It is looking like the year 2020 will go down as the crappiest in the history of the modern world. With hundreds of thousands of people losing their lives and millions of people losing their livelihoods, the whole world has turned upside down and is just a really unfortunate time for everyone.
With all businesses closed and schools closed and the nationwide shelter-in-place order it has been quite an interesting time for motorcycling. Alameda County does not explicitly restrict motorcycling per se but recommends staying at home for everything except what is considered “essential”. So after staying at home for about three weeks and not going anywhere I finally decided to get onto my bike, meet a few friends and go for a ride in the East Bay Hills. We kept the mandatory six-feet separation from each other at all times.
We took the Tassajara exit off Highway 580 and road the back roads to the base of Mount Diablo. We climbed up Mount Diablo from the south side and took a break at the fork. Traffic was very light, a few bicycle riders and maybe a couple of motorcyclists. We descended the mountain towards the North and went through the small town of Clayton. From there we took Marsh Creek Road and Vasco back to 580. It’s been a few years since I rode Vasco Road and I totally enjoyed it this time. Wide sweeping turns, open vistas and the lush green grass glowing in the springtime sun – it was an excellent ride!
We didn’t take a lot of pictures… we were riding pretty fast … here’s a couple of pictures we took at the end of the ride at Sunol.
Sujit Kirpekar 