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Winter
in Paradise |
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of the perks of living in California is that I can ride all year around.
Oh sure, I did that when living in Seattle, too, but I'm talking about riding
in something other than rain and snow. The strange thing about the sun in
California is that it doesn't hibernate for the winter like it does in the
Pacific Northwest. It was time to take advantage of this phenomenon! |
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January 11, 2009
Total Miles: 119 miles
Mt Hamilton
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View
Larger Map |
Carolyn and I had planned to meet at the Sunol Cafe at
10am on Sunday. This was good, as it would give me time to enjoy a nice
relaxing morning while still allowing up plenty of time to take in some
nice roads. I was pleasantly surprised to see her husband Peter show up
at the restaurant (Dan had stayed home to get some more work done on his
motorcycle) and the three of us started the day with a tasty breakfast
at the cafe. We felt bad for our waiter, as not only was he slammed with
a women rider's group ahead of us but it was also his first day. Needless
to say, it was quite some time before we hit the road.
The first stop was gas but then it was nothing but fun. We took Mines
Rd south from Livermore to The Junction (where Mines Rd and Del Puerto
Canyon Rd meet in the middle of nowhere) and then on to Mt Hamilton. I
had done this road for the first time last fall but had come from the
other direction. Between the time and the switched starting points, it
would be like a whole new road to me!
Mines Rd is a nice paved route that runs parallel to some nice pastoral
hills, sometimes dropping down to one lane and wrapping itself along a
weak river. There are some houses along the way but for the most part,
the area is ranchland and shows little sign of development. Because of
the beautiful weather and weekend status, there were many other bikes
out on the road with us today. It felt good to be riding some twisty roads
again! |
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Sunol Cafe |
The road rises early on Mines Rd. |
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Looking back on Mines Rd. |
"Road Narrows" |
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Notice the shiny new seat on the KLR |
Coming up to The Junction on Mines Rd.
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Heading south from The Junction on
San Antonio Valley Rd
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| After catching up with each other at The Junction (which was
full of other riders taking breaks and kicking tires), we took the next
leg of our journey to the Lick Observatory at Mt. Hamilton. I was looking
forward to this section of road, as I recalled how much fun it was to come
down, and going up is always more enjoyable to me. What I wasn't counting
on was the sand near the top of the mountain. Apparently the snow that the
Bay Area had gotten a few weeks ago had led to quite a bit of road maintainence,
including spreading sand for traction. It made for some slow corners, but
there were no scary moments for me. |
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Here comes Carolyn |
A closer shot of Carolyn |
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Looking back on San Antonio Valley Rd. |
Riding into the sun on the way to Mt Hamilton |
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The view from the top |
Looking south from the top of Mt Hamilton |
This would be our last joint
stop. From here, it was just a quick jaunt down Mt Hamilton Rd, a slight
detour on Quimby Rd and into the suburbs of San Jose. We rode together
as far as San Jose but then I took off for home, already thinking of my
next time out.
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San Jose from Quimby Rd.
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