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 ...

Whole Enchilada Ride Report

Today started out much like yesterday, clear with sunshine in Antioch, and a fog bank as I descended the hill into Concord but clearing before I got to McGuire's. We had 23 bikes show up for the ride to the coast today and after our pre-ride briefing we were on the road.

We took 680 south toward San Jose and the traffic was fairly light considering this was in the middle of a three day weekend. Our ride down to Pleasanton was under sunny skies, but as we rode up the Sunol Grade we could feel the temperature drop five or ten degrees as we rode under the cloud cover. I think this layer of clouds was the lifting fog bank as we could feel the moisture in the air, which made the already cool air seem a little colder somehow. We continued down 680 to south San Jose and merged onto Hwy 101 toward Gilroy. The cloud cover persisted until we neared Gilroy where we finally rode back into the sunlight. We took the Leavesley Rd (Hwy 152) exit to the west and pulled into the Chevron station for our scheduled stop.

We took this opportunity to use the facilities and get some refreshments as we warmed up in the sun. Then it was time to move on. We continued down Leavesley to Monterey Hwy where we turned left and then after a couple of short blocks we turned right onto 1st street, which turns into Hecker Pass Hwy. We rode up and over Hecker Pass, in and out of the sunshine that filtered through the trees. We crested the top of the hill and could see the coastline below as we descended the west side of the hill. We rode past Mt Madona Inn and I noted that there were only a couple of cages in the parking lot there. It seems that this place is never crowded and I wonder how they manage to stay in business. Maybe, since this is also a restaurant, they have a good dinner crowd. We rode on through Watsonville and turned south on Hwy 1. The lights in Watsonville broke our group up so we waited for the others to catch up before proceeding down Hwy 1 to the Whole Enchilada. We pulled into the parking lot and those that wanted to eat here parked while the rest of us continued south to Castroville to eat at the Central Texan BBQ.

The Central Texan is an interesting place with lots of seating, wood tables and benches, and sawdust on the floor. And the food was good, plentiful and reasonably priced. We ate and talked our way through lunch and then it was time to head for home.

We rode over to the Chevron station a couple of blocks away and refueled before turning north on Hwy 1. Most of our trip home was under an overcast sky and somewhat cooler than it had been. As we rode past the Whole Enchilada we saw the other part of our group waiting for a break in traffic to pull out onto Hwy 1. Because of the heavy traffic this is the last we saw of that group. We continued up Hwy 1, through Santa Cruz and up to Pescadero where we turned east. As usual, the traffic in Santa Cruz was heavy and our group was split up yet again and we didn't get back together till we stopped at Alice's for a break.

We took a short break and then were back on the road, homeward bound. We rode up Skyline, where we encountered some more fog, to Hwy 92 and took that all the way into Hayward where we began splitting off for different routes home. Our group of five bikes continued through Hayward, up Crow Canyon Rd to 680 and home.

What a great day! The weather, while chilly, was good, the ride was fun, and the people were great. What more could you ask for ....