Ted's Excellent Adventure

aka The 3 Mountain Ride Report.

This ride was ... AWESOME!

We began assembling in the parking lot in Walnut Creek this morning at around 6:00 AM. It was a bit chilly, around 38 degrees, but we were all anxious to begin our trek to the three mountains. There were 18 bikes in attendance and we decided to break this up into two groups. We decided to stage on Pine St. today because of the issues we experienced yesterday, and this worked much better.

Mountain #1:

The first leg of our trip took us down Hwy 24 to San Pablo Dam Rd, then over to the San Rafael Bridge via 80, Cutting Blvd, and 580. As I mentioned earlier, it was a bit chilly, but not as cold as it was last year when we did this ride. Group one managed to stay together for the entire time. When we got to the toll plaza we had a bit of a delay while our leader gave the toll collector a brief math lesson. 4x8=32, not 40. Then we were off again, across the bridge and down Hwy 101. We took the Blithedale Ave exit and cut through Mill Valley on Miller Ave to Hwy 1. Then up the hill we went. The farther we rode up the hill, the cooler it got, even though the sun was shining bright. Once at the top we took a few minutes to rest and check out the fantastic views of the bay on one side of the GG Bridge and the ocean on the other. There were no clouds or fog obscuring our view allowing us to see the city, bridges, and the bay clearly.

Group two arrived a few minutes later and we chatted with them a little before it was time to depart on leg #2. Then it was back down the mountain we go and off to mountain #2.

Mountain #2:

We took Hwy 1 down to 101 and backtracked to 580, then back across the San Rafael Richmond Bridge. We stayed on 580 all the way to Dublin where we merged onto 680 toward San Jose, then exited 680 at Bernal Rd in Pleasanton for our next scheduled stop. Group one refueled our bikes and then waited for group two to arrive. We waited ... and waited ... and waited, till finally the phone rang. Turns out group two didn't know where we were scheduled to stop and they had continued on to San Jose before pulling over. So group one jumped on our bikes and headed south to San Jose.

We took the Alum Rock exit up to Mt Hamilton Rd and the observatory. As we rode up Alum Rock we passed the Shell station where group two was taking their break. We continued up the hill figuring they would meet us at the summit. Mt Hamilton Rd is still in pretty poor shape. There are a lot of irregularities and potholes, not to mention the debris and dirt in the corners. We managed to circumvent all of these hazards and make our way to the observatory parking lot at the top of the hill. As we took a short break at the observatory we saw group two coming up the hill. (Click on the picture below to zoom in and you can see group two ascending the hill.)



Then we saw them go around the corner. Then we heard the sound of their pipes fade into the distance. Hmmmm I wonder if they missed the turn to the observatory. As we were debating this point the sport bike that had come up the hill behind group two pulled into the parking lot. Yep, they had missed the turn. If they don't figure this out soon they won't be able to find a spot to turn around till they get to the bottom of the hill on the other side. We waited for a few minutes until we were certain that group two had passed us by and then we departed for mountain #3.

Mountain #3:

So back down the hill we went. Again, lots of debris and dirt in the turns on the way down the hill demanding our full attention. Our route down the hill took us back to Alum Rock but then we turned off on McKee Rd, taking that back to 680. We exited at Bernal Rd again and returned to the Shell station where we had stopped for lunch. We refueled and checked our phones for any messages from group two. Nope, no messages. So we were off again to our third and final mountain of the day. It was a relatively short ride from Pleasanton to Danville where we exited on Diablo Rd. We followed Diablo Rd to the gate, where we stopped to pay the park fee. We gave the ranger all the envelopes with our entrance fees, but he decided that he now needed to see all of our stubs that were on those envelopes. Some of us had removed the stub and pocketed them while others had left the stub attached to the envelope. Now we had to fumble about and find those stubs to gain entry to the park, which we finally did. We continued up Summit Rd to the top of Mt Diablo. As we progressed up the hill one of our group heard group two talking on the radio and they were not far behind us, just exiting 680. We reached the parking lot at the top and parked, waiting patiently for group two to arrive.



