East Hill

I've got the eBay seller of those nice wood fenders saved as a favourite! I think that Peugeot would look very nice with some of those.

If I had tried to ride through the water with the mixte I would never had made it through. The water was actually moving quite rapidly. I just wish I had been able to get a photo of the roostertail I made.

East Hill

teambhultima

Nothing like Mt. Diablo and Danville around here, bigbossman. Very cool descent video!
I did get a nice ride in this morning, only about 12+ miles, but the weather is nice today so it was good to get out while the kids slept in late! I haven't been able to ride in a good while.

bigbossman 

I got tired of wrenching on those two mixte's I bought last week, so at about 12:30 or so I decided to take a break and go for a ride. I didn't have a clear-cut plan, but decided to go and pick a route on the fly. Riding in the country sounded good, so I shot through Danville and headed to Livermore. I ended up doing a 32 mile loop out Highland road to Livermore and back, ending up in downtown Danville and meeting the wife and daughter for lunch at Norm's.

A few pics to share:

silversmith

Bossman,

Lovely, as always. I'm greener than your hills with envy.

Any idea about the hills in the last photo and their interesting horizontal ridges?

.............

Back to reality.

I'm just counting my blessings that I was able to ride 3 days in a row without heavy winter gear. I even got to try out the Campy Omega Strada wheelset I picked up for my old Litage.

bigbossman 

Two words - "Earthquake Country".

It was more striking in person, and I took that photo because of it. I'm not a geologist and I don't play one on the Internet, but I did take Geology 101 once . Not sure if it is convex enough to be an anticline and it didn't appear to be an outcropping of bedrock, but it was definitely an old uplift zone. Typical folding of sedimentary layers that you see when there is some erosion to expose it.

silversmith

>Not sure if it is convex enough to be an anticline and it didn't appear to be an outcropping of bedrock, but it was definitely an old uplift zone. Typical folding of sedimentary layers that you see when there is some erosion to expose it.

Thanks.

I've never seen anything like it.

ollo_ollo

The snow was gone & the ice had melted, Saturday was 45F, clear & sunny. I was sick of stationary trainer rides so I headed out for the local MUP. There were lots of other riders out and many dog walkers enjoying the sun. When I was out after the big windstorm, there had been lots of downed trees across the path but now the County has cleared most of them & the locals were out cutting the logs up. A few trees remain across the path but there's room to ride beneath them. Great ride! the only negative was my tire picked up a stick & I lost most of the front fender when it shattered into 3 pieces. "Break Away Fenders" right?

bigbossman 

Nowhere special today - just the usual 15 mile lunchtime loop. what was "special" was that it put me at just over my first 100 miles for the new year.

Yeah - I know... I'm a slug.

nlerner

Well, it's 23 degrees and snowing here right now. Grumble, grumble, grumble.

Neal

cudak888 

While it's 72 degrees down here and enjoyable :



Well, enjoyable enough until I found that this path ended abruptly in a foilage-overridden bog (on a hidden curve that I was taking at 20mph, no less).

Words cannot describe how I hate MUPs (don't know why I even bothered on this one - I gather it was the slight downhill grade that lured me to it). This one had a few sections in it that would rattle most auto suspensions into scrap metal. Also had to track over a section of very uneven grass to u-turn back onto the path once I found out about the path's rather suprising terminating point. Good thing the Alyeska has a triple. Cyclocross, anyone?

Take care,

-Kurt

cudak888 

Hmm. I thought fenders were supposed to keep road debris off the rider, not to create additional hazard...



-Kurt

pastorbobnlnh 

Kurt, two questions:
1. If it's 72 F, why so much clothing?
2. Why, pray tell, do you need a triple on that ever so slight rise?
But oh that beautiful green grass! Is that Raliegh St. Augustine?

cudak888 

1. 72 degrees F., standing still. Feels a bit chillier when rolling down the road at 22mph. Wasn't that bad though, as I had my jacket open (not the brightest idea, considering the wind resistance it creates). It had hovered around the high 60s during most of the day.

2. The Alyeska is a tourer, hence why it has a triple (and cantis). I didn't need the granny ring over the slight rise, but it came in very handy when I had to tread through that bumpy, soft patch of uneven foot-high grass and weeds at the end of the path to make my U-turn.

3. That is St. Augustine grass, yes. Not the same, beautiful grass that I found at the end of the path though.

-Kurt

cuda2k

I wanted to take my vintage steel out today, but as I describe in a recent thread in this forum, I had a tire pop off the rim as I pumpted them up. Luckily the tube didn't blow.

Mos6502

My car ran out of gas. I walked to the house, got the '64 Western Flyer and a gas can, rode to the gas station (first time I have ever taken a bicycle to a filling station! - hopefully the last) then rode to the car, filled 'er up and took myself and the bike back home. How's that for a triathlon? one mile walk, one mile ride, one mile drive.

peterbarson

that should be an organized event. but increase the milage a bit.
Run, Ride, Race say mabye 15 miles. the race would be in durable gocarts that would be safe to ride in smash-em-up-derby style.
sweet.

bigbossman 

Again - nowhere special, just my lunch-time 15 mile loop again. This one put me over 200 miles for the year. Only 3,000 to go!

juanma85

Hey Kurt, that's the FIU preserve right?? I've had some problems with the dogs inside the presrve sometimes.

divineAndbright

I had a brutal ride today. The weather network said -9°C so I figured that was warm enough for a descent length ride, well I punctured my front tube and had to ride on the flat 10km home into 20-25km headwinds, with all the slushy snow and water splashing all over my shoes needless to say I couldnt feel my toes anymore by the time I got home.. they are really stinging right now warming up indoors!

bigbossman 

The weekend didn't start out so well for me - I was scheduled to ride my first century of the new year on Sunday, but it had been raining all week and the forecast for the weekend was dismal. Since it was a two hour ride to the event site and I'd be traveling with the wife and daughter, I elected to cancel the hotel reservation and stay home. Couple that with the fact that I'd been getting solidly aced by some unknown rapscallion on my CF acquisition attempts, and I was feeling a bit peevish.

