| What do the guys at Goldwing Country do when there is a Hazardous Weather Outlook? |
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| We jump into our heated gear, mount our trusty Goldwings, and head for the hills!
With snow on the way we left Goldwing Country in Livermore, CA about noon and headed up Mines Road hoping to catch lunch at "The Junction" before heading up and over Mt. Hamilton and then back to the shop. The total trip (illustrated below) was just over 100 miles which took about 4 hours to complete. |
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Letter "A" represents Cruiser Customizing homebase and starting point in Livermore. Letter "B" respresents the famous Mines Rd. Letter "C" points to the Lick Obervatory on top of Mt. Hamilton.
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| A shot of Mines Road, north of the Junction. Photo dated 2007. |
| Mines Road out of Livermore is a long (over 50 miles), winding, but well maintained one lane road with a plethora of sharp corners. This road is a motorcyclists dream, and we are lucky enough to have it in our back yard! As we left the valley floor and entered the foothills, we could see a light dusting of snow covering the green hills. Just like the photo above from last year's snow ride. |
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| Dangerous curves ahead indeed! |
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As we gained elevation and not more than twenty minutes into ride, the roads became slushy and the roadside snow increased in depth. |
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| Stopping to enjoy the beautiful countryside and happy to have heated gear, good tires, and a trusty ride. Current temperature: 37 degrees. |
| After snapping a few photos we continued up the road towards the Junction where upon arrival we were disappointed to find the gates closed…and nobody home. Sadly, The Junction Cafe in the San Antonio Valley is the only place to buy food between the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton and Livermore.
During the season, this is a very popular Café/hamburger joint (marked B on the map above) which caters to motorcyclists, bicyclists, and local farmers / ranchers located at the junction of Mines Road, Del Puerto Canyon Road, and San Antonio Valley Road.
(Side note: If you ever get the chance to make this ride, I recommend the Jerry Burger at the Junction and a trip up or down Del Puerto Canyon Road. Del Puerto is one of my all time favorite roads as it has some super sweeping corners through gorgeous terrain!) |
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| It was during this climb of roughly 2500 feet that we found the most beautiful sights of rare snow covered Bay Area Mountains.We continued to the summit and took a break to admire the view from the Observatory parking lot. |
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| Lick Observatory is open to daytime visitors nearly every day of the year. On a "normal day" the main Observatory building, built in 1888 is open for tours where guides talk about Lick history while allowing visitors to look at the Great Lick Refractor in the 36-inch telescope dome. In addition, visitors are normally invited to the Shane Dome to view the 120-inch Reflector from the Visitorsá Gallery.
The Shane reflector is one of the major telescopes used to discover planets outside of our solar system. This observatory is a neat place to visit. |
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| A shot of Uwe leaving the Observatory. |
| The road form the Observatory to San Jose is another awesome motorcycle road as it follows a gradual grade laid out over a century ago for horses and carts. |
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| Uwe in a sweeper. |
| This being said, the road is switch back after switch back, and is quite narrow in many places as seen in the photo above. |
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| The road down to the valley floor in San Jose was beautiful and ice free. As we descended down and rode out of the clouds, the sky opened up and we saw some great valley views with blue sky.
Today´s ride was just awesome! It was made possible and comfortable by heated gear which kept us warm and safe throughout our four hour tour in freezing (wind chill) conditions.
As always, please let us know your comments and feedback.
Ride warm and safe
Kyle Bradshaw
(Director of Customer Service)
Uwe Druckenmueller
(CEO)
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