Alan B
100 GW
I'm planning a leisurely ebike ride around the Three Bears loop near Orinda, CA for Sunday August 2nd. It is about 20 miles around the loop plus a few more going to lunch, which is near Orinda BART.
The loop is so named for the three hills we will climb.
Here's the Draft Plan, subject to revision (this first posting will be updated as it changes).
We will gather at about 10AM at the corner of San Pablo Dam road and Bear Creek road. Wildcat Canyon road also joins at this junction. There is limited parking in this area, some may choose to come via public transportation, the Orinda BART station is only about 3km away. We'll move out about 10:30 and take about 1.5-2 hours to do the loop, stopping at a few places. Then we'll go into Orinda and have lunch, for those what wish to, others may wish to continue on up Wildcat Canyon and into Berkeley where there is another BART station. For those continuing to lunch in Orinda, bring a cable and lock and we'll lock the bikes together near the Subway sandwich place and take turns getting our lunches so we can keep a direct watch on the machinery, and answer questions which always come up. There are other food vendors in this area as well.
This will be a comfortable easy ride (with some big hills), not a race. Taking the loop in the clockwise direction makes the uphills less steep and the downhills steeper, so make sure your brakes are in good shape. I did the course and used only modest regen, none of the hills are too steep for that, but I have pretty strong regen.
We're not expecting a large group, but a few folks might want to join us. At the moment there are about four riders planning to make the trip. The ride circles around the San Pablo and Briones reservoirs and through the rolling hills of the East Bay. It is a popular bicycle route. Many of the photos of my ebikes with water in the background are from this area.
Here is a map of the ride (not my map):
http://www.mapmyride.com/us/orinda-ca/three-bears-loop-route-17433748
There is about 1850 feet of elevation gain on this ride, but the gradients are moderate at up to 3.3%. Your ebike should have a minimum range of at about 30 miles to do this trip.
Who is interested in joining us? Let me know in advance, here or PM or email, and confirm Saturday evening if possible. Thanks!
EDIT - BART will be doing maintenance this day, affecting the trans-bay tube. Plan accordingly.