Bay Area Weekend Rides?

[bikerz]

Hello TE friends -

I was thinking of riding the Bay Trail (maybe with extensions??) on Saturday, then joining Cindy Sue (Yay! She'll be back from deepest darkest Nova Scotia!) on a flat 40 mile ride out of Walnut Creek on Sunday.

Anyone else interested???



(Note - I scotched the idea of my killer hill ride Sunday because (A) I think it will be very hot, and (B) I'd rather hear what Cindy's been up to!)

Here's Cindy's ride description for Sunday (Note: this ride is organized by LunaChix) (http://www.lunachix.net/level1):

Meet at Walnut Creek BART before 9am on Sunday :)

Hope to see many of you there. This will be a FLAT ride, no hills, and only a slight incline here or there. While this is a beginner level 40 miles, you should be accustomed to riding at least 30 miles with no problem. Our pace should be around 12 - 15 mph (since it's flat).

You'll also want to bring a minimum of TWO bottles of water because the tri-valley is hot! Also bring an emergency contact, your ID and insurance card. Check the lunachix website for other suggestions on what to bring (I'm on the road and don't have all that in front of me).

Meet at Walnut Creek BART in the plaza area near the fare gates. Come early, sign-in, and grab some LUNA bars. We'll try to leave at 9am so we beat the late afternoon heat. The ride should take about 3 - 4 hours. We'll take two 5-10 minute breaks and I'll fill you in on my bike tour around the southern province of Nova Scotia.

[winddance]

Sounds good to me. :) I should be able to make one or both!

[Trek420]

ooh, do you think there will be Luna bars? :D

[bikerz]

Cindy Sue??? Luna Bars?? I think -- YES!

[bikerz]

So what time on Saturday in Emeryville?

Is 8:00 am too early?

[spazzdog]

Dumb question... is Sunday not the same ride you told me abt from Temescal?

If no, where is Walnut Creek from here? Car required or can I tool over on my bike?

I'm so confused...

spazz-having-trouble-with-sudden-changes-dog

[dachshund]

Where are you going to meet in Emeryville?
I'd like to do both rides. Now they say it's not going to be quite as hot this weekend, like 90 instead of 100 in the East Bay. For what it's worth.
-Amy

[bikerz]

Where are you going to meet in Emeryville?I usually park in a lot in Emeryville near an office building out past Chevy's, but the last time I was there on a weekend, the lot was locked, so we parked in the Chevy's overflow parking - I'll post a map later this morning.


Dumb question... is Sunday not the same ride you told me abt from Temescal?

If no, where is Walnut Creek from here? Car required or can I tool over on my bike?

No, the ride I told you about is all hills... the ride I am now going to do is 40 flat miles with CindySue (and probably a bunch of others).

Walnut Creek is either a drive or Bart - you could ride your bike over to MacArthur BART and take Bart to the Walnut Creek station.

[slinkedog]

I'd love to come, but, alas, my hubby is going to the Trips for Kids swapmeet in the North Bay and I have kid duty. I'll see you again in Monterey. And I want to plan a ride from my place soon. The one last year fell through. It would be fun to ride and then we can crash our cabana club pool, if anyone is so inclined. :)

[kjay]

Slinkedog, I'd love to join you on a ride from your place some time. I just hope I'm home when you plan one. I'll be riding that week-long Candisc ride in the midwest in August, though.

[spazzdog]

For me a little later rollout on Sunday than 8:00 am would be nice.

If I take BART, the 1st train doesn't hit MacArthur until 8:18am putting me at Walnut Creek around 8:41am, assuming it all happens on time.

How's a 9:00-9:30 rollout?

spazz

p.s. if everybody prefers the earlier start, I'll see what I can do or I'll make the next ride. I'm spending Sat. taking a physical agility test for 4 hrs and think I might be moving a little slow on Sun morning.

[Trek420]

good luck on the PA test Spazz. You'll either be moving slower 'cause you're tired or bouncing with joy 'cause you passed. :D :p

The latter I hope.

[bikerz]

For me a little later rollout on Sunday than 8:00 am would be nice.

If I take BART, the 1st train doesn't hit MacArthur until 8:18am putting me at Walnut Creek around 8:41am, assuming it all happens on time.

How's a 9:00-9:30 rollout?

Hey Spazz - I'm not organizing the Sunday ride I'm just one of the attendees. The Sunday ride is sponsored by LunaChix (http://www.lunachix.net/level1), and Cindy wants to get going by 9:00 to beat the heat. So I think 9 is the time - but an 8:40 am arrival should leave you plenty of time, even if that first train is a little late.

