On Sunday February 25 we held our long delayed Ride Leader Appreciation Dinner (RLAD) at il Casaro Pizzeria in San Francisco. The last annual RLAD was in January 2020 before the statewide Stay-At-Home order was given due to the COVID Pandemic. Ride leaders and event hosts from 2020 through 2023 were invited to attend for free as a warm “thank you!” for leading during that time. Seventeen members and their friends showed up. That more of you ride leaders were not able to attend was, alas, a disappointment. But perhaps you will be able to come next year when we fête 2024 ride leaders and event hosts!

We had the outdoor patio area all to ourselves and were kept warm by the company of friends as well as the patio heaters! The menu at il Casaro proved to be irresistably delicious with vegetarian and vegan selections and plenty of food for all.

In the four years since we had a RLAD a few members deserved special recognition:

Jeff Pekrul: As we timidly reopened the club to in-person gatherings, ie. rides, in the latter part of 2020 Jeff was the happy point person who boldly led a series of rides. Jeff was the person who proved we could do it carefully and safely and got the ball rolling again to group rides.

David Gaus: While we didn’t gather in person, David hosted a series of Zoom ‘happy hours’ so we could stay in touch and virtually enjoy each other’s company. In addition he also hosted our 2020 Holiday Party on Zoom as well as the spring 2021 Kick Off Meeting.

We had some innovations in rides in the past four years as well:

David Goldsmith and Joan Murphy launched the Early Bird rides in June 2021 reaching out to those who like to ride in the morning before (or on the way to) work.

David Millard has for the past two years been almost singlehandedly championing mixed terrain/dirt riding in the club. After a lull of many years—almost 20 years we are now riding on dirt again!

David Goldsmith and Laura Petracek started the Short & Sassy rides in 2022 for members who wanted easier and shorter rides.

Finally we thank those who opened their homes to the club and hosted events:

Roger Hoyer & Tony Moy for the Orinda Pool Parties (2022, 2023) and the 2021 Fall Social;
Jeff Pekrul for the 2021 Holiday Party;
Adrienne Ratner for hosting a huge crowd of Spokers at the San Luis Obispo Bicycle Club’s Wildflower rides in 2022 and a smaller group for the SLOBC’s Lighthouse Century in 2023;
Phil Bokovoy for the 2022 Fall Social;
Janet Lourenzo for the 2023 Fall Social;
Nancy Levin for the 2022 Kick Off Meeting and Holiday Party;
and Stephen Shirreffs for the 2023 Holiday Party.

Thanks to all you ride leaders and event hosts for making the club what it is: a warm, friendly community.

[Ed. Night rides are something very special even more so in the Marin Headlands. Very few cars, very few other trail users, and the scenery is transformed at night into an unfamiliar world. When I lived in SF, I used to regularly explore the Headlands at night on my mountain bike. If you haven’t done so, you’re missing out!]

We had a good ride. We stayed on pavement—a wise move, I think. [Ed. It had been raining the days before.]  I started to go on Rodeo Valley trail on the way back. But the gravel parking lot leading to it was muddy so I turned back right away. 

We stopped at Rodeo Beach and had hot chocolate and cookies. The weather was great, mid 50’s, no wind, super clear with some lovely clouds. Ian had to get home quickly so he took off directly from there. I went up around the Battery Townsley loop before heading back.

I’m looking forward to doing another night ride in January!

—David Millard

The 2023 DSSF Holiday party was held at board secretary Stephen Shirreffs’ home in the SF Castro district on the evening of Sunday, December 17. Stephen is a crazy Christmas fan, and the house was filled with Christmas decor including his infamous tree with its nearly 700 glass ornaments. There was fine turnout for the event, with a total of twenty people attending. Four of the attendees were guests of the members.

Before the catering from La Mediterrannée arrived, Stephen took a moment to welcome everyone and give a history of his Christmas collection. It all started in 1989 when Stephen and two close personal friends held a party specifically for people living with AIDS. That tradition continued through 2017 and then took a break. So the DSSF party was the first time that a group of community people had “done” Christmas at Stephen’s place in six years.

We also took the moment to introduce board candidates. Prospective President Jeff Mishler outlined his plan to hold quarterly membership get-togethers primarily to discuss what folks want to do int the following quarter but also just to hang out. Prospective Vice President Stephen Shirreffs had said enough already. Prospective Treasurer Ginny Watson confirmed her happiness at joining the board. And Prospective Membership Coordinator and understudy to the Ride Coordinator, David Millard, expressed his interest in creating a wide array of rides including more gravel events. Prospective Webmaster Roger Sayre confirmed he will remain in his position.

