Ha, good bean spillin', Jim! :-) Yep- I spent a most wonderful b'day out here in Rivendell Country! with my friend and good neighbor Jim M. I've been wanting to get back out to Green Ranch for a while, since I'd first heard about and visited last Autumn.
For some context, I've had good fortune that 3 of my local riding buddies here are(/were!) Legolas owners, and I was duly impressed on test rides. I believe I'd put the phrase "if ever you want to get rid of this..." out to each of them. In fact, way back when Riv had first their crop of Legolai(?), it called out to me as somewhat ideal: light OS, canti, fancy-but-not-too... One day a few months ago, my phone rang... So: I first heard about "Green Ranch" here (see p.3): http://www.mdia.org/PDF%20Files/MDReviews/Review%20Spring%2005/MDReviewSpring05.pdf ... and was intrigued. A little digging pinned down the location and I was off. It really is a fabulous trail / fire road, and I will happily ride/guide anybody interested as circumstances permit! The previous visit, I'd gone up there solo late one afternoon on an ill-equipped 650B conversion with semi-slick too-narrow tires - just too sketchy for the conditions and quickly disappearing light on the back side of Diablo - so I turned tail and bike-hiked back out to the road. This time was exactly the terrain and reason why I brought the Legolas into my life. Absolutely perfect fit by my book. That said, I won't be taking the bum steer we received from the Park Rangers again. The trails heading out to the park boundary in fact DO NOT continue on through to Morgan Territory Rd. Given the precipitous drop in elevation past the Green Ranch site and the 99% humidity conditions, we somewhat found ourselves screwed and in that rock/hard place situation when we came to that first gate... then even worse, that 2nd gate another 1000' lower on the mountain... I was not relishing an encounter to find out who would win The Big Jerk Award: property owner or bandit biker (yes, I realize this is sounding pretty CYA) !!! Plus, I swear kept hearing Dueling Banjos in my head the whole time. Sadly, Legolas Buddy #3 was unable to join in the Legofest. But a highlight was encountering a crabon fibre roadie at The Junction who dropped-jaw upon seeing us. Actually, it turns out he races CX on his L.! You never walk alone in Rivendell Country! =- Joe Bunik Walnut Creek, CA On 2/21/12, Jim Mather <[email protected]> wrote: > Neighbor Joe invited me for a ride on his birthday yesterday. We had both > spotted a trail on a map that looked like it might be a good loop over and > around Mt Diablo, so we loaded up our Legolas' (Legoli?) and headed up via > North Gate Rd. At the Junction, we headed towards the summit, but then got > off the road and took the trail less traveled to Green Ranch. Green Ranch > is a former summer home built in 1939 and designed by William Wurster > (notable Bay Area architect and a former dean of Berkeley's architecture > school). > > The home was designed in a modernist style and built on the southeast side > of the mountain. Joe has a picture of the current view and an old picture > of the house at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joe_bunik/6914384039/ > The empty pool, tennis courts, foundation and fireplaces remain but > everything else was dismantled in 1993 to bring the area back to its > natural state. > > We continued past the ruins on the trail to the park boundary. There was a > small gate and a very faded sign that might have once said Private > Property. The trail was obviously seldom used -- grass was growing in it > and the only tracks were deer. We hopped the gate and continued down the > trail heading towards Morgan Territory Road. Eventually the track looked > more used and we came to a much more secure gate with lots of barbed wire. > The public road was on the other side of the gate so we knew we were headed > in the right direction. The gate was high, so Joe squeezed through the > barbed wire fence and I lifted the bikes over to him. I then squeezed > through; no one needed a tetanus shot. We turned around to see the gate > sign: "Diablo Archery Club -- No Trespassing. Danger!" Good thing we > didn't have our helmets with antlers. The remainder of the ride was less > fraught with danger. > > I have a few pictures at: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/20986098@N04/6773347072/in/photostream > > cheers, > jim > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
