Rides for the Last Sunday of 2007? Dec 30

[Bike Goddess]

What great pictures you took! Must have been later in the afternoon as it was totally fogged in when we got up and looked out. Didn't know you would be passing by or I would have waved to you from the other side of the river. I ended up waiting until the sun came out (around 1:30) and then did a pre- New Year's ride- our Tour de Benicia.

We do the ride you mention on the water the other direction (from Martinez) on the way home. The first part of the ride is up Cummings Skyway which you passed (as you probably know) on the way to the bridge. We then go to downtown Martinez and return via the scenic route.

The dirt part you mention is no fun for me either! It's kind of grin and bear it til you get through. We generally don't do that trail after the rains as it gets pretty muddy in that section and who wants to clean a muddy bike when you get home!!!

I'll be interested in your route as I'm always looking to extend my mileage. 200 K is about my limit.

Thanks again for the great pictures. Had I known you were that way, I would have braved the cold and ridden to the bridge. I can get you to the other side of the river if you want to extend your ride into Solano County. We have some nice routes over here as well as good food for rest stops!

By the way, the park service is planning to make that trail into a Class I bike trail in the next few years. They will have to build bridges across the places where the pavement is slipping. Won't that be great!

[jobob]

How much climbing do you think your 200 K will have?

Well, according to the Bikely map (here) it's on the order of 6500 feet.

That's the maximum amt of climbing I'd like to have on the permanent route.

Turns out it's kind of hard to find good 200K routes that meander through the East Bay without a lot of climbing.

By the way, the park service is planning to make that trail into a Class I bike trail in the next few years. They will have to build bridges across the places where the pavement is slipping. Won't that be great!

Wow, yes it would. It's a really great area to ride. My only concern about trying to run a brevet route through there are possibile liability issues - technically, bikes aren't allowed through there, altho it's apparently not enfored. But that may raise issues with RUSA's liability insurance. Something I'll be asking the SF Rando RBA (Rob Hawks) about when I get closer to submitting the route.

Problem is, McEwen Road -the road you would take to avoid the washed-out section - appears to have a steep climb and so the total climbing for the route would be in excess of 7500 feet. I know that isn't much for some people but I don't want it to be excessive for people like me.