Modern Vespa

Vespa Club Los Gatos is throwing its annual challenge to climb all three Bay Area peaks in a single day.
Mount Hamilton.
Mount Diablo.
Mount Tamalpais.

It's become our time-honored tradition to ride around the SF Bay (literally) and survive the hours in the saddle.
This is not a race, but you do have to keep moving to complete the challenge before nightfall. We will pause to regroup from time to time but each rider should be prepared to navigate the course without aid from others.

Saturday August 3rd 2013.

As always, we will start in San Jose and finish atop Mount Tamalpais.

Be prepared for a VERY early morning meet-up and departing 1hr later.

MEET-UP IS AT ZAMORAS OMELETTE HOUSE AT 7AM
2920 Alum Rock Avenue
San Jose, CA 95127-2805
(408) 926-2628

Corrected Note: ZAMORAS OMELETTE HOUSE is opening at 7am just for us. So, Please come down and have some breakfast before the start.

KICKSTART AND KICKSTANDS-UP AT 8AM

As tradition goes, we will break for lunch between 12p and 2p, at Genova Delicatessen & Ravioli in Walnut Creek (S. California Blvd. & Olympic Blvd.).

Route information will be available for those who feel they may lag and/or fall behind, both in print form and online. There will not be a support truck for this ride, so you will more-or-less be on your own should your ride encounter issues or breakdown.

We expect this to be an all-day event. Do not expect to finish atop Mount Tam earlier than 4pm if you have something else to do.

PATCHES

We have finally had patches made. They will be available for $10 at the finish. We are having year rocker patches to surround the patch for each year you complete the challenge. We will get your info and send you the rocker for 2013 (and any past years you have completed).



REMINDERS

1) If we haven't said it already, we'll say it again - THIS IS NOT A RACE! Each individual is to ride at his/her own pace, for whatever you are comfortable with, and just get to the checkpoints when you can. We will be printing X amount of directions so you may need to pair-up with others if you don't know the route.

2) It helps to have cash readily available to you when you do this ride. It's $10 to get into Mount Diablo State Park, but it will allow you access into Mount Tamalpais (if the Rangers ever enforce it). There is a toll when crossing the 580 Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. The Golden Gate bridge no longer has people to take your money, they just send you a bill.

3) If you feel you've had enough of the challenge, in the middle of riding, no hard feelings. Just pull someone over for directions to the nearest freeway and you can ride home on your own accord.

4) There are no winners or losers in the Three Peaks Challenge - only people who can accomplish a very tough ride. These are backroads we're taking, where riders on 50cc have made it through the entire thing - though they didn't get to rest as frequently as the rest, they toughed it out.

5) Be prepared for quickly changing weather. Last year, we started on an overcast morning, were grilled and sweating by Diablo/Walnut Creek, and encountered wet roads and drizzle around Mount Tam. This has got to be one of the more odd-ball rides for weather, from start to finish.

6) Don't try to be a hero and ride with the faster riders if you can't handle sharp turns at high speeds. Ride according to your own style and rules. Some of us are crazier/more stupid than others when we ride; others just call it experience.

For any other questions, visit us at VespaClubLosGatos.com or e-mail us at VespaClubLosGatos@yahoo.com.
Don't trust us? Need to see the route beforehand so you can decide if you want/can do it? Here are JPEG versions of the printed map available on Flickr. If you get lost, link these images in your PDA for quick reference (or just copy them directly).

Part 1 of 4
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8153/7495515406_0178205659_b.jpg

Part 2 of 4
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8148/7495515004_c49c656d5d_b.jpg

Part 3 of 4
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8021/7495514716_769dbcec2a_b.jpg

Part 4 of 4
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7252/7495515646_42573b5034_b.jpg

GPX with waypoints and tracks (You will need to build your own route with your own maps)
http://members.modernvespa.net/oopsclunkthud/uploads/3pc_139.gpx

Yay! My favorite ride. Same route as last year, I assume, so I can use my GPS routes from last time?

Thank you VCLG and Patrick for organizing this once again!

-Dan

Just trry and keep me away!

Had a wonderful time last year. It's pencilled in for now.

Change that to I'm in. Fun times.

I've always wanted to do this one. I think this might be the year to truck up the Buddy.

The linked images should be the current version of the route. Only minor changes were made a year or two back, but it's all the same regardless, on route or skipping-via-highway.

Posted as a Facebook Event if you want to keep updated on there as well as MV.

https://www.facebook.com/events/439052659526514/?ref=2

Hmmmm.... Maybe.....

One of these years I am going to make it up there for this ride! Sounds like such a fun fun day! Sadly though, it won't be this year. Have a great time everybody!