The food from La Med was great … but next year order the large platter! … and the desserts were plentiful. Conversation, both in-depth and more fun-loving, went on for hours. It was a great way to end 2023 and to kick off 2024.

–Stephen Shirreffs

[Ed. David Goldsmith and Jeff Mishler recap this past weekends club rides.]

David: An unexpectedly beautiful day and not unexpectedly a nice group as usual. Short and Sassy had four riders: me, Ginny, Laura, and a new rider, Chris. It was Chris’ first-ever group ride although he told me he had done eight or nine 20-30 miles rides recently so he felt like he would be able to deal with the distance.

I had a mechanical problem (brakes) upon arrival and needed some time with my bike while Ginny and Laura welcomed Chris. Wait for it … I managed to fix the problem on my own without having to go into Mike’s for help! Laura rode with us on her non-ebike road bike, the first time she had been on it for over a year. We left Mike’s around ten. Riding out, I stayed with Chris for a while to make sure his pace was going to work for the group that was riding and to orient him to group riding since it was his first time.

The Slow and Sassy riders connected with the Jersey Ride coming from San Francisco at our usual meeting point, the stop sign at the base of Camino Alto. After that we mostly stayed together although we got a little spread out on Paradise as usually happens because we have riders with varying paces. Roger S. had a little incident when his jacket started slipping out of his jersey pocket and got caught up in his rear wheel. Fortunately it just slowed him down and he was able to stop safely and untangle the mess. It was the end of the jacket though as one of the sleeves was pretty much ripped to shreds.

After the usual nice lunch at Woodlands, we made it back to Sausalito arriving back at Mike’s a little before 2. Chris’s parting words were “So, when’s the next one of these?” Nice to hear.

Jeff: To add to David’s comments the Jersey Ride had five leaving from SF—Roger S, Jeff P, Stephen, Maurizio, and me. The sections to and from Sausalito were mainly notable just by how fog and wind-free they were! From the Presidio we were able to see Bolinas well past the Headlands. 

When approaching the GGB, there is a small wooden bridge that leads to the gravel path. On that small bridge there is a new “security bollard”. It is abnormally low and large, like 18″ in width, bright orange, and seemingly under construction still. No idea what they’re trying to do with it, but watch out.

Ed. Next Jersey Ride and Short & Sassy Tib Loop will be Saturday December 9.

This year’s Orinda Pool Party was a rush job. The pool was well over 55 years old and gravity had worked its magic slowly tilting the pool towards the creek to the point that the water level was getting so low on the uphill side that it just was able to flow into the skimmer. We bit the bullet this past winter and decided to have the pool leveled. It was either that or just fill in the pool with dirt and forget about it. Like owning horses, having a swimming pool is just a silly excuse to shovel money into a pit, in this case a literal one. We were assured that it would be done by the end of April. Of course no contractor worth his salt is going to stay on schedule and it was barely done by mid-July. After months of workmen coming and going along with dust, dirt, and loud Mexican music all emanating from the pool area finally over, I was not chomping at the bit to put on another Orinda Pool Party. I’d like to say the pool looked fabulous post-reconstruction but almost the entirety of the remodel is underneath the pool and invisible to the naked eye. The redwood deck is still in need of a good powerwashing and restaining; the concrete decking is still cracked and heaved up. So of course we were going to put on a party: shabby chic never goes out of style!

With just a month Roger and I got a listing up a bit late and managed to sway 15 Spokers over for a fun day in the sun and pool along with a ride to keep it honest. For the first time ever we had more non-riders than riders: just five had the chutzpah to throw their legs over a bike and climb up Pinehurst. The indolent supermajority preferred to sashay over later in the day, park their ample butts on the patio chairs, and gab up a storm while politely waiting for the riders to show up at the manse so we could all chow down together.

The weather was perfect—mid 80s, no wind, plenty of sun. The pool was 90F—practically a hot tub. But when the riders arrived no one went into the pool and instead they all headed straight for the meal line. Roger was again lured into smoking a smokin’ delicious rack of pork ribs. We literally tossed together a vegan brown rice salad—yes, it came from an old ‘hippie’ cookbook—and a pesto pasta salad different from the same old dross we ply most years. And just like at this year’s annual picnic we threw in grilled corn on the cob of which we have become so enamored. Not to be outdone the crowd showed up with some delicious homemade food including several kinds of salads, tomato caprese (is there any other kind?), a rich fruit tart, and brownies and cookies. Lamberto and Joe brought some buffalo chicken wings even though there wasn’t a football game in sight. (After tasting one—I had never eaten one before—I gobbled them down with gusto!)

