TLDR: Same route, different refreshment.

“We forgot to take a photo!” Chris blurted out at the end of our little Ladies Who Lunch confab. So sorry, you will all have to settle for words, probably too many of them and of slight import to boot. But occasionally quantity does not belie quality–you be the judge.

It’s become a formula: start in downtown Lafayette and head up the Lafayette-Moraga Regional Trail to Moraga Common and back, then relax and enjoy some food and maybe an adult beverage of the hoppy kind. That last meal to Tutu’s had me thinking of doing a repeat but I also wanted to try someplace different. This time we ended our ride at Batch & Brine, which is just around the corner from Tutu’s and the Lafayette Public House.

It was the usual East Bay crowd: Roger and me, Lamberto and Joe, and Chris. Joining us this time were Kevin, a brand new member hailing from Seattle, and our club president Stephen. Kevin moves fast in more than one sense. While flying down here from Seattle for an extended work assignment he joined Different Spokes! He’s a member of Outspoken, the newish Seattle/San Diego LGBTQ club. Stephen intended to join us a couple of months ago but punted when he got too busy. This time he managed to show but minus the bike, so he met us just for the post-ride meal. Kevin on the other hand had to take off for a meeting so he couldn’t hang out over a meal. (Or, at least that’s the story he told us… maybe he’d had enough of us. Talk about hooking up!)

Although I didn’t get a chance to converse with Kevin more—he was up ahead most of the time and I was at the back—he did tell me he was relishing the Bay Area weather because Seattle is moving quickly into winter. I didn’t tell him that this wasn’t exactly normal. It has been an unusually mild summer and early October often brutalizes us with raging heat, which may be great for taking in Fleet Week and the JR but also can be a gruesome hurrah for raging wildfires. I expect we’ll see more of him on club rides unless he’s kidnapped by the ALC crowd.

When I greeted Kevin at the start he said he’d just met Stephen on BART coming over. Huh? Just an hour before Stephen had told me he couldn’t make the ride but would come afterwards. Yet he was already in Lafayette? A mystery. When we met Stephen after the ride, he said he decided to come over to inspect Lafayette, a burb he’s never been to. I suspect a lot of SF Spokers rarely set foot in any of the Contra Costa communities except on a club ride. That brought back a chuckling memory. (WARNING: club history dead ahead!) Back in the 1980s a particularly vitriolic hate organization, Lou Sheldon’s Traditional Values Coalition, was active in the Walnut Creek area. The Reverend Lou got his start with Anita Bryant saving children from evil homosexual men and lesbian gym teachers who preyed upon America’s youth. Lou started his own organization and a chapter promptly popped up in Walnut Creek. Back then Contra Costa was a red state. Pretty much everything east of the Caldecott was conservative. Club rides out here were jokingly referred to as secret forays into enemy territory ‘to gather intel’ despite the fact that Contra Costa was crawling with gay people who just weren’t as visible as the ‘newsworthy’ freaks paraded on TV every Gay Pride. Walnut Creek must have been a den of iniquity with its two rather non-discreet gay bars at that time.

We started the ride an hour earlier because the days are shortening quickly and we didn’t want folks to have to bring lights. Plus, it’s just safer to ride in broad daylight. The jaunt up the trail was a bit busier this time but not at all crowded. I ended up at the back talking with Joe all the way up. We did a quick turn-around at Moraga Common and zoomed back down arriving at Batch & Brine with plenty of daylight. By the way if you haven’t been on the trail yet, I highly recommend it. The Iron Horse Trail gets all the glam attention yet there are actually several rails-to-trails in Contra Costa that are a soothing getaway from traffic. The LMT is, in my opinion, the nicest and has the most rural ambiance of them all.

Although Roger and I had eaten lunch at Batch & Brine before, we weren’t sure how crowded it might be after work. It turns out Lamberto and Joe also had eaten there once when they couldn’t find another place that was open and they thought it was pretty good. Our fear was unfounded: it wasn’t crowded at all and we were able to grab a set of tables on the front patio without any problems and with our bikes parked right next to us. That’s when Kevin had to go to his meeting.