[spazzdog]

okee-dokee!

i'll see what i can do.

spazz

[winddance]

Tomorrow's high is only 72 in Emeryville, so heat shouldn't be a factor. 8 or 9, whatever.

I'm sort of a maybe now. My social life drought is ending all in one weekend, and NO...not dates....:p Let me know what you guys decide to do for Saturday!

[slinkedog]

Slinkedog, I'd love to join you on a ride from your place some time. I just hope I'm home when you plan one. I'll be riding that week-long Candisc ride in the midwest in August, though.

Hey Kjay! Let's try to plan something, then!! :) When is Candisk? I'm sure we can work around it and get something going!

[bikerz]

Geez - I guess we'd better make a plan for Saturday, seeing as it's Friday evening practically... :rolleyes:

OK - How about this plan: Saturday 7/15 - Emeryville 9:00 am - The Bay Trail

* Let's plan on at least 20 miles, maybe 30+ with extensions. There is a nice little cafe at the Richmond Marina - good sandwiches - if folks want to have a lunch break...

BikerZ
Dachshund
Winddance (?)
Trek420 (?)
SpazzDog (?)

anyone else?

If anyone wants my cell number please PM me...

:)

Here's a map of the parking options. (head for Chevy's then continue west and turn right into the overflow parking) - if you want to MapQuest Chevy's the address is 1890 Powell St, Emeryville, CA 94608

1061:

[dachshund]

Spazz, good luck on the test!

Z, thanks for the map. I'll be there. You were going to do this anyway, right, even if there isn't a larger group?

Amy

[spazzdog]

Thanks Trek and Dach&*... Weenerdog :eek:

If I survive it, I'll do my best to make the ride on Sunday.

Y'all have a great time tomorrow (Sat).

spazz

[bikerz]

You were going to do this anyway, right, even if there isn't a larger group?Absolutely - I do it on my own often!

Yeah Spazz - good luck! Knock 'em dead (figuratively speaking, of course!)

[spazzdog]

I will don my PF Flyers (who's old enough to know what those are?), and run faster, jump higher and groan louder than every 20->30 yr old there, by golly.

Then I'll crawl home and take some Advil :D

spazz-er-nator

[LL_Super_D]

Wish I could make it but already have plans. Have fun on both!

[melissam]

I will don my PF Flyers (who's old enough to know what those are?), and run faster, jump higher and groan louder than every 20->30 yr old there, by golly.


Spazz,

Oh, I absolutely remember the PF Flyers! They were waaaay better than Keds! Good luck to you on the test!

BikerZ,

I want to join you guys. I just have to convince myself that I can get up early enough to be there by 9am and still be civil to everyone. :)

-- Melissa

[bikerz]

Hey Melissa - you don't have to civil until we get to Richmond, if then!

I hope you can make it! Since it will be a few of us, we can wait for you or ride up and turn back to meet you if you are delayed - but please come!

[melissam]

Well alright! If I don't have to be civil until Richmond, I think I can manage.

BikerZ, I have PM'd you my cell phone number. Got the printout of the Chevy's overflow parking lot, and I can put the addr in my navi system. Road bike tires are pumped up!

See ya tomorrow!

-- Melissa

[bikerz]

Great - now get to sleep so you can wake up early! :cool:

I just spent the last half hour fussing with zip-ties, trying to get my computer mounted again - argh - definitely time to go to sleep!

[bikerz]

Thanks MelissaM and Dachshund for a great Bay Trail ride!

We had really good weather and a just a *little* wind (what would the Bay Trail be without wind??) for a nice 33 mile ride. We even got a few spints in (SMASH!), some good chats, and not too much bike path craziness.

A very nice ride - thanks again!

And tomorrow - 40 more miles!

[dachshund]

Well, thank you for inviting us! That's a really nice route. And it was even cold out there! Nice change from my side of the Caldecott.
-Amy

[melissam]

BikerZ & Dachsund,

It was great to meet both of you. Definitely worth getting out of bed on a Saturday morning!

Trip highlights:

* Seeing the celeste green dog leashes that match Amy's Bianchi. I still think you should get the leashes, even if you don't actually use them to walk your dachsunds.

* Getting scolded by the walkers who were walking slowly and then standing smack dab in the middle of the bike path. Um, you're scolding US? Ha!

* Heart Rate Hill by Golden Gate Fields. Great potential for hill repeats.

* The sprints. Wind sprints at that!

* Beautiful scenery. The Bay. The boats. The bridges. The fog rolling in. What's not to like?

