Mt. Hamilton summit. 4200 ft. 152 mile trip with friends
Beautiful January day! late start, actually a bit my fault as I had many issues getting my GoPro mounted.
The ride up there was great. Redwood to Palomares Canyon to Niles Canyon to Calaveras Rd all the way to 680 S near Milpitas. Then short 680 trip and Capitol Xprwy to Quimby and Mt Hamilton and the wild looking observatory. Heard snippets of tour and the whole interior and scope dates to 1887 or so!
Slipped once on Palomares which was on GoPro, but it doesn’t look too dramatic. Patchy dappled sun / shade and didn’t see the sand in the road and slid the front and rear a little. Was a little spooky.
The ride up the mountain was great, the pavement great, fantastic weather, just a lot of fun out on the road.
Stops: Railroad Cafe in Sunol for lunch, Fuel stop shortly after, and just a few very short stops besides the actual summit.
Niles Canyon – one of my favorite cruising spots. A beautiful canyon drive.
Lunch stop RR Cafe, Sunol.
Calavares Road. Pretty epic turns, farmland, canyon carving. Must do this one again!
Calavares.
Calavares quick stop.
Leaving San Jose up Quimby. Very pretty views backwards.
The T at Quimby at rt 130.
Mt Hamilton in the background.
creepy trees encroach me on the right. GoPro grab.
Outer Spacey on the gas.
Here’s a few pics at the summit of Mt Hamilton with the fantastic observatory. Beautiful views. Stunning roads. Did you check out those turns?
Loosing light fast. Damn were these roads a blast! I can’t wait to go again with more time for some extra laps. I’m surprised we pushed to the summit. The CB400A rider doesn’t like highways or the dark, both of which we resolved we would be riding in if we went for the summit. We left Oakland close to 11:30am I think (late) and didn’t leave lunch until about 1:30p so we were pushing a 86 mile one way to the summit at that point. But it really wasn’t that cold at all, in fact I was hot from Milpitas until the sun dropped. We rode out the way we came in (Quimby) until that T at rt 130. We passed some nice farms taking 130 to Alum Rock Road, 680 North to surface street Mission Blvd the whole way to 580. 580 pounded my bike and back as always – I Hate that damn road (Hayward to Oakland 580 sucks) – to 13 north. I think we got back about 7pm. A fantastic journey and brand new roads for me starting at Calavares!
(Note: I forgot to shut off my fuel petcock the day before – something I never forget now b/c of what happens next… – get up in the a.m. to fuel puddle next to bike, and stink of fuel. Gas soaking carb #2 intake boot from carbs to the motor. It’s either the float gasket that’s flat there leaking, OR my float needles sticking in the seat, and I have fuel leaking through my carbs – and probably into the motor dammit. Oil did not smell of fuel thankfully. I shut off gas for an hour, then went WOT for 3 minutes to try to clear out fuel [motor off]. The bike jammed on the starter – hydro locked up no doubt. I only got it to start by rocking it back and forth in gear many times, and finally got it running, almost bailed on the trip altogether. was concerned I have fuel in oil, but I guess I really wanted to go on this group ride! No leaks all day, and bike ran strong.)
Posted in Touring and tagged California, Mt. Hamilton, south bay, Touring, Zx6e, zzr600 by green
Start ’15 miles 50505. Reflections on commute week.
Commuted for four days this past week.
On Friday, traffic was strangely very light, with often a lane completely open with no cars far ahead. I hit 112 on the San Mateo bridge. That’s actually the fastest I’ve ever been on Green Magic and she was nice and stable.
What’s the deal with some of these idiot commuters?
And you know the worst of them that refuse to budge an inch if you are trying to lane split and they hog up the whole lane and make it impossible to pass?
– the damn white colored commercial trucks – anything with ladders on it and white and you know they are gonna be stubborn asses. And bus drivers are mostly in that lot too, although some are courteous.
It’s “cold” here but highs of 61-62 degrees every day, that’s nothing compared to the east coast which was in the teens!
Posted in Uncategorized by green