It was another long dinner that ended well after the sun had set. We didn’t leave until almost 8 PM. Roger and I got the fish & chips, Chris got a fried onion blossom, Lamberto the ribs, and Stephen an ahi tuna bowl. Joe had what I should have gotten, eggplant with curried lentils. It all looked great when it arrived. Unfortunately Roger didn’t like his fish and chips whereas I thought they were a solid “B”: the fish was cooked just right and the batter wasn’t soaked with oil. This time no one got dessert. Hmm.

This was another atypical Spoker meal confab: not a word was mentioned about club business or goings-on. Instead the conversation veered off into family histories; what growing up Catholic was like in the “old days”; why parent’s don’t raise their kids bilingually; dialect variation in France, Japan, and Italy; “world Spanish” versus Castilian; ex-pat life in Panama, segregation in New England; and cycling in Taiwan. Whew! There was a time when Spoker conversations unerringly ended up on three topics: club happenings, juicy gossip, and bikes. Times have changed. Or have we?

Daylight Savings Time ends on November 2. So the next Happy Hour in the East Bay will likely be next March or April after we’re back on DST. I’m thinking we may start in Walnut Creek next time to ride one of the other MUPs. On the other hand there’s a Filipino restaurant in Lafayette that might be a good place to end the ride. Stay tuned!

A report from Nancy Levin, the ride leader of today’s ride:

Super fun ride today. It felt like a big hug to SF – from the bay to the ocean, to the Presidio and Twin Peaks, lots of coastline and views. The ride was just listed a few days ago but five of us signed up including Al and his young son Elliot, who just got his cool Trek road bike a month ago. Hats off to Elliot for his great attitude and strong cycling! What a climber. Larry and Chris rounded out the fabulous fivesome. 
After we made our way from Peet’s down to the bay, it was a tourist’s delight. We enjoyed the views of the bay while cruising by a marina, the Valkyries and Warriors arena (aka Chase Center) and Giants (aka Oracle) stadium, past the bustling Ferry Building, down to Ghirardelli Square, then to Fort Mason and Crissy field, with a snack at the warming hut and a “money shot” in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a reminder of why so many people visit S.F.  We took in the close-up of the bridge at the Fort Point turnabout and began the climbing part of the ride into the Presidio. After regrouping at the Legion of Honor (that darn hill!), we headed towards Lands End and a spectacular view of Ocean Beach heading down from the Cliff House. We deviated from the route a bit, stopping at Java Beach Café rather than Java Beach at the Zoo. After lunches of bagel+cream cheese+bacon, ice cream+ hot coffee, and wrap sandwiches, father and son headed towards home, and Larry, Chris and Nancy made their way to Vicente and the slow gradual climb to West Portal and the grind up Ulloa. Whew. Then a coda up Twin Peaks (where the leader somehow lost track of the guys). But all got home, safe and sound.

This was the second time that Roger and I offered our Happy Hour in the East Bay ride. By club standard’s it’s an outlier of a ride because it’s quite short—just ten miles, takes place midweek, and barely after work hours. Oh, and it’s in the East Bay rather than San Francisco and by “East Bay” I don’t mean Oakland or Berkeley but the other East Bay, i.e. the other side of the Berkeley/Oakland hills. Not a lot of Spokers live east of Berkeley and if you drive over there’s a congested tunnel you have to drive through if you do want to enjoy the best of Contra Costa. (More the reason to take BART…if you can squeeze you and your bike into a train car!)

This ride was originally offered as a lark. Is it that hard to post a post-work ride or gathering? Nobody since Aaron and to some extent the late Will Bir has done it with some regularity. There have been occasional one-off attempts. So I thought we’d give it a try. Kind of a demo—see, anyone can do it. That’s kind of what we did with our Social A Rides a decade ago: throw something up on the wall and see what sticks.

Last month there were five of us and this month there were the exact same five! I guess we’re the “Outsiders”. Lamberto and Joe live in Contra Costa, as do Roger and I, and it’s easy for them to make their way to Lafayette for a ride. Chris is from the other side of the hills but a BART ride over is all it takes for him to join us.

