Northern California - Climbing Montebello?

Anyone up for this? I was thinking of meeting at 6:30 pm by the Stevens Creek parking lot (by the boat launch area). I have to warn you, I'm not a slow hill climber, so I'm not going to be going up very fast.

Anyone up for this? I was thinking of meeting at 6:30 pm by the Stevens Creek parking lot (by the boat launch area). I have to warn you, I'm not a slow hill climber, so I'm not going to be going up very fast.


Just do hill repeats on the first mile.;)

Just do hill repeats on the first mile.;)
But that's the hardest .... once you get past the first mile, then it starts leveling off.

But that's the hardest .... once you get past the first mile, then it starts leveling off.


I know, thats the point.:p

Looks like I might not be able to make it after all ... damn customers keep calling me.

I did Montebello with a few friends last night. Dang, it was windy, partly cloudy, and cold at the top. Then, we had to go down the hill. And as luck would have it, I forgot to bring my jacket. So all I had was arm warmers. I think I should permanently store my jacket in my saddle bag.

Oh, and on the way down, a peacock was taking a stroll on a steep section of Montebello. The one day I don't bring my camera with me. But come to think of it, I doubt I would have stopped to take a picture of it.

Sorry to revive an old-ish thread. I went up tollgate to pierce to mt.eden yesterday so I was looking to see if anyone else had posted about it recently. This thread caught my eye because if I wasn't so exhausted after climbing tollgate and mt eden, montebello seems like it'd be a nice climb.

If you want to see some peacock's, there's a winery on Montebello called Picchetti (excellent wine BTW), they almost always have a few running around. In fact, that's probably that's where the peacock came from.

I rode Montebello last night. First time after 7 yrs off the bike. I'm 53 now so it was a little tougher than I remember. I'm glad I bought a new Robaix with a triple. Great ride I really enjoyed it and at one point a huge hawk or eagle flew out of the shade and almost hit me with its wings,awesome sight. I'm trying to get in shape and would like to find some people to ride with. I live in Cupertino so if anyone has some groups or individuals that ride out of that area I would be interested in joining in. However, I am not up for hard rides and prefer social type rides.

I'm up for any after work rides. I'm in Santa Clara, so I'm pretty close by. Another one of my favorite routes, although not as much climbing, is Mt. Eden -> Pierce loop back. What time works for everyone?

IGreat ride I really enjoyed it and at one point a huge hawk or eagle flew out of the shade and almost hit me with its wings,awesome sight.

A few weeks ago, I was coming up on the first hairpin turn to the right, and I was little surprised when a horse and its rider emerged out of the bushes on the left side of road. I love Montebello because of the challenge of its steep sections and its low amount of traffic. If you're on a mountain bike, it's a great way to access the Canyon Trail.

I'm interested, anytime after 6 probably works for me depending on the day.

I'm up for any after work rides. I'm in Santa Clara, so I'm pretty close by. Another one of my favorite routes, although not as much climbing, is Mt. Eden -> Pierce loop back. What time works for everyone?

Aw, come on, where's your spirit of adventure?

From the reservoir: Montebello -> Stevens Canyon -> Redwood Gulch -> down 9 -> Pierce -> Mt. Eden the hard way :D

I will probably ride Montebello on Saturday morning. I'm "on call" this weekend and need to be with 30 minutes of the house. I'll ride up to Peet's in Los Altos to get the A/V B-Ride started, head back south and do Mt. Eden/Pierce, then back toward home (Cupertino) and climb Montebello, and then back to Peet's again.

Aw, come on, where's your spirit of adventure?

From the reservoir: Montebello -> Stevens Canyon -> Redwood Gulch -> down 9 -> Pierce -> Mt. Eden the hard way :D

You'd run laps aroud me as I struggle up Redwood Gulch.

You'd run laps aroud me as I struggle up Redwood Gulch.

:) I dunno about that, but that route is a good one for getting almost 150 feet of climb per mile (3800' over 26 miles). Makes for a nice intense climbing workout, if you are looking for a boost ;)

i climbed montebello for the first time last week, the first mile damn hard, but once it leveled off it was well worth the.

the views are spectacular and the downhill is challenging.

...I have to warn you, I'm not a slow hill climber, so I'm not going to be going up very fast.

