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My friends from Germany, Carrie and Frank, pulled up in their rental car and transferred their stuff into my convertible. They had decided to come along for the day on four wheels, as I had promised them a nice day and a fun route. I could see the fog clouds were still kind of heavy towards the East. Hopefully, it would clear up before our ride was to begin. The three of us headed eastward and soon pulled up at the Starbucks on Mowry. CC was already waiting. Soon to follow were SheMo (aka Maureen), Lorraine, and Karen. We drank coffee, chatted, and joked as we waited for any stragglers to show up (and for the fog to lift a little more). Sure enough, Bill roared into the parking lot on his Ducati just as we were getting ready to leave. In the tradition of Attila the Hunny, I decreed “no coffee for late-comers!” and off we went. Mowry to Mission to Niles Canyon, with its few grand, sweeping curves. Then it was left onto Palomares, and along its wonderful twisties. We dodged some bicycles and some fallen rocks as we wound our way up into the hills. We passed lots of nice houses, horses, sheep, and apparently some burros (I didn’t see them). Eventually we made our way to Castro Valley Blvd, which took us through the town of the same name. Then it was right onto Redwood Rd, right onto Pinehurst, and another right onto Canyon, which turns into Moraga Road and led us straight into the little town of Moraga. There we stopped at the Moraga Ranch House Café, which is part of an old cattle ranch that used to be the only thing out there. Some of us had breakfast, and some of us had lunch, and all of us enjoyed our meals. The service was friendly, and the food was good. And Frank and Carrie’s stories about their travel “adventures” (I don’t know, do “adventures” usually involve handcuffs or long needles?) kept all of us amused. After lunch, we bid goodbye to Bill, CC, and SheMo, as they all had other engagements they had to attend to. Lorraine, Karen, and I on our bikes, and Carrie and Frank in my car, continued on our route. Moraga Rd took us into Orinda. We took a right onto Mt. Diablo Rd, found a gas station and refueled, then backtracked to First St, which took us under 24. Left on Deer Hill, then finally right onto Happy Valley Rd, a nice little bit of twisty pavement through the hilly suburbs above Oakland. Happy Valley dead-ends into Bear Creek, and we were greeted with the vision of a gorgeous valley of waving grasses and greenery. Two llamas grazed peacefully in its midst. It was a serene scene that deserved some photos. Bear Creek was a big enough road that we could pick up the pace. It fed us right into Wildcat Canyon Rd, and we had to slow down again as we began our climb into the twisty hillside and the Tilden Park area. We made a stop at Inspiration Point, where we soaked up the sun, enjoyed the view of the green, green hills, and chatted a little again before continuing on our journey. Following the signs, we managed to find the Tilden Park merry-go-round, where we parked and had a bathroom break. Watching the kids having such a good time on the ride, it wasn’t too long before we found ourselves buying tickets and hopping on board ourselves! We gave Frank the camera, with strict orders to take great photos as we whirled around on the merry-go-round. You should’ve seen the grins we all were sporting. At one point, Carrie exclaimed the combined ages of the four of us women probably equaled that of the merry-go-round. Cries of indignation arose, but then I spotted a sign that proclaimed the ride was built 60 years ago. Heck, I’ll take being 15 again any day! And so Carrie was redeemed. After the merry-go-round ended and we climbed aboard our respective vehicles again, we continued on Wildcat Canyon Rd, turned onto Grizzly Peak Rd., and began to enjoy magnificent views of Oakland, the bay, and the city off in the distance. Skies were blue, poppies and lupine were flowering in abundance, in beautiful oranges and blues; it was just a gorgeous day. From Grizzly Peak we turned and continued along the ridge on Skyline, slowly making our way south, wending our way through the beautiful houses with the fantastic views (and probably equally fantastic price tags). Onward we pressed, enjoying the glimpses of view we could see from the road, and finally we descended back down the hill to 98th Ave. and Hwy 580. We hopped onto 580 for a short jaunt to Eden Canyon Rd., where we exited the freeway. We pulled over and said our goodbyes, as Karen would split off from us at that point. The remainder of our group then rode back down Palomares to Niles Canyon to Mission, where Lorraine took off for home. From there, Carrie, Frank, and I headed back down Mowry and over to
237 and back home to Mountain View. As I climbed off my new ride and
got ready to put her to bed for the night in the garage, Carrie and
Frank came up to me and told me what a great time they had had, and
how wonderful they thought the route was, and how much they liked the
group. I think I can say with confidence that a good time was had by
all, not least of all me! Cheers,
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The
silver paint of my new BMW R1150 RT reflected the overcast sky as I
pulled the bike out of the garage on Saturday morning. This would be
my first DC ride on her, and I was leading, since Tyler had gone off
to the “happiest place on Earth” (Disneyland). Sheepishly,
I adjusted the home-made map case I’d fashioned: a Ziplock bag
and duct tape… I knew I’d get a ribbing for that. Oh well,
it would have to do until I could get a real tank bag with a map pocket.