The ride was the same as last month: start at the Lafayette Public House, go up the Lamorinda trail to Moraga Common, and then turn around and head back for post-ride refreshment. Unlike last month it was hot—90F at 5:30 PM when we left. In other words it was a typical summer day in Contra Costa during a surprisingly atypical summer in which this was only the second heat wave. Unlike last time when the trail was well populated, it was quiet and mostly deserted and that allowed us to move a bit more quickly.

The Lamorinda Trail—officially, the Lafayette Moraga Regional Trail—is my favorite local ride. It’s a rails-to-trails multi-use path that despite being well-used is great for a relaxing ride. When Roger and I want to get in a quick and easy ride, this is where we go. The trail climbs very gently up to St. Mary’s College and down to Moraga Common.

Last time we had an ad hoc confab at the restrooms at Moraga Common—not that kind of “confab”!—that had us getting back to the Public House late. We were so lost in gabbing that time got away from us. Because sunset is coming earlier we were more cognizant of getting our business done and then heading back. Even though we did gab a bit, we were able to make good time down the trail since it was so devoid of the usual walkers, doggers, and fellow cyclists. Plus, it’s a gentle downhill almost all the way back.

Back at the Public House we were greeted by a huge group of women with name tags. It looked like two groups of refugees from “Sex and the City” were holding court and hogging most of the outdoor tables. Lamberto went inside and reported back that the sole server/barista/bartender was holding the fort against a long line of customers. Time for plan B: we jumped across the street to Tutu’s, which also has outdoor tables. We immediately snagged a table where we could conveniently watch our bikes.

Tutu’s used to one of the Chows. Maybe you recall Chow? This tiny chain had four restaurants. The first was at Church and Market just around the corner from where I used to live. The owners opened another one in the Inner Sunset and then two over the East Bay, one in Danville and in Lafayette. Chow crumbled about ten years ago for unknown reasons. But the Lafayette Chow was, I understand, sold to its employees who mostly kept it the same—the organic market, the menu, the vibe, and the look. The only thing substantial that changed was the name.

This turned out to be a fortuitous turn of events because although the Lafayette Public House has a really nice biergarten feel and the food is decent, it closes early being mainly a breakfast/lunch venue and the menu is limited. Tutu’s on the other hand does a real dinner service and the menu has a variety of comfort food. Oh, and they do fish really well and it’s almost always my go-to choice. We got there just in time because within 15 minutes the outdoor tables went from less than half-filled to brimming with eager diners.

Our casual post-ride refreshment turned into a two-hour dinner. Chris got the lamb burger—the “Silence of the Lambs” fav—which is always a good choice; Roger got the Cobb salad—they do an excellent version ; I got the petrale sole, natch’; and Joe and Lamberto both got pasta dishes. They also got real post-ride “refreshment” aka beer. Hey, we weren’t riding anymore and they were gonna catch BART back to Walnut Creek so no harm, no foul.

Our ride and dinner conversations were one of the more wide ranging ones I’ve had in a long while. Joe and Lamberto recently got back from a two-week road trip in the Southwest; Joe got new cycling shoes that he was trying out on this very ride. Other topics included: getting the latest Covid shot, the number of older men who are coming out later in life; the pros and cons of revocable trusts and wills; touring Taiwan; gluten intolerance; prediabetes; Filipino restaurants in Lafayette (there’s only one); real versus dumbed down Chinese restaurants (cough PF Chang’s cough), the US Bicycling Hall of Fame in Davis; cycling in the Delta; and pet insurance. Was there any talk about the club? Strangely enough, almost none.

It was very dark by now. Then our very helpful waitperson naturally offered us dessert. Despite their best efforts to eat better, J&L requested a raspberry crumble. With a lot of ice cream. Some people just can’t skip dessert! After it arrived they offered some of it to us, which we declined despite its very appealing nature. Whoever said “nothing tastes as good as the way thin feels” was obviously demented.

That was one enjoyable ride and dinner.

