Mid-Week Rides: Lost

20 February 2007

WWWobble writes:

Another MidWeek Ride, in fine MWR style. Riders assemble at the WWWobble encampment and depart on schedule. We meet Ran Bush at Valero’s busiest station, and arrive at JD’s Restaurant in a gaggle of U-turns and confusion. JD’s is closed Tuesdays. Is it Tuesday already? Yes it is. Plan B is Baker’s Square, conveniently located down the street. We sit at a group table set for Health Net figuring we will eat healthy and send them the bill. Health Net cancels, so we pay our own way and eat what we damn well feel like.

Time to Ride! WWWobble leads along Redwood Road with view of the Upper San Leandro Reservoir. We ride thru a lovely park and connect with Skyline Blvd. The ride is going well. Skyline twists around providing close up views of quaint $Zillion dollar homes perched upon the hillside with the entire SF Bay Area as a backdrop. Say, are we still on Skyline? Road signs appear, well, missing. Could we be on Redwood? Or maybe Juaquin Miller? We confer. A discarded copy of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden lies next to a bush. We continue to confer.

The Captain says we’re still on Skyline. WWWobble wobbles. Since the Captain is the usual leader, and says it is Skyline we follow him and it goes over Highway 24 (this is good) and down the hill (this is not good). It is Skyline, it is not going where we want, and it is not going where the map (1981 edition) says it goes. A WendyPunk is called for, error charged to, well, no consensus. Back along the twisty road with $Zillion dollar homes and WWWobble, leading again, craftily turns on some little road that crosses Hwy 24 (this is good) and goes up the hill (this is also good). We come to a stop sign with choices (this is not good). WWWobble ponders the unsolvable. Go left? Go right? Stay straight? Ran Bush comes to the rescue. “You want Wildcat Canyon, then stay straight!” WWWobble futzes with the clutch long enough for Ran to pull into the lead. YES! The Bushman finds Wildcat Canyon, and the rest of the group is relieved – because that’s what they did with themselves at the side of the road on Wildcat Canyon. No flower is safe.

Back on Plan, we circle the San Pablo Reservoir and cut through the Alhambra Valley to Freeway 4 which speeds us to a rest stop near Clayton in a large parking lot. The official MugWump Photographer refuses to take a group shot in front of an abandoned Albertsons. Artists can be tempermental. Rich is excited by the prospect of turning the property into a combination bowling alley, B&B, and MWR clubhouse. Eric, new to the MWR walks across the lot for a coke.

Now for serious riding. Over Hecker Pass [editor’s note: Hecker Pass goes from Silicon Valley to the Monterey Peninsula; just how lost was this group?], Left on Marsh Right on Marsh, whatever, then south to BANG and BOUNCE along Morgan Territory Road, cross Livermore, and arrive Sunol for a late lunch. Now for serious riding. Calveras pavement decent, it only looked slippery.

And FINALLY Zunkel gets to do the road this ride was called for. He’s a patient man. Felter and Sierra Roads offer another stunning panorama of the South Bay, and, yes, it does look like an old Conestoga Wagon sitting off in a field.

So ends the official ride. No drops. No crashes. No tickets. One unresolved WendyPunk. Many laughs. Good Ride!