9/27/06: The Portola Loop (17.6 Miles)

I was pretty tired after riding out the coast and back over the last two days, so I just took a quick lap around the Portola Loop.

Here are my stats:

1h 4m 58s

17.55 miles

16.7 avg mph

34.0 max mph

129 avg heart rate

166 max heart rate

403 calories

9/26/06: Tunitas Creek (39.2 Miles)

After spending the night in Half Moon Bay, I rode back over the hill to Palo Alto on Tunitas Creek Road.

The first 10.5 miles were along Highway 1 South to Tunitas Creek Road. It was windy and cold, but after a couple of miles I warmed up and was okay by the time I reached Tunitas Creek. I’ve heard from so many people about how Tunitas Creek seems to go on forever with miles of incredibly steep road that slowly grinds riders’ legs into jello.

Tunitas Creek is 9.2 miles long but its really only the 5 miles in the middle that are steep. The first 3 miles and the last 2.5 miles are pretty flat. Furthermore, the first mile of the climb is gentle and there are short flat spots along the way that provide moments of relief. There are a couple of brutally steep parts of the road but I don’t remember any of them being longer than .5 miles. On the whole, Tunitas Creek Road is difficult but it isn’t as hard as Page Mill. Of course, it would have been harder if I had done the Coastal Loop in one day rather than splitting it over two days.

As far a scenary goes, I was blown away. Tunitas Creek is much more isolated than most of the other climbs in the area. There is virtually no traffic and the road is very narrow as it winds through towering redwoods next to a small creek.

After reaching the Sklyine, I made a right and climbed back to Highway 84 which I took down into Menlo Park and then coasted back to Palo Alto.
Here are my stats:

3h & 22s

39.17 miles

13.0 avg mph

35.2 max mph

131 avg heart rate

165 max heart rate

1153 calories

9/25/06: Ride to Half Moon Bay (37.6 Miles)

Today I rode from Palo Alto to Half Moon Bay. It was a more difficult ride that I had anticipated but not too bad on the whole. The wind on Highway 84 and Highway 1 definitely made the ride at bit more difficult than it looked on paper.

I rode up Old La Honda to Skyline and then down Old La Honda West to Highway 84. Highway 84 is a long descent of about 6 or 7 miles before hitting a rolling flat section before Stage Road and Highway 1. The descent through Pescadero is fun and beautiful. There were very few cars on the road so I was able to ride it fast and take the full lane for most of the turns. However, the road gets very pebbly. Pebbly probably isn’t a word but it seems to be the best way to describe the road with was quite uncomfortable. The road surface wasn’t in disrepair, it just wasn’t smooth and was made up of thousands of small pebbles. It definitely wasn’t unbearable but it was pleasant either.

I turned right at Stage Road, which climbs 1 mile to Highway 1. The climb on Stage Road felt good. I was more tired than I expected at this point, but the grade was manageable (I’d guess 6%) and very consistent. I went slowly, but this climb was easy.

I made a right on Highway 1 and headed North towards Half Moon Bay. At this point the the temperature began to drop and I was a little bit cold. It wasn’t too bad, but if I do it again any later in the Fall, I will definitely bring leg & arm warmers. Highway 1 is also quite windy and a huge gust coming in off the ocean hit me just as I was crossing the bridge before Tunitas Creek Road and nearly knocked me off my bike. Highway 1 was mostly rolling hills a couple of short steep climbs but otherwise nothing difficult. The traffic moves quickly on Highway 1 but the bike lane is very wide most of the way. Traffic really picked up in Half Moon Bay, but otherwise it was light.

After passing though downtown Half Moon Bay I met a friend at his beach house were I spent the night. Also, we had dinner and several beers at Half Moon Bay Brewing Company. Its a great place with a nice beer garden that has roaring fire pits to sit around. The food was a little bit expensive but the beer was cheap and very good. I highly recommend their Maverick’s Amber Ale. Just the kind of place I was looking for after a long ride.

Here are my stats:

2h 43m 37s
37.63 miles
36.3 max mph
13.7 avg mph
1170 calories

142 avg heart rate

239 max heart rate (this must be wrong)

9/23/06: Page Mill Road (37.9 Miles)

I rode up Page Mill Road for the first time today. At 8.4 miles, Page Mill is one of the longest climbs in the bay area. However, it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. The climb took me just over an hour. Stupidly, I forgot to check my time at the top of the hill, but I was just passing the one hour mark near the top and I think 1 hour and 3 minutes is a good estimate.