Next month we’re starting an hour earlier, at 4:30 PM instead of 5:30 PM and starting just down the street at Batch & Brine instead. Or maybe we should go back to Chow- I mean, Tutu’s…

I developed a hip injury almost three months ago that has mostly kept me off the bike. I tried selling my soul like Dorian Gray but I got a bum deal: not only is the picture hideously aging but so am I. The record of my sins is in every niggling overuse injury I seem to be incurring with increasing rapidity the older I become. I finally got into PT and am making progress and the pain is diminishing. So what better than to lead a club ride and thereby either proclaim my miraculous youthful recovery or reveal the broke-ass nature of my old body, one or the other?

Relatively last minute I picked a ride I like, wasn’t long, and didn’t have much climbing: head out on Cañada Road on a Bicycle Sunday and then loop through Portola Valley and back. Roger is also slowly getting back into shape after a crash and broken collar bone in late spring. Cathy, Nancy, and Roger S. deigned to accompany us. Ironically Cañada Road and Portola loop were my “Tiburon loop” when I lived in the Midpeninsula to the point that it became boring just like the Tib loop when I lived in SF. I haven’t lived in the Palo Alto area since the very early 80s and every ride down there has now happily recovered its luster. I relish every chance I get to get over a bridge quickly and do a ride in my old stomping grounds.

If you’ve done this venerable route before, you understand its appeal. Woodside and Portola Valley have “semi-rural” environs. So even though you’re actually riding through a suburb, it doesn’t feel like it, or at least it doesn’t feel like your typical suburb with nicely trimmed green front lawns and houses lined up on the street like bowling pins. Most everything is concealed amidst trees and back roads giving you the false impression that no one lives there. Anyway it’s generally nice and at times feels like being out in the faux countryside. And they sure haven’t changed much in 55 years, which is remarkable for the Bay Area. (Because $$$$!)

Bicycle Sunday didn’t begin until just before I moved to San Francisco in 1982. I remember doing one of those very first Bicycle Sundays and what a crowd it drew. The idea of closing off what was a major thoroughfare for the hippie granola riffraff was like opening wide the asylum doors; everybody was there—skaters, bikes of every kind, xc skiers, walkers, buggies, you name it as long as it didn’t have an engine. Things have calmed down a lot over the years but Bicycle Sunday still brings out the masses just not in moshpit quantities anymore. It was pretty sedate when we started off. By the looks of things—the large number of cars parked at the north end—there were a lot of cyclists. But it sure didn’t look or feel like it was a typical bike event being fairly quiet. After a quick pit stop at the Pulgas Water Temple we headed south deep in conversation. Nancy and I gabbed about lubricant…bike lubricant! and the pros and cons of oil and wax. We also talked about loss and how long it takes to recover, i.e. a lot longer than everyone else thinks it should. I also quickly realized in talking with Nancy about chain maintenance that it’s been a slow, downward slide in my enthusiasm and diligence in taking care of the bikes. I used to clean off my bikes after every ride. Not anymore. That train left the station a long time ago. Hearing squeaky or crunchy sounds is the whip it takes for me to do anything about my chain and even then my declining hearing is helping me ignore that as well. Next I’ll be living in a van down by the river.

Chatting with Cathy I learned that the day before she did a metric century in the same area, the Tour de Menlo. I’d never heard of it. It’s run by the Menlo Park Rotary and the metric does most of what we were riding today. My curiosity piqued, I made note to include it in the list of centuries for 2026 and I sure hope Roger and I can do it then. Cathy observed that although the ride was great, the food was not. Whether it was due to inexperience in putting on a bike ride, or the intention of putting on a minimalesque event, the food provided sounded like the results of a pro forma trip to Costco. Eventually these nonprofits like Rotary and Lion’s Club, which are turning to bike events to fund their charity fundraising, are going to realize that if you want a good turnout (= $$$), you’d better provide good food. There are enough good centuries out there with great food that phoned it in is not going to cut it these days especially when you’re charging $85. I like to support good charities but if your event sucks, why don’t you just forego the hassle of putting on an event and just beg for $85? It’s like buying ABC cards from the Deaf guy on BART: here’s the money, keep the manual alphabet card and go away, please.

