Vernal Equinox Ride Report

Well, I think we took participation on this one, but I didn't hear the final results. We had over 80 members sign in at Vallejo, which will be tough to beat. But I'm getting ahead of myself here, so let me start over.

A few of the Antioch chapter members met early this morning at Starbucks to properly prepare for the day's ride. We then headed over to Walnut Creek to meet up with the others. As usual, bikes began to accumulate slowly, but by the time we briefed we had 63 bikes. We split up into three groups so the groups would be smaller and easier to maneuver through traffic, then headed north on 680. As we passed through Pleasant Hill and Concord we found that the CHP had a speed trap set up to catch the early morning speeders. Luckily we had slowed down enough by then so we weren't selected to be one of their 'customers' this morning. Group one pulled into the toll plaza and was in the process of paying when the other two groups of 20 bikes pulled into the plaza. It was a great sight to see the look on the faces of the people in the cages as the three groups of bikes pulled up. After paying our tolls we veered to the left as we crossed the bridge and followed 780 into Vallejo. With a right turn onto Sonoma Blvd we arrived at the dealer and pulled into the parking lot across the street. We must have arrived earlier this year than in the past as the parking lot was almost empty when we pulled in and we had no problem finding a place to park.

We went across the street and got in line to register and found some of our chapter members already there. They live in the north bay and had gone directly to Vallejo instead of riding to WC and then back across the bridge. The event staff was definitely not prepared for large groups to show up all at once so it took a few minutes to get registered, but we got through it. Then it was off to find coffee and donuts. While we were doing this we kept checking back to see how many chapter members had signed in. The last count I heard was over 80, but I don't have the final numbers. This should be enough to take the trophy...



After we had our fill of coffee and donuts we headed back to the bikes and got ready for the ride over the hill to Winters. When everyone was ready the group of around 50 bikes headed over to Wilson Ave and turned north to join Hwy 37. Wilson Ave has been closed for construction for a long time, and now it's open but far from completed. There were lots of uneven areas in the pavement, manholes protruding 3 or 4 inches above the surface of the street, and probably 15 stop signs in this short 1.5 mile leg. But at least the street is open.

We merged onto Hwy 37 heading west and soon had numerous cages throughout the group. We continued around the north end of the bay and turned north on Hwy 121 past the Sears Point Raceway. We could feel the wind gusting a little as we rode through this area, and it was a bit chilly even though the sun was shining. From 121 we turned east on Hwy 12 and headed back to Hwy 29. With a little zig-zag we turned onto Imola, then pulled into the Chevron station for a short break. This short break turned into a long brake because the facilities were limited and it took a while for the line to die down. Then we were back on the road. We continued down Imola to the Silverado Trail and then onto Hwy 128 past the south end of Lake Berryessa. The road was in pretty good shape but there were several areas where rocks and dirt had fallen out onto the roadway. And the lake presented us with a fantastic view as we rode by, but it sure looked cold.

Then we descended into the valley and rode into Winters. As we rode into the west end of town we noted that there was a sheriff's car lying in wait behind a clump of trees. Very sneaky. We didn't have to worry though as we were doing the speed limit and continued into town and found places to park. Then it was off in search of food. As we walked past the cafe we usually eat at (can't remember the name of it. Cody's?) we noted that it wasn't very busy, so we decided to eat there again. We found most of our group had already staked out tables and were in the process of ordering food, so we joined them.

After lunch we took a quick stroll down Main St to see what was going on. Other than the lines at each of the poker walk checkpoints there didn't seem to be much there. A couple of small booths and the band, but that was about it. So we made our way back to the bikes and headed for home. We took the direct route home, down 505 to Vacaville and over to Hwy 12, through Rio Vista and home.

It was a beautiful day for riding, and another great day spent with friends. Even though it never warmed up much ...

See you on the next ride.

Rocky Decides Ride Report

Well, as you can guess, it was a little damp this morning as we rode over to Walnut Creek. Not a heavy rain, mostly just sprinkles, but enough to be a PITA. Now I gotta clean the bike again!

As we stood there waiting for others to arrive we noted that we were only seeing road captains showing up for the ride. Hmmmmm, this might be a very small group. Finally we had a non-road captain show up, completing our group of 7 bikes.

After our pre-ride we departed McGuire's on Parkside, made a right on Broadway, followed by a left onto Ygnacio Valley Blvd. We stayed on Ygnacio all the way through Walnut Creek, Concord, past Clayton, and over Kirker Pass into Pittsburg. Then a right onto Buchannan followed by a left onto Loveridge and to the Devil Mountain shop. A whopping 14.9 miles with the only notable event being the sprinkles we encountered as we rode through Concord. This wasn't even enough to get the road wet though and the rest of the ride was under cool, but dry, conditions.

