In April of 2019, I attended my first (and so far only) Eroica California. By the time I finally made the decision to go, I did not have nearly enough time to prepare properly. I also had little idea exactly what to expect. Nonetheless, in addition to riding, I decided to pay extra to show my 1960s Bianchi Specialissima, figuring I would learn if it was even worth showing, and if it was, what I should do to it to show it to maximum effect. As it turned out, this was the first year Eroica California was held in the town of Cambria and there were some transitional difficulties. One consequence is that I never received the formal evaluation of my Bianchi from the show judges. However, my friend Roger who was at Eroica as well introduced me to his friend Greg who is part of the show bike community. Greg gave me a friendly, informal evaluation of my Bianchi which I very much appreciated. He also suggested I might enjoy riding with a group of Classic and Vintage bike riders in my area, a group of which he was a member. We exchanged emails and by September of that year I was on their mailing list. There were four rides posted which, for one reason or another, I didn't attend, and then the pandemic hit and group rides were no longer an option for me.
Thanks to the availability of vaccines, group rides have again become an option and then a few weeks ago one of the Classic and Vintage rides caught my eye. This one was hosted by Greg, the person who got me involved with this group in the first place. I had just gotten my Hetchins rideable after some partially successful changes I had made to it just before the pandemic and was eager to ride it again, so everything seemed to be falling into place. But were they really? Just as was the case for Eroica three years earlier, I wasn't sure what to expect. Would everyone be in vintage dress? Would everyone be on vintage bicycles? Would my poor shadow of a Hetchins be out of place? What kind of riders would be on the ride and would I be able to keep up with them? Although I had gotten my Hetchins “rideable”, I certainly had not had time to get everything dialed in. In its current state, was it really ready for a group ride? As the time of the ride approached, my nervousness increased and I seriously considered backing out. An excuse I had was that I had originally scheduled an important training ride for that day. Might it be better to stick with my training plan rather than risk a disaster on this unknown ride? In the end, I pulled it together and went, and I am so glad that I did.
I opted for a mix of faux-vintage and modern clothing. I left the Eroica-violating clipless pedals on the Hetchins and wore modern cycling shoes. I then drove the half hour to the start of the ride, a start which was on one of my Go-To rides, the Stephens Creek Trail. We assembled in the parking lot of Landels Elementary School. I had parked a few blocks away so biked up to the start and found five or ten riders assembled. They looked to be somewhere around
my age, everyone was on a vintage bike, and folks were friendly, introducing themselves and asking me about my bike. Greg was there and immediately identified my bike as a Hetchins, impressive given its lack of a headbadge, decals, or other identifiers. “The fork is unmistakable,” he said. The clothing I had selected was well within the range of what others were wearing. I was not the only person with modern, clipless pedals. Most of the bikes were fixed up nicer than my Hetchins, but it fit in just fine. There was a huge range of types of bikes from all out racing bikes to a 1956 Schwinn paperboy bike with fat tires, and a cantilever frame constructed from the classic Schwinn “electro-forged” tubing, heavier than a black hole and indestructible. Once we hit the trail, it became apparent I was not going to have trouble keeping up. One of the things which is not quite dialed in on my Hetchins are the gears which have never shifted very well even at the best of times. For that reason and because this was a flat ride, I simply never shifted, I completed the entire ride in a 39 x 18 (59 inch) gear.
From the Elementary School parking lot it was half a block on sidewalks to the start of the Stephens Creek Trail which we took it north to The San Francisco Bay Trail. In my solo rides, I have often turned on to the Stephens Creek Trail heading the opposite direction, coming from the Bay Trail to the north. On this ride, we headed southwest on the Bay Trail, onto a section of that trail I had not previously ridden. This section of the trail is entirely gravel, a surface that was comfortably rideable even on the very skinny tires (27 x 1⅛) of my Hetchins. We then exited onto the streets of Sunnyvale to do some Silicon Valley and Military Industrial Complex sightseeing. Greg, our ride leader, is a retired
Lockheed employee so was an excellent tour guide for public parts of Moffett Field. (The picture to the right is Greg wearing his Brooks jersey featuring the address of the factory where Brooks Saddles are assembled with the Moffett Field dirigible hangar in the background.) We then returned to the Stephens Creek and Bay trails and headed for lunch at the Shoreline Lake American Bistro, a restaurant which is part of the Shoreline Lake Regional Park with an ambiance I found charmingly resort-like. Shoreline Lake Park was constructed by the city of Mountain View. Its centerpiece is a 50 acre saltwater lake heavily used for recreational boating. Because of its location on the Bay Trail, the bistro is also used by hikers and bikers in the area. After lunch, we rode a quick 5 miles back to where we had started the ride at which point the ride was over.
Why am I so glad I went on this ride? It is not so much in the details as it is in the overall experience. I think the social aspect of this ride, that I was meeting and riding with other people, was huge. I’ve said this before: although it is clearly true I am by nature a loner and that I really enjoy riding by myself, there are limits even for me and that I could really benefit from more social rides. I found out that there exist group rides compatible with my low level of fitness. I found out that my Hetchins and I fit comfortably into the local Classic and Vintage bike group. A smaller point, but not one to be neglected, is that I was introduced to a new section of the Bay Trail. It is not as obvious or well marked as other sections of the Bay Trail I have ridden so I might not have been able to discover it on my own. Now that I have ridden it, however, I think I would be able to navigate it in the future. Finally, the tour Greg led us on of Silicon Valley and Moffitt Field was both fun and informative. Thank you Greg, for introducing me to this group and leading this ride!
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