s240 up diablo?

[Manuel Acosta]

Planning on riding up Monday afternoon to juniper campsites. Tuesday planning to check out the Tour de Cal that running through the south gate of diablo into livermoore. If your interested in doing a s240 and you've never done one before this is a good first one to do. 

Pictures of last s240 up there.

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjvhXC3e

More details coming up soon.

-Manny 

[EastBayGuy]

Manny,

I am in... Sent you an email off list

Dustin G

Walnut Creek Ca

[William]

This coming Monday?  That's too good to pass up.  I'll try to make it work. 

Bill 

[Manuel Acosta]

More details in the mixed.Made campsite reservation at juniper for eight people.

 Convinced two of buddies to roll out so far we have three. 

Planning on leaving later monday afternoon around 530ish due to work.

Depending on how long it takes us we'll be there right when the sun will go down.

Bring dinner, breakfast and snacks for the afternoon, Expect to share if you want.

Tuesday we'll ride over by the south gate to snag some pictures of the race. afterwords maybe lunch somewhere. 

Might even ride over to rivendell to snag a few things before barting home.

Like most trips if I plan out a route it's most likely not going to be followed.

So for those wondering if the mileage is too much. Don't worry it's not. I think. I'm pretty sure it not. We'll take plenty of breaks.

-Manny 

[William]

530ish where?  Walnut Creek BART?  Riv HQ?  I'll miss the morning race watching and will just head back to work, but it looks like I'm a go!

[Jim M.]

Sounds fun but I can't make the overnight. I plan on riding up to Junction in the morning, if it's not too crowded, to see who gets the KOM points. Maybe I'll see you all there.

jim m
wc ca

On Thursday, May 10, 2012 5:51:20 AM UTC-7, Manuel Acosta wrote:

[Manuel Acosta]

So right now the to place where were meeting is up in the air. I guess it all depends on where you what to ride from. The north gate of diablo or the south gate.

If we ride the north gate we can meet up around 530ish at Walnut Creek Bart.

If we ride the SOUTH gate we can meet up around 530ish at Dubin Bart.

Either ride should be good. I'm more partial to the south gate mostly because I've never ridden up it. But it doesn't really matter to me. Just as long as I get to sleep outside.

Any thoughts?

-Manny

[EastBayGuy]

I Will be heading up earlier in the Day, So I will meet everyone at Juniper. Any Preference for Campsites?

[Manuel Acosta]

I think it's 17 is the campsite with the huge tree. If you could grab that one that would be great. Planning on bringing my hammock that day.

[Anne Paulson]

I'm in. Unless someone else from the Peninsula is going and I can
hitch a ride, I'll ride over to Fremont and take the roundabout BART
route to Walnut Creek. I too will plan to leave Walnut Creek before
5:30, so I'll meet everyone there. See ya!

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-- Anne Paulson

My hovercraft is full of eels

[Manuel Acosta]

Awesome Anne. Anyone else down to come by let me know. Decided to ride up from the north gate. So planning on meeting at walnut creek bart around 530ish. hopefully early. Any questions any issues pm me and I'll text you my number

-Manny

On Saturday, May 12, 2012 5:02:10 PM UTC-7, Anne Paulson wrote:

I'm in. Unless someone else from the Peninsula is going and I can
hitch a ride, I'll ride over to Fremont and take the roundabout BART
route to Walnut Creek. I too will plan to leave Walnut Creek before
5:30, so I'll meet everyone there. See ya!

On Fri, May 11, 2012 at 10:36 AM, Manuel Acosta
<manueljo...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I think it's 17 is the campsite with the huge tree. If you could grab that
> one that would be great. Planning on bringing my hammock that day.
>
>
> On Friday, May 11, 2012 10:26:59 AM UTC-7, EastBayGuy wrote:
>>
>> I Will be heading up earlier in the Day, So I will meet everyone at
>> Juniper. Any Preference for Campsites?
>
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[Michael Williams]

Hey Manny,    is Juniper somewhat close to Rock City?         thanks,   -Mike     415 265 7770

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[ekoral]

Manny -
I'm gonna try and make it tomorrow, but i'm not positive. i have jury
duty this week and i know now that i dont' have to be there monday,
but i'm not sure about tues morning. If i can make it, i'll see you at
walnut creek bart. if not, i'll try and catch the next one!

thanks!
eli
415-424-222seven

On May 13, 10:55 pm, Manuel Acosta <manueljohnaco...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