I thought post-meal torpor would slay the crowd but instead a few finally ventured into the pool to cool off and splash around. It was a really pleasant afternoon filled with feeding frenzy, plentiful persiflage, and of course even some cycling on the side.

After a several weeks of monotonously dreary weather we got a break this past weekend and were greeted by bright sunshine and daytime temperatures north of 68F, finally. Our May Gray had morphed into June Gloom only to vanish and be replaced by real spring weather. Here in the East Bay clouds and fog are a rarity but not this spring.

Unbeknownst to most of you Orinda is host to a myriad of short and steep inclines that make riding here challenging and never boring, and today we were doing the “best hits”: west Papa Bear, Mama Bear, Pig Farm, Reliez Valley, Happy Valley, and east Papa Bear all crammed into a mere 35-mile loop. I had forgotten one climb that is part of this route, shorter than the rest but no less steep: Deer Hill, a depressingly wide open ramp that unfortunately bears too close a resemblance to Hicks Road and Oakville Grade. It’s 14%. But it’s short! So let’s call it six and a half climbs.

Only Jeff P and Roger S joined Roger and me. I hadn’t seen Jeff in ages. Had he been riding? It turns out he had come to the East Bay and rode Morgan Territory last week—that’s a lot more climbing than I’ve been doing recently! Roger S had been getting ready for the Chico Wildflower, training deliberately. With that under his belt at the end of April he promptly ditched the bike and hadn’t set eye on it for over two weeks. Regardless he had more than enough leg power despite his absence from pedaling. Roger and I had recently completed a really enjoyable but unexpectedly challenging bike tour in Japan. Of course returning home after a two-week absence meant cycling had to take a back seat to everything else going on in our lives that had been on hold including our garden that was showing signs of neglect.

All these roads are yawn all-too-familiar to Roger and me since they are our regular hunting grounds. But Jeff was only slightly familiar with them and thus several were brand new experiences for him. Roger S had been on them all but it had been a while so some of them were hazy in recollection.

Leaving downtown Orinda the first incline was a few short miles ahead: Papa Bear. Typically we ride this in the other direction, from east to west and it comes at the tail end of the Three Bears loop. There are a couple of good reasons for not riding it in this direction: it’s a taller climb heading east because you start it at a lower elevation and it also happens to be quite a bit steeper, like about 10% in places. Despite being just the first climb (or perhaps because it was just the first of six hard climbs) we stayed together up the hill lamenting its difficulty. However on the other side Roger S blasted the descent and kept the momentum all the way over Mama Bear to the Alhambra Valley Road turn.

Conversely doing Mama Bear in this direction seems easier at least to me. The usual ride up Mama Bear is a long, steady slog up a 9% grade with the summit at the distant horizon, an always depressing sight. The way we rode it Mama Bear is broken up by two short climbs and descents, one of which may be the mysterious Baby Bear that no one seems to know the location of.

Turning onto Alhambra Valley Road it was starting to warm up and the cooling wind gone. The climb up Pig Farm—now called just Alhambra Valley—is another “save the best for last” climb with a ridiculous gradient just below the summit. Everybody used to call this hill Pig Farm because back in the day an infamously noxious pig farm was at the top whose stench was your summit reward. That sty is long gone—I can’t recall exactly when it closed—and replaced by a gentleman’s ranch. Another piece of vanished Bay Area cycling lore.

Roger S took off again on the descent and nearly got beaned by a car suddenly turning out into the road. Despite roaring at over 40 mph he managed to zip by and pass it without a scratch. The rest of us valuing our wellbeing and skin took it more slowly. Alhambra Valley Road has a Jekyl-Hyde personality: at times it’s a quiet and peaceful backcountry road and at other times it’s a cut-through race course for drivers looking escape the mess on Highways 680 and 24. For cyclists that means keeping an eye out for the impatient drivers and today seemed to be the day. When it’s quiet it’s a remarkable ride but today it was a typical road full of fast cars passing on narrow straits.

We turned off into Briones Regional Park to get some water and have a midride snack. The parking lot was full of mountain bikers, some just heading out and a bunch just back from their ride. A couple of bikers were enjoying post-ride cigarettes chatting away, reminding me of another Different Spokes ride in the distant past out of Orinda BART. Luis, Michael R, and former president-for-life Dennis pulled into the BART lot at the end of a hard club ride and went to their respective cars. All whipped out their smokes and lit up. I’ll always remember Luis for smiling while saying, “A cigarette after a hard ride is the best!”

