Brunch in Blackhawk

Bill Bushnell - Saturday, January 8, 1994

At 8:00 I met Jim Haughey, Eric House, John Hughes, Rob Satterthwaite, and Sam Wilkie at the Menlo Park Recreation Center for John’s ride to Blackhawk, a fairly new development east of Danville.

At about 8:10 we started off down Laurel and then northeast on Willow and across the Dumbarton Bridge. We turned left on Paseo Padre and joined the Alameda Creek Trail off Ardenwood Drive. John prefers riding the Alameda Creek Trail to Niles Canyon, but I prefer the quick and dirty routes straight through town. The trail gives a more relaxing ride than the city streets, but the unpredictable pedestrians, kids on little bikes, and in-line skaters make me nervous. We rode along in a tight bunch at about 20 mph.

At the entrance to Niles canyon we continued without pause up CA-84 to Palomares Rd. After climbing a short distance up the hill, we stopped to take an input/output break. The horses in the nearby corral wandered over and eyed our snacks hungrily.

We continued up Stonybrook Canyon to the pass, and after a short break we started down the north and steeper side of Palomares Rd. I managed a max speed of 46 mph, but I would have done better had I waited longer at the top after the others had started down ahead of me. The road was damp and sandy in parts, but there was no ice, and traction was good. After cruising down the rolling descent for another couple of miles, Rob got a pinch flat after riding over a pothole that I failed to call out. (Sorry, Rob.)

We continued into Castro Valley and then turned right and started up Crow Canyon Rd. Crow Canyon Rd. is not much fun to ride, especially during the middle of the day. The shoulder is narrow, often poorly-paved, and the white line is marked with white road reflectors at intervals frequent enough to be frustrating as we weaved first to the left to avoid bad pavement and then to the right to avoid impatient motorists.

We turned right at Norris Canyon Rd. and enjoyed the remaining climb to the top of the ridge in relative peace. The eastern descent was swift, but at the stop sign at Bollinger Canyon Rd., I felt a few spits of rain. Looking north, our planned direction, the clouds only looked darker.

We turned left on Bollinger Canyon and right on Crow Canyon Rd. Instead of taking the short, sweet (and bicycle-unfriendly, according to John) route on Crow Canyon Rd. to Blackhawk, we turned left on San Ramon Blvd. and wound our way via Greenbrook to Sycamore Valley Rd. By now the precipitation had become a steady drizzle, not enough to ease the dry spell, but enough to wet the roads and make drafting the cyclist in front decidedly unpleasant.

We continued on Camino Tassajara to Suzanne’s Muffins at Blackhawk for a well-deserved brunch-break and a chance to dry off.

My original plan (as advertised last week on this list) was to join John’s ride to Blackhawk and then head north to Walnut Creek BART and take the lazy man’s way back to Union City. Sam was unsure whether he’d want to ride further than that since he hadn’t ridden more than 60 miles in a long time. Rob wanted to join me because he wanted to get home early. But, since the weather had turned unpleasant, John decided to shorten the planned route and return to Pleasanton on Camino Tassajara then continue to Sunol before deciding whether to ride Calaveras Rd. or just return over the Dumbarton Bridge. Since the way was mostly downhill, Sam decided to continue the ride, and since we’d probably arrive home a little quicker than if we rode to Walnut Creek and BARTed to Union City, Rob decided to stay with the group. So, to make a long story only a little bit longer, I decided to stick with the group. I estimated that those of us returning to Palo Alto would ride a little under 100 miles for the day.

The drizzle stopped while we ate, and as we rode east the roads became dry. I pulled at the front for several miles—too long for my own good—then Jim, Eric, and John pulled. By the time we got to Pleasanton, the drizzle returned. We continued with only two brief stops for the bushes through Pleasanton to Sunol. The weather looked very wet up the Sunol Valley, so John and Eric decided not to try Calaveras Rd. We turned right and rode swiftly down Niles Canyon Rd., and got honked at rudely by one pickup truck driver for no apparent reason.

At the end of Niles Canyon we rejoined the Alameda Creek Trail and retraced our steps back across the Dumbarton Bridge, arriving in Menlo Park at about 14:45.

It was a good, fast-paced ride without too much climbing, and yes, I was tired at the end. The weather could have been nicer, and it would have been nice to stop a little more often, but I suppose these kinds of fast-paced, minimal-stops rides are good for me to do once in a while.

Ride Stats:

distance: 98.7 miles

climbing: 2990 feet

average speed: 17.4 mph

maximum speed: 46.0 mph

total time: 7:15

riding time: 5:40

index: 111

irp: 15.3

mirp: 19.5

climbing density: 30 ft/mi

An article on indexing can be found here.

©2004, Bill Bushnell

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