As we arrived at the Devil Mountain shop we could see that the garage sale was in full swing. There were quite a few bikes in the parking lot and lots of people going through the discounted merchandise arranged neatly inside fenced in areas. There were four separate areas; office furniture, motorcycle parts, leathers/gloves/boots/belts, and lastly motorcycle apparel - T-shirts/sweatshirts/tank tops, etc. Some of these areas were occupied by some seedy looking characters, like in this photo.



All of these areas were busy, but the busiest by far was the motorcycle apparel. They were having to restrict the number of people allowed in the area to prevent it from becoming overcrowded and only letting new arrivals in after someone had left the area. Lots of good deals to be had, and the shop was even discounting their bikes $2,000 for the event today. If you missed this one you missed out on a fun day.

Don't forget, tomorrow is our ride to Vallejo for their Vernal Equinox ride. Hope to see you ALL in Walnut Creek for our 8:00 AM departure. It's supposed to be a really nice day.

Bruce's Delta Ride Report

And yet another fantastic riding day.

It was nice this morning as we began assembling in the Devil Mountain parking lot. The group was a little sparse at first and we were thinking that we would have a small group with it being Easter and all. But the others began to trickle in around 9:30 and before you know it we had 18 bikes ready to ride the delta roads.

We departed the parking lot on Leland and turned right onto Harbor St. This was followed by another right onto California Ave after we crossed over Hwy 4 and then turned left onto Loveridge Rd. We turned right onto the Pittsburg Antioch Hwy, which turns into 10th St, and with a little zig-zag onto Wilbur we rode through town merging onto Hwy 160 just before the toll plaza for the Antioch bridge. After paying the toll we crossed the bridge and turned right onto Sherman Island Levee Rd and followed that along the San Joaquin River back to Hwy 160 at Brannan Island. We rode past Brannan Island State Recreational Area and turned onto Brannan Island Rd. This road is actually closed about a half mile in, so we crossed over Sevenmile Slough onto Twitchell Island Rd and followed that past the closed section of road to Jackson Slough Rd, where we crossed back over the slough and rejoined Brannan Island Rd. This continues around the bend of the San Joaquin River and turns north along the west bank of the Mokelumne River taking us to Hwy 12. We turned west on Hwy 12 and then
veered right almost immediately onto Terminous Rd, which took us into Isleton and to our scheduled stop.

After using the facilities and chatting for a few minutes we were ready to continue. We headed north on Hwy 160 to Tyler Island Bridge Rd and followed that up to Racetrack Rd, where we turned left. We made a brief stop on Racetrack Rd at JR's memorial site to pay our respects before continuing on to Walnut Grove.



We crossed over the bridge here and rejoined Hwy 160 heading south to Hwy 220, where we turned right. Hwy 220 took us over to Steamboat Slough and the first of two ferries. We had a few bikes wave off here as they had to get back for family commitments. That left us with 14 bikes, which were easily stacked onto the waiting ferry. After getting across the slough we followed Ryer Rd around the north end of the island to Hwy 84 and the second ferry. As we road down 84 we passed a boat that was flying the Jolly Roger. Arrrgh! And then as we approached the ferry landing we were joined by another motorcycle group with 10 or 12 bikes from Sacramento. We were all able to get on the ferry and across the slough to River Rd. which we followed to the Chevron station in Rio Vista, the destination for our ride. Some refueled and then we discussed where we
would eat lunch. The majority vote was for Foster's so the group went there. Some of us opted out of Foster's and went elsewhere in search of nourishment. We ate at Shelby's there on the main drag in Rio Vista. The food is OK and the service was good.

As we were gearing up after lunch, Steve & Vicki Guderian pulled into the parking lot in their cage. They were on the way to visit family when they saw us and stopped to say hello. A pleasant surprise.

Then it was back down Hwy 160 to Antioch. Another fine day spent with friends ...

Run to Folsom Hog Chapter

What a day to be riding. Anyone who didn't get out today to ride really missed a great opportunity. We had the local get acquainted ride with Darcy and the run to Folsom to support the HOG Chapter.

