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After turkey day ride
23 Nov 07
Looking at the ten day weather forecast, Friday 23 Nov looked like the best day to ride over Mt. Hamilton at a leisurely pace. Allison, Barry, Max and I started from the cul-de-sac (Calaveras Ct) off Calaveras Rd. in Milpitas at about 8:00 to head up to Piedmont Rd. that traverses the bottom of the hills to Penitencia Creek, the canyon of Alum Rock Park, where we followed the creek to Toyon Rd. to reach McKee Rd. that connects to the climb to Mt. Hamilton. It was a breezy morning with a light haze over the valley over which we could see the panorama of Loma Prieta (3808ft) to the southwest and a distant view of the Santa Lucia mountains above Monterey Bay. Other than an occasional car we had the road to ourselves most of the way being passed by three or four bicyclists who were headed to the observatory and back. Although there were swirling gusts at times the air was calm most of the time on the main climb from Smith Creek to the top (4209ft). Of course the gusts were most noticeable when they were headwinds, but it was generally calm and comfortably warm (with cool weather clothing). With a slight misunderstanding, Barry joined the faster pace of two Alto Velo riders who rode to the observatory while we continued on our route toward Livermore. Although there wasn't as much wildlife as on other rides over the hill we saw plenty of deer some bluebirds, flocks of American goldfinches in brilliant yellow and a few Magpies. The serenity of that remote ranch land was soothing leaving the shopping malls and freeways behind in the Valley. http://tinyurl.com/33s6n6 The ridges we crossed put us in an area where night skies are dark after sundown with no illumination from city skies. With a slight tailwind, the descent to Isabel Creek (2190ft) went briskly on a dry road that without wind would still have dew in shady spots as it was on my last ride a couple of weeks before. http://tinyurl.com/33s6n6 A short climb from of Isabel Creek crosses a divide to Arroyo Bayo, along which the road gradually climbs with a sharp bump over the rocky narrows before the Arnold Ranch (10 mile marker form Mt. Hamilton). The road follows the creek while gradually getting steeper with a little grunt called China Grade to the divide (2200ft) before descending to the San Antonio Valley (2079ft). In contrast to other seasons, the valley was so grazed off that it had little more than brown earth with trace of half inch stubble. The cattle that roam there are fed by truckloads of hay that ranchers bring to bridge the gap until the rains come... and they haven't yet. Click on pix: http://pixseal.com/mounthamilton2005/pan_4826-4844.htm A few motorcycles passed us on the way to the San Antonio JCT (2188ft) where Del Puerto Rd. joins from Patterson in the central valley. The junction restaurant was serving burgers and fries as usual with a good supply of beer and soft drinks (except Wednesdays). Their candy bars are still kept in the fridge from the days when they had no air conditioning and chocolate melted. Old habits don't go away easily so we chew on hard candy bars. On the way to the JCT, the backdrop Red Mountain with its white magnesite mining spills set off against the red stone of the mountain is a great backdrop. This operation was a huge miscalculation during WWI and WWII when the mineral was not available from inexpensive sources in Europe. However, the mines never produced much and mainly lost money. From the junction bar-and-grill it's over a short bump past the new CDF fire station, and down to the Digger Pine ranch where the 1.5 mile climb up Swee****er Creek to the Blackbird (2881ft) begins. http://tinyurl.com/2u9px3 A short gradual descent along Colorado creek leads to the last climb, the Double Ess (2881ft) after which we follow Arroyo Mocho into Alameda County. Mines Road crosses Arroyo Mocho the last time at elevation 2056ft) and stays at roughly at that level while the river descends toward the valley in a grand canyon with grassland above the road and a oak, pine and buckeye forest on the opposite side. Finally, Mines Road makes the big dive down to the Livermore Valley on a swift descent, crossing Arroyo Mocho at the bottom of the grade. Although we had been riding into a slight headwind most of the way from San Antonio Valley, it was almost gone as we rode into Livermore where we took College Ave. across from the Library to cut over to Stanley Blvd after crossing HWY84. Our headwind (breeze) turned into a tailwind on Stanley Blvd. before dying entirely just before Pleasanton where we made a brief stop at the Milk store across from the old Southern Pacific RR depot. It has been a tradition on Mt. Hamilton rides to stop there for an ice cream cone and soda pop before heading out of town to Sunol Corners (the water temple gate) taking Paloma Road (230ft) that becomes Calaveras Road as it crosses under I680. Calaveras Rd. Rolls along the east side of Sunol Valley along Alameda Creek, bounded by a cork trees under which the strange Dead Man's Foot mushroom grows in the hot days of autumn. http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/P...inctorius.html After Welch Creek Rd. we crossed Alameda Creek and began the gradual climb up the ridge to the west of Calaveras reservoir to about 1100ft as it winds in and out of steep ravines. As the sun sank behind the ridge to the west, a full moon rose over Oak Ridge above the east side of the reservoir. As we reached the high point of Calaveras Road, the setting sun briefly cast a golden glow on the hills under the rising moon before vanishing below the western horizon giving us a beautiful motion picture finale to a great ride. We made the brisk descent past Felter Rd. coasting down Calaveras Rd. to our starting point in Milpitas just as it got dark. That was 103 miles and 9730Ft of climb, a great day. ----------------- Jobst Brandt |
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