spingineer

What a glorious day! It was a perfect day for a ride up Mt. Hamilton ... the pesky penguin was nowhere to be found. Instead, plenty of warm climate birds flying around, chirping happily along.

It started out pretty cool ... I was a little worried I didn't bring enough, as I only brought light jacket, light long fingered gloves, and short fingered gloves. I rode over to VTA, then took that over. The McKee VTA stop is only about a mile from the start of the ride. Nice alternative. Just in case, I brought my Ecopass, but there was no one on VTA checking. Of all the times I have ridden VTA, I have only seen someone check for tickets twice, and that was on a work day.

Anyhow, I misread the schedule, and got to McKee at 9 am, and not 9:30 am. Oh well ... I was able to find a coffee shop in the shopping center at Kirk and McKee. Interestingly, the name of the establishment is "The Coffee Shop". Very imaginative, eh? It's a small coffee shop with good pastries ... I think I'll make it a point to go there more often, to support the little guys.

After getting my Zucchini Bread ... mmm ... saw the early group there. It was around 9:15 am ... hey, I thought BBM said 9 am sharp. Well, look who's sharp now ... So the early group left around 9:20 am. I stuck around to wait for the rest of the 10 am gang.

Half of the 10 am crew went the Quimby route, the others went on the normal route straight up Mt. Hamilton. As I mentioned earlier, the weather was perfect. I hooked up with a few friends of mine from Western Wheelers. It was good to hang off Ken's wheel for awhile, before I realized it was him. Not too many people have a Seven, with a blinkie, held to the frame with a rubber band. I could spot that bike anywhere.

Knowing Ken, he is a much stronger climber than I am. So I let him go on ahead. Soon after passing the park, we caught up with the early group. We said hi, then continued on.

Rusty and I were pacing each other up the hill, until it the pitch got steeper. He went on ahead, while I pudged along. Soon, I was passed by other Western Wheelers I know ... they must have had a ride up Mt. Hamilton today ... good seeing them. I haven't seen them in a long time.

About 3 miles from the top, I saw AlainP, and his son Nicholas. What a cute kid ... I got a kick out of AlainP pushing Nicholas, passed me, and seeing the little dynamo pedal along. I think the kid had more energy than I did.

Just before reaching the top, Chris (Ygduf) zooms past me ... dang, I was trying to make it up there before the Quimby billy goats. Oh well, that goes to show how strong Chris is.

Got up to the top of the climb, over 2 hours ... I didn't reach the 2 hour mark. Oh well. Later on, the rest of the Quimby group arrived ... it was fun to be at the top before the usual gladiators. When we saw Pete, we couldn't help but yell out "BONK". He heard us.

We were up at the top for quite awhile, as we were waiting for BBM and the AutoBus. We could see them stop for who knows what ... where are they? Oh, they are at the horseshoe ... oh, now they get going again.

After chit chatting awhile (for about 1.5 hours I think), we head down the hill. Almost everyone passes me down the hill. I don't have the confidence I used to descending. Better to be safe than sorry. By the time we all got down the hill, it was getting late. It was around 3 pm, and it was decided it was best to skip Sierra. It's a good thing, because I think I would have been caught in the dark.

Great ride everyone, and great turnout. Another successful BF Gladiator outing ...

Pics to come later ... time to take a nap now.

Ygduf

Selective memory! I didn't hammer to pass you guys like 200 yards from the top only to be forgotten!

Man, I had no idea what Quimby was like. I spent about 10 minutes at 4mph. 6mph never felt so fast as when the grade finally let up!

spingineer

Fatigue makes you have selective memory

rusty993

Ron, I agree with you. Great day, great ride, great company.

kb5ql

I got messed up good. I can't walk right now. I think my rims heated up and blew out my tire.I did get some good snaps of BBM, though!







Who is this STUD???





He's looking like "Hawk" from Buck Rogers (1980 version)



The lovely post-crash pics.

alainp

Sorry that had to happen to you, Mike. I saw you coming up behind my kid and then I heard a loud THWAP!!! Then a quick crunch and slide. Then my kid said, "Dad, someone fell down bad!" From the sound of it, you hit pretty hard. You may want to get it checked out "just in case". Heal quickly!

spingineer

Did you crash? Didn't know it was that bad.

Edit ... saw alainp's post. Yeah, get yourself checked out. Hope it's not too bad.

spingineer

Panorama shot ... didn't pic didn't stitch too well



Bikeshearer, taking your sweet time. BigBossMan blames him for being late.


Group shot of the early group. BigBossMan, MarkoPolo, Scottmorrison99, Bikeshear


Irish look


Rusty993 forges on ahead of me


I caught the early group


Marko and Scott


Russell


Scott


Bostic

spingineer

Chris


Miguel ... sorry about your spill


Charge to the line!


Pete and Marko


Pete, don't do it ... It's not that bad!


Father and Son pic


Yeah, made it to the top!

scottmorrison99

Wow, I was afraid of that. That's why I took off down the hill and caught your friends at the park halfway down. I figured cell coverage was pretty spotty. I'm glad they stopped because I think that Cervelo had an engine hidden somewhere. I never would have caught up. Heal fast. Nice Buck Rodgers reference. That wing on bbm's jersey had me thinking the same thing.

It was great to put faces to all the names from the forum. I had a great time. I'll be back down to ride again, but Michele says she won't be driving me down. While I was riding she had our three kids at the mall. She is probably more exhausted than I am. She sure worked harder. No pictures of Pete telling someone they are #1?

dstrong 

Glad you posted pics...my brother and I saw a bunch of you coming down as we were going up. We were going to do the ride on Sunday but things just fell in place and so we did it today. We got a very late start however...1pm from the dirt lot at the golf course at the intersection of 130 and Alum Rock. Got back as it got dark right just before 5.

