5d5w #3: Calaveras Way

New, official thread.

Meet at 24th/Mission BART by ~6:10, to get on the Dublin/Pleasanton
train departing at 6:15. Arrives Dublin at 7:07. Caffeinate/feed
beforehand - no eating/drinking on BART - take a nap or watch the
Sunrise.

Route is BART->(R)Owens->(L)Hopyard->(R)Las Positas->(L)Foothill-
>(L)Kilkare->(L)Main->(L)84-SINGLEFILE->(S)Calaveras->Regroup at top
of 1.5 mile climb->(S)Calaveras->(R)Calaveras at Felter-Fast Descent-
>(R)Evans-becomes Jacklin->(R)Milpitas->(L)Dixon Landing- cross 880-
>(L)Sidewalk of McCarthy=BikePath->(L)Zanker-cross237->(R)Holger-
>(R)First-cross 237->(L)Gold->(R)Bike Path just past Gold Connector-
>(R)Carribean-(R)Levee Trail = Dirt->(L)Bay Trail - whip U-turn after
gate then left on Bay Trail Keep following fire road like trail to
gate then left on Steven's Creek Trail->(R) Crittenden->(L)Shoreline-
>(R)Ampitheatre.

If you want to go but don't like dirt roads, you can take San Tomas
Creek Trail at Gold to Walsh/Kifer/Evelyn to Steven's Creek Trail to
Google.

Last time I had 2:49 elapsed time to Nvidia, Google would be ~3 hours.
We rode a brisk pace but waited for a regroup and then fixed a flat. I
show 1,669 feet of climbing - for comparison Skyline is more like 2800
feet - this is easier than Skyline because there is a lot less rolling
terrain and we actually end up at a lower elevation than we start. The
one climb is 2.8 miles but it's a 3.8% grade - very similar to the
Skyline climb out of the city. So if we have a mixed group then No-
name breakfast will be a stretch, but hey.

The riding is very pleasant. There can be a little traffic on the
North half of Foothill and the 84 section is a bit nervy. The Milpitas
section has a big ass (TM) bike lane and is more mellow than most of
Bayway, except we get to do the 880 overpass which is marked for bikes
but always a bit strange. Other than that, it's either long obscure
roads with no traffic, or bike paths. Give it a shot.

http://app.strava.com/rides/201503

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Stellar ride today, guys!  Perfect (if a bit chilly at the beginning) day for stellar views and a fun descent / fun dirt.

    http://app.strava.com/rides/223112

-- thorpej

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Epic, beautiful, and the kind of climb I almost enjoy -- 3% grade, curvy, great views.  Surprisingly only 45 miles, seemed like 60.

and the dirt trails behind NASA were super cool with perfect hardpack aggregate.

a few pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/scrosby/SF2GCalaverasWay?feat=directlink

nice ride, we'll have to do it again sometime.

-sc

5d5w #2: Grande Baywaye(R) - tues. 11/16 06:25 RRR style II

Alrighty, time for day 2, the legendary, rarely(ever?)-ridden Grande Baywaye®.

Tomorrow's ride is to be led by our own Brett Lider, founder of the Bayway, East Bayway, and Far East Bayway, among others.  

The basic idea is to ride as much bayway as possible, including several parts that make the ride longer for scenery's sake.  Thus the early departure.  Total distance, I would estimate, will be ~55 miles.

I'll let Brett fill in the details, but this will be a fun exploration mission, so try to have clear calendars until at least 10am.  the good news is you can bail at many points if you need to get to a meeting, etc.

oh, and MG, we are not going to do MSB/Radio Rd. for the sake of saving legs for wed/thurs, time considerations, and philosophical reasons.

mmm?

-sc

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That was sweet - perfect day for it too. Who knew plain ol' bayway could be that epic?

-Judd

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yeah that had some really great parts, good times.  the Maxxis Detonators lived up to their names, detonating twice, so they will be retired tonight, thanks for the extra tube Judd.

http://picasaweb.google.com/scrosby/SF2GGrandeBaywayeR?feat=directlink

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I think we rode about 30% of the total number of side trips out along the bay. Maybe one day we can organize a Super Bayway for those :)

-Brett

5d5w III #1: Joe Gross

so that was Joe Gross.  fun in parts, right?  sucky in others, tons of stops/starts/traffic.  the seedy spine of the peninsula, as MG said.  the not-as-glorious Route 66 of the peninsula says I... semi-forgotten, lost in time, left by the wayside by the newfangled 101.

anyone take pictures?  I forgot... or maybe there were no inspiring vistas, other than the somewhat beautiful cemeteries in colma.

my garmin showed a tranquilo average of 16.4, which isn't bad considering the million signals we stopped at.  strava of course differs.

http://app.strava.com/rides/221488

cool, 20% done with 5d5w!

ps - nice recovery by Matt at the Garcia turn -- he clipped a pedal and very nearly sailed into a parked car at high speed, taking me with him. that would have been something.

-sc

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was awesome ride down peeps.  a pretty chill pace with a few pickups, but definitely shy of sprints.  very conversational and fun.  more please!

-steve

9/24 6:40 Skyline RRR fast train to breakfast

After todays ride a few things became obvious.
1 - Max is capable of some serious power2 - Max is loves pancakes3 -
Max is scared to death of Beckett
I could spend time here trying to determine what this all says about
Max but mostly I keep picturing the elephant from Saturday morning
cartoons cowering in the face of a tiny mouse.

