Saturday, May 15th started as an overcast day in our part of the Bay Area. Instead of heading to the coast for fish & chips as previously planned, we switched gears and decided to make the Mt. Hamilton run in reverse. This decision was to seek the sun, but also to get some pictures since we failed our followers on the last run. On this run we had the Repo Team, Outlaws and Snake. Boots could not make the ride, something about spending the weekend in "Paradise". Well, I know "Paradise", and I doubt Boots could be there for more than a few minutes, let alone the weekend... I'm assuming he was talking about "Business Time", but perhaps he meant something else....
On the way we stopped at the Livermore HD shop to shop and take a break. Out of Livermore we took Mines Rd. The road all the way up to Mt. Hamilton is strewn with bicyclists enjoying the scenery of the road right in front of the tire (picture heads hanging and tongues hanging out as they make the ascent). The road up to and down from Mt. Hamilton is full of tight turns that require your full attention. I did manage to miss a snake in the road, this time... I could not help but notice a couple of things as we rode. 1.) We always managed to meet up with other cars, motorcycles or bikes in sharp turns, never straight parts of the road. A couple of times I thought Outlaw might bump helmets of other cyclists. 2.) Rock slides, gravel, pine cones only occur in turns. I'm not sure why this is the case, but it is...
At the top of Mt. Hamilton we stopped at the James Lick Observatory, named for the inventor of the Popsicle...
From the official web site.... The observatory was constructed between 1876 and 1887, from a bequest from James Lick. In 1887 Lick's body was buried under the future site of the telescope, with a brass tablet bearing the inscription, "Here lies the body of James Lick".
Before construction could begin, a road to the site had to be built. All of the construction materials had to be brought to the site by horse and mule-drawn wagons, which could not negotiate a steep grade. To keep the grade below 6.5%, the road had to take a very winding and sinuous path, which the modern-day road (SR 130) still follows. Tradition maintains that this road has exactly 365 turns. (This is approximately correct, although uncertainty as to what should count as a turn makes precise verification impossible). Even those who do not normally suffer from motion-sickness find the road challenging.
Before construction could begin, a road to the site had to be built. All of the construction materials had to be brought to the site by horse and mule-drawn wagons, which could not negotiate a steep grade. To keep the grade below 6.5%, the road had to take a very winding and sinuous path, which the modern-day road (SR 130) still follows. Tradition maintains that this road has exactly 365 turns. (This is approximately correct, although uncertainty as to what should count as a turn makes precise verification impossible). Even those who do not normally suffer from motion-sickness find the road challenging.
While we were at the observatory, we were joined by an antique Porche club on an outing. I felt a bit sorry for them as they were not on motorcycles and I know why they had to buy a Porche to make up for certain inadequacies....
We rode down into San Jose and enjoyed lunch at the Fire Eaters. Both Outlaw and Repo man enjoyed the wings with the Inferno sauce. I had the Nuclear sauce, a step up from my previous choice, sauce for little girls.... Afterwards we scooted home on the freeways having had enough turns for one day....
See you on the road.
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