Roger S. and I got to share our latest medical ailments. That’s what happens when you old. All that coy gay banter about hunky boys and fabulous parties is replaced by commiserating about your gradually failing body.

After a really nice roll through Portola Valley—it was sunny and the temperature was perfect—we zoomed down Alpine to Amigo’s Grill. This is quickly replacing Robert’s as my preferred stop on the Portola loop. Robert’s is okay if you want to pick up something really quick and rush out. But stopping for a proper lunch is definitely the way to go. (Touring habits die hard.) The Ladera Shopping Center has other places to eat including a somewhat pricey Greek place and a bistro. It also has “Konditorei”, which should be a bakery, but instead sells bagels (huh??) and sandwiches. Not a cake in sight. Maybe we’ll try it out some day despite the misnomer. Amigo’s is a Mex place with reasonably priced lunch choices given that it’s in a luxe suburb. When the rent is high, there is no such thing as a budget Mex restaurant, so I’m not complaining! Going in to order, the regulars were pinned to the bar counter watching a football game. Not a bad place to watch sports and get restaurant quality noshes so you can forego the Cheetos and potato chips. Cathy, Nancy, and I opted for the usual midride go-to: a burrito. They were of course huge. (Is there any other size?) Roger got a quesadilla with what looked like a homemade tortilla. Roger S. got a huge, sizzling mound of fajitas. The odor of the crackling meat set off my carnivore gene and I was beginning to regret my choice of a veggie burrito.

Lunchtime conversation veered about: upcoming trips, riding with “mainstream” (=non-LGBTQA+) cycling clubs, where we buy bike clothes–is the Pearl Izumi outlet store really closed??, the OPP, watching the Vuelta on TV, why club kit is less than fetching, etc. Hearing remarks about what it’s like to ride with straight cycling clubs made me laugh because ten years ago Chris Contos was blaming the dwindling membership of the club on the world being post-gay, i.e. we’re so accepted by the straight world that gay clubs don’t matter anymore. Yeah, right. Then I hear about being harassed by members of straight clubs by thoughtless—or maybe intentional—verbal macro-aggressions. I was sorry to hear it but glad to have Different Spokes to ride with. You should too. The world is still fucked even here in the “enlightened” Bay Area. If I hear another clueless remark about us being post-gay I’m going to scream.

Most clubs are probably like us in having no written or even understood code of conduct and this is what you get. You do know we don’t have a code of conduct, right? Maybe we should. Back in the day there was an infamous ‘fish’ comment made by a male Spoker at a Decide ’n Ride that horribly offended some women attendees. I’d like to say it set off an uproar. But my recollection was that nothing much happened. That he didn’t like women members was patently obvious and he took multiple opportunities to voice his opinion. Instead of being talked to or expelled he was allowed to wallow in the disdain and snubbing that ensued. No concrete action was taken as I recall but he did stop coming to Decide ’n Rides (or at least the ones I attended). What a jerk. And the club at the time was wondering why we didn’t have more female members. Yeah, of course you want to hang with a club that has members who actively hate you. What a nice way to feel welcomed.

After a long lunch break we waddled over to our bikes and headed down Alpine to Menlo Park. Cathy and I had managed to inhale our burritos but Nancy being wiser ate only half of hers. I’m not sure how Roger S. survived his mountain of fajitas. We needed to get going or else I was going succumb to food coma. Down Alpine we went past where I used to live—it was a hippie dump but it’s now the site of a trophy home. We also discovered since the last time we rode here that Santa Cruz Avenue and Alameda de las Pulgas are getting some love. Not only are they repaved but they are putting in bike lanes. The usual return route is to head up Sand Hill and then up Whiskey Hill. I actually like riding up Sand Hill, which is actually two hills, but you then have to avoid the cars accelerating across your path to enter I-280. Alameda de las Pulgas to Woodside Road has fewer cars (and fewer cyclists). Instead you get one longer uphill on Woodside Road back to the center of town.

As usual the northward leg on Cañada Road had a headwind. No one was in a hurry so it didn’t matter. Bicycle Sunday was still in effect but there were hardly any cyclists in mid-afternoon. We were back at the cars before 2:30 PM and more gabbing ensued before finally saying our goodbyes. Nice day, great company, good food, and my hip didn’t hurt. I call that a win on all fronts.