After parking, we made our way to the observation deck for our group picture and to take in the sights. So now we needed to find something to eat. Most of the group rode down the mountain to Rocko's in Walnut Creek and had dinner. We had a great time and lots of memories of a great day riding with friends.

Thanks, Ted. I can't wait till the next one ...

Napa Red Hen GAR Report

It was chilly this morning as we gathered at McGuire's in Walnut Creek. Not sure what the temp was, but it was 55 deg. in Antioch when I left. Brrrrrr .... What a change from last weekend. Any way, we greeted the others as they arrived and chatted till it was time to go.

We had 13 bikes make their way across Parkside and onto Jones Rd. to stage. As you've probably heard, the parking lot under the BART tracks where we used to stage has been closed, so we've been forced to find an alternative staging location. Staging on Jones Rd. worked, but even with our small group of 13 bikes it was tough finding a large enough space to stage the entire group. But we managed. We collected tolls and then were off on our journey.

We made a right onto Parkside and then again onto Buena Vista. We turned left onto Geary then merged onto Taylor headed toward Lafayette. Then it was a right turn onto Reliez Valley Rd, which skirts along the Briones Regional Park, all the way to Martinez where we turned onto Alhambra. From there we took Franklin Canyon Rd where we started seeing some bicyclists. The farther we went on Franklin Canyon, the more bicyclists we saw. Turns out they were having some sort of event and Franklin Canyon was part of their route. We rode past their checkpoint up to the intersection of Cummings Skyway, where we turned right and most of them turned left. We had one bicycle turn right with us and merge into the group. Guess they really wanted to be on a Harley instead of a bicycle. The group eventually got past the bicycle and we continued on our way. As we rode down Cummings Skyway we could feel the wind starting to pick up. Nothing really strong, but a definite change. We merged onto I-80 and rode across the Carquinez Bridge and up to the toll plaza. The traffic was pretty heavy for a Saturday, which was reinforced by the long lines at the toll plaza. We patiently waited to pay our tolls, then were off again. This toll collector evidently has dealt with groups of motorcycles in the past as he had a 'cheat sheet' to assist with his calculations. I advised him that we had 13 bikes and he looked this up on his cheat sheet and said "$52.00". No muss, no fuss, and off we went. Traffic was heavy, but moving, as we rode past 780. That changed as we approached the Marine World exit. Traffic slowed to a stop, then crept along till we got past the off ramp and we were back up to speed. We took the American Canyon Rd exit and followed that over to Hwy 29 which took us the rest of the way to the Red Hen Cantina.



As we rode up to the restaurant I noted that the parking lot was nearly empty and thought "Oh no. They're closed!", but it was just early and there were only a couple of customers. We parked and then went in search of food, which we found plenty of. We ate, talked, and then it was time to go. Some split off and took various alternate routes home while 9 of us took 29, to 37, to 80, to 780, to 680, to 4. The wind had really picked up now and we had to work to keep from making undesired lane changes in some areas. Our ride home was uneventful, but we did get a reminder of what can happen if we let our concentration lapse. As we rode over the hill on Hwy 4 past Willow Pass Rd the traffic in front of us came to an abrupt halt. We were just a few car lengths back from what turned out to be a motorcycle accident. As we rode past we saw the rider sitting on the shoulder of the freeway holding his ankle and his motorcycle, a Harley Bagger, was about 150 feet farther down. The motorcycle had apparently flipped several times as it was badly mangled and debris, along with the contents of his saddle bags, was strewn along the roadway. There was another motorcycle (maybe his riding partner) pulled over and he was running back to see how his friend was doing. There were also a couple of cages pulled over, presumably to lend assistance. It was good to see that the rider didn't appear to be hurt too bad. The rest of our ride home was a little slower and a little more cautious. When I arrived at the house I checked on the status of the accident. All they had on it was that "A rider 'fell off' his motorcycle." Pretty descriptive eh?