Just read this, and did a double-take. So, which is it? Fast, or slow? :D

According to the Stanford cycling page, Montebello turns into a dirt road and continues through to Page Mill. From my best estimates, the dirt section looks to be about 2.1 miles long during which it descends 700 feet. Does anyone have experience biking this stretch? Is it doable (or mostly doable) on a road bike? I wouldn't mind getting off and walking through stretches that were particularly steep or rocky. I've never ridden Montebello road but it sounds fun and I'd love to turn it into a loop somehow.

According to the Stanford cycling page, Montebello turns into a dirt road and continues through to Page Mill. From my best estimates, the dirt section looks to be about 2.1 miles long during which it descends 700 feet. Does anyone have experience biking this stretch? Is it doable (or mostly doable) on a road bike? I wouldn't mind getting off and walking through stretches that were particularly steep or rocky. I've never ridden Montebello road but it sounds fun and I'd love to turn it into a loop somehow.

I've done this many times on a road bike (actually: a cross bike with regular road tires; same diff.). It is totally do-able. There is a somewhat steep (but short) ascent that might give you a bit of trouble if you don't know how to climb on gravel (tip: stay in the saddle and keep your weight back) but worst case is you get off and walk a little bit.

Just read this, and did a double-take. So, which is it? Fast, or slow? :D
It's called old age ... I'm getting senile. I AM SLOW on a hill.

silentben, thanks for asking that question! I was confused because on the routeslip map it shows montebello connecting to pagemill, but on the yahoo and google maps it doesn't show them connecting. Sort of the same deal with bohlman, it doesn't look like it connects except on the routeslip map it is connected to montevina rd, which the stanford page seems to agree with. I'm not a good enough climber for that road yet though, so I'll take their word for it :)

I made it up Montebello tonight after work. What a great road! I had high expectations for this and they were fully met. Once I got to where the paved section is gated off I kept going. The strange thing is that on Google maps, they show the road dead-ending well after this gate. Once past the gate the road looks like it was once paved but just in a state of serious disrepair. It keeps climbing all the way until the "real" top of the hill at an installation of big antennas. To anyone turning around and going back down Montebello, I'd recommend making this your turn around point, not the gate.

Anyway at the top, the sun was setting over a blanket of fog and it was beautiful. My ride today was a loop back up to my house in Redwood City so I kept going on the dirt section. It's a lot gravellier on that section but still doable. Just gotta keep the speeds real low on the downhill sections and use the back brake a lot

Total ride distance was 50 miles, not too bad for a little after work spin :)

Crappy phone camera shot:
http://scurvy.net/%7Ebweir/montebello.jpg

I did the Montebello-PageMill section from the Page Mill side last summer. Like silentben says, there's a fair amount of gravel. It's a fun route though...

Speaking of gravel, I went up West Alpine yesterday with a few friends where we discovered that they had just graveled the top section (from the stop sign to Skyline) which made for some really interesting and tricky climbing. Standing was definitely out of the question... There's about a mile of Page Mill freshly graveled too, near the top.

Crappy phone camera shot:

Hey, that's a pretty nice picture for a camera phone... Good composition! Not enough resolution to tell what kind of frame you've got though...

Hey, I also work in Cupertino, and I'm interested in after-work rides. I'm 50-mumble, kind of slow, but have been doing the Mt. Eden/Pierce loop from around City Center on lunch hours or after work a couple times a week recently. Not tried Montebello yet, but I'm game.

Steve

I regularly ride Montebello over the hill to Page Mill. The section up to the radio towers is regularly used by maintenance trucks and is in pretty good shape. The next couple of miles are level hard pack covered by crushed gravel that is somewhat easy to ride even in damp conditions. The last mile is downhill on a freshly paved road. Once you get to Page Mill there are lots of options for longer or shorter routes. You can even go down east Alpine Rd. if you want more dirt.

Regarding the climb, the first 2 miles up to the school are fairly steep (9% average with steeper sections). The next 3 miles are more like Old La Honda Road (7%). The road becomes more rolling after that with some flatter sections and some short climbs.

You can even go down east Alpine Rd. if you want more dirt.

The dirt part of east Alpine Road is a little bit rough toward the bottom. Just a warning if you're riding 23 mm tires down that road.