I didn't do too much on Saturday, as it was raining off and on and was a bit blustery. A fellow who was looking for parts on CL came over to paw through my parts bins, so at least I made a couple of bucks.

I went to sleep Saturday night listening to the rain on the roof, and cursing my bad luck. But my spirits were lifted Sunday when I awoke to blue skies and sunlight. Half asleep, I listened to the birds chirping and singing for a while, and then it hit - I can go for a ride!!

So, I got dressed, grabbed all my stuff, and hit the road. I was only planning on 20-30 miles, so all I brought was one cliff bar. But, it was so nice out I found myself just going and going....... I first stopped at 18 miles to eat my Cliff bar "lunch" at the Moraga Commons up by St. Mary's College. I was planning to just return the way I came, but decided to go exploring instead - a BF member and I are going to ride next Saturday, so I was looking for new routes. I climbed up and then descended down Moraga Way into Orinda, and then paralleled the Hwy 24 freeway back to Moraga/Walnut Creek. A quick up and over on Tice Blvd brought me back to San Ramon Valley Blvd and the way home.

Glancing down at my computer, I calculated that if I just made the bee-line for home, I'd end up at about 45/46 miles. I figured I might as well make it an even 50, so I tossed in a couple of small loops on the way back to pick up a few more miles. I ended up pretty much on the money - 50.02 miles on the odometer when I pulled into the drive.

It was a great day, and a great ride, but my legs were toast. 50 miles on one Cliff bar is stretching it a bit....

Here's a shot of the west side of Mt. Diablo, with Hwy 24 in the foreground:

rmikkelsen

Snow warning tonight, 16 miles in today in the Washington DC suburb of Rockville, Maryland. I found the route last summer, a lovely loop right from my house which goes along Batchellors Forest Road, which has some protected status. On a leisurely day, it can lead to miles and miles of superb riding up into Howard County toward Baltimore. Sadly, in the not too distant future, a long debated expressway project is likely to bisect the route, gobble up a lot of land and spur more development. So I better enjoy it while I can.

bigbossman 

The weather this past weekend was stunning - low 70's, light breeze, blue skies. I took the opportunity Saturday to hook up with a couple of BF C&V members, mhendricks and bikingshearer, and go for a ride.

We met at my house in the morning, and after trading some parts and talking shop, we headed out. Leaving San Ramon, we skirted under the shadow of Mt Diablo through the suburb, and then turned in and made the run down the blvd towards Moraga/Orinda. We encountered a bit of a head wind, but between wheel-sucking strangers and drafting each other, we managed to keep our cruising speed at around 19/20mph.

After climbing up to the top of Moraga, we enjoyed a brief stop for some juice and a croissant. Since bikingshearer is a local, he took the lead and showed us a few "shortcuts". It was while navigating a twisty descent on one of these local routes (Glorietta Road, for you locals) that we encountered what was to be the only blemish on an otherwise spectacular day.

While exiting a hairpin at about 30mph my front wheel skated on some debris, and I took a bit of a tumble. Some kind strangers stopped to get the bike off of my chest and pull me out from underneath the guardrail, and I dusted myself off and continued on my way. My companions had already made the descent, and were at the bottom wondering what was keeping me. Of course, neither one was curious enough to actually climb back up the hill to see..... (note to self - two less names for this year's Xmas list...... ).

Once reunited and back on flat ground, we cruised through Moraga, Lafayette, and then back up the blvd through Alamo, stopping for a late lunch at Norm's. An aside, if you ever come out this way, treat yourself to a lunch at Norm's, preferably outside at one of their sidewalk tables. The food is very good, and the scenery is fantastic..... Also, have a look in California Peddler, a LBS there. John (the owner) has some nice vintage stuff hanging on the walls. It changes once in a while as he rotates his collection through, but we saw a nice Bob Jacksom, a Mikkelson, and a minty Paramount. John is knowlegable, good to talk to, and collects some real gems.

Anyway, I met some nice folks, had a great ride (crash not withstanding), logged and about 45 miles. I look forward to riding with these mugs again..... even if they did abandon me in my hour of need..... My bike got uglied up some, but thank God I wasn't riding the Mondia or Merckx - just a ugly newish Giant, so no harm done there. I did lose one of my favorite jersey's though, as it gave it's life to (more-or-less) save the skin on my shoulder and back. The helmet's toast, too, but cheap enough to replace.... as opposed to relearning motor skills.... Funny thing, though - I was wearing a pair of Voler bib shorts, and although I sustained a pretty decent bit of road rash on my hip the shorts were unscathed.

A few pics below:

Bikingshearer:


Mhendricks, getting ready to dial it up to 600 watts and drop some posuers:


A bike we saw in a dumpster. Since we had 20 miles to go and no way to carry it, we left it there. just a Schwinn, anyway....:

infinityeye

yeah them paramounts aren't worth crap now-a-days anyway. and shiny lugs suck. I am susprised you and mhendricks are on speaking terms!

Is this anywhere near freestone ranch road? I have an uncle there... maybe I can get uncle tom to pick it up for me.

robtown

Such a sad sight. Bigbossman, I guess when people line up to give you bikes you can let an occasional Schwinn die. Around my area that bike is in the top 2% of all thrift store and yard sale offerings.

braingel