I'll see you tomorrow.

Ride safe ...

Daffodil Hill Ride Report

Wow, what a fantastic day for riding. The weather was the best yet this year with temps over 90 degrees and sunshine all day long.

We started out this morning with 40 bikes in the parking lot at Devil Mountain, with everyone wearing light jackets or sweatshirts. We jumped onto Hwy 4, took the bypass to Balfour Rd, and then back onto Hwy 4 all the way across the delta into Stockton. We stopped for a break at the Chevron station there on Charter way. The temperature was already climbing and we were peeling off some layers to get comfortable.

After our short break we continued down Charter way to Wilson, then onto Hwy 4 again heading east. We merged onto Hwy 99 heading north and took the next exit, which put us on Hwy 26 eastbound to Valley Springs. We had a bit of confusion here, and instead of taking Paloma over to Pardee Dam Rd we found ourselves on Hwy 12. Not to worry though. We made a course correction onto eastbound 26 a few miles down the road. Our ride through the valley presented us with the bright colors of spring. The hillsides were still green from the rain earlier in the season, but you could see the brown spots beginning to grow in numerous locations. There were also some nice green trees speckling the hillsides. We managed to find Paloma Rd and turned there, but as we got a few miles down the road we discovered that this course was just taking us back into Valley Springs, so we made another course correction. We went back to Hwy 26 and then joined Hwy 49 coming into Jackson from the southeast. We made a right onto Hwy 88 and took that up to Pine Grove where we turned onto Pine Grove Volcano Rd. Well, almost. In the words of our immortal leader "was I supposed to turn there? Damn!". So we made another course correction and completed the last leg of our journey to the 'hill'.



We arrived at Daffodil Hill and eased into the dirt parking lot. It was hot and there wasn't enough shade to go around so some of us wound up parking in the sun, but we did all get parking spots. We walked across the road to view the daffodils and also found some bees. Bummer! And guess what, I DIDN'T get stung. Is that a miracle or what? I'm sure they'll get me later though as there is lots of time remaining in our riding season. We walked the paths through the field and took lots of pictures of the daffodils. On the way back to the bikes I heard that this was the last day for viewing. We made it just in time.



At this point we were all getting pretty hungry so the topic turned to food. There was some food available at Daffodil Hill, but this didn't appeal to us. We opted instead to ride back into Jackson to find nourishment and started down the hill. A few of us were going to try a place called Teresa's while others talked about some buffets they had seen along the road coming in. We made a quick stop at Volcano for some pictures and got separated from the others then made our way to Teresa's only to find that it was open for dinner only, and that didn't happen till 2:00 PM. Since it was only 12:25 we opted not to wait and headed down the street to Mel & Faye's only to find the rest of the group already there. We didn't get to sit with the rest of the group, but we did have air conditioning :?)

After lunch we all headed for home in different groups. Our route took us down 88 to Collier/Peltier Rd and into Flag City where we made a short stop at BK for sodas. Then we rode Hwy 12 to 160 and home.

It was warm, the company was fantastic, and the ride took us on yet another precious outing with friends. See you all next weekend ...

LOH - Solvang Ride Report

What a GREAT trip. We showed up at McGuire's in Walnut Creek early Saturday morning in anticipation of the upcoming ride. Pam brought a bunch of breakfast goodies and some orange juice to get things started and we gladly helped to take these off her hands. We did the pre-ride brief and then the 19 bikes departed for Solvang right at 7:00 AM.