> Awesome Anne. Anyone else down to come by let me know. Decided to ride up
> from the north gate. So planning on meeting at walnut creek bart around
> 530ish. hopefully early. Any questions any issues pm me and I'll text you
> my number
> -Manny
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Saturday, May 12, 2012 5:02:10 PM UTC-7, Anne Paulson wrote:
>
> > I'm in. Unless someone else from the Peninsula is going and I can
> > hitch a ride, I'll ride over to Fremont and take the roundabout BART
> > route to Walnut Creek. I too will plan to leave Walnut Creek before
> > 5:30, so I'll meet everyone there. See ya!
>
> > On Fri, May 11, 2012 at 10:36 AM, Manuel Acosta
> > <manueljohnaco...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> > > I think it's 17 is the campsite with the huge tree. If you could grab
> > that
> > > one that would be great. Planning on bringing my hammock that day.
>
> > > On Friday, May 11, 2012 10:26:59 AM UTC-7, EastBayGuy wrote:
>
> > >> I Will be heading up earlier in the Day, So I will meet everyone at
> > >> Juniper. Any Preference for Campsites?
>
> > > --
> > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> > Groups
> > > "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
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> > >https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/RLaZAY2fkesJ.
>

> > > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com.

> > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to

> > > rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.

[William]

I'll be there at Walnut Creek BART at 5:30-ish SHARP!  I just snagged a can of soup a couple tea bags and a few instant oatmeals from the office kitchen.  

Bill 510-828-one-nine-two-six

[EastBayGuy]

Not getting the Early start I had anticipated. See everyone at the Top.....

Dustin G

[William]

Dustin did in fact get there, and he got there before Manny, Tommy, and me.  Anne was also there, and that made 5.  I was the only one to leave early, and I'm back in the office now.  It was a delightful S24O.  

I BARTed from South Hayward to Macarthur, just in time to see "no bikes" on the trains heading to Walnut Creek.  I texted Manny "am I hosed?".  Manny replied "maybe dude".  I didn't get on the first train, but when I saw three bikes get off the next one, I decided to ignore the 'no bikes' flashing and take my chances.  I think it changes at 5PM, and it was only a few minutes after 5, so I concluded that my chances were good to not have to contend with 'Johnny Law'.  The train wasn't even crowded, and that got me out to Walnut Creek.

I met up with Manny and Tommy who were waiting there.  Manny was on his brother's bike, an old Raleigh beater, made famous because it has the epicly crumpled Honjo fender on it.  We started off right away through the busy streets of Walnut Creek, when "POP" Manny's rear tire blew.  It was an ancient Ruffy Tuffy, nowhere near used up in treadlife, but the sidewall was long gone.  Manny started taking it apart, but I had made up my mind that the tire was a total lost cause.  Manny said "Yeah, my brother said he didn't trust that tire anymore".  #facepalm#.  Anyway, I looked at our location (Ygnacio and N Broadway) and immediately called Riv HQ.  It was 5:45, well after closing, but of course someone answered, and of course it was Grant, and of course he said come right over.  I rode ahead the 2.5 blocks while Manny and Tommy walked.  Grant and I talked a little about what he needed, and one of the solutions that Grant thought up was "Manny can take his new bike".  I got to see it.  It's an orange and cream 650B Hillborne.  It's adorable.  I resisted the urge to snap a photo of it.  Manny hadn't seen it (and still hasn't) so I thought that would be unfair of me.  

Anyhow, Grant pulled out a tire, and Manny went to fixing it.  Perhaps foolishly, we went Jack Brown, and sure enough it rubbed on that tattered fender.  Grant said "forget it, let's put you on a bike".  He grabbed the 48 Hunqapillar, a Saddlesack Large and put us to work.  I had a couple extra zipties so I got the Saddlesack down pretty quickly.  Manny started stuffing his stuff from the porteur rack on his brothers bike into the Saddlesack.  Grant reappeared with a Nitto Mini front and a basket, and we had that on in another few minutes (beeswaxed threads and all).  Grant enjoyed making a small wrench joke, he handed me a 10mm box wrench for the centerbolt of the Nitto Mini and said "Here's a 10mm Allen wrench".  The brand of the wrench is Allen.  Anyway....