The loop and a piece of Hamilton tastiness...

The red 'A' is where I live(very close to the start), the green 'A' is where the ride ends.

170 miles, plus getting home again, so 240+ for me for the day.

Google has it at 7.5 hours travel time.

Its a long day, but it rocks. Absolutely.

R

Close up.

R

if I manage to have my shoudler hold out, I will show up.

I will be there.

w00t!

Might be worth the trip from Reno to do this. I'll have to think about it.

That's awesome.

You will not be disappointed.

R

fixed that for ya'

I won't be there for the second year running.

Enjoy it one and all - always a good day out. Looking forward to some candid pics from The Oz.

I so want to do this.... I sure hope the stars will align work wise for me....

Yes, we made it too easy for him to resist. Looking forward to another great ride.

Anyone ever done it 2-up? My wife is jazzed from all the 2-up riding we did at Amerivespa and is considering coming along this time. I've taken her on some twisties before (like to Alice's Restaurant), but not up something like Mt. Hamilton.

-Dan

Oofda!

Translation??

That would be a tough one.

As you know the route is not just "twisty" but really twisty and bumpy and gravelly, and sometimes wet...

It's been done on 50cc bikes, and vintage bikes with a max speed of 50mph, so in theory it should be doable two up. You'd have to keep moving, really short stops at the peaks, to make up for the required slower pace to assure the two of you were on speaking terms at the finish.

In short, I wouldn't recommend it but it's probably doable. If I were to try it I'd have the passenger select a "safe word" and we'd call it off as soon as it was said.

Yeah, good advice. Maybe I'll show her Glasseye's map of the route... that will probably dissuade her. We could most likely do any one of the peaks, but all three is probably pushing it...

-Dan

After several years of talking about having patches made it looks like we are finally going to have them this year (fingers crossed they get here on time).

The patch is not specific to a year, and there will be year rocker patches that surround the patch. Quite a few details to still sort out but if you have completed the challenge in the past, it would be a good idea to review and document what years.

Here's a preview (without the rockers):

Nice idea on the patches. They look great!

I hope they look that good in person. Getting embroidered patches to look good is voodoo, and requires a leap of faith that the finished patch will look much better than the initial sewout.

<--- foolishly volunteered to get this patch made.

Okay, not actually foolish. Just unnerving.

There aren't too many colors involved so I think it'll turn out fine. If not, at least now we know who to blame.

I dont' know that it's even the twisties that would necessarily get to me, it's the wear on teh passenger. that's a long ride to be 2-up on a scoot for.

True. I was thinking of getting a room at a hotel or B&B up in Marin so we could spend the night and not have to scoot back down to Palo Alto at the end. But then that would mean we couldn't bail out part-way if we got too tired...

-Dan

In the past have there been many riders on 150cc or less scooters? Most of the ride looks like a lot of fun. I am just concerned about going on the freeway unless I am with a group of people going slower than the normal bat out of hell speeds most cars are traveling at.

Dan - I've done approx. 1/3rd of the length of the ride on my GT 2-up and my pillion was not happy with me (it was the Mt Diablo part on a different ride). Just lending context.

All passengers are different, YMMV.

There have been a handful of us on lower displacement bikes; myself included one year on a 125cc 2-Stroke. The most impressive was one year with a guy on a 50cc Aprilia. Compare his performance to the performance of the handful of Maxi-scooters who didn't make it, it's very possible to complete this Challenge on less than 150cc.

If you keep to the route, the only bit of freeway riding you'll have to worry about is running just over 6.5 on the 580 Richmond-San Rafael Bridge (and getting home if you're on the Peninsula or anywhere in the East Bay). Even last year, I rode alongside a VERY slow (older) gentleman on a GTS 250 and it was no different than someone riding a small displacement bike.

If you can start talking with other people (before breakfast or at), you might be able to connect with others in your skill level and make it a group thing.

Lisa rides an ET4 and does just fine. Of course, she's nuts anyway.

I'll be on an ET4 too. Does that make me nuts too?

Riding Three Peaks in 1 day for 250miles, 8hrs in the saddle, on something that looks like something from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"? Yeah, I'd say so.

But greatly appreciated

Yep! I've completed the Challenge twice on an LX150, and some of my friends have finished it on Buddy 125s.

Here's the thing, though: As a courtesy, you'll need to check your mirrors and keep to the right to let faster bikes (and faster riders) pass you on the left. It's the right thing to do regardless of the size of your engine or whatever. One year, I was "boxed in" by a couple of 250cc+ scooters on the curvy roads because they wouldn't allow ME to pass THEM! It was sooo annoying!