We jumped on 680 south and settled in for the first leg of our trip. It was a little nippy and everyone was bundled up against the chill. When we crossed over the Sunol Grade and descended into the Silicon Valley the temperature dropped a few more degrees, reminding us yet again how chilly it was. As we rounded the southern end of the 680/280 loop we merged onto 101 south and continued on our way. We arrived at our first stop at the Chevron station on 10th St. in Gilroy and everyone took this opportunity to eat some of the power and granola bars that Pam was handing out. Then it was time to saddle up and continue on our way. We made our way back to 101 and rode south, easing our way through the early morning traffic. While riding south past Salinas we noted the cloud cover over the valley. Over the hills to the east it was overcast and gloomy. In the center of the valley, where we were, there was a strip of sunshine. Then over the hills to the west there was a layer of white fluffy clouds hugging the tops of the hill. Some said it appeared as if there was snow on the peaks, but to me it looked like a warm fluffy blanket laying over the hills to keep them warm. Insert your Freudian analogy here, there must be one.

Our second stop was in King City and this was also our breakfast stop. We refueled and then made our way into the restaurant (Denny's) looking for food and coffee. We had arrived here ahead of schedule, which turned out to be a good thing because they needed the extra time to serve us all. As it was, we had a few people just getting their food when the rest of us were paying our checks. We hung out for a few minutes until everyone was finished and ready to go, then re-joined 101 south. So far, so good.




We continued south bound on 101 to our third scheduled stop in San Luis Obispo. This is where we had to ad lib a bit. We exited 101 at the Hwy 1 offramp as planned, but then we noted that the gas station was closed. Not just closed as in 'out to lunch' closed, but out of business closed. But we had 2 alternate re-fueling points planned, so we continued on to the first alternate. Imagine our surprise when this station didn't even exist. No sign of a gas station along this stretch of road at all, so after a brief consultation with the master planner we made our obligatory U-Turn and headed for the second alternate. Now if we were surprised at not finding the first alternate, our next discovery would have to be classified as unbelievable. This station too was out of business! That's three for three! We decided to continue into town knowing we would eventually find a station that was open. We did find a Shell station on Mission that was open and we made this our re-fueling stop. The fuel in this part of the state is really expensive. Premium was going for $4.17/Gal, unless you pulled up to the Full Service pumps where it was $4.59/Gal. OUCH!



With freshly filled tanks we rode down the street and re-joined 101 south. From there is was a short sixty something miles to our hotel, Peasoup Andersen's in Buellton. We checked into the hotel and then headed for the vintage motorcycle museum in Solvang, a short three mile ride down Hwy 246. On the way to Solvang we spotted Alan & Diane. We knew they were going to be meeting us here, but we didn't expect to find them along the road. We continued to the museum and paid our $5.00. I can honestly say that this is worth the price of admission as there are many bikes that bring back memories. I found myself saying 'Hey! I had one like that!' several times. Then it dawned on me that it was a weird feeling seeing motorcycles that you had when you were younger in a museum. Now I feel old :?( Oh well, a great exhibit nonetheless.

Then it was back to the hotel. We lounged around the pool till we couldn't take the wind and cold any longer. It was still in the sixties but the wind had picked up even more, making it downright cold. We kept playing revolving chairs with people moving into the sun as the shade crept over us. Then we discovered that the door to the gazebo was open so we all gathered inside where it was warmer and out of the wind. We even found the controls for the fireplace and had the heat on, relaxing in comfort till it was time to prepare for the evening meal.

Pam had arranged for us to eat at Pea Soup Andersen's on the other side of the parking lot, so it was a short walk to dinner. We had our meals then it was time for the games. Pam had given us a list of things to watch for on our trip down to Solvang and now it was time to see how alert we were. There were prizes awarded to those that got the right answers. The debates on what the 'correct' answer was were hilarious and had everyone laughing, and some blushing. Then it was time to head back to our rooms to rest up for the ride home.

In the morning we had coffee and the continental breakfast and decided who was taking which route home. Some were heading straight home while others were taking various scenic routes.

Our group of nine bikes took Hwy 246 to the coast and then turned north on Hwy 1 to Pismo Beach where we stopped for lunch. After lunch we merged onto 101 and slabbed it the rest of the way home, fighting the wind the entire way.

Now it's time to start thinking about the next LOH ride. Great job, Pam!! Thank you!

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 ...