* Great company!

Thanks, Ann, for organizing this and being our fearless leader.

-- Melissa

[Trek420]

Just got back from the ride. Cindysue tough factor has been increased 10 fold. She took a fall when she went over a stealth speed-bump, her shoulder hurts and she continued to lead the ride.

Just call her Tylersue from now on.

Note to self: there are no "flat" rides in the East Bay, none. We seemed to always be on false flats. And it's f'ing hot out there, felt like 100, who knows.

Any time I go through 4 water bottles ... and don't have to pee, it's hot.

Any time I go through 4 bottles and my jersey is dry...is hot.

We stopped often to regroup, take advantage of the shade and in Dublin there was a fountain..the smart gals dove right on in. I shoulda done it, looked like fun.

What I really should do is shoulda brought the camelback. Did I say that it's hot?

At Dublin 3 of us decided to abandon the tour and took BART in. I took a slightly longer route home and glad I did.

The idiot factor was high, I always think of myself as a cycling ambasador and try to be polite but maybe it was the heat and hill got to me. At a stop I was turning right, so I'm on the right hand side, trying to figure out how to get going uphill. SUV driving soccer Mom leaving gated community is turning left, she's on the left hand side, plenty of room even for her big fat ugly car (sorry TE SUV owning gals).

She pulls up behind us, lays on the horn and yells "get off the road!"

I think I called her a "lazy sumthin' sumthin' outa shape witch" sumthin like that.

Also riding home on the other end of the economic spectrum got the same from a beat up car in my neighborhood.

But then....two tow truck drivers, the first was doing a 3 point u-turn and waved me through, the other I was on the downhill side of the overpass where I have to merge to the right to get into the bike lane and he is exiting the freeway onto Industrial.

I got eye contact, signaled I was going right, saw him nod and a tiny wave, I put the pedal to the metal and sped right, and waved at him. As he passed me he lifted his hand above the cab and waved back.

that's the way it should be :) I just got off the phone, called the company and left a commendation for the driver.

I hope Cindys shoulder is ok. Bikerz, good job of hanging in there and...knowing when to call it quits. I take it Dachsund finished the ride? That's one tough Dachsund.

[bikerz]

BZ got sagged in from a ride - first time in 2000+ miles, I think! ETA - I did get sagged down Mt. Diablo for a broken spoke - but this is the furst time the rider, not the bike, couldn't continue!)

What Trek said about the heat! My car said 103 in Walnut Creek - I think it was hotter down in Dublin.

Coming up the slight grade out of Dublin on San Ramon Blvd, my HR went up, which wasn't entirely unexpected. Unfortunately I could not get it back down again, no matter how slow I rode. I was up over 190 for a while, pedaling gently along at 12 mph. Hmmm - my HR never got that high even going up Mt Diablo - what's going on here? Could it be the HEAT??

When I started to feel weird and chilled and goose-bumpy, I thought to myself, "Hey - maybe it's time to call it a day!" Thank goodness for my good friend Chip and his El Camino to the rescue! Thank also to Cindy for hanging back with me, and for the other gals (didn't catch everyone's names) checking in too.

Lessons from today:
1. BikerZ is to heat as oil is to water.
2. No one (and I mean NO ONE) is as tough as CindySue!

I got in about 31 miles, and burned a whopping 4500 calories!

Nice bunch of cyclists, and it was great to see Cindy again after her vacation. And it's always good to see Dachshund and Trek420.

[winddance]

Yikes!! Glad everyone is okay. Sounds like it was a hot ride this morning!

[dachshund]

I finished, but in hindsight, I wish I'd taken BART. It was 103 in the shade, so I hate to think how hot it was on top of that road. My 'pooter said 46 miles at the end.

I did better after the fountain break, but on that slight uphill (in normal temps we wouldn't have noticed) I started getting low on water again. I rode with Karen (don't think she posts here) and we stopped at the first gas station. I bought as much water as I could carry back out. We sat in the shade for a loooooong time, drinking and pouring water on our heads. The rest of our small group came by, then Z came by in her ride home, with a big smile. We admired the bump that Cindysue had developed on her shoulder. "Yep, it's swollen."

That water break got me all the way back. But the last 10 miles were kind of torture. Many curse words about how F'ing hot it was. It took me two hours to feel normal after I got home.

So, note to self, if it's going to be in the 90's, no riding through the noon hour. Live and learn.

As usual, it was a very nice group of women. It's always a pleasure to meet such nice people.

My bonus: I stepped in chewing gum at the last break, and just got done scraping it out of my cleat. :eek: