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.