After our break it was back to Alhambra Valley, which turns into Reliez Valley and slowly gets steeper and steeper. Roger S didn’t remember there was a climb up Reliez and was rudely surprised by the grade. By now I wouldn’t say we were baking but it was definitely the warmest weather we’d seen over here in several weeks and we were all sweating from the heat and the effort.

After a short descent we were back in civilization and just a brief reprieve before Deer Hill. This road is another commuter cut-through because it parallels 24, which is always jammed during the rush hour. Today it wasn’t bad traffic-wise but it’s an ungodly 14% and it looks it: a straight-up-the-hill climb. What followed after a brief sprint past the Lafayette BART station was Happy Valley Road, which really should be called Unhappy Valley because it too starts out slow and then gets steeper as you climb. The top is around 12-13%. By now we were all rather tired despite it being less than 30 miles. Near the top I stopped to catch a breath in the shade and Roger S joined me. We chatted away in order to delay continuing the climb. But eventually we did. The descent on the other side is hellish. It’s actually the better way to climb Happy Valley because the road is wretchedly potholed and uneven and that is less an issue when you’re going 5 mph. But descending it’s difficult to discern the incongruities when you can’t see in the shade and we were bounced left and right like pinballs.

What was left was Papa Bear the usual way. There’s nothing that needs to be said about it since you’ve probably done it yourself many times. Over the years Papa Bear has changed subtlely. The road quality is actually better these days than when I rode in the ’80s. Being county road it never gets much love but the pavement quality is pretty damn smooth for chipseal. And there aren’t any potholes! Which is good since you’ve got one of the fastest descents around. I used to hit 45 mph there when I was young and deluded. Roger S probably hit that this time but not I. I’ve never crashed on Papa Bear and want to continue that unblemished record!

At the bottom is a very short, steep, and annoying climb back to San Pablo Dam Road—is this Baby Bear? After grunting to the top we headed back to Orinda and got lunch at Petra Cafe. I was famished and ready for a recharge. For such a short ride—just 35 miles—it packed in 3,700 feet of climbing and much of it in double digits. Type 2 fun!

The day before we were going to Mt. Veeder Gordon sent me some pictures of the road. I couldn’t believe it. They showed that Veeder was closed and the asphalt heaved up and crumpled up like arctic ice. Shit. For whatever reason Veeder had been omitted from Napa County’s road closure database hence escaping my notice. Gordon opined that despite the menacing ‘road closed’ signs it was easy to go around the barriers and walk through the mess. A quick message and reply from Stephanie indicated that she was still game. So onward!

The other potential disaster was the Bottlerock festival scheduled in downtown Napa for this weekend. The three-day wine and rock concert draws about 180,000 ravers. Prez David already gave his hard “no” to Veeder thinking that traffic and parking would inevitably be a nightmare. Where the rest of the Spokerati wasn’t clear—fled town for the weekend or also put off by the festival? Dunno.

The cognomen Darth Veeder was bequeathed by David some years ago. Presumably it was because the climb up Veeder is on ‘the dark side’. In any case it’s no walk in the park and like another well-trod ride, Pinehurst, features the delight of an increasing gradient as you ascend from the Redwood Road side. Redwood side? Yes Mt. Veeder Road is actually the north side of this climb and Redwood Road is the southern side but Spokers know it only as “Veeder”.

So it was just Roger, me, and Stephanie. Stephanie hadn’t done Veeder in quite a while so this was on her checklist for the year. Roger and I? Despite the sometimes haphazard road maintenance in Napa we like riding in the Napa Valley but even more in the hills around it.

We were using David’s route that begins at Buttercream Bakery in the north end of Napa. We didn’t allow enough time to go in before the ride and the place closes at 2 PM. So it looked like it was going to be another year without tasting their fares. Darn!

It takes just a little bit of time to get out of the city of Napa and on Redwood Road proper. This morning it was mostly devoid of traffic and the overcast just added to the atmosphere of climbing into the woods. Before long there was the dreaded “road closed” sign, which we of course ignored. Cars heading up of which there were very few had to be mostly residents. The climb gently steepens the further you proceed and parallels the placid and peaceful Redwood Creek right next to the road. I’m sure in winter the creek was a roaring mess but now it was back to its benign best—gurgling, placid, peaceful.