We were totally loaded up.  Manny was pretty mortified with guilt that he put Grant out, but I was elated that we were able to parlay some good karma back into a really useful upgrade.  More than anything I was grateful that Manny's tire failed at the absolute perfect location.  On the decent of Diablo this afternoon could have been substantially less optimal.  Starting towards and up Diablo about an hour late, we were pretty sure it would be dusk-to-dark when we arrived.  It was a great ride up the mountain, road essentially all to ourselves.  We saw a pair of EPIC wild turkeys showing off their tail feathers to the same hen.  There was a moronic family of quails that ran away from us by running up the center of the road in a very slight serpentine.  

We arrived in camp at about 8, which was pretty good time considering how late we started.  Dustin and Anne were there.  We got out several stoves and feasted on veggies and sausages from Dustin, and bacon wrapped hotdogs from Manny.  My pitiful supplies went unopened, but I was happy to help cook and clean.  We made a pretty respectable campfire and hit the hay at about 11.  Manny rocked the hammock.  

I got up around 6 and packed up.  Manny and Anne got up and we had coffee/tea/oatmeal before I headed off to work.  The rest of them are presumably watching the race.  I did go ahead and summit first.  It was a lovely morning.  

I'll post some pictures later this afternoon.  

Bill

[Anne Paulson]

Fabulous trip. I rode from my house in Los Altos to the Union City
BART, a good part of the ride in the Baylands. Since I was plenty
early, I had no trouble with bikes not being allowed. Note to other
riders who take the elevator down when they get to the Walnut Creek
BART station: you're supposed to run your ticket through the machine
when you get out. It's not obvious.

The Google directions from the BART to North Gate Road are correct
(more or less) but difficult to follow. You find yourself on the
Contra Costa Trail, and then at some point Google helpfully says "Turn
right." Um, yeah? There were a lot of chances to turn right. But I
managed to find my way to the bike path by the hospital, which was
delightful, and then to Walnut and North Gate, and up I went, starting
around 4:00.

At the junction, there were other riders of course, and all they could
talk about was the race. And then just after I left the junction to
continue climbing, as I was stopped to snack or put on a sweater or
something, three other bike tourists passed me, two of them women. I
wondered if they were us, but they were another bike touring party. I
speeded up to try to stay with them, ending up ahead of one of the
women and behind the other, pulling into the campground at around 6:20
or so.

I promptly became the laughingstock of the entire campground as I
dithered about trying to pick a campsite that would have flat spots to
camp, and also a place for Manny's hammock. Finally I decided to just
pick one, put up tent and began to cook dinner (what would end up to
be my first dinner. It was good, but as you'll see, it didn't take.) I
was just eating my asparagus and cooking my noodles when along came
Dustin. He didn't like the campsite I had wasted so much time picking,
and by that time neither did I, so we decided to move to a different
spot, the very spot we camped the last time I was with a Riv group. I
ate the rest of my dinner, packed up my tent, noticed that although
the initial campsite I had picked was pretty crummy it had a
spectacular view of the sun just going down in a haze of gold, and
moved to join Dustin.

We had our flashlights on by the time Manny, Tommy and Bill showed up.
Yay! Time for second dinnner. Dustin cooked us vegetables and some
delicious sausage. Manny, a prince among men, offered us all
bacon-wrapped hotdogs. Bacon-wrapped hotdogs! Yum. If it's good, it's
better with bacon. Or cream. Or both. I shared nothing, but next time
we go camping I'm cooking pancakes and Nutella for breakfast for all.

There was a gorgeous fire, but I'm still jetlagged from being in Spain
last week (I took one ride in the other Sierra Nevada) so I just went
to my tent to get something, and next thing I knew I was waking up and
it was 2 in the morning or something.

I got up in time to get the last of Bill's coffee and say goodbye to
him. He asked if he should summit Diablo before he went down to go to
work. Of course, I said stupidly, forgetting that by saying that, I
was committing myself to summiting it later. Now that it was light, I
could see everyone's bike. Dustin's I had already seen, a handsome
Atlantis gorgeously kitted with Saddlesack, front bag and a stylish
tweed handlebar bag. Manny's loaner Hunqa was a beauty as well, also
kitted with a shiny new Saddlesack. I could imagine riding that dandy
loaner, it would be easy to "forget" where Rivendell is, and be, alas,
unable to return the bike Every time I see a Hunqa I have to remind
myself that even though I think the gray/red paint job is the most
beautiful thing going, I have no need for a Hunqa and wouldn't ride
it.

Quite a bit later the rest of us rode to the top. By that time, I
realized that if I stayed to watch the race, I'd be facing a 75 minute
BART ride and then 30 miles riding at rush hour-- and I wasn't at all
sure I'd be able to avoid the BART rush hour ban, so I decided to just
head home, passing a stream of happy cyclists going up the other way.
At least on North Gate, almost everyone was arriving the proper way,
on bike, though I suppose cars came later.

