I joined the East Bay crew led by Ringleader Tom on a 68k ride from Castro Valley to Walnut Creek. Being a slower rider, I started earlier so I could finish before it got dark. I took the BART to Castro Valley, in the company of Friday-after-Thanksgiving shoppers. It was nice to get the early start and avoid some traffic on the road. Here's Tom's description of the ride:
"Friday's ride is a fun one which features two 15+km out-and-back segments on two separate dead end roads; both have gentle grades and almost no traffic. The second dead end, Bollinger Canyon Road, has a farm with ostriches and zebras; the ostriches tend to hang out right near the fence, and they're fun to spend some time with. After we get off Bollinger Canyon, most of the rest of the ride is along Danville Boulevard, a wide road with good shoulders. I'm suggesting that the faster riders stop in at The Crown pub in Danville and get lunch while waiting for the slower folks. From there it's a straight shot into Walnut Creek BART. There's only one sizable climb on the route (Norris Canyon Road), along with the two gradual grades on the dead ends."
It was nice and sunny all day, but really windy for a large section of the ride. I got blown off my uni a few times. We saw a lot of farm animals, including ostriches, horses, cows, donkeys, goats and sheep. All this in the same city as holiday shoppers and unicyclists! What a diverse place.
I joined the East Bay crew for the second day of the qualifying rides, this time on a 58k ride starting in Lafayette and riding through "The Three Bears" to Grizzly Peak and back down. I started early on my own again, without holiday shoppers this time. Here's Tom's description of the ride:
"Saturday's ride is a bit shorter but quite a bit more challenging. The major feature is Bear Creek Road, known by cyclists as "The Three Bears" for its three climbs. Bear Creek is the focus of the Grizzly Peak Century and it's a great cycling road. After climbing Baby Bear, we can come home either up South Park Drive (which is fun because it's closed to cars, but a difficult climb) or wimp out and stick on Wildcat Canyon and surface streets."
It was sunny (but cold) in the morning, and then clouded over by the time I got to Inspiration Point (top of the climb up Wildcat Canyon). We saw a lot of animals in farms on the first part of this ride too, but no ostriches this time. The hills were intense, and by the time I got to the top of Grizzly Peak I wanted a more rideable descent. I took Skyline/Old Tunnel road down back into Oakland instead of Claremont, which the rest of the group was taking. Though the grade was more mellow on my route, I hadn't realized that I'd be adding an extra 7k! Eventually I made it down the hill, and was very happy to make it back to Tom's house to join the rest of the group.