Ten Spokers headed out to roam the roads of the Marin Headlands last Saturday. What follows is the recap from Kate Dresher, one of the ride leaders.

“The ride was good. We all rode together (with regroup spots) to the top of first planned Hawk Hill summit. Then folks proceeded in mini-groups or by themselves based on route preferences. There were lots of individual preferences so I’m not sure how many subsets there ended up being. No one rode the double Hawk Hill option. Chetan, Milo (William) and I did Battery/Rodeo Road loop and climbed back up McCullough. At the crest where the traffic circle is, there wasn’t any interest in doing a second Hawk Hill climb. Nancy, Cathy, Anish, Chetan and I all finished at Peet’s—and four of us had a fun lunch at Duboce Park Cafe afterwards.”

But…Chris chimes in: “If inquiring minds wanted to know…I did the double Hawk Hill to the peak again and turned for home after getting to the traffic circle on McCullough.” So there!

A cool, scenic bike ride that’s not too long, not too short; hanging with the Spokerati; then a delicious post-ride lunch al fresco–sounds like a great day to me! See you all on the next Different Spokes ride!

We had a packed house for the Orinda Pool Party last Sunday. I’m not sure what provoked more people to sign up this year—we had 30 people express interest in attending. The typical number is somewhere from 16 to 22 but we did have one year when 28 came and boy, was that crowded and hectic. Part of the reason we had a big turnout this year may be the mild summer. For Contra Costa that’s fantastic because in recent years summers have been inferno-like. Having a summer that is actually cool has been weird but also soothing. Of course “cool” for us is 75F, which would be a warm day in San Francisco. I understand that it’s also been cool and overcast a lot over there. We lucked out this year because the ride was in the low 70s and by the time people were at the house it was low to mid 80s making it a very hospitable day to jump in the pool and paddle around.

We also had a turn-around this year: 15 people did the ride. In the distant past that would have been unremarkable because other than the bike widows everyone rode. For the past few years the trend has been to skip the ride and just come to the pool party. Not a problem for Roger and me but this *is* a cycling club. Last year was the nadir with just six riders, or just one-third of the whole gang. Nonetheless this year we had a smattering of non-riders, due to injury, surgery, indolence, or because they’re bike widows.

Unfortunately several people who had registered had to cancel last-minute due to illness. And yes folks, Covid is still out there! We appreciate that those who felt sick declined to attend because exposing us might have led to ugly consequences. Also the slightly reduced number took some of the pressure off of Roger and me. We had only so many folding chairs and scrounged pool and patio chairs and tables in order to have enough places for people to nosh and carry on. The patio deck was still pretty crowded.

The menu this year was a repeat of last year. Roger gets great satisfaction smoking pork ribs and each year he gets better and better at it. Last year they were fall-off-the-bone tender, maybe a little too tender. This year they were perfect. The vegan riblets seemed to go over well again and were a good break from veggie burgers. Maybe next year we’ll get really creative with a vegan/veggie main dish. (But don’t hold your breath.)

Making food for 25 people is stretching the limit of what our kitchen can do. We just don’t have enough large pots and pans to make it easy. So there is always a lot of shuffling of pots and bowls to contain everything. At university I lived in a coop where we cooked our own meals for the 50 of us every night; I wished I had those pots and pans! Alas, we had to make do by preparing dishes repeatedly, i.e. instead of just quadrupling a recipe we made the same recipe four times. Fortunately our smoker can accommodate enough pork ribs to feed a big crowd and that’s good because smoking them takes over five hours.

Adding all our food—ribs, pesto pasta, green salad, brown rice salad—to the food that everyone else brought meant everyone left well sated. Roger in a fit of excess decided to bake a large ricotta peach cake to add to the mass quantities. This year’s peach harvest was more than ample and it happened to coincide nicely with the pool party.

