Friday, January 4, 2013
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Today’s urban ride through Contra Costa goes along the suburban neighborhoods of Danville, San Ramon and Walnut Creek. The majority of the well maintained roads have an wide shoulder area with smooth pavement; this offsets the slightly heavier city traffic and noise levels. The terrain is mainly flat with a few short climbs and rollers through the older and newer subdivisions.
We begin at the Lafayette/Moraga Trail Staging parking lot on Olympic and Pleasant Hill Rd in Lafayette. The short climb up Tice Valley Rd heads towards Rossmoor-the senior adult community in Walnut Creek. Tice Valley Park is a great place to stop for water and restrooms.
The route continues along the flats on Danville Blvd to Alamo and downtown Danville and jogs along the residential areas on Laurel and Brookside Dr to Sycamore Valley Rd. The flat miles on Sycamore Valley Rd and Camino Tassjara runs west to east and serves as one of the thoroughfares through Danville, San Ramon and Blackhawk.
We roll past a US Post Office, the Sycamore Valley Elementary School, Sycamore Valley Open Space area, several well-manicured parks, the Tassajara Crossing Shopping Center and the Diablo Vista Middle School. There are plenty of places to stop for coffee, food, snacks and beverages. That’s one beauty of urban riding; there are always places to stop and people around if you should need it.
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Camino Tassajara continues south for the next 3 miles to the unincorporated community of Tassajara, this section of the road is the only “country” part of this ride. The rolling hills are dotted with grazing cattle; there are several horse ranches, old barns and orchards. This segment of the route is on a 2 lane road with no shoulder area and fast moving cars-ride with caution!
The climb up Windemere Pkwy to Bollinger Canyon takes us around the newer suburban developments at Gale Ranch. All the homes are neatly lined up with matching roofs and color schemes.
We arrive at Peet’s located at the Gale Ranch Plaza off Bollinger Canyon Rd. This shopping center has a huge Safeway with a gas station, numerous food establishments and other retail stores. There’s plenty of outdoor seating and places to park the bikes.
The post lunch route returns on Dougherty Rd to Crow Canyon and back to Camino Tassajara where we head north to Alamo for the ride around the Round Hill Country Club with beautiful views of the golf course greens. We meander around the neighborhoods on Miranda and Livorna to Lavender Dr. The descent on Rudgear Rd drops us into Walnut Creek at S Main St.
The city streets of Castle Hill, Lancaster, Lilac and Newell take us back on Olympic Blvd to Lafayette.
Thanks to everyone for joining me this Tour de Burbs!
13 people in attendance
VDO Stats:
42.3 miles with 2032′ of elevation gain
Avg grade: 2%
max grade: 7%
Weather: GREAT! Sunny & cool, temps ranged from the mid 40’s to the mid 50’s
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Every day is a good day. ~Yun-Men
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Click here to view the route map & profile
Follow this route for today’s ride:
Ride Chronicles 
A new route; it’s interesting to see new places. And a good name for this ride! Carole
Carole, Thanks for joining the ride! Nancy
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Tour de Burbs – sounds like a Strava segment. Is Nancy on the leaderboard?? 🙂
Wayne, I’m on the leaderboard for all time riding on flat terrain! Nancy
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