Dam Road…


Chris enjoying the ascent up Mama


Followed by Justin


So all in all a great day on a bike - for me 62.5miles, I'll award myself closer to 5000ft with my extra half papa and Baby bear, and maxed on Rheem at 45.2mph.

gpelpel

The question should be: Who is behind these glasses?

alainp

Whoever it is/was... he's a goner!

mellum76

I think I'll be skipping dinner tonite. I was gonna have a nice oxtail stew, too....

Either way it looks like you guys had a great time out there.

nasv

wow, I'm hoping to do the route you guys did today.. are the descents difficult? I've never topped 35mph and some of you are saying you hit close to 50mph!!!

Awesome ride report!

Beaker

Well it would have to be a pretty small cyclist to fit through that opening - how about Cadel Evans?

Beaker

Hey nasv - it's a really nice route, I'll add the bikely back into the first post.

The descents are pretty easy all in all. Rheem was the fastest, but that's pretty straight and wide (although residential).

Wildcat is the most technical, with a few corners with poorer surfaces/gravel and curves that tighten as you move through them, but just being prudent will go a long way.

Papa bear is a pretty nice, long descent again, no sharp turns and wide road with good visibility.

Let us know how you get on if you make it down to the bay area.

taxi777

"S**T I dropped my sunglasses" just as I'm setting my precious Samsung camera precariously on the back of the sink in the "Porta-Pottie" next door...Little did that trusty compact point & shoot know that it was about to perform it's biggest "Doodie"...above and beyond the call of doodie! I must say. Since I'm known for delivering the poop on a consistant basis, this was right up my ally. Yep Justin had committed a "H'anus" act!

One thing though...That was really gross! I don't think I've stooped that low for a shot...ever! Ok I'm lyin!. -

Justin was a champ and shook it off. for the rest of the day He just pretended to be wearing sunglasses. -

Our next mission was to make our way down Wildcat Canyon. There was a bit of "post traumatic" vibe due to the last incident going down that venture. I just went ahead and took off full speed to kill any voodoo that might remain. I figured as these guys descended and didn't happen upon my crumpled body that they would assume that the bad luck would be gone...Going back a bit we talked about flat tires, even with Richard knocking on wood, George would just happen to flat right after...We had talked about the accident last time these guys did this ride, so the Jinx needed to be broken. That is when I decided to scream down Lucifer's Avenue and spit in his face!


After we all got down to the bottom safely, we bid out "Muchos Gracias" to the El Diablo grande and decided celebrate with a good cup of Joe at Starbucks in Orinda. The gang had their tongues hanging out at all the woman and I was forced to keep em in line!


George had to bail at this point, so the rest of us headed down Camino Pablo for some Bear action. For me I unfortunately was heading down the road into a mild bonk. Lucky for me Brently hung back to cheer me on and we traded some war stories and we got to know each other a bit. I think that was one of the best parts of the the ride, getting to meet and commensurate with some new soul who is rich with personality and good viewpoints. That's what it's all about...


The rest of the guys stayed out front I think Brent had probably let them know that he'd be hanging back with me. The Jinx caught us again when we arrived upon Justin falling victim to the next flat of the day...(it turned out to be a thorn and a slow leak). I welcomed that break and in the short time I waited my body recharged and I came right out of my bonk and slammed papa bear to the suprise of Justin...( He must have thought I was sand bagging him). Justin is a Wicked climber along with Chris and Richard. It blows my mind when these guys tell me how long they've been riding! Holy crap! They should be really proud of their accomplishments in such a short amount of time.

Well we made it back minus a pair of sunglasses and a couple of flats and I think I was pretty happy with the way it all turned out. I met some really, really nice guys today and I'm seriously looking forward to riding with you all again very soon. Thanks Brent for the keeping me company and grabbing my camera and phone at the Bart...that would have sucked forgeting those! It was great getting to know you and I hope you can get the problems with your bike taken care of so you'll be more comfortable with the bike. I know that piddlly crap is a real pain especially considering the cash you put out for that great machine!
Pete

Now....
The beginning:

They don't know me, but I'm actually a pretty inhibited nervous anxious guy. I don't like being around new people, it's pretty scary for me. When Richard, Justin, Cliff and especially Brent who I didn't know at all showed up I was quite nervous...I think it's that's the "Border Collie" thing that Cathy has me labled with and she's right. It takes a lot for me to overcome the anxiety and feel comfortable. Once I trust you though you've got a friend for life...that's the upside!


We started out a little fast, I'm still stiff and hurting from a pretty intense training week. I started to whine a little in the beginning, but caught my self and shut up! I got dropped a little in the beginning, this was a super strong group and they made me feel my age...right away I did start to feel comfortable, and the scenery was so peacful and relaxing! It was great to catch up with George and might I say he looked dazzleing in his colorful deathride jersey.

I hadn't ridden with Cliff in a long time, I'm sorry that he wasn't feeling up to spiff today. Ride again with us soon Cliff, I didn't get to talk with you too much!

BTW Chris is scary, He's like...ummm....I got it! "BABY LURCH!" from the Addams family but can climb like "cousin it!" Let's definitely get you doing some century riding next year.

Justin both times riding with you has been a pleasure! You're as nut's as me!

We headed up Skyline and along scenic Grizzly Peak...We stopped to watch George fix a flat from afar -

and discussed the "Great Fire" , "89Quake"...kind of in the disaster mode?

Well things moved along and we ended up at the end of the LowKeyHillClimb where I ran into "Team Alameda" Friggin Legion! A million of them. I want to do a combined ride with them sometime, it would be fun. At this point we moved on and I was feeling my groove and really enjoying the day! It was then that we met up with destiny at Inspiration point and "The Incident"...

...and there's the poop...

Adios- Taxi777 report

taxi777

Oh! My buddy Carol....Still tootin along

Chris and his fancy Argyle kit!


Team Alameda...Our amigo's


Brent & cliff

George & Brent

Of course the Beakerman and ring leader...

taxi777

Brent with a Fish Story!

BlastRadius

Great report guys. I was a beautiful day for a ride. I haven't done the three bears since 2007. I should head over there soon.

jonathanb715

They're multiplying! Now there's 4

JB

RoboCheme

I really enjoyed myself today, but you guys ride fast! Thanks for waiting for us slow guys. Too bad I couldn't do the whole ride, but I had to get to the game (Go Bears).

Cliff

Beaker

You always have great pics Pete. I think some of us just ended up with the bit between the teeth today, but I'm looking forward to the next opportunity to ride with you and the BF crew.

I_meant2do_that

Pete, and the rest of you, it was good to see ya guys this last weekend. I can't believe that you guys pushed those two little kids out of the way so you could get the seats behind the steam engine.

I keed I keed. It was good to see you Pete and meet the rest, and we will definitely all have to get together and get David and Lisa back out. Can you say, David/Lisa Return Ride Ride?!

ROJA

This was the best caption ever! I showed the pictures to my friends and they all thought it was hilarious. Great pictures guys and awesome riding with you again. I've made sacrifices to the porcelain gods before, but never like this. Alas...

Hope to see many of you on 12/6 for Hamilton!