Page Mill was definitely a hard climb, but frankly I was surprised that it wasn’t harder. 8.4 miles of climbing is somewhat of an exaggeration because the first mile is very gentle and the last 2 miles are also quite forgiving. The 5 miles of climbing in the middle can be quite tough at times but there are frequent short flat spots (maybe 10-20 yards) that provide a couple of seconds of rest.   Page Mill Road is steep and there are a couple of brutal sections.  Many people find the climb after Foothill Park to be especially steep.  For whatever reason, this stretch didn’t phase me.  However, there is a .75 mile section around mile number 4 that really challenged me.
One other interesting note is that I took about 5 seconds to check out the intersection where the Alpine Road (fire road) meets Page Mill near the top.  At one point Alpine Road connected with Page Mill, but part of the road was destroyed by an avalanche and it is now only used as a fire road.  According to the

After reaching the top I took Skyline to Old La Honda (West), which I descended to Highway 84. I rode back up to Skyline on 84 with a couple who was struggling because the woman had hurt one of her legs. I wanted to make sure they were okay so I rode behind them until we got to Alice’s Restaurant.

After coasting down 84 into Woodside, I decided to checkout Bear Gulch Road, which is one of the last paved routes to Skyline that I’ve yet to climb. Bear Gulch is supposed to be much steeper than Old La Honda or Kings Mountain, but not much is know about it because it has been a gated private road since 1978. I rode up to the gate, which is about a third of a mile up the road to check it out. The road leading up to the gate is definitely steeper than Old La Honda or Kings Mountain and its pretty narrow as well. I would really love to try climbing it some time and it wouldn’t be too hard to get past the gate, but there is a video camera and a sign that very clearly says, hiking and cycling on the road is forbidden. Also, there seemed to be a lot of traffic on the road and I suspect that if home owners really don’t want cyclists on the road, it would be tough to make it to the top (where there is a second gate) without at least one of the drivers reporting the trespassing to the police. After hanging out at the gate for a couple of minutes, I turned back around and headed home to Palo Alto through Woodside and then Menlo Park.

Here are my stats:

3h 12m 3s

37.85 miles

11.8 avg mph

33.3 max mph

129 avg heart rate

169 max heart rate

1096 calories

9/22/06: Foothill w/ Kevin & Burnadette (25.7 Miles)

Today I rode out to Chain Reaction Bikes with Kevin and Bernadette. My legs were pretty tired from Old La Honda yesterday and they had ridden hard recently as well, so we took a leisurely pace and chatted most of the way. I haven’t seen the much of Kevin and Bernadette recently so it was nice to be able to catch up with them.

Here are my stats:

1h 50m

25.69 Miles

13.9 Average mph

9/21/06: Old La Honda West (29.5 Miles)

I keep hearing about how beautiful Old La Honda is on the other (West) side of Skyline Blvd. I’d never tried it and the sweeping views of the ocean and redwood forests were calling me so I decided to check it out.

First I climbed up Old La Honda (East) in 31:07. I’ve been riding it in 30 minutes or below so I was kind of disappointed with 31 but considering how tired my legs were from my adventure on Montebello earlier in the week, itwasn’t such a bad time. Also, despite riding slow on tired legs I actually felt strong and I think I’ve gotten to the point where Old La Honda isn’t that big of a deal. Sure its a tough climb but I think that I can incorporate into longer rides rather than having it actually be the focus of the ride.

After crossing Skyline Blvd, my breath was taken away by Old La Honda West. The road narrows considerably (and Old La Honda East is barely a two lane road) as it winds through an amazing cathedral of redwood trees. There is no car traffic whatsoever and the quiet atmosphere of the soaring redwoods creates a scene of tranquility that is truly beautiful. Jaw-dropping, awe-inspiring, words just don’t do this stretch of road any justice at all. After about a half mile the Redwoods clear to very winding golden hills that are also spectacular. 2.6 miles later, Old La Honda meets back up with Highway 84. The condition of the pavement really wasn’t too bad but the extremely narrow road and the many sharp blind corners do make Old La Honda West semi-dangerous to ride. It was a good thing that no cars were on the road because passing would have been very difficult. Given the total lack of traffic, it was tempting to take the road fast but the difficulty of passing cars really necessitated using my ears to hear cars before I saw them and having the wind drown out the sound of the engines really would have been stupidly dangerous. I didn’t find any views of the ocean, but there is no question that Old La Honda West is definitely one of the most beautiful rodes I’ve ever ridden.

After reaching the intersection of Old La Honda and Highway 84, I climbed 2.5 miles back up to Alice’s Restaurant. This section of Highway 84 is a climb but it really isn’t that tough at all. The Krebs Cycle Map does give it one chevron (<) but I was able to ride most of it at 10-13 mph, with only one short section that required me to get down in to a lower (but still not my lowest) gear. After reaching Skyline I continued on 84 and coasted down to Menlo Park and then back home to Palo Alto.

I rode 29.5 miles in 2 hours and 21 minutes at approximately 12.5 average mph.