The morning train rolled up Mission to Cortland where the 7 Skyliners
bid adieu to Yuko and her Bayway rollers.  An uneventful ride up
mission to John Daly led to the first of the real sprints the group
was in anyway together for.  Max was talking some crazy about trying
to get everyone to 'keep it in their big ring', yeh sure homie :).
The climb up Skyline would be the first of many climbs that i unhooked
from the Brooks/Max train in order to save a little for later ( hello
not bonking! ).  At the top of Skyline Dave Blizard nonchalantly
rolled up saying something about having been chasing due to the
dynamic nature of this mornings departure time.  We regrouped multiple
times along the way with the last real time being just after SCT (
which we bypassed ) where Dave B turned off and Max ever vigilant to
Beckett-sign pushed us onward.  Max, Brooks, Jason and I did some
pacelining for the rest of Canada  ( at some point Jasons evil MTB
from the early 90s finally taking its toll and dropped him from the
rotation).  The water at Roberts was delicious and cold and we opted
for the shorter Manzanita road ( once we actually made the turn).  Max
and Brooks possibly sensing Becketts approach kicked in the turbos and
disappeared over the horizon once we hit Junipero Sera so Jason and I
finished to Page Mill where I abandoned to actually make it to work.

Total roll time for me was 2:06 which is a pretty quick Bayway time.
Putting it in on Skyline is friggin awesome.
thanks dudes!
will definitely ride this one again.

-s

On Fri, Sep 24, 2010 at 11:30 AM, Max wrote

Thanks guys, today was straight up awesome -- fast but mellow, not too
cold and not too warm, clear and gorgeous views. Wish all Skyline
rides were like that.
As advertised, we rolled at 18mph, and most of the flat sections were
handled at 25mph or less. Eggs and pancakes were plentiful at our
chill 9:15 arrival.

http://www.strava.com/rides/190158
Nice riding with you all, very much look forward to doing this route again.

--Max

P.S. I did occasionally insist we picked up the pace, for fear of
being caught by Beckett's ride 8-O

Dave

I've realized that by showing up at ritual 10 min after the group has
departed serves as a great training regimen. The effort expended
trying to catch the group had me in the "lung puking" zone for a bit.

Skyline doesn't get any better than today.. weather was epic! Good ride guys!
You can practice that on FFFF; start at the back of the pack, work
your way as far to the front as possible.

Gets a bit lonely at times, though.

D

On Fri, Sep 24, 2010 at 9:49 AM, Jason Thorpe wrote:

On Sep 23, 2010, at 6:54 PM, Max Levchin wrote:

> 6:30, RRR it is.
>
> I will be there at 6:20, but won't roll until 6:30.
>
> Pancakes!

Solid ride today, guys.  Pretty sure that was my fastest Skyline.

    http://www.strava.com/rides/190128

17.8 ave for me, but I had a solo slog down Foothill with some
elevation gain that brought the ave down, so I'd say we were rolling
~18.1 ave or so before that.

Perfect conditions today, too!

-- thorpej

A Beginner's Middle East (Bay) Way Ride Report (Tuesday, 7/20)

Vital stats:

Departed 16th and Mission BART at 6:22 am, arrived San Leandro 6:54 am

Riding time: 2:28

Mileage: 35.6

Avg. rolling speed: 14.4

Full stats: http://www.strava.com/rides/139906

Summary: I really enjoyed this ride and would recommend it to anyone who wants to change things up from Bayway or Skyline. It’s exhilarating to be on a commute to work where at times you can see no other buildings or people - it makes you feel much farther away from civilization than you really are. There are 3 dirt sections - sections 1 and 3 are easier technically, while section 2 is a little more challenging. If you haven’t ridden on dirt before, this is a good introduction. Section 1 gets you used to the feel of dirt and by the time you’ve arrived at section 2, you can handle the slightly rougher terrain. I have no special tires or equipment and I was fine.

Details: We got off BART, biked for about 10 minutes and then entered our first dirt section. It was definitely dirt, but I had pictured something much more intimidating - something like the deep grooves of BTN mud, which in my opinion, share some of the same tire trapping properties as MUNI tracks.

We exited dirt section 1, rode on pavement for another 10 or so minutes, and then headed on to dirt section 2. This section was more difficult because the stones over the path were larger than on the previous section. Still this was totally do-able for an intermediate cyclist like myself. I only slipped once here - and did not fall - w00t!

Somewhere during the ride, we rode through Hayward, where there is no bike lane and a few rushed and rude drivers came within a foot of our bikes. There was very little traffic on the road though, so luckily the cars were few and far between.

In Freemont, we entered a bike path, which started as a paved trail, and then transitioned to dirt section 3. This section was similar to the easier dirt of dirt section 1. By this time, I felt comfortable on the bumpy terrain and even found it fun!

As we continued on, we took our requisite photos with the Christina Maria:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brettlider/4812860480/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brettlider/4812232923/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brettlider/4812852872/

(Now I know you all want to go on this ride for your pictures w/her!)

As we finished our last dirt section, we headed across 84 surrounded by the bay. Then it was back to our familiar Bayway stomping grounds - Sun, EPA, and finally Goog.

Brett insists that I tell you that I pulled him from Sun to GOOG ;) - and this was possible because I still had lots of energy from trying a new ride! For me, this ride was easier than a Millbraeway - it’s about 5 miles longer, but we were going significantly slower. This ride is more technically difficult than our standard routes, but that shouldn’t prevent anyone from trying it out. For beginners, you may feel a little wobbly on the dirt, but let’s face it, if you do fall (unlikely), it’s not going to hurt as much as falling on the Bridge to Nowhere...not that I know anything about that. ;)

The Bottom Line: If you’ve done Bayway and Skyline, this is the next ride to put into your ride portfolio. The ride is probably best in summer when it’s drier and the mud is less muddy, so you have plenty of time to test it out before the winter rains come back. What are

you waiting for? GO!