10/24/2009 Monster Women ride in the SF Bay Area

[mbalmer]

Wow. That sounds like fun. Unfortunately, I will be in Palm Springs that weekend at a science conference. (Well...maybe a little of the conference. More out to play). Another time would be great.

[maillotpois]

Sounds great - S. Bay is fine by me as well.  Looking forward to it.  (I sure hope it doesn't rain...     ).

[somegirl]

So far the weather forecast looks promising, fingers crossed.

I put up a proposed route in the first post, hope that sounds ok to everyone.

What is a good meeting time?  It's only 15 minutes to Alice's for me so I'm flexible.

For those of you interested in a later date, maybe you can suggest some possible days that would work for you?

[mostrobelle]

It's a bit of a trek for me to get there, so I'm up for the longer route.  I'm also down for meeting a little on the earlier side to avoid traffic and the late-rising squids.  I'm going to venture that the mornings are foggy and damp up there, so it's a trade-off between cars or wet.  Wet doesn't make unsignaled u-turns, so I'll take my chances with it.  I vote for kickstands up at 8:57 and that way we're not out all day.  I like to get back and do something productive after a little jaunt through the woods.  So you have my opinion on it, Somegirl, I'll let you do with it what you will.   

[maillotpois]

Agree on the early start an the longer ride.  It was really wet up there on Skyline a couple of weeks ago, so I will be taking it nice and slow....  So I'm hearing meet at 8:30, ride at 9?

[somegirl]

Sounds good, I'll update the first post.

[somegirl]

Bump, the weather forecast still looks good.

I'll PM my phone # later on today.

[ducnymph]

Sorry, but I'm going to have to miss this one! I have an exam that morning that could take a couple hours. I haven't been on a ride in two months unless you count LDD. I'll hopefully be able to catch the next one!

Keep the rubber side down and have fun y'all  [moto]

[mostrobelle]

Bump reminder.  I'm likely going to be a tad hungover and I'm still riding.  No excuses.   

[Princess]

Great ride everyone! I had fun!!! Was a bit chilly - ya - I'm a dumb-butt - I wore my mesh jacket LOL!!! But I just *had* to look hot in it - my non-hot weather jacket looks like a huge box on me. Same with my pants - took the liner out - cause I looked at myself in the mirror from the back and the pants are definitely happening without the liner!!!

But - the blueberry/cheese pastery was to die-for! The ride was great!!! Just had a nice relaxing time - I got antsy during a few turns on Bonny Doone - but that was about it I think. Lots of horse crap on the goat paths - but we were all safe! Ride route - I'd give 10/10 - the bicyclists I'd give 2/10 (that 1 guy just had no clue) - The ride leading 10/10 - the company 11/10 (anyone watch Spinal Tap)?

Let's do another one before it starts snowing! [bacon [moto]

Princess

[somegirl]

Great ride today!

Beautiful weather, we managed to avoid traffic for most of it, checked out some goat trails and got some tasty snacks at the bakery. 

I decided for the last bit to take Alpine (another goat trail) instead of 84 back so that we could avoid the weekend traffic with the one-way traffic control on 84.   Final Route

It was nice to have a small group as it was easy to keep us all together, and the lack of testosterone meant no worries about egos, not to mention sufficient pee breaks.

Here's mostrobelle and the 4 bikes at our meeting point, across the street from the famous Alice's restaurant.


We took a break at Big Basin State Park.  Here's maillotpois and mostrobelle (nice reflective strip!) with 2 of the bikes, mp's and mine.


Here are the other two bikes at Big Basin (mb's and Princess').


After a bunch more riding we finally made it to the bakery.  Here are mostrobelle, maillotpois and Princess.


And 3 of the bikes in Pescadero.


We then rode by my house, went up Alpine, said goodbye to maillotpois, then the 3 of us headed back towards Alice's where we checked out this cool car.


That was fun, let's do it again soon.  Someone else can pick the route next time.

[somegirl]

Great ride everyone! I had fun!!! Was a bit chilly - ya - I'm a dumb-butt - I wore my mesh jacket LOL!!! But I just *had* to look hot in it - my non-hot weather jacket looks like a huge box on me. Same with my pants - took the liner out - cause I looked at myself in the mirror from the back and the pants are definitely happening without the liner!!!

I felt bad for you.    I chose to look like a dork with my heated jacket liner.

But - the blueberry/cheese pastery was to die-for! The ride was great!!! Just had a nice relaxing time - I got antsy during a few turns on Bonny Doone - but that was about it I think. Lots of horse crap on the goat paths - but we were all safe! Ride route - I'd give 10/10 - the bicyclists I'd give 2/10 (that 1 guy just had no clue) - The ride leading 10/10 - the company 11/10 (anyone watch Spinal Tap)?

Glad you liked it.

[maillotpois]

Great ride!  Thanks so much for organizing and putting together such a great route.  I agree the small group was a real bonus and it was nice to have a comfortable pace and not worry _too_ much about keeping up! 

Next time its up Jamison Creek on bicycles...   

[mostrobelle]

Princess asked me to put this up... one of the tourits/locals took it for us. 



My picts are still downloading...hopefully will have them up tomorrow. 

Thank you, again, Ms.I for organizing and leading.  I know that it's harder than it looks herding cats and setting a pace.  Absolutely gorgeous day and great company.  I really enjoyed getting to know you all better. 

[mostrobelle]

My shots were either crappy or redundant.  Here's the one that's fresh material and is actually in focus.  Sort of.  This is where the cheese/blueberry pastries live.  I will have to visit them again.  

We got quite a few people coming up to us and asking us if we were some sort of women's riding club.  We got fun comments on the bikes and folks were generally just friendly to us.  The one exception was at the end of the ride--I guess some guy came up to Ms. I and asked her if we were on so-n-so road recently.  She replied that, yes, we had been.  The guy then scolded us for riding too slow and not pulling over for him... Given that I was bringing up the rear and saw no one behind us on that road and no one pulled in after us when we got to the lot, he must have gotten his slow riders mixed up.  We weren't the group holding folks up.  I think we all were a little peeved that he'd walk up to a group of women riders and instantly assume we were rolling roadblocks.  (We were...but we were having a good time and certainly didn't hold anyone up!   ) I'm not sure how many miles we rode--100 or 200?  Almost all twisties and plenty of goat.   [moto]