A special thanks should go to both Shelley Vogt and Leif Rasmussen for agreeing to host this year's Campout at the Del Valle Reservoir near Livermore, with all of the effort that they put into it. Also thanks should go to Pam Downs for doing all of the work for cooking the dinner, both the day before and for during, and to Scott Brown for driving his truck both ways with the club's trailer.
I decided to carry all my stuff while the others put theirs with the trailer. I carried mine to act as a handicap, to help slow me down on the hills. So I was going to get more of a workout than the others, but I didn't mind, since I was still the fastest one.
Pam, Bob, and I then continued on up the hill, catching and passing Lou. Lou said that Henry never got in sight of him, even though he stopped a few times to stretch. We left Lou behind, then soon Bob said that he was going to wait for Lou. Pam and I continued to the top. From the ledge at the Observatory parking lot, Pam and I watched Lou and Bob come up the road. They were about 20 minutes behind us.
Going down the backside, we all got split up again. Bob was very slow on the downhill because of his poor eyesight, but Lou was way off the back, having stopped to put on all of his foul-weather gear. At the cattle guard I let Pam go on ahead while I waited for Bob and Lou. Bob wasn't too far behind and went down to join Pam. Lou was a long way behind. At Isabel Creek Pam and Bob had already gone on ahead, but I again waited for Lou. A long time later Lou finally got in sight, but I was frustrated with waiting for him, so I took off to catch Pam and Bob. I figured that we would probably see Lou at the Junction.
We had a headwind going South, which was good, because this meant we would have a good tailwind going North. We did. At the Junction we stopped in for some real food. I had a 1/2 lb cheeseburger with fries. 37 minutes later we were ready to go, but still no Lou. We didn't wait. We figured that we would send his wife, Rosa, back later with her car. Pam was in charge of cooking dinner, so we didn't want to delay any further. Besides, it was finally starting to rain.
The rain never got too bad, as it wasn't a down pour, but was more like a heavy drizzle. Just enough to be annoying. This annoying rain stayed with us for the next 10 miles. The final 20 miles into Del Valle were with some clouds and some sunshine, but no more rain.
On the final downhill before the Del Valle junction, Pam went on ahead as I slowed to wait for Bob. Soon after, I managed to get a flat tire from going through the long gravel section. Bob waited for me. Climbing the hill into Del Valle, I again waited for Bob, as he had not been there before. Pam had gone on ahead, I think to get dinner started. Bob and I pulled into the campground at 4:00 pm, about a half hour behind my schedule, but that was accounted for by the extra wait times.
All in all we had a good ride. We had 74 miles with 7100 ft of climbing. I had an additional 13 miles as I had ridden from home.
After awhile, we sent Rosa back out with the car to look for Lou. Who knows where Lou would be by now. Not too long after that, I heard Lou's voice and saw that he was in camp, but I did not see Rosa. I hoped that she wasn't still out looking for Lou. I asked Lou, and he said that he saw Rosa, so that was good. She wasn't still out looking for him. Lou said he got in at 4:30, which was a good time, considering that he was still unaccounted for at the Junction. Lou said that he got rained on the last 4 miles before the Junction.
I set up Pam's tent, as she was busy with the cooking. Then I set up my own tent. The Del Valle campsites looked very different than how I remembered them. They were the same ones that we were in before, but there was no green grass to put the tents on. It was all sandy dirt. I finally figured out that this area had flooded and the stream had dumped a very thick later of silt. Then I noticed that the picnic table in the next campsite was sunk in about 2 feet. The tables were anchored in concrete, and so could not be moved. The silt had raised the ground level about 2 feet, almost burying this table. They dug out around it, so now the table was sitting in a big hole.
Rain never threatened while we were in camp. Everything was dry and it stayed that way. It was looking like this campout was going to turn out ok after all. I was glad that I came.
We were all starting to eat our dinner, when I looked out across the road. There was Henry! It was now 6:00 pm, and Henry finally came in. He had continued along on the route over Mt. Hamilton. I guess that he was behind us all the time. But 2 hours behind - we wouldn't have been able to wait for all of that time. Henry said that he had a good ride. He said he even saw a mountain lion. Henry said that this was his first 2 billygoats ever. Not exactly the easy way to start. I was glad when he said that he would be taking the shorter route over Calaveras the next day.
That evening most people turned in around 9:00 pm, but I hung out till the end, listening to Ann hastings interviewing Bob and Kris about their tandem. I mentioned what I call my "poor man's tandem", my Bungee cord, but Ann didn't seem too impressed. I'm sure that if I ever gave her a tow up a hill, then that would help to change her mind. I think that Bungee cord towing is a very good idea, but it seems that most people get hung up in the "cheating" stigma of getting help on the hill. On a tandem, isn't the weaker rider also "cheating"? I don't see any difference. I've offered it to Pam a few times but she hasn't yet taken me up on it.
