Well, we got this ride in even with the rain clouds looming on the horizon.
It was cold this morning as we arrived at the Devil Mtn shop. The parking lot was empty and the shop was closed. I had flash backs of the Polar Bear ride last month with only my bike in the parking lot and wondered how many riders would show up today. Then as I was parking the bike Jim came out to greet me. He was ready for us with coffee and donuts. Ummmmm doooonuts.
It wasn't long before some other bikes began pulling into the parking lot, and by the time we departed we had 11 bikes total. Not too bad for a cold winter morning with rain in the forecast. After the pre-ride brief Dave, from Devil Mtn, talked a bit about the closure of the San Ramon store and how things like gift cards would be honored at the remaining two dealerships. He also mentioned that there will be someone from the dealership(s) at the next meeting to talk about the closure of the San Ramon store.
Then it was time to ride. We pulled out of the parking lot headed south on Loveridge and made our way to Deer Valley Rd. It was sure nice of the road crews to dig up all the streets along the way. It makes the ride through town so much more interesting ;?)
We followed Deer Valley Rd to Marsh Creek Rd and then over to Byron Hwy. We turned onto Mountain House Rd taking that to Grant Line Rd. where we turned west. From Grant Line Rd we veered right onto the Old Altamont Pass Rd. As we rode through this section I noticed that none of the windmills were turning. Weird as the weatherman said that it was going to be windy today. From Old Altamont we turned onto Carroll Rd and headed south. Carroll Rd turned into Flynn Rd as we crossed 580 on our way to Patterson Pass Rd. We turned east onto Patterson Pass Rd and headed for Tracy. I thought I noticed a couple of sprinkles on my face shield as we rode through the hills here, but nothing that I could definitely call rain. And it seemed like the temperature dropped a few degrees here. We stayed on Patterson Pass Rd and rode through the twisties up and over the hills. The wind had picked up now and the windmills that we saw here were happily spinning in the breeze. As we crested the hill and began our descent into the central valley we were treated to a beautiful view of the valley opening up before us. The gray overcast formed a ceiling above us making the view appear as a panoramic painting on display. And with no guard rails along the sides of the road we could clearly see the drop off into the valley below.
After descending on the east side of the hills we crossed over 580 again and turned right onto Schulte Rd. Then it was a left turn onto Lammers followed by another left onto Byron Hwy and finally a right turn onto Grant Line Rd which took us to the Golden Corral. The parking lot at the Golden Corral was fairly full so we scattered to find parking for the small group of bikes.
Most folks headed inside to partake of the festivities while a couple of us decided to head for home. I headed home along the Byron Hwy and Marsh Creek Rd. One section of Byron Hwy now has a reduced speed limit of 35 MPH because of the new signal lights that have been put into place. While I was speeding through this section at 50 I had two, yes two, cages pass me crossing over the double yellow to do so with oncoming traffic. The driver of the second cage was talking on his cell phone so failed to properly calculate the appropriate amount of clearance for this maneuver and didn't have enough room to get by me. To avoid a head on collision he pulled back into my lane forcing me to the shoulder of the road. I used my horn to get his attention and then signaled that I thought he was #1. Yet another reason to be constantly aware of what's going on around you as you ride.
The rest of the ride home was uneventful, and as I rode along Marsh Creek Rd. it began to sprinkle. Not enough to get really wet, but enough to dampen the road. Not sure if any of the others got caught in the rain. Hope not.
So here's to another great day riding with friends. Can't wait till the next one.
