Learn me a Route from Stanford

BenRidin

I have to pick up my daughter from Stanford on Friday at 4:00. I'm planning on starting around 11:00ish for ride that will include Old La Honda.

My question is this: Once I'm at the top of OLH, where do I go? I'd like to be back at the car by 3:00 so I can clean up and get something to eat/drink before I have to pick her up.

Can someone help me w/ a route?

BR

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johnny99

From Stanford, go west on Alpine Road
Right on Portola Road
Left on Old La Honda Road
Right on Skyline
Continue past the store at Skylonda (food and water if you need it, then mild up hill)
Right on Kings Mountain Road (long down hill)
Left on Hwy 84 (Woodside Rd)
Right on Whiskey Hill Road
Left on Sand Hill Road back to Stanford

total distance is about 30 miles with 3000 feet of climbing

If you want to add some more miles, you can go down the west side of Old La Honda, then come back up to Skylonda on Hwy 84. Or after you come down Kings Mountain, you can turn left on Canada and go out to the Water Temple, then come back over Jefferson and Alameda de las Pulgas.

If you're in good shape you can turn left Hwy 84 and head out to the ocean (right on Hwy 1), then return on Tunitas Creek to Kings Mountain. That's about 45 miles with 4400 feet of climbing. A strong recreational rider could do that within your 4 hour time limit.

msincredible

Here's a similar one I did a couple of weeks ago:
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Old-La-Honda-Skyline-Page-Mill-loop

Go up Sand Hill to Portola, then right on Old La Honda, left on Skyline, back down on Page Mill to Arastradero - Alpine to Portal and back to Sand Hill.

Plenty of options to add extra distance as johnny99 suggests.

johnny99

Here is another possibility.

From Stanford, go west on Sand Hill Road
Straight (not right) on Portola Rd
Right on Old La Honda Rd to Skyline and down the other side to Hwy 84
Left on Hwy 84 to the town of La Honda (food and water at market next to the fire station)
Left on Pescadero Road
Left on Alpine Road (7 mile, 2000 foot climb)
Cross Skyline to Page Mill Road (7 mile downhill)
Left on Junipero Serra back to Stanford

Totals: 36 miles with 4000 feet of climbing (should be doable in 4 hours)

Old La Honda Road is an easy way to access some of the great cycling roads on the peninsula.

t4mv

^^^ +1 on this route; very woodsy, very scenic, generally light(er) traffic.

BenRidin

Excellent!

Thanks for the routes.

BR

johnny99

Don't forget to post a report after you finish your ride.

HokuLoa

Ben, I'm visiting Palo Alto from Boulder, CO for 2 weeks and I've poked around looking for rides as well. Here is a site with a good number of "Stanford ride" thanks to someone named Ken Lee (Thanks Ken!):

http://www.rahul.net/kenton/fun/bike/

I have a decent number of links for other local cycling info if you so desire. Have fun!

BenRidin

Very Kewl!

Thanks for the enlightenment. I think we're going to do Hilly Ride #3.

BR

HokuLoa

Glad I could be of assistance! I did a 30mile version of the Portolla Valley Loop this morning and it was very nice, mellow, and scenic. Loads of velo-heads even on a Friday morn. Sunday I'm hitting up the Canada Crystal Springs route because I hear there is a 4 mile section of Canada that is closed to motorized vehicles from 9:00-4:00 on Sundays. Should be a fun stretch of road.

Have a blast BR!

johnny99

Glad I could be of assistance! I did a 30mile version of the Portolla Valley Loop this morning and it was very nice, mellow, and scenic. Loads of velo-heads even on a Friday morn. Sunday I'm hitting up the Canada Crystal Springs route because I hear there is a 4 mile section of Canada that is closed to motorized vehicles from 9:00-4:00 on Sundays. Should be a fun stretch of road.

Have a blast BR!

That 4 mile no-cars stretch of Canada Rd has very little traffic any day and there are wide bike lanes. On Sundays when they close it to cars, lots of roller skaters and kids with training wheels spread out across the road. I think it is safer when it is open to cars since cars are more predictable.

HokuLoa

Hmm, VERY good point. Mayhaps I'll hit that loop tomorrow instead. Any other weekend recommendations/warnings for the out-o-town riders?

Thanks Johnny!

Ty.S

If you ride through Los Altos at all STOP at the STOP lights. The police there will ticket you. Foothill Expy is a very good smooth bike lane, and there is enough cyclist traffic on it that most cars are aware. Just pay attention to the lights, even when there isn't a car in sight, cause the one you don't see is the one with the lights on top.

johnny99 is right on about Canada on Sundays. It gets a little goofy.

SteveE

^^^^

They will also ticket you if you try to avoid the light by going right - u-turn - right to continue in the same direction.

johnny99

If you ride through Los Altos at all STOP at the STOP lights.

I think stopping at STOP LIGHTS is a good idea in any city. Cross traffic can come quickly and cars are often hard to see until it is too late to stop safely.

BenRidin

Thanks to everyone who helped me plan a route. I ended up doing Hilly Route #3 (http://www.rahul.net/kenton/fun/bike/) and I'm glad I did. I have always wanted to see what my time is going up Old La Honda. I started the clock from the bridge and finished it when I got to the Highway on top: 23 minutes!

I rode w/ a friend of mine that works in Santa Clara and he took the afternoon off to do this. Unfortunetley, we couldn't start unitl 11:30, so the route was just perfect for the time constraints. We parked at the Stanford Golf Course parking lot.

OLH is great ride of a hill. Very little traffic, nice marin layer to keep you cooled off, and stunning houses. I loved that house at address 500 with the pool that you can look down at, and I swear at address 403 they were cooking bacon.

Cross 35 and head down OLH to the town of it's name sake and then turn up Alpine. another great climb. At 1000' I got a flat. Found a shady spot to change the tube and then we're off. Dayum, the hill doesn't end. Lot's of false summits. I loved that climb.

Mr friend had to particpate in a 2:30 conference call ( what idiot boss calls one of those on a Friday??) so we found a signal at the beginning of Old Page Mill.

Careful on this descent, in the heat, the road seemed to melt away. made out way back to the Golf Course by 3:30 and then I picked my daughter up at 4:15 and scooted home.

I'm looking forward to doing other rides in this area.

Click Here for Google Earth (http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/kml/episode.kml?episodePkValues=3688457)

BR

BlastRadius

Nice report. Great job on OLH. 23 minutes is very good.

johnny99

Thanks to everyone who helped me plan a route. I ended up doing Hilly Route #3 (http://www.rahul.net/kenton/fun/bike/) and I'm glad I did. I have always wanted to see what my time is going up Old La Honda. I started the clock from the bridge and finished it when I got to the Highway on top: 23 minutes!

Thanks for the report. That's a really nice route. West Alpine Road feels so remote that it is hard to believe you are just a few miles from Silicon Valley.

For reference, recreational riders usually take 20-40 minutes to climb Old La Honda. Amateur racers are usually around 16-20 minutes. Pro racers like Jon Boyer (who owned a bike shop in Santa Cruz) and Eric Heiden (who lived on OLH while attending Stanford Medical School) have broken 15 minutes. Greg LeMond (who was sponsored by Palo Alto Bicycles in his amateur days) claims that he never timed himself on OLH :)