At lunch Roger and I finally got a chance to sit down and enjoy the whole thing. I wished we could have spent more time hanging out with you all. For us playing Perle Mesta has us bouncing between preparation and greeting folks. I did get a chance to catch up with Karry, Jordan, and Tim even though my time with Gordon and Doug, whom I made an effort to persuade to come to this year’s party, was much more limited. (Anyway I’m glad you both came—I hadn’t seen either of you in literally years.) We had several newer members attend this year and I’m glad you all got a taste of a longstanding Different Spokes tradition as you never know when these things collapse and fade away. (Maybe that’s “when we collapse and fade away.”) We wish we could accommodate you all. But unless others also want to cook up a storm, the Pool Party is going to remain a limited attendance event. And for those of you who missed out, be sure to register in advance next time. Tim missed out last year and, lesson learned, this year he was one of the first people to sign up!

Ed. Chris, the ride host for June’s Jersey Ride, submitted the following.

“We had a good mix of riders in age range and pacing.  Kate, Sara, and Alden took off, being veterans of ALC.  I believe they did last year’s ALC but not this year’s.  David G. took off as well on the hills of Paradise Drive.  I tried to keep up until the cold realization that he’s on the Short & Sassy and I had better save some for the return trip and climb up to the Golden Gate Bridge.  I definitely hadn’t quite recovered from the Three Bears ride, led by Nancy and Cathy, the previous weekend. We lingered a bit longer over lunch.  Everyone seemed excited to be part of this ride and catching up socially.  I paid dearly on the ride home but we got safely back in the Castro by 2:30 PM.”

Members can see more photos of the ride on the club website.

I had a fabulous time on Cathy and Nancy’s Three Bears ride this past weekend. Since this ride is in my town it’s hardly new territory for me. That said I tend to take it for granted as it’s generally a ho-hum ride for me since I’ve done it a zillion times. The Three Bears is the East Bay’s Tiburon loop. For out-of-towners Tib loop is wonderful. But if you live in SF it’s such a go-to route that it fades into the background of your awareness and even becomes dreadfully boring. But doing a ride alone and doing it with friends makes all the difference in the world.

It’s also one of our lucky, stuck-in-the-middle-of-the-suburbs rides that doesn’t feel like that at all. It’s mostly rural road because development isn’t allowed to happen. A big portion of the ride abuts East Bay Municipal Utility District land and its watershed so it’s essentially unblemished. Having San Pablo and Briones reservoirs as scenery doesn’t hurt either. The rest of the adjacent land is ranches—a scattering of cows, horse stables, and scattered homes. The one oddity is a Jewish cemetery stuck between two ranches. It’s always rather quiet and peaceful, disturbed only by the sports cars and motos who use Alhambra Valley Road and Bear Creek Road to practice laps. You can ride the Three Bears for relaxation, for training hard—it has a series of short, challenging inclines for long intervals or threshold workouts—or to get away from civilization.

The Three Bears loop is not without its blemishes. The most distressing is that San Pablo Dam Road is slowly slumping into the reservoir. The wet winter of 2023 caused more serious damage to the roadway including one big slump, and although some of it has been “repaired” it’s immediately apparent to any cyclist avoiding the plethora of obstacles—big cracks, uplifting, roadway debris, broken bollards—that the road could use some love from a paver. But the county doesn’t have the dough for such a major repair, so this is our new normal. The second bit of ugliness, which we didn’t have to abide this past weekend much to my amazement, is that sections of the Alhambra Valley Road and Bear Creek are dumping grounds for household furniture and appliances. I’ve counted as many as 15 big piles on one ride. But this time I didn’t see any. I did notice that there is now a big sign posted with phone numbers to report illegal dumping; at one point there was a security cam placed at one location that was often the site of a truckful of crap time after time.

In addition to the co-leaders Cathy and Nancy, were Stephanie, Michelle, Chris, Peter, and I. The weather was partly cloudy but it soon became full sun and the temperature never strayed from comfortable. I almost didn’t make this ride due to hosting guests from Germany for the past week, leaving us with a raft of delayed household tasks. But a half-hour before the start I decided to take a break from being rushed and dutiful and instead indulge in the company of fellow Spokers after a week of non-riding.