One mysterious guy was driving from the junction up to the summit with
a bike on his car. I thought to myself, "What's the bike for, dude?"
but the more apposite comment would be "What's the car for, dude?"
Near the bottom, the race officials were spraypainting every pothole,
a time-consuming job on North Gate Road, which does not appear to have
been beautifully maintained lately.

I tried to put my ticket in the BART reader in Walnut Creek, but it
didn't work because I hadn't swiped it yesterday. Oh well. The station
agent fixed it all up. Next time I'll know better.

The Dumbarton Bridge, never a delightful trip, was particularly
challenging today because of a wicked crosswind. Every time a truck
passed, I'd get buffeted. It would have been frightful for a light
rider (but I am not one) on a light bike (but my loaded Atlantis
definitely doesn't qualify). Once over the bridge, I headed home
through the Baylands, with a north wind at my back. Then along the
Stevens Creek trail, and home.

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[cyclotourist]

This sounds like an all-around great outing. Really nice when all the pieces fall into place like this!

Cheers,
David
Redlands, CA

**
“I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that’s the America millions of Americans believe in. That’s the America I love.”

[Michael_S]

yes... we are all jealous down here in the lower half. ( well at least I am)  Please post some photos so we can pretend like we were there!

~mike

Carlsbad Ca.

On Thursday, May 10, 2012 5:51:20 AM UTC-7, Manuel Acosta wrote:

[Mike]

On May 15, 11:44 am, William <tapebu...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Grant and I talked a little about what he needed, and
> one of the solutions that Grant thought up was "Manny can take his new
> bike".  I got to see it.  It's an orange and cream 650B Hillborne.  It's
> adorable.  I resisted the urge to snap a photo of it.  Manny hadn't seen it
> (and still hasn't) so I thought that would be unfair of me.

I'm confused by this statement. Manny has a new SH? Yay! I guess it
was there and not assembled, correct? Perhaps Manny will chime in.
Good to know he'll be back on a Riv in the future.

[jimD]

Great write up!

-JimD

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[William]

"I'm confused by this statement. Manny has a new SH?"

Yes, yes he does.  I don't know which version of the story to tell, so I'll let Manny be in charge of that.  

"Yay! I guess it was there and not assembled, correct?"

It actually was assembled, for the most part.  It didn't have racks or a saddle, but it was otherwise complete.  Manny wasn't ready to look at it, as we had an S24O task at hand.  I don't have the willpower Manny has, so I did look and if I was him I would have looked.  

"Perhaps Manny will chime in."

I expect he might.  He must have seen it when he returned the loaner 'Pillar.  

 
"Good to know he'll be back on a Riv in the future."

Absolutely agree.  He looked right at home on a Riv.  

[Manuel Acosta]

It's kind of hard to write up a ride recap when Anne and Bill did such a beautiful job. I'll do what I can not to be redundant.

Like all good trips or experiences it always starts with some challenging event. Like what I tell my students when they start complaining about running the mile, "If it's not hard then it won't be fun". Well if the trip started with a sidewall flat then I knew this was going to be fun. I got to borrow my brother's bike the famous accordion honjo fendered bike for the trip, jury-rigged my platrack sackville bag to fit his soma porteur rack ( which fit without much trouble) and hanged most of the things that I didn't fit outside of the rack. Like how Bill describe it the rear exploded with such fury that I thought the trip was going to be over before it started. But low and behold things happen for a reason and Bill gave a call to Rivendell. Super Grant was there to help save the day. Wrestling on the tire and getting pumped up only to find out that the tire was rubbing on the fender I figured I would have to deal with it for today so I ride off, when I hear Grant yelling at me, "Come back Manny I have a better solution for you." I come back and he's pulling out a 48cm Hunqapillar display bike out from the shop for me to borrow. Horrid that I had to put Grant out, I figured this was going happen whether or not I was going to like it or not. It's weird because getting a loaner bike from Rivendell would be a dream from some people. I felt like a horrible person that I had to had to trouble Grant to accommodate my mistake. But I digress, more on this later. So after some basket fitting, we're off riding up Diablo with gorgeous views of the sun setting in the over Walnut Creek. We get to the campsite almost in the dark meeting up with Dustin and Anne. We sent up our tents and get ready for dinner. Food is good and plentiful with our butter cooked veggies and bacon-wrapped hotdogs. We sleep well until we hear some near by neighbor practicing his karate at 2am in the morning (he was shooing off raccoons I was told). I wake up to find Bill and Anne making coffee and Bill ready to go to work. Before he did he took the summit; nothing like starting your day climbing a mountain before work! Around 8ish we all got up and rode to the summit for some good morning ice cream sandwiches at the summit vistor center. This is were Anne took her leave and bit us adue as she ride back to San Jose. We rode down pass the ranger station to scope out a spot to take pictures of the race. Dustin pick a great shaded area 200m before the KOM.

