-holiday76

almost there:

-holiday76

-holiday76

and that was basically the end of the bike route.



a few hundred feet later I enter my town. It's starting to get dark.



and before I know it I'm in my back alley.




and the bianchi is back in his shack with his friends.



and thats it.

Wow. that was a lot of work. I think next time I'll just make a video.

bigbossman 

They almost look like ocean buoys...... but they have gear rings around them.


I have no idea, but they sure are big.

bikingshearer 

I'm guessing they are made out of silicon and were taken out of some starlet.

daidalas

That was a solid thread holiday76. I've never been to philly before, but i kinda feel like i just took a vacation there after looking through all your pics, great documentation!

curbtender

Good one. With all the textile manufacturing I'd say it's some kind of mixer.

bigbossman 

I hooked up again with the NorCal BF guys, and we took a shot at getting a ride in before a storm heading our way. The forecast called for rain at 3pm, so we hustled off and tried to get one in under the wire.

This time, we rode up the coastal hills from the Palo Alto side, with the plan to loop over to the coast and back and get in 60 or so miles before returning. Ambitious plan, considering.

Turns out, it was a little too ambitious. The first climb up Page Mill Road was a back-breaker, and after ~9 or so miles of slogging up high single and often mid-range to high double digit inclines, I was pretty whacked. After reaching the top, a fellow rider and I put on our skirts and bailed out of the main group. There was just no way I was going to make it all the way to the coast and back, suffer two more major climbs, and beat the weather. Plus, being the slowest, I was holding everyone up.

Turned out to be a very good decision. All told, Mark and I bagged 45 miles and 4000'+ of climbing, and got back to the car at 2pm....... 10 minutes ahead of the rain.

The main group made it to the coast, but got caught in the storm midway back and had to negotiate 2 major descents in sloppy weather. No thanks.

A few pics:

Garmin Trace:


The never-ending climb:


Mt Diablo, in the distance:


A little more crazy:


Chasing:


A hunter, hunting:


The payoff:

bigbossman 

I was feeling a bit cheated after bailing and taking the shortcut on Saturday's ride, so I accepted Bikingshearer's invitation for a ride Sunday.

We started from my house, and went straight up Norris Canyon towards Crow Canyon. There is a little bit of Norris that is in excess of 14%, and in short order I was questioning the wisdom of doing this ride. Soon the suffering was over, and we headed down the backside and continued on.

My legs were pretty dead from Saturday's ride, but I took it easy and managed to not hold anyone up this time. Once we reached Castro Valley, we turned up Redwood and started climbing some more. The major climb up Redwood is pretty easy, and getting to the top was achieved in pretty short order.

The scenery up there is very nice, and the traffic was sparse. We really had a good time just tooling along and enjoying the day. There were lots of wet patches left over in the shady corners, and the descents were a bit on the chilly side through the forested parts. But after we turned off on Pinehurst and headed for Moraga, the temperature warmed up acceptably.

We reached Moraga in short order, and I insisted on coffee and a pastry, so we stopped at a local coffee house/café. After a decent cup o' joe and a remarkably bad piece of coffee cake, we took off and headed for Walnut Creek.

Since Carl and Rich had started in Walnut Creek, we split up there and I headed for home - a straight 10 mile run down Danville Blvd. By the time I reached my driveway, it was getting noticeably cooler and the sun was setting fast. All told, 42 miles and another 2500 or so in climbing for the day.

For a weekend that was supposed to be a total loss, I managed to bag a grand total of about 85 miles and 6500-7000' of climbing. Not too shabby.

A few pics:

Garmin trace:


Las Trampas Ridge, looking towards home:


Autumn colors:


Carl and Rich, climbing up Redwood:


A nice bit of shady road:

bikingshearer 

Wrong, BBM - this is a shot of Eddy Merckx c.1969 and Greg Lemond c.1986. Can't you tell from the team jerseys?

Yeah, it was a good ride. And bigbossman never worries about holding anyone up when he rides with me - that's my job.

Also, he lied about it being 14% on parts of Norris Canyon. My computer only showed 13%. But leave it to BBM to be a Nancy Boy and exagerate things . . . .

bigbossman 

Hey - I reported what Garmin told me. If you can't trust US Government satellites, who can you trust?

phillyrider

Nice tour of Philly...great highlights of Philly. I often hit the mannyunk trail up towards along the urban decay as an early morning ride. You captured things well.

Fall is, by far, the best time of year. Great photos.

phillyrider

PS - sorry that I am out of sync with the compliment. Wish we had redwoods and anywhere near the views in CA. I also dig the photos...

Exit.

BBM, you are the king of sweet ride photos.

bikingshearer 

If you keep saying things like that to him, his head is going to keep swelling. That may not be big deal to you, but I gotta ride with the guy.

bigbossman 

Speaking of which....what're you doing this weekend?

Old Fat Guy

BBM, What's with the Faema jersey? Not cool ;-)

bigbossman 

Not mine.

bigbossman 

We are having beautiful weather here in the SF Bay Area, and today was no exception. Bikingshearer extended a late-inning invite to go for a ride, and as luck would have it I had nothing better to do.

We did a relatively short ~30 mile loop up Skyline and back, and got treated to stunning views of the bay while meeting friendly folks the whole day long. I got to go down Pinehurst (a new descent for me), and that was a a real treat rolling through a cool redwood forest.

Topped off with a nice lunch with BS and his charming "SO", and the day was complete:

A little of what we saw:

First vista:


Mt Diablo in the distance:


Oakland, San Francisco, The Bay Bridge, and The Golden Gate Bridge:


A cute little car:


The Golden Gate and Alcatraz in the distance:


A fun little scooter:


Hairpins coming down Pinehurst:

YoKev

I did a nice short ride from Kingston to Burger Hill in Rhinebeck. It was windy as hell up there, but the view was pretty darn good.

dudeona3V

Around 80° in Denver today. Snuck off to exercise the Gran Crit a little (45 mi). What an awesome day.

due ruote 

Early morning ride along Lake Michigan. Yeah, that's ice.

patbateman

Rode from my home in San Luis Obispo to Pismo beach, then up the coast through shell beach, stopped for lunch in Avila beach and then road back on the Bob Jones bike trail and then the frontage road back into San Luis.

Total of 32 miles, beautiful weather, didn't have my camera, but I'm definitely taking it next time, there are some great views on that ride.

Only 673 feet of ascent, which made for relatively easy riding.

bikingshearer 

Happy Thanksgiving from Monterey, CA. The weather is cool but sunny, and I went for a short, easy, flat, pretty 12-miler from Fisherman's Wharf along the bike path and coast roads to Pacific Grove and Asilomor to the entrance to the 17 Mile Drive - no time to go further today, what with serious feasting to be done and all.

Boats near Fishermans Wharf . . .




. . . and the Wharf itself.



Random scenery along the way. God, I love living in Nothern California.






Even if resistance is futile, I guess the assimilated still have to have stay someplace when on vacation.

bigbossman 

Nice pics.

Thanks for posting in this thread, rather than that newfangled sticky. Ewwwwwww.

Let's keep this one alive, and ignore the other one.....