9/19/06: Montebello, Page Mill & Skyline (49.6 Miles)

Today I did an amazing ride that really wound up being an adventure. I havent kicked my cold/flu yet and I started out really slowly. I was planning on riding over to Montebello Road to scout it out and do about 25 flat miles in the process. On the way over to the Stevens Creek Reservoir through Los Altos, I was really gassed and I figured there was no way that I could climb Montebello today. I stopped into Chain Reaction Bikes on the way over and asked a couple of questions about Montebello. I like to research my roads before a I climb them so I had a good idea of what was in store for the paved section but I had no idea how long the dirt fire road would be and whether or not it really was doable on a road bike. I was told in the shop that the dirt fire road was a mile, maybe a mile and a quarter and doable on a road bike.

As usual, once I got to Montebello I was tempted to try riding a little bit of it. I started by saying I would just try to do a mile, after a mile passed, I thought I would try to get to the flat part at the end of mile two and finally about an hour later I found myself at the top of the climb staring at the fire road. Considering my pulled hamstring, nose running like a faucet, lungs coated in gunk and the fact that I hadn’t eaten all day it was probably quite stupid of me to try it but standing at the top sure was rewarding.

Montebello road is a 5.24 miles climb. The first 2 miles are very steep and definitely more difficult than Old La Honda. They are also exposed and would be especially difficult on a hot day. However, after passing Montebello School the road has a false flat section that frankly feels like a down hill. The easy section lasts for about .75 miles and leads to grade that feels nearly spot on Old La Honda the rest of the way.  Like most climbs Montebello has its fair share of spectacular views. Most of the climbs that I’ve done are further North, so it was kind of neat to get views with a slightly different perspective. It was also interesting to be able to see down on top of the quarry that is next to the Stevens Creek Resevoir… man is that thing big! They’ve teraformed half of a mountain! The ride is long, and the first two miles are very difficult, but is beautiful and definitely worth riding.

After getting to the top, I stopped for a quick bathroom break and then road around the gate on to the fire road into the Montebello Open Space Preserve. At first the road is just paved poorly but it quickly breaks down into gravel and dirt. Also, its a lot closer to 4 miles than the 1.25 that I was told in the bike shop. It really isn’t a good idea to ride on a road bike and definitely not what I was expecting. Most of the road is rideable with caution but the middle section is especially bad. I actually fell and wound up walking my bike 3 times. Fortunately, I didn’t have to walk anything longer than 50 yards but it was anoying nonetheless. Toward the end there is also a dirt down hill section that was really dangerous. My road tires were so squirely in the loose dirt of the decline that I unclipped and squeezed the breaks tight to ride it as slowly as possible. The drop-off cliff on the side of the road served as the perfect accent to this harrowing stretch of road. Over all the Montebello Open Space preserve is beautiful and I’m glad that I road it. However, doing it on a road bike was dangerous and I would not recommend trying it.

Eventually, the fire road comes to another gate which leads to a private driveway and then on to Page Mill Road. After 4 miles on dirt, riding this newly paved road feels like floating on air. Furthermore, just after passing the gate on to the private driveway, at 4201 Page Mill, is a drinking fountain on the left hand side of the road. I had pretty much run out of water on the way up Montebello so the fountain was a big relief and I refilled both of my water bottles.  The combination of water and smooth pavement really felt like I’d reached an Oasis after all of that dirt.  After several hundred yards, the private driveway comes to a second gate that is not passalbe on a bike when it intersects with Page Mill. It wasn’t tough to lift my bike over the right side of the gate and then walk around the left side, but it did make me wonder if I had just been trespassing.

I actually had no idea how far up Page Mill I was but I figured that I would try to take it slowly and that I could always just head back home by coasting down Page Mill if my legs gave out. Fortunately, I was just below the Montebello Open Space Preserve parking lot and only about 2 miles from the top. The last 2 miles up Page Mill really aren’t that hard so I made to the intersection with Skyline easily. I took Skyline for 7-8 miles over to Highway 84 and then coasted back down into Menlo Park where I turned right on Alameda de las Pulgas and headed home.

This was an amazing ride. Definitely an adventure. I’m probably stupid enough to do it again at some point, but I really would not recommend riding the dirt section of Montebello on a road bike to any sane person.

Here are my stats:

4h 14m 26s

49.59 Miles

11.6 Avg Mph

37.7 Max Mph

1605 Calories

128 Avg Heart Rate

178 Max Heart Rate

9/18/06: The Portola Loop (17.5 Miles)

I’m feeling a little bit better but still definitely still under the weather. I rode the Portola Loop slowly. Overall, I felt weak, but definitely felt stronger than yesterday. I rode at an average of 15.8 mph.

9/17/06: The Portola Loop w/ Susan (17.5 Miles)

I’m still sick but I really wanted to get on the bike and Susan wanted to ride also so we took it easy around the Portola Loop. I really felt my cold/flu. I just couldn’t ever seem to get any oxygen. The Loop is 17.5 Miles from my house in Palo Alto and we did it at an average mph of 14.2.

9/11/06: Coming Down With Something

Well somehow I managed to get a cold or flu. I’m really stuffed up, light headed and achy. I don’t think that I’m going to be able to ride much this week.