2007 May 20

2007 May 20 - CCBR Ride Berryessa-Knoxville Road, Clear Lake and Hwy 16

{CLICK on any photo to view a larger image}



I start a lot of my Rides at the Jelly Belly Factory so I can buy a bag or two of Belly Flops. There is no gas readily available, but their Parking Lot is huge and makes a good staging area. Today we have seven bikes and nine people.

Here I am on the phone to the Lakeside Inn Pub in Kelseyville (Soda Bay really, but with a Kelsyville address). The Llyods, Rod and Merry are opening a couple of hours early for us. Their Winter hours are from 3 to 9 PM.

The first leg of the Ride takes us toward Vacaville where we ride Pleasant Valley Road. A lot of bicyclists are on that road. Pleasant Valley is aptly named the countryside is peaceful and the road has some turns but except for two very well marked corners are not difficult. Then to Hwy 128 where we see the CDF Fire Fighters leaving as they have just put out a fire on the south and east of Lake Berryessa. More bicyclists there must have been an event .

We arrive at the Corners for our break. The café at the Corners has reopened, but for us another time.
Here's smiling Dave ready for a break.
I got the back of Rich P's head. But you can see Judy G, Rich's pillion and Phil.
Rich M is taking off his jacket. The weather started out chilly but is now warming up as the rest of us shed our jacket liners.

Neil, Rich M and Scott.
The CHP is on patrol as is their wont on weekends in the Lake Berryessa roads. So we are at or barely over the Speed Limit as we head down to Berryessa-Knoxville Road. Now the early section up to the junction of Pope Canyon Road is well traveled.

As you continue past Pope Canyon Road the traffic thins out and becomes almost nonexistent once the road turns into a one-laner.

The next four photos I shot freehand left handed {I am right handed} over my shoulder as we were riding along the one lane portion of Berryessa-Knoxville Road. {of course I took about 20 shots only 4 were usable, unless your want to see the sky or the road or the side of my helmet}




This is a "staged" shot. We pulled to the side of the road and Scott volunteered to go back and cross the water for the photo. It has been dry and this little bit of water was all we encountered. The rest of the streamlet crossings were dry.
Phil's photo of Scott.

The "setup" for the water crossing photo.

This is where Berryessa-Knoxville Road ends and Morgan Valley Road starts. Actually we are at the entrance gate to the Homestake gold mine, which has been closed for some time now.

Phil's photo from up the hill.
Phil's recently painted luggage.
Phil's photo of Don.

Morgan Valley Road is a wonderful winding road with little to no traffic and good pavement. The road goes from Lower Lake to the Homestake mine. The terrain between the two is not good for anything so no ranches or farms. I wonder why the road is kept in such good condition. Or is it that the lack of traffic keeps it from deteriorating.

Through Lower Lake to Point Lakeview Road. There has been a lot of repair work on the beginning portion of the road since I last traveled it. The start of the road used to have about 300 yards of really rough pavement.

We stay close to the south shore of the Clear Lake as we continue. Finally we get to Soda Bay and the Lakeside Inn Pub. Adjacent is the Lakeside Inn B&B, also owned and operated by the Llyods.
Lakeside Inn B&B

Here are Neil and Scott.
The rest of the Riders and Passengers.
Neil, Judy, Rich and Rich ponder over the menu.
Everyone's ordered now we have to wait for the cook. Except Neil, he ordered something that was ready right away and already has his food.

The plates are nearing empty. They did keep bringing ice tea in carafes for refills.

Scott's plate far left has some stuff left on it, but look how clean Phil's plate is..... :-)

Here is a photo of Rod, owner and barkeep.
As we get ready to leave another group of a dozen or so Harley's with two BMW's pull into the extended parking lot. It seems that they saw our bikes parked and stopped for lunch. It was well worth Rod to open early. He got a lot of business.
After lunch we lose Rich P and Judy G as they are off to visit an ailing friend in Santa Rosa.

The Llyods Jaguar.


As we make our scheduled gas stop in Lakeport. Scott who has been riding tail is missing.
Before long he shows up to gas up. It seems that a motorcyclist that we had passed going in the opposite direction on the way to Lakeport decided he did not want to negotiate a 20 mph corner and just went straight into a ditch. This was after he had gone by the rest of us, save Rich P and Scott. So Rich P. and Scott saw this and stopped to help the guy get his bike out of the ditch. I suppose whoever was riding five thought that two bikes, not one was leaving the Group after lunch and did not miss Scott. Anyway the incident was real close to our scheduled gas stop at Lakeport.

We continue riding through Lakeport right on the western shoreline of Clear Lake. Then over to Hwy 20 at Nice.

A couple of photos of us riding on Hwy 20 on the north side of Clear Lake.


We had been behaving like responsible motorcyclists for the whole day. Well, just before we get to Hwy 16 there is a passing lane and the lead rider decides to twist the throttle. The only time during the entire ride where 80 mph was exceeded.

The north end of Hwy 16 goes through Cache Creek Canyon and is a fun ride. But the traffic today slowed us to a reasonable pace. Then we descent into Rumsey and the Capay Valley. We ride through the main street of Guinda, it almost feels like a different era.

We slow to look at the Cache Creek Indian Reservation. The Casino must be making a lot of money. The reservation keeps adding more and more new buildings.

Phil and Mary are stopping at the Cache Creek Indian Casino, so the remaining five bikes continue to the Ride's end at the hamburger stand in Esparto. The hamburger stand is still in its Winter hours and is closed on Sundays. But the Esparto Park is just across the street and the restrooms are available for our use.

Esparto Park across the street.

The Ride was just a shade over 200 miles. But Rich M also had 85 miles to the start and 110 miles home. My day was a little shorter, only 55 miles to the start and 80 miles home from Esparto.

Here is a list of people and bikes:

Don I. ............ F650 Funduro ............................ Stockton
Rich P
Judy G ...........R1150RT .....................................Walnut Creek
Scott W .........R1100R ........................................Pleasant Hill
Phil N
Mary N ..........R1200RT ....................................Orinda
Dave S ...........R1200RT ....................................San Ramon
Neil H ...........Ducati Mulistrada........................ Moraga
Rich M ..........K1200RS .....................................Modesto
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