Two Trip reports and pictures from Joe. The first report is from Major WWWobble and starts below. Following that is a report from Dick. Lastly are some pictures from Joe.
17 Apr 2012
Major WWWobble writes:
Today’s MWR posted breakfast at the L&M in Livermore at 9am.
WWWobble’s MWR adventure begins at home a few minutes before 9am with cell phone ringing. ZunkelMan is calling from Livermore, specifically calling from where the L&M Cafe used to be. Closed for a remodel or something, and no Captain either. WWWobble (from his living room) suggests a few options (Try Tracy. Google Dennys). But Zunkel and Joe S. await the Captain who shows up shortly and they wander down the street to some other grill.
WWWobble ponders events of the morning and considers the data. Another closed restaurant. A missing Captain. Cell calls. This has the makings of a great MWR, one that should not be missed. So as the official MWR group eats someplace, not the L&M, WWWobble enjoys a tasty home prepared bowl of Bran and then mounts the YellowBeater to intercept the ride from the West. It’s a beautiful day, light freeway traffic to Alum Rock Road and the beginning of the fun pavement up to the top of Hamilton. The ride up mountain does not disappoint. Total traffic: 2 oncoming cars, 1 truck that pulled over to allow a pass, 3 bicyclists, and relatively clean pavement all the way up. Delightful.
Warm at the top, and empty – but not for long. Soon the ZunkelMan
arrives on his RT along with Dieter on the GS single. Then the Captain
with Joe S. riding his new Wee-Strom. Then another BMW fellow involves
himself in some kind of mercantile with the Captain. Cash changes
hands. It looks like three Mahle piston boxes going to the man with a
twin. Hmmm. Puzzling. But the Captain says, “No. Oil filters.”
Well, maybe…
Social time over, rest room breaks accomplished, biz transactions transacted and the Captain leads the way down mountain to an agreed upon WendyPunk adventure. We turn right on Kincaid Road and follow it up and over a crest, down into a pretty valley, over another rise and then down to a fast flowing stream. Over a sturdy grated bridge and along the road for a little ways and then. A gate. Locked. 5 Locks. And one sturdy rubber band. No, I’m not kidding.
I hope the Captain reports the length of this WendyPunk. Might be a record. Regardless, Kincaid turns out to be a nice road to travel on a warm mid week ride. Joe S. missed this portion due to other duties required, but the other four of us back tracked Kincaid and then continued down the mountain to San Jose. The Captain and Dieter turned on Quimby, ZunkelMan and WWWobble continued to Alum Rock, and all went our separate ways. Warm spring weather, non existent traffic, good fellowship, great ride.
Pictures from Major WWWobble
Dick writes:
Joe and I arrived at the L&M Café at the appointed timeonly to find it “closed for remodeling,” the popular buzz phrase of the neweconomy. If it’s like the Beach Street Café or DJ’s, it will be under renovation for a very long time. Chris arrived followed by our newest rider Deidier (sp?). The people at the nearby coffee shop suggested a restaurantabout a block away… The Riata. Yeee Haaa! The breakfast was large and so werethe prices, but it was a decent substitute for the venerable L&M. We waddled back to our bikes and headed outLivermore Ave and found Mines Road. Itwas a fine day for riding through green hills and streams rushing with clearwater. We paused at the Junction Café,which, of course, was closed. Chris continued his leadership toward MountHamilton stopping in his usual fashion on a bridge. One of only two vehicles wesaw all morning crossed the bridge without slowing down. Bubba had great fun grazing four motorcyclesparked on the bridge with his Ford F350 with wide mirrors and a passingcomment in a vaguely familiar language. As we continued, Chris made his traditional stop on the back sideof Mount Hamilton as the rest of uscontinued the climb. A yellow Honda was parked by the observatory… a certainBob Burns, known midweek rider, greeted us. Joe departed for grandchild liveryduty while the rest of traversed the Kincaid Road. I had only seen this path on Google Maps, and was notdisappointed in its beauty. The road is a known “wende” so we turned around at about 8 miles into back country and returned to the Mount Hamilton Road. The group split up atQuimby road. Bob and I continued viaAlum Rock. Chris and Deidier likely crept through San Jose’s chronic headache,the Tully Road 101 interchange. A fineride was had by all.
Pictures from Dick
four riders
gas up
and then there were five
Pictures from Joe