When I arrived at the Pittsburg shop at 7:30, the coffee was on and the doors were open for us thanks to Daisy. 26 bikes and 7 passengers left the shop at 8:00 am for the run to Folsom. Two more of our chapter members joined us a Walnut Grove for the ride. We went out highway 4 to the Antioch Bridge, took the Twin Cities turn off of 160. The ride was a little chilly for about an hour and then it started warming up. After a wrong turn followed by a tour of a shopping center and a "U" turn we made our entry into the Dealership. There were a lot of people there. I believe Elk Grove had 50 bikes there and many more from the various Chapters. After some coffee and donuts (money was going to a local youth charity) we got ready for the poker run.

Some how it was decided that I would lead the group on the poker run. It didn't make any difference that I had no idea where we were going or how to get there. My trusty navigator climbed aboard and off we went to find the stops. The route was about 110 miles. We started in Folsom and ended at the Dealership in Jackson for lunch. They were overwhelmed by the number of people eating lunch and the hot dogs and hamburgers were not that great and neither was the Safeway Potatoe Salad.

During the Poker Run the following occurred:

Leader - 4 U-turns
Some riders - 2 U-turns
Others - 3 U-turns
One navigator left behind (short distance withing the city limits of Mokelumne Hill. You expect the Sheriff to come riding up on horse instead of a car.

It takes a lot of talent and quick thinking for the leader to make more U-Turns than the group. Go figure !!!!!!

The poker run stops were in large parking lots and were well staffed to handle the large groups. There were hundreds of bikes on this run and it worked out well. I believe this was the first gathering for the Folsom HOG, I might be wrong on that but it's what I heard.
We broke up into small groups for the ride home and scattered.-- Have a great day

Alan Fitzgerald

March GAR Ride Report

You couldn't ask for a more beautiful day to ride. It wasn't even too cold this morning as we assembled in the parking lot at McGuire's. We chatted, did the pre-ride brief and then it was time to go.

Our group of 9 bikes pulled out of the parking lot under the BART tracks and made our way to 680 south. We rode down 680 to Sycamore Valley Rd and made a quick zig-zag over to San Ramon Valley Blvd. We went past the old shop in San Ramon and turned right onto Deerwood followed by another right onto Crow Canyon Rd. The ride through Crow Canyon was pleasant but we could feel the temperature drop a couple of degrees as we passed Norris Canyon Rd. Then it was a right turn onto Castro Valley Blvd and over to Rudy's Donut House, our scheduled stop.



We had some coffee and donuts and chatted some more before continuing on our way. We made a turn onto Redwood Rd and followed that north toward San Leandro Reservoir. Shortly after turning onto Redwood Rd we had a group of road rockets pass us heading for the twisties. We never saw them again as their pace was a bit faster than we were riding. Then we were into the twisties and our leisurely pace allowed us to steal glances at the reservoir and roadside scenery along the way. There was a huge bicycle presence on this stretch of road. Must have been some sort of special event. We made a right turn onto Pinehurst Rd and then over to Canyon Rd. feeling the temperature
changes as we rode in and out of the shadows. This is a fairly narrow stretch of road through the trees and at one point we encountered a Range Rover heading the other direction, straddling the yellow line as he passed several bicycles. We managed to stay well to the right of our lane so as not to become Range Rover hood ornaments. We continued down the hill on Canyon Rd into Moraga where Canyon Rd turns into
Moraga Rd. We turned left onto Rheem Blvd followed by a right turn into the Chef Chao's parking lot.

After parking the bikes we went inside to find sustenance. The restaurant was ready for us with several tables pushed together and servers awaiting our arrival. The food here was very good and reasonably priced. You should definitely plan on eating here if you're in the area around meal time.

Once we'd eaten our fill we made our way back to the bikes for the ride home. It had warmed up significantly and we all packed the jackets on the back of the bikes and rode home in sweatshirts or T-shirts. People began breaking off here, heading in different directions. We went back to Moraga Rd and took that into Lafayette where we hooked up with Hwy 24 back to 680 and then on Hwy 4. As I neared my house the sign at the school said the temperature was 78 degrees. It was warm, but I didn't think it was that warm. When I got home I checked our thermometer. It said 77 degrees, so I guess it was that warm.

Another day spent riding and talking with friends. What a great day!

See you all tomorrow for the delta ride ...

Chefs Challenge Ride Report

What a beautiful day for a ride, though a bit chilly. We had all the
elements of a good chapter ride. Great route, great people, and great
food.

We started off at McGuire's in Walnut Creek this morning after a
brisk ride over Hwy 4, fighting the wind all the way. When we first
arrived at McGuire's there were no other bikes in the parking lot and
I was wondering if I'd gotten the starting location wrong. But as we
parked Brad B. emerged from a car that was parked there. He had
transported his entry in the chefs challenge in the car and was going
back to get his bike after he dropped off the food. We volunteered to
serve as chaperons for the food until the transport vehicles showed
up. This is kind of like letting the fox guard the hen house, but we
managed to restrain from sampling the goods and passed it off to the
transport team when they arrived.

It wasn't long before the others started to arrive, with an eventual
count of 20 bikes ready to ride. We departed the parking lot under the
BART tracks and made our way through Walnut Creek on surface streets
to Pleasant Hill Rd and then over to Reliez Valley Rd. This turns into
Alhambra Valley Rd which we followed to Bear Creek Rd and then over to
Camino Pablo. The hills were covered with bright green grass which
provided an awesome backdrop as we followed the winding road through
the hills. As we rode past one of the wineries we could see the rows
of grapevines making their perfectly straight, and evenly spaced,
brown lines across the green hillside presenting us with a scene that
seemed to belong in a painting rather than along a country road. Our
left turn onto Camino Pablo took us down through Orinda and into
Moraga where we made a right turn onto Canyon Rd. It was up and over
the hill to Pinehurst where we made a left, followed by another left
onto Redwood Rd which took us down into Castro Valley. We were joined
on Pinehurst by a couple of other motorcyclists and they dropped in
behind the group, content with our leisurely pace for the ride through
the hills and the twisties to Castro Valley. Once in Castro Valley we
turned left onto Castro Valley Blvd and then onto Crow Canyon Rd back
toward San Ramon. We turned left onto San Ramon Valley Blvd and
followed that to Danville and Pam & Denny's house. A special thank you
for opening your home to this group of misfits.




We parked and made our way inside in search of food. It wasn't long
before all the food was set out and ready for us so we lined up to get
some of this fine cuisine. I was a little slow on the uptake and wound
up near the end of the line. This caused me to miss out on some of the
entries as they were gone by the time I got through the line. But
there was a lot of other food there, and it was all excellent.
Everyone sampled all the food and then moved on to the desserts. As we
finished eating we were reminded to vote for our favorite food. Once
all the votes were tallied the winner was announced.

First place; Kapusta(?) a sauerkraut & pork dish. (Rich Ziemba)
Second place; Marinated Beef (Bob Kopp)
Third place had a tie; Burbon Beans (Rick & Georgia Silvera) and
Cherry Fluff, a creamy dessert. (Jane)

Of course there was much more, which I'll try to recall, but please
accept my apologies if I miss your contribution.

Chips and dip,
Strawberry salad,
Cesar salad,
Cheese potatoes,
Tortilla soup,
Burgundy beans,
Chicken fettuccine,
Pasta fa joule,
Deviled eggs,
Kapusta,
Tacitos,
Corned beef & cabbage,
Chicken marsala,
Marinated beef,

Chocolate cake,
Carrot cake,
Cherry fluff,
Peanut butter cookies,
JD cake,
Chocolate carrot cake,

After eating all this great food I had to paint a line across my
torso so people could tell if I was walking or rolling as I made my
way back to my bike and headed for home.

Another great day riding with the folks of Mt Diablo.

Stocton Gold Rush Run, Additional Report

It is called a "Line Run" The instructions are as follows:

1 line means you are going in the correct direction
2 lines mean turn right at the next intersection
3 lines mean turn left at the next intersection
4 lines is a check point

The lines were made up of what looked like powered chalk and they could be found on the right side of the road. The route was somewhere around 120 miles. A large group of the Chapter left the Club following the lines. Two of us missed the first left as we entered hwy 4 and the rest of the group pulled off to the right. Needless to say the two of us were in front and had no idea why the others pulled off and we immediately had to make a right or left decision and didn't know which direction to go. After a quick double back to look for the lines we were soon back on track and caught the group at the first check point. One of the riders had his envelope blow out of his vest pocket, that's why they pulled off the road. At each check point you selected a number pre-printed on the envelope to be punched. Inside was a card that translated into a poker hand based on your selection. The envelopes had to remain sealed or you were disqualified.

The route took us on Hwy 26 through Linden, Spring Valley, Angles Camp, Jamestown and back to the Club for lunch. It was a great ride with spectatular views of the hills and lakes. There were lots of bikes on the road and plenty of route markings.

A very interesting concept for a ride. I think this covers it.

By Alan Fitzgerald

Stockton Gold Rush Run Report

Yes, this was another great day for a ride. No rain. No wind. Not even any clouds to speak of. Just sunshine and open road. And as usual, the Devil Mtn Team was ready for us with coffee and goodies. Man I LOVE those guys!