I had a chance to chat with almost everybody at some point. I really appreciate the effort Nancy and Cathy are putting into leading rides this summer. They’re testing out routes and if they like them, they’ll post them on our ride calendar. You should definitely keep your eyes open for more of their enjoyable forays! Cathy now has more free time to ride so we should be seeing more of her. Peter’s sporting a new bike full of the latest greatest and apparently is able to ride more now that his hip seems to be somewhat under control. Apparently that is why he has rejoined the club too.

For me this was a social ride full of conversation and with little intent to go fast or keep up; in fact much of the time I was in the back. Back in the day my rides with Different Spokes were “social” in the sense that the animals all went fast but we chatted when we occasionally slowed down. Being in grad school and working part time wasn’t conducive to hanging out much after rides since I always had to be somewhere or hit the books. I’ve slowed down considerably in both senses and riding amiably and chatting are one of my favorite pastimes now.

Despite being contradicted by other riders I am not convinced that the one short but steep hill on Castro Ranch Road is not Baby Bear. Yes, it’s not on Bear Creek Road. But the other little lumps sandwiched between Mama, Papa, and San Pablo Dam Road can’t all be Baby Bear even though bears actually can have litters of three cubs. In order not to do damage to the story of Goldilocks, my vote is still for the ugly lump on Castro Ranch Road as the one and only official Baby Bear.

We stopped on Alhambra Valley Road so that some could remove excess wardrobe and there I noticed how striking the few oak trees stood against the now dun colored hills and the blue sky. Usually I’m enamored of the lush green grass and poppies we get in spring. But even the dry season has its beauty. While on Mama we stopped to take in the view of Briones Reservoir, which is currently full to the brim to get ready for the summer heat.

For a change Cathy and Nancy added Old El Toyonal after the Bears. To get there of course you have to go up Wildcat Canyon Road, which is currently still closed to cars but open to bicyclists. But that will end this July when the county finally will begin the repair of the collapsed section, at which point the bottom of the road will be closed completely until construction is done. The bottom of Wildcat is fairly steep but not horrible. Without cars it’s a dream. If only we had more roads like this! If you think Wildcat is steep, try climbing up the only other alternative, El Toyonal, which has multiple sections greater than 15%! At Old El Toyonal we cut left by the horse stables, which was bustling with activity and continued up, again without cars. Nancy remarked that OET reminded her of Morgan Territory Road and that is indeed an apt comparison (especially now that Morgan got a long needed repaving a couple of years ago!) OET is quiet, almost completely hidden under tall trees, and a challenging uphill climb as well. Once we turned onto El Toyonal we dropped by the manse where I bid the group “tata”. What a nice morning! To those of you who forwent this ride, please join Nancy and Cathy for their next social adventure!

Nancy reports: “So it was me, Cathy, Ginny, Jeff, and Roger- on his birthday! The birthday surprise was that it was windy and cold at the start. Enough so that some wondered whether they wanted to ride. But we persevered and we were rewarded with sun and less wind! Everybody enjoyed the climb, especially those of us who haven’t done it for years. But when we got to the  top, it was more wind, cold, and nastiness than we signed up for on a Memorial Day weekend. The group decision was to descend Old La Honda—with Ginny, Jeff, and Roger making it an out-and-back—with a stop at Robert’s Market for a well-deserved sandwich and snacks. Cathy and I decided to use the opportunity to scout another ride that we are planning, which was a great idea and a bit of an adventure.  When we got back to the start, lo and behold, Roger was relaxing in his car, out of the wind, and receiving many birthday wishes on Facebook!”

Jeff reports: “We modified the route, turning back at the top of Old La Honda because it was pretty cold and we thought the stretch of Skyline might be scary since it has no shoulder. Ginny, Roger, and I just retraced our steps stopping for lunch at Robert’s Market where we celebrated Roger’s birthday, sharing a scrumptious dessert that Ginny bought. Nancy and Cathy headed towards Alpine Road for more adventures. We also stopped at the Pulgas Water Temple and watched girls all dressed up for a quinceañera party—delightful!”

Ed. Members may peruse more pictures of the ride at the Different Spokes website.