The positive side of road closures is that if a bike can get through one gets to enjoy the experience senza macchine. The closure sign seemed to have cut back on the traffic even though Redwood is hardly on the tourist radar. We climbed and were passed only by the very occasional car. There were several sections of road where the asphalt had completely eroded away leaving only the road base—how does that happen? I wouldn’t have been surprised by gravel and dirt, of which there was plentiful, but how the storms just peeled back the surface is strange. There were a couple of sections where half the roadway had collapsed down the slope forcing all traffic to use just one lane. Just past one we took a break to shed windbreakers and catch our breath. This was hard work! Then it was back to the business at hand, upward.

Finally at the top, where the vineyard with the fancy wrought iron gate sits, we got a real break before the ‘descent’. We still hadn’t run across the road closure and it was obvious now that we were going to confront it on the downhill side. Stephanie cheekily suggested that I take the lead; so I was left to “clear the minefield” since we had no idea of the road condition.

The descent from the top actually has several short uphill sections, some of which you can almost get over by momentum providing you’re going fast enough. The problem was I sure as hell wasn’t going to go hellbent when there might be gravel, washed out asphalt, or worse yet, no road! So each little treat just added to dulling the knife a little more. And then there it was, what we saw in Gordon’s photos: K-barriers and wavy, crumpled asphalt. And no, riding over it was just asking for a helicopter evac, so we dismounted and carefully plonked over the cascade of broken roadway. It wasn’t a difficult crossing but seeing it in person impressed upon me the damage winter storms inflicted on Bay Area roads—Redwood Road near Castro Valley, Old Stage Road, Calaveras, Palomares, Mines, Patterson, and now Veeder.

Once past the blockade we started swooping down through the trees before reaching the last stretch of the startlingly steep decline. We passed cyclists crawling up Veeder barely making any progress and one cyclist parked by the side of the road gasping. We had actually come up the “easy” way! The descent continued once we turned onto Dry Creek, the sort of traditional way to do this ride; the other option is to instead continue straight ahead and descend the 15% Oakville Grade. Dry Creek is much less formidable but today we had a headwind reeling from the south making progress effortful. It didn’t help that the county seems to have largely ignored doing any recent repaving on Dry Creek as it was pockmarked beyond despair with potholes and crevices of various sizes and gruesomely lumpy old asphalt that looked like it had been unceremoniously dumped on the road and then left to be flattened by whatever vehicle had the misfortune to smack into it. Of course the worst was left for last with a pothole obstacle course just before we turned into the valley proper.

David’s route heads north again to Yountville. You can either take Solano Street or the Vine Trail MUP; we learned that the road is, like everything else in the area, lumpy and cracked, whereas the trail is divinely smooth.

In Yountville we stopped at the budget lunch spot, Velo Deli aka Ranch Market for a sandwich and pasta salad. Yountville is littered with chic high-end dining spots including Bistro Jeanty next door, which always seems to be doing great business. We were so ahead of schedule that we got there well before lunch time and got the prime outdoor table under the gazebo. The sandwich counter was devoid of customers and it was a breeze to get our food and get out. Lunchtime chatter revolved around our recent cycling trip to Japan, the upcoming club picnic and pool party, and various goings-on in the club.

I was pretty tired at this point and the lunch break only slightly alleviated my fatigue. Post lunch we had two southern legs, Silverado Trail and then Big Ranch. I could tell as we left that my legs were only one or two notches away from cramps and I needed to be careful to avoid ending up by the side of the road in convulsive spasms; that’s what happens when you don’t drink enough. We now had a constant headwind out of the south and I steadily went slower and slower. Roger eventually took the lead and let us draft him all the way back to Buttercream. Roger on his e-bike has no problem roasting at over 20 mph into a headwind.

Speaking of Buttercream, we finished our ride at 1:30, way earlier than last year, and the bakery was still open! We dashed in to peruse the sweets. Buttercream seems to be a popular place, probably helped by having a diner inside as well as the bakery counter. It was redolent of sugar wafting out of the bakery. There were too many kinds of cookies, donuts, and cupcakes to recount; we settled on carrot cake cupcakes to tide us over until we got home. Gawd, they were good and the perfect way to end an unexpected adventure over Veeder. Next time we do this ride I am definitely going to make it back to Buttercream again before it closes at 2 PM!

And the traffic? Easy peasy both ways. As we breezed south on 12 we couldn’t help noticing that the northbound lanes were packed to the gills and not going anywhere fast. Perfect timing!