We did a 60 km ride around the south end of the bay largely on the dirt Bayt Trail. I rode my Basso. Since this was essentially a flat ride (total climbing of 550 feet) it was easy. But the Basso looks like dust city now and I will have to wash it off before it goes back into the garage.

I had no shifting problems with the oversize idler pulley are but occasionally there would be a sharp crack sound which I assumed was the chain catching and then snapping into place.

But that was rare. No butt problems with good shorts. I wore a long sleeve jersey but it was light so only a little cool in the morning and a little warm in the afternoon breeze. I could have liked a sooner coffee break but we did have a sandwich.

I have done a lot of gravel trail riding and would stop and wait for the group to ride out to dead ends and return. So I probably got a mile less than the others.

All in all a good ride.

On Thursday, September 29, 2022 at 4:14:24 PM UTC-7, cycl...@gmail.com wrote:
> We did a 60 km ride around the south end of the bay largely on the dirt Bayt Trail. I rode my Basso. Since this was essentially a flat ride (total climbing of 550 feet) it was easy. But the Basso looks like dust city now and I will have to wash it off before it goes back into the garage.
>
> I had no shifting problems with the oversize idler pulley are but occasionally there would be a sharp crack sound which I assumed was the chain catching and then snapping into place.
>
> But that was rare. No butt problems with good shorts. I wore a long sleeve jersey but it was light so only a little cool in the morning and a little warm in the afternoon breeze. I could have liked a sooner coffee break but we did have a sandwich.
>
> I have done a lot of gravel trail riding and would stop and wait for the group to ride out to dead ends and return. So I probably got a mile less than the others.
>
> All in all a good ride.
Very, very good, Tom. Here in the foothills, I have found there's a test: whether you are in good enough shape to climb Benham St. in Placerville without having to stop and rest (which I was able to do the other day) or not. If you can climb Benham St., then there is actually hope that you can take a break from other activities and do rides such as Cedar Ravine Rd., Newtown Rd., Starkes Grade or the Plymouth loop. I really like the rides around here because all the hills will keep you in decent shape.

On Saturday, October 1, 2022 at 4:20:58 AM UTC-7, William Crowell wrote:
> On Thursday, September 29, 2022 at 4:14:24 PM UTC-7, cycl...@gmail.com wrote:
> > We did a 60 km ride around the south end of the bay largely on the dirt Bayt Trail. I rode my Basso. Since this was essentially a flat ride (total climbing of 550 feet) it was easy. But the Basso looks like dust city now and I will have to wash it off before it goes back into the garage.
> >
> > I had no shifting problems with the oversize idler pulley are but occasionally there would be a sharp crack sound which I assumed was the chain catching and then snapping into place.
> >
> > But that was rare. No butt problems with good shorts. I wore a long sleeve jersey but it was light so only a little cool in the morning and a little warm in the afternoon breeze. I could have liked a sooner coffee break but we did have a sandwich.
> >
> > I have done a lot of gravel trail riding and would stop and wait for the group to ride out to dead ends and return. So I probably got a mile less than the others.
> >
> > All in all a good ride.
> Very, very good, Tom. Here in the foothills, I have found there's a test: whether you are in good enough shape to climb Benham St. in Placerville without having to stop and rest (which I was able to do the other day) or not.. If you can climb Benham St., then there is actually hope that you can take a break from other activities and do rides such as Cedar Ravine Rd., Newtown Rd., Starkes Grade or the Plymouth loop. I really like the rides around here because all the hills will keep you in decent shape.
One of the rides I was doing was to climb a 650 foot 1 mile 7% hill, followed by 6% 550 foot hill that was also about a mile then a 3 mile leadup to the 900 foot climb up to Mariel gate on Redwood Road - Several miles down then a climb over Little Pinehurst and Canyon to Moraga and back. Total climbing was 4700 feet and 37 miles. Since a friend is now driving up a ways from where we're starting now is 3300 feet and 25 miles, But the group i used to ride with does the same route adding just 2 miles and 400 feet.