It's funny how riding a mountain and waiting a couple of hours to watch other people ride the same mountain for 10 seconds can bring such a crowd. The atmosphere before the ride was quite interesting. It became more of a mini party deck out with free ice cream and people dressing in ludicrous costumes dressed as cats, witches, raccoons, Zorro and even (gasp) Lycra! I'm one to talk as I was at the race dressed in my SF Randonneur's (wool) Jersey. We spend our time waiting for the riders by eating. Dustin was nice of enough to share his lunch of cheese and salami. I had rope from my hammock so I decided string up a chair to wait on. Got to meet with a people who stopped by and said hi. Mike who was suppose to meet us up at Juniper but decided(smartly) to sleep near the ranger station because they rode up wall point prior. Grant and former Rivendell employee Peter even stopped by and hung out as we all waited for the racers to make their way up the mountain. After the 10 second flash of 18> pound bikes the descent down Diablo was amazingly hectic with so many riders. We make our way back to Rivendell said our good byes to Dustin, dropped off the loaner bike at the shop and we jumped on bart. 

I find it amazing that this trip was made possible through just simple communication of time and place on this forum. With very actually conversations with real people. Oh the wonders of the interweb. It also was interesting to note that despite the many differences and many routes of how we got to our main destination we were brought together for good times, good  food, amazing people and great bikes. Another awesome trip. Already looking forward to the next one.

Pictures proved that I didn't go to school that day:

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzppyVU

Better pictures proved that I stole my girlfriends camera:

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjzpyB7j

-Manny "Bacon Wrapped Anything" Acosta

oh yea I picked up my new Hillborne too. More on this later.   

[tommynguyen]

I would like to thank Manny for turning me onto this forum and
organizing the s24o trip up Mount Diablo to catch the race. It was a
pleasure to meet Dustin, Anne and Bill and the other Rivendell riders.
It was amazing to see the camaraderie between everyone and to feel the
excitement and energy through the trip and at the HQ. I will
definitely be up for future trips as well as the HQ to check out some
stuff.

T

[Manuel Acosta]

One picture to colierate Tommy's first post on the form. 

Tommy himself riding up Diablo on his new touring bike!

http://flic.kr/p/c1uJEd

[William]

My photos are up.  They aren't in a set yet.  Here's a couple of turkeys:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45758191@N04/7274165030/in/photostream 

and here's a couple of turkeys

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45758191@N04/7274162804/in/photostream/ 

[Manuel Acosta]

Ha! Thanks for the photos Bill. They look great!

[PATRICK MOORE]

Beautiful photos; thanks for posting them.

California must be the most beautiful state in the contiguous 48. NM
is beautiful for its light, sapphire skies and distant vistas, but I
have to admit that CA, No or So, beats it. The combination of western
vistas (compared to the tiny valleys and hills of New England or the
short views of wooded Georgia) and greenery is unbeatable.

And I remember the cool, humid summer air around San Francisco -- I
guess that you get the same around Walnut Creek?

The only thing that NM has in advantage is the unsurpassed quality of
the light thanks to the altitude (mean elevation 5,700 feet) and low
humidity (20% today: high; yesterday: 4%). West LA looks "dim" when I
visit. Wish I could visit W Creek.

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--
"Push back against the age as hard as it pushes against you."

Flannery O'Connor

-------------------------
Patrick Moore, Albuquerque, NM, USA
For professional resumes, contact Patrick Moore, ACRW
http://resumespecialties.com/index.html
-------------------------

[Jim M.]

On Thursday, May 31, 2012 12:18:49 PM UTC-7, Patrick Moore wrote:

And I remember the cool, humid summer air around San Francisco -- I
guess that you get the same around Walnut Creek?

Ha! It was 90 today in the Creek, and dry, though not as dry as New Mexico. We were probably 25 degrees warmer than SF. It's a very different climate here, but I agree about the beauty. Here and New Mexico are my 2 favorite places.

jim m
wc ca