A great 120 mile ride on Sunday...

[SpyderGirl]

So the hubby and I set out around noon yesterday on our little 250's (he's got a Rebel) for a 120 mile loop through the Bay Area and the weather couldn't have been more fantastic!!

Our ride took us out along Highway 4 east out of Pittsburg where we jumped off the freeway and hit Bear Creek Road through John Muir woods. There were a lot of bikes out - motor and non-motor. Also as we were making our turn onto Bear Creek Rd we spotted a guy on a silver Spyder.

Bear Creek Rd is a wide high-speed (50 MPH) road with some nice twisties and some large sweeping turns. Bear Creek dropped us off in Orinda, just on the other side of the Oakland Hills where we hopped on the freeway (in horrible traffic) split through the traffic to the next exit and hit Grizzly Peak Rd.

Grizzly Peak has some great turns and some beautiful scenery. You can see the Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate, and the ocean, as well as all of Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco. Grizzly Peak Rd dropped us down onto Skyline Blvd for a nice calm and twisty ride through the Oakland Hills.

We rode Skyline Blvd all the way down to Lake Chabot then rode along Lake Chabot down towards Castro Valley where we picked up Crow Canyon Rd. Crow Canyon Road is a moderately twisty road frequently used by other vehicle traffic and was actually quite boring in comparison to our ride down Skyline Blvd. But that was okay... after stopping off for lunch in San Ramon, we kept going up Crow Canyon to Camino Tassajara which eventually dropped us to the best road of the day (in my opinion).

We headed up Morgan Territory Rd, a 15 mile stretch of road, which most of it is 1 lane or less, and very sparsely traveled (I think we passed three or four cars the entire 15 mile stretch which was mostly in the 2 lane part of the road). Morgan Territory was absolutely gorgeous. Part of the road, about 6 miles of it, was slightly down-hill along a road with no lines on either side and barely wide enough for a car. It was littered with gravel and mostly soft turns. We didn't go any faster than 20 - 25 MPH the entire stretch. It was a great ride and the Ninja never skipped a beat. I was able to just barely engage the front brake while in 2nd gear all the way down the road and the bike performed flawlessly.

After we got off Morgan Territory Rd it was back to a familar backroad along Mt Diablo -- Marsh Creek Rd.

We stopped off at the Jamba Juice in Pittsburg before heading home from our ride. We logged in 122 miles yesterday and spent 6 hours doing it. It was one of the most exciting days I've had in a very long time.

I just had to share with you all!

ALSO, I saw a new black Ninja 250 come down Deer Valley Rd on our way back up towards home. I waved, but he did not wave back. I'm guessing he was a newbie.

Here are some photos I found online of Morgan Territory Rd. It's also on pashnit.com.

Oh, and I some some real asshats out riding that day in shorts, t-shirts, and SANDALS!! Idiots. It wasn't but maybe 80 degrees out.

[OldGuy]

Katlyn - thanks for sharing the ride. I wish I could be there to do it with you. Unfortunately Nebraska has nothing like that. Makes me wish we were back in Morgan Hill.

[SpyderGirl]

Originally Posted by OldGuy

Katlyn - thanks for sharing the ride. I wish I could be there to do it with you. Unfortunately Nebraska has nothing like that. Makes me wish we were back in Morgan Hill.

Oh god I feel your pain!! I had to drive through Lincoln when I moved here from Indy. I'm sorry.

The next time we take a ride you can ride with us in spirit.

This was the longest ride I had ever done on a two-wheeler. By the end of the month I'll have 600+ miles on the ODO.

[Apex]

I miss my Northern rides. Texas is bland out here near houston. Get up towards Austin and things start to get a bit more fun.

[Alex]

We used to live in Concord, and when I first got a bike I put a few thousand miles on my first one by going up and back Marsh Creek road every night after work. Morgan Territory was fun every once in awhile as well. Great ride report!

/moved to Ride Reports subforum...

[speedgsx98]

My wife's friend has a 250 rebel but they haven't started riding yet. I heard they top out at around 80mph. Is that true?

[SpyderGirl]

Thanks Alex. I plan on doing Morgan Terr again for sure. The Rebel doesn't do much better than 80 and doesn't do so great on hills the hubby tells me. He asks me to slow down so he can catch up all the time.
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[Snake]

Originally Posted by OldGuy

Katlyn - thanks for sharing the ride. I wish I could be there to do it with you. Unfortunately Nebraska has nothing like that. Makes me wish we were back in Morgan Hill.

Seeing that ride makes me wish I was back in Roseville!

[ManyCavies]

Sounds like you had a great ride! Thanks for sharing

[Cali619]

sounds/looks like a nice ride to go on.

[SpyderGirl]

It really was. I'm looking forward to riding Morgan Territory Rd a few more times. The hubby was not too big on the road because at times it really wasn't even a road and it was barely wide enough for a car and was littered with small rocks, leaves, and gravel / loose asphalt. But I thought it was great. It'll really help me hone in on my traction and turning skills.

[Snake]

You go girl! Show em how it's done!

[SpyderGirl]

Originally Posted by Snake

You go girl! Show em how it's done!

Thanks!! And I just purchased myself a personalized plate (had been trying to decide for months what I wanted) to commerate my right of passage on the canyons:

[Snake]

Originally Posted by SpyderGirl

Thanks!! And I just purchased myself a personalized plate (had been trying to decide for months what I wanted) to commerate my right of passage on the canyons:

Well what does it say? I'm dying to know.

[SpyderGirl]

It's up. I was having difficulty with the attachment stuff.

[Snake]

Thats ok. Here is mine. I don't know how long Louisiana had been doing U.S. Veteran plates but I got the 16th Air Force plate 4 years ago.

Image[1].jpg

[mxnello]

u r killin me with those pics, if I could stop droiling-drulling what ever you know what I mean!