We started out at the Devil Mountain shop at 9:00 this morning. This was an early departure compared to most of the rides so far this year. We heard several folks say that they almost missed the ride because they thought it was leaving at 10:00am, so we hope you didn't miss it due to the 9:00am departure.
There were 26 bikes as we headed east on Leland. We turned onto Century Blvd and made our way through town on 10th St and Wilbur Ave, merging onto Hwy 160 at the Antioch bridge. We crossed the bridge and turned right onto Sherman Island Rd and followed that all the way back to Hwy 160. Then it was a short distance up 160 to Brannan Island Rd to Twitchell Island Rd and then back onto Brannan Island Rd. We rode the levees along the San Joaquin and the Mokelumne Rivers and made our first planned stop in the boat launch parking lot next to Hwy 12. After a short break we were back on the road, merging onto Hwy 12 and then angling off to the right on Terminous Rd and on into Isleton from the back side. We turned onto Hwy 160 and then onto Tyler Rd about a half mile north of town. We followed Tyler Rd to Race Track Rd and made a brief stop to pay our respects to J.R. before continuing on or way. From there we rode up River Rd through Walnut Grove to Vorden Rd, Herzog Rd, Lambert Rd and back to Hwy 160. We turned north on 160 followed by a left turn onto Randall Island Rd and back on 160 again, this time heading south. We followed 160 for approximately a mile and a half before crossing the river and turning north on River Rd. We continued north to County Rd 143 and followed County Rd till we rejoined River Rd. and took that up to Clarksburg where we made our second scheduled stop.
Once back on the road we made our way over to Netherlands Ave and followed that for a few miles before turning onto Waukeena Rd. Then it was on to Courtland Rd, Ryer Ave, and Ryer Rd over to Howard Landing. At Howard Landing we boarded the ferry to cross Steamboat Slough and then made our way via Hwy 220 back to Hwy 160 and home.
The weather for most of the trip was nice, but as we neared the end of the ride it turned cold with the temp dropping into the 50's and the wind was picking up. As we rode home people began waving off and heading for home trying to beat the rain. The clouds looked dark and ominous, but I don't think anyone actually got wet. I had a passenger frantically insisting that we pull off in Antioch so we peeled off a couple of miles before we reached the destination, the Chinese Restaurant/Buffet on Somersville Rd. Hope everyone had a good lunch there.
At the pre-ride brief Bruce mentioned counting left and right turns. I don't know if anyone actually did, and I don't know how many of each there are. What I can tell you is that there are 55 (plus or minus a couple) turns with ample opportunities to turn in either direction. Definitely a good ride and another great day spent with friends.
See you on the next ride ...