I remember seeing coming down:
- Cinzano guy
- NorCal guy
- Ireland guy (but I really remember him as "Pink Klein" guy)
- Father and son guys
- Tall white jersey woman
- ESP guy - you had flatted at that point and were on the side of the road. We asked if you were okay and you said yes. Now I see that nothing we had was gonna help you and your mini-tire out!

A few other folks I remember seeing that may have been part of the group?
- Bushy gray mustach guy
- California flag guy
- Holy $hit guy that almost got taken out by a Porsche that was swinging wide on a turn to go around us going up.

I happened to have my camera out as a few others flew past me so if I see anything else I'll let ya know.

I'll post my ride report tomorrow, w/pics.

scottmorrison99

Hey there, dstrong. Was that you in the Bikeforums chainring jersey? I was in the black NorCal jersey. Watch out for Cinzano guy, he was carrying a frame pump...

spingineer

I was the NorCal guy you saw ... the slow one

dstrong 

Yep...I was wearing my full BF kit. I figured somebody might notice.

spingineer...we were going up, y'all were going down...everyone coming down looked fast!

Unfortunately, that was my last CA ride before heading back to the hills of Austin. I wish I could have met some of you but I guess I'll have to be satisfied with the waves and head nods I got as you flashed by!

uspspro

Didn't see the Psycho tandem team leading the way?

BlastRadius

Great report guys. Looks like I missed out on another great ride.
Sorry to hear about the crash Miguel. I hope there isn't a great deal of damage to either bike or body.

bigbossman 

I've a few pics:


Back of the autobus:


First climb:


First glimpse of destination:


Autobus self-portrait:


Hairpin:


A bunch of road:


Shhh..... he's sleeping:


Autumn colors:


Rich:


Nice day:

alainp

Well, our ride started early as we arrived at the school around 9am where we were greeted by Scott and Marko who were waiting for BigBossMan and Bikingshearer. By my guess, we had to leave asap in order to make it to the top at around the same time as the main group so we (my son and I) were off to be the "early" Early Group. My estimates proved correct as, about a couple miles from the top, Spingineer reeled us in with a healthy pace. It was good to see a fellow NorCal'er after having been passed by several Western Wheeler folks. And, because of our early start, I got to see the usual ride leaders reach the top.

We wait at the top for the remainder of the group to arrive and were soon headed back down. However, after only a couple miles into the descent, kb5ql has a front tire blow out and goes down hard. I initially thought my kid went down as I lost sight of him trailing me for a few seconds but it was he who informed me a rider behind him crashed. Memories of the time I crashed last year started coming back as I made my way back up to check out the downed cyclist, not knowing it was Mike until I rounded the corner. Scott was already giving assistance and Mike was standing but in obvious pain. I could see torn up arm warmers and kit but he seemed to be in one piece. Since there was nothing we could do to get him back on the road, we head back down. I felt really bad about just leaving him there as it would probably be another hour before anyone could get back down to their cars and back up to retrieve him. I left him my number in case he couldn't reach his ride and I would come pick him up myself but based on Scott's post, Scott was able to get the message to them. Based on Mike's post, I see he made it home safely.

The descent made up for the laborious ascent. Unfortunately for the kid, he rides a mountain bike with 26" wheels and knobbies which, coupled with his light weight, doesn't make for lightning fast descents so I have to break frequently to stay at his pace. One of these days I'm gonna put slicks on his bike but only after I'm sure he's comfortable at those speeds. In the meantime, I push him on the straightaways so he can reach speeds that put an ear to ear grin on his face. And, every once in a while, I give him the slingshot treatment which gains him that few extra miles an hour he just can't achieve on his own. It's really a sight to see and it puts a big smile on this dad's face to see him having so much fun.

Today was loads of fun with great people and fantastic weather. Thanks for setting it up, Ron.

Early on in the ascent


I likes me some PB&J


Reeled in by the Spingineer


Scott (aka ScottMorrison) Cresting


Steverino, Spingineer, ScottMorrison


Bostic (Ramon)


MarkoPolo


Taxi777 (Peter) with tinker bell in hand


Chrisoco (Chris) chillin'


Uspspro (Marco) and Ruth

alainp

More pics...

No penguin today, just this noisy guy.


Kb5ql (Mike) in the parking lot time trials


Pete on top of the world


Bikingshearer (Rich) and BigBossMan (John) racing to the top


Winding roads


Enjoying the view


Original images can be found here.

alainp

If you look really closely, those dots along the guardrail between the two domes in the background are us watching you guys on your ascent!

chrisoco

Great reports and photos except for the misfortune of kb5ql. There but for the grace of god or chance go I. My best wishes for feeling better soon.

Thanks Ron for organizing this and thanks for the Penguin for staying north. My legs feel OK today but boy I was feeling 'em last night. I was able to go fast up the hill because I had crazy fast music in my head. I knew it would work. Here are some photo highlights of the day:





The Quimby Crew



Silent Ben

mellum76

I'm sorry I ended up missing this ride; something I ate the night before didn't agree with me...know what i mean?

Next time, next time....

Michael

spingineer

And you're doing Pescadero and West Alpine? Easy ride, eh?

I was thinking more along the lines of this ... https://www.420dude.com/dudesounds/St...pet%20Ride.mp3

dstrong 

Well...lookey here! I guess I did see you guys...although your definition of "leading" is different than mine!

uspspro

Ahhh... they were getting passed shortly thereafter. Nice capture.