I don't think I slept too good that night. The silty ground seemed very hard. I'll need to get me a therma-rest pad for Sierra to the Sea. I'll also have to bring my pillow. With a pad and a pillow I think I would have slept much better.
The next morning, it looked like it was going to be a good day. There were still lots of clouds, but there was also lots of blue sky. At breakfast some of the others spotted a bald eagle, but I managed to miss it.
Pam seemed to be the tired one at the start of this second day. Bob seemed to be riding strong, as he sometimes went off the front a ways. I felt fine for all of both days. I could easily hang back and then surge ahead. My extra load never bothered me, and I almost didn't even feel like it was there. I was probably one gear lower while going uphills, but otherwise there was no difference. I was still faster than either Pam or Bob, but I chose to ride easy, at their pace.
Near mile-marker 7.5 on Mines Rd is a very ugly house. We thought that it would be good to come back sometime and erect a placque, stating that this house was the winner of the "Ugly House Award". It has my vote. The house has a flat factory-style roof, which looks horrible, as you are looking down onto the house from the road.
At about 18 miles into the ride, we came upon about 8 cows (one with long horns!) who were loose on the road. There was barbed wire on both sides so no place for them to go. Luckily a car was in the neighborhood and the driver said he would go on ahead and run some interference. We hung back. A while later the cows came upon a wide spot off the side of the road, so we were finally able to get on by. Pam had tears in her eyes. I told her that she had just successfully completed her first therapy session for getting used to dealing with cows on the road. It was pretty tough for her.
At the County Line, the road was torn up from the creek-crossing. We had all walked across on the day before. We were supposed to do the same today. But Bob was out ahead of us, and instead of stopping he decided to give it a try. Bob didn't pick a good line, maybe due to his poor eyesight, and so was way over in the bad section of the road. He made it all of the way across, and was in the process of trying to gracefully hop up the high step on the far side. But Bob didn't quite make it, so instead he gracefully fell into the creek, getting both shoes and half his body completely soaked. At least he didn't hurt himself.
Once again at the Junction I again had my cheeseburger with french fries, and Pam ordered the same. Today was getting to be a pretty nice day. Bob was outside trying to drying in the sunshine. We had a headwind for all this long stretch heading south, but now it wasn't too far to get to the turn and the tailwind.
At the turn from South to North we were halfway home. Bob was behind, but within site. Then I saw him stop and begin walking back and forth. Good thing that I went back to check on him, as he had lost the mouthpiece to his camelback and was trying to find it. Since Bob doesn't see too good this might have taken him awhile. Luckily, I saw it right away, so I was able to get Bob on the road again. We caught Pam on the small hill while she was stopped to remove some of her winter clothing, as things had warmed up with the tailwind and uphill.
Once over the cattle guard and on the downhill, I noticed that my rear tire was acting really squirrely. It was going flat. Instead of stopping, I surged on ahead to catch up with Pam. I was still able to ride, so I went on ahead to find a nice spot to stop. Once I was stopped, I saw that my rear tire still had lots of air. It was a very slow leak. This was the same tire I had a flat with yesterday. The tire needed throwing away, as it now had three boots in it, and the rubber was getting thin. I decided to just pump it up and it would be good for another 10 miles. And besides, I only had one spare tube, and no more patches. I had changed a flat front tire in camp that morning. I also didn't want to change my back tire, as I had all of my stuff loaded on my bike, so that the tire was a pain to get to. So I would stop and pump it up. This slowed down our group a few minutes each time.
The climb up the backside was Pam's first time up that hill. We all stayed together and cruised along, so that the climb wasn't too bad. It was about an hour to the top, getting there at 2:15. Almost all of the climbing was now behind us.
Going down the front, Pam was off the front, as I was hanging back to make sure that Bob was still with us. At Grant Ranch I again stopped to add air to my tire, and Bob kept going, and Pam had never waited. Two thirds of the way down the next downhill I was able to catch back up with Bob. Then we met up with Pam at Alum Rock Ave.
There was now a very big dark cloud hanging over the Santa Clara Valley. No rain yet, but it was threatening. We still had 5 miles to go, North into a headwind. We almost got Bob lost when he missed a turn, but luckily he heard us when we yelled. We stayed close together after that. At just a few minutes after 4:00 pm we were back in Milpitas at the finish. Kris was there waiting for Bob, and Pam's car was there.
It started to get a bit drippy, so Pam said that she was driving me home. Good thing, too. On the drive to my house, it started to rain very hard. Luckily, we had finished our ride just in time. Looking back towards the hills, we could see that it was now raining where we were not too long before.
Again, it was 74 miles with 7100 ft of climbing for the ride. Pam counted ten cattleguards along the route. We were a half hour faster on the second day, due to fewer, shorter regroups. Pam was looking forward to getting home and hopping in the tub for a long relaxing hot bath.
I was sorry to see the ride finally be over, but I did enjoy both days. It was a good warmup for Sierra to the Sea. I was happy to see how well both me and my fully-loaded bike performed. I just need to get those tires fixed.