I went down the Canyon Trail once on my Axis with 35 mm tires after I climbed Montebello, and that was enough for me. I was getting rocked all over the place on some of the rougher steeper sections, and it wasn't fun. Any rides down that trail in the future will be on my mountain bike.

Found this site with altimeter and grade measurements for montebello.. pretty cool stuff

http://graphics.stanford.edu/~lucasp/grade/montebello.html

I went down the Canyon Trail once on my Axis with 35 mm tires after I climbed Montebello, and that was enough for me. I was getting rocked all over the place on some of the rougher steeper sections, and it wasn't fun. Any rides down that trail in the future will be on my mountain bike.

I'm curious, does anyone regularly ride the open space connector between the top of Bohlman Rd/On Orbit and Montevina on the Los Gatos side?

I'm curious, does anyone regularly ride the open space connector between the top of Bohlman Rd/On Orbit and Montevina on the Los Gatos side?

I've never even ridden either streets. I guess it's 'cause I'm chicken :p

oh, c'mon Ron, let's go ride it, it'll be fun...it's only like 16-17%... and it's got an ankle-biting dog living on it... and I've seen big-***** cat tracks in the mud on the dirt connector, but, really, it'll be fun. ;)

I'm curious, does anyone regularly ride the open space connector between the top of Bohlman Rd/On Orbit and Montevina on the Los Gatos side?Who in their right mind would "regularly" ride Bohlman/On Orbit, anyway? Not to mention the open space connector.

btw silentben is a monster

he didn't mention that he did montebello *after* we had started out after work in palo alto, blasted down foothill, then rode stevens canyon-mt eden-pierce

"i have enough water and a banana, think i'm gonna head up there" "ok man, see ya"

has anybody seen coyotes around that area

last week i was climbing mt eden, and i hear what it seemed like a lot (and they were loud). As i was climbing it was getting progressively louder, as if they were following me. i didnt see the coyotes (i think they are, doubt their wolves in this area)

at least it made me climb it faster. i heard it up to the top (where the archery range is) and i sped away in the downhill.

also, whats everyone mph in that downhill. i maxed at 32.5mph

I regularly see coyotes on the dirt part of Montebello Road, especially in the morning.

Cruising through YouTube and found this interesting little bit...

http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=1caGBmeBKWY



Edit: Here's Pt 1...
<nevermind, just link from the one above>

That's so cool.

Cruising through YouTube and found this interesting little bit...

http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=1caGBmeBKWY



Edit: Here's Pt 1...
<nevermind, just link from the one above>
Wrong thread. This one's about "climbing Montebello".

Well, Steve, maybe if y'all can run it backwards, you'll get an idea of what it's like to climb Montebello. :rolleyes:

A great video! Such an easy climb going downhill! LOL

Bumping an old thread. I rode up this evening for the first time. A lot colder than I expected, no vest or arm warmers. 20 minutes to the school, where the steep section ends and then another 26 more to the dead end section. This is a nice climb, I'll need to place it in the regular rotation.

I just did this climb for the first time today also. Nice climb. We stopped at Ridge Winery on the way down. Makes for a nice day...

Remember that you do not have to u-turn when you get to the gate on Montebello Rd. Just go through the gate and the road continues up to the summit of Black Mountain, then descends to Page Mill Road (just below Montebello Open Space Preserve). The road is dirt for a couple of miles, but it is not difficult on a road bike. The dirt part is very quiet and scenic.

So many nice climbs through the area. I really like OLH and Alba Rd (going up), Bohlman/On Orbit when I need pain.

Anyone ridden Montebello in the dark (with really bright lights, of course).

I'm going to start doing that. With the time change coming, I'm going to invest in a more powerful light than what I currently have, the Cateye Opticube that runs on 4 AA batteries.

Seems like the popular lights are Niterider, Light and Motion, and Dinotte. I've got the Niterider Moab, which will light up the darkest streets.

Anyone ridden Montebello in the dark (with really bright lights, of course).

Personally I wouldn't do it. The cars that drive that road, drive way too fast. Have you seen the two crosses on the side of the road?

Yeah scratch that idea. I rode up there this afternoon and even the big rigs are haulin' ass around the turns.

First flat on new bike too. At least I noticed it right at the bike store so I didn't have to consume a co2.