There were 37 bikes in the parking lot in Pittsburg this morning, some of which were still pulling in as we were doing the pre-ride. I think those were the ones that forgot to set their clocks ahead last night ;?) Anyway, after the pre-ride briefing we staged in back of the shop as a single group. We rode down Leland to Railroad and then merged onto Hwy 4 heading east. We took the new Hwy 4 bypass down to Balfour and over to Brentwood Blvd. And this may have been the first chapter ride to take the new bypass. Brentwood Blvd becomes Hwy 4 and we followed that all the way across the delta to Stockton. Of course we had the typical issues with getting a large group of bikes through all the signal lights, but we invoked the bread crumb system again so everyone knew where to turn. The levee roads are in their usual state of disrepair, with pot holes, irregularities, and breaks in the pavement, but other that that it was an enjoyable ride across the delta. There weren't even many bugs, which is unusual in that area. They must not be used to the time change yet ;?)



Because of the earlier issues with the traffic lights breaking the group up, we had some cages in amongst the group as we rode into Stockton. We were able to keep the lead group in sight though so we knew where to turn. After turning from Charter Way onto Wilson Way the lead group pulled over allowing us to catch up, then it was only a couple of blocks to the Port Stockton MC.

We found places to park and made our way inside to register. This was an interesting process. They had two lines for registration and they weren't what you would expect. You had to go through both lines as they were different. The first line was to pay your $$ and get your envelope. And DON'T open the envelope yet! (Mr Perfect). Then you get into the second line and go through the building to sign all the waivers and get a number assigned. I think I have writers cramp after filling out all those forms. And I don't think they were expecting this many people to show up as they ran out of envelopes and a bunch of folks had to wait for more to be made up. Anyway, we made it through the maze of paperwork and mingled for a bit in the back yard where they had a couple of vendor booths set up. One was a MC club from Lodi that had this dirt bike which they used to annoy everyone while they were waiting to register. There was also a booth with what looked like novelty helmets and other typical trinkets & motorcycle garb.

Before you know it, it was time to head out on the poker run. I had to get back home to take care of some more chores so maybe one of the folks that went on the poker run can let us know how that went.

See you all on the next ride ...

Livermore Veterans Ride Report

It was a beautiful day for a ride. As I was on my way to WC to meet the others for the ride I passed a bunch of bikes. I could see the HOG patches on their backs but didn't recognize any of them until I got to the front of the group. It was Donovan from the Elk Grove chapter leading his Thundering Herd to McGuire's for our ride. They pulled in behind me at the Chevron station and refueled before heading across the street to McGuire's.

I didn't get an accurate count of bikes because I wasn't sure which belonged to Elk Grove, but I think it was about 27 of ours and 14 or so of theirs, making it around 41 total. We did the pre-ride brief and then lined up below the BART tracks for the ride. We originally planned on splitting up into two Mt Diablo groups and one Elk Grove group, but when we lined up all that changed and Mt Diablo was one group and Elk Grove the second.

We departed and made our way to 680, taking that south to the Stone Valley Rd exit. We followed Stone Valley Rd to Green Valley Rd and then turned left onto Diablo Rd. This turned into Blackhawk Rd and took us to Camino Tassajara which we followed down to Highland Rd where we turned left again. There were a lot of traffic lights here and as you can imagine our group was broken up into numerous smaller groups as we made our way through town. Our 'bread crumb' system worked yet again and we managed to make it through town without losing anyone.

We rode along Highland Rd to Manning and via a couple of other connector roads over to Vaso in Livermore. This was an awesome ride through the hills. The grass on the hillsides was a bright green, no doubt due to the recent rains. The sun was shining bright and was accompanied by a clear blue sky overhead. From there it was a right turn onto Vasco Rd a right onto Tesla Rd and then a couple of left turns onto Concannon Blvd and then onto Arroyo Rd. After turning onto Arroyo we pulled to the right shoulder and waited for everyone to catch up. Once everyone was back together we continued down Arroyo Rd to Palm Dr and the Veterans' home.



As we pulled into the parking lot there were several folks out on the sidewalks and in the parking lot to greet us. We parked and then took all of our donations over to a cart they had brought out for us. Then we visited with the vets and others in the group, soaking up the warmth from the sun. We did have one individual that had said something about turkeys along the road. That individual was later seen stalking the turkeys, slinking from tree to tree with hopes of getting closer to them. Not sure what he was going to do if they did come close enough, luckily we didn't have to find out.



After visiting for a while we mounted up and went in search of food. I had some chores to do before the ride tomorrow so I headed for home.

See you all tomorrow ...