As we approach the next rainy season some of the road destruction due to this past winter’s rains has finally been repaired and roads are reopening. As mentioned in a couple of weeks ago we got a nice present when Calaveras Road reopened rather unexpectedly. I thought that one was slated for the “might never be open again” category. After a series of delays Palomares Road has finally been reopened as of today! For the animals in the club, we now have the elements for some killer rides back: from an East Bay BART station over Palomares and out Calaveras to points beyond, either Milpitas BART or Mt. Hamilton. Stay tuned… [UPDATE: Well, I guess I am mistaken. Calaveras is NOT fully open. The City of Milpitas opened the section of Calaveras that is within their jurisdiction a few weeks ago. However San Francisco Water & Power still has a section shut down north of the reservoir that prevents any through traffic.]
By the way since Palomares is now open, next week’s BART To the Niles Canyon Roll ‘N Stroll has tangential possibilities for those so inclined. This ride is a flat B-pace ride to Dublin/Pleasanton and Walnut Creek BART stations. But this doesn’t prevent others from joining us and diverging up Palomares since we’ll be passing it on the way to Sunol. You guys can race us up Palomares and 580 to Walnut Creek BART. We shall see who gets there first! (You guys will because we’re not going to race. Oh, and we’re stopping for some comestibles in Danville.)
The estimated completion date for Alhambra Valley Road also keeps sliding. For a while it looked like it might be open for the Fall Social. Then it was a week later. Now it’s October 12. When it does reopen you can bet it’s going to be a cycling parade because the Three Bears is such a popular training route. All that pent up desire. No Three Bears for nine months. Why, it makes me want to come…as soon as it opens. By the way Alhambra Valley Road also happens to be one of the three most popular places over here for miscreants to dump their large trash items because it’s so isolated and rural. So expect it be be spickety-span clean for about one week after it reopens and then we shall see the mysterious Monuments to Garbage reappear with startling rapidity. We’ll have a big club party too when it’s open.
Morgan Territory Road is another one that keeps sliding (pun intended). Unexpected conditions during the repair–more rock encountered during pile drilling and the need for additional rain runoff drainage–now has the County seeing the completion in mid-November. That doesn’t seem to stop the racing Freds from heading out that way as we witnessed last week on Derek’s Clayton ride. The temporary diversion road around the repair is supposed to be for local residents only since it’s on private land, but isn’t “I don’t give a fuck” cycling’s middle name? The good news is that when it reopens for real it will be well into autumn and the riding up there should be awesome. Sounds like another invitation for a club ride, doesn’t it?
And we finally got an estimate on Redwood Road’s reopening. All summer it was quiet and we thought CalTrans was doing the repair when in fact they were still studying it and only have begun to work on it. Now CalTrans is estimating January 2018 for completion. Yeah, right. Well, Marciel and Brandon Trail are pretty cool in the meantime.
And over on the Midpeninsula, Skyline Boulevard (Highway 35) is still closed near Castle Rock State Park. On its website CalTrans continues to say the closure will end on midnight September 30. That’s just a week away.
The Chain Letter 