wirelessness

I've ridden Mt. Diablo a few times in the various loops that are out there. I like it a lot but am looking for something other than Danville/Foothill Blvd as well. Oh, I did do Alhambra/Reliz/Happy Valley which is pretty nice. Not too crazy about the IRT or any of the other trails connected to it for training rides. I use the vast bike trail network when trailering my 18mo old son and this is a HUGE part of why I relocated to this area. You can go so many places on bikes with your kids without harding every touching the surface streets. Now I just need to find some more road routes.

prathmann

Some of the area bike clubs have ride sheets on their websites. Here are the routes for the club to which I belong (Valley Spokesmen):
https://www.valleyspokesmen.org/routes.php
These are arranged by the starting area and are rated for hilliness (1 = flat, 5 = mountain) and distance.

It sounds like you like to ride some hills, so in addtion to Diablo I'd suggest Redwood, Pinehurst, and Skyline roads north of Castro Valley, Morgan Territory to the east of Diablo, Palomares Rd. south of Castro Valley, Calaveras, Felter, and Sierra south of Sunol, and Mt. Hamilton a little farther south.

bigbossman 

I'm your neighbor in San Ramon.

I can suggest quite a few rides that start in our neck of the woods. As prathmann suggests, the Valleyspokesmen have a pretty nice repository of que sheets. Also, the local bike shops (California Peddler, Pegasus, Dublin Cyclery) have organized rides all the time - both road and mtb.

Tell me what you're looking for in general, and I'll be happy to make suggestions. Mileage, climbing, loops vs out-and-back, that sort of stuff. PM me, and we can chat over the phone if you like.

jonathanb715

One of my favorite variations on Mt. Diablo is Morgan Territory. The road goes behind Mt. Diablo from Clayton to Livermore, and has a fair amount of climbing. Most people make a loop of it by going (from Danville) up the S. Gate road on Mt. D to either the junction or the summit, down N. Gate, East on Ygnacio into Clayton, right on Clayton Road (which becomes Marsh Creek),then right on Morgan Territory. There's water available at the Morgan Territory Regional Park staging area near the summit of the climb, and then you get one of the best descents in the area. At the end of Morgan Territory, hang a right on Manning, right on Highland, right on Tassajara and follow that back to Danville. If you include Mt. D on the loop, you end up with a 60 - 70 mile loop with 5000 - 6500 feet of climbing (depending on whether you go to the junction or the summit on Mt. D). You can also skip Mt. D altogether if you want to save some time/miles.

I like to go from Clayton to Livermore on it - the road is really beat up and in bad shape (despite repeated efforts to patch it) on the climb, and descending it heading north just isn't fun. However, the climb from Manning (in Livermore) up to the regional park is challenging - you get a pretty sustained, steep climb. The climb heading from Clayton towards Livermore is not as challenging - you get some short steep sections but also get some breaks so you can recover. Morgan Territory is a single lane (as in if cars come in opposite directions, both have to slow down and put a wheel in the dirt to get past) and is very rural - mostly just parkland or ranches.

JB

danec99

Another Valley Spokesman here - Welcome to a great area for riding. I think prathman covered most of it.

Redwood Rd to Moraga - Look this one up, about 40 miles. You travel down Danville Blvd to Crow Canyon and then up Redwood Rd to Moraga and back to Danville.

wirelessness

Sweet, thanks for the replies. I will check them out and maybe take you up on the PM offer. Great!!!

jonathanb715

BTW, here's a few route sheets - one for the Mt. D/Morgan Territory loop, the others for slightly longer variations on Danville Blvd/Redwood loop (I'm not a fan of riding on Crow Canyon towards Castro Valley and would rather ride a few extra miles for more pleasant roads).

Mt. D/Morgan Territory

Dublin Grade/Redwood

Sunol/Palomares/Redwood loop

HTH!

JB

edit: - I don't use the system-generated route sheets so I've never proofed them, but it looks like there are a few goofy u-turns and unnecessary turns thrown in on some of these - just ignore any u-turns or arbitrary turns that are followed immediately by a turn to get back on the same road. The mileage of these maps is spot on, but the software seems to overestimate the climbing a bit.

wirelessness

Agreed. I don't think I will be riding on Crow Canyon Rd. west toward Castro Valley anytime soon. Thanks!!!

bigbossman 

Actually, I've done the Redwood Rd loop several times from my house at the base of Crow Canyon, and it's not that bad at all. The big trick is to bypass the top half of Crow Canyon entirely by going up Norris Canyon, which drops you into Crow Canyon on the Castro Valley side of the passing lanes. Norris Canyon has a short and steep summit on the east side, followed by a 2-1/2 mile coast down to Crow Canyon - all scenic and with little traffic.

From there, it is a pretty fast and easy spin out to the bottom, with no more real danger than usual relative to any other road. Then you just ride over and up Redwood, and you're golden.

jonathanb715

Yup - I've done that the other way a bunch of times and it's not so bad.

JB

Steve90068

I'll be moving from the peninsula to San Ramon at the end of the month. Cant wait to do some great rides out there!