Northern California - 3 Peaks, Possible?

Hi everyone,
Well I am planning to ride all three bay area peaks in one day. Starting in San Jose with Hamilton, then Diablo and finishing with Tam.
First off has anyone tried this? Just thought it would be a fun thing to try and hopefully meet a bunch of you folks along the way!
The plan is to do this in early spring but to start planning now. If anyone else is interested post up! If anyone has tried this post up!
thanks,
Paul

How long will this ride be? I'm guessing at least 200 miles.

Are you talking about riding the distances between the mountains as well or would there be car travel in between each of the peaks?

Without using a car to travel between the three mountains this would make for a very long day(s).

That would be insane!

I'm pretty sure a train or bart will be involved. I hope.

I have this tendency to push it on the climbs (I can't help it)... So I think I would be smoked after one peak ;)

The idea would be to car it between peaks. Start at or near the bottom. This would not be about miles per se, more about being able to say you peaked all three mountains in one day. Sorry I was a little to vague in OP.

With car transportation between mountains you should end up with roughly 100 miles and 10,000 to 11,000 feet of climbing. I guess it's doable.

Your route & mileage may vary, but here's how I calculate it:

Hamilton is 19 miles to the top (38 RT) - 4200 ft.
Diablo is 11 miles to the top (22 RT) - 3200 ft.
TAM is about 7 miles to the top (14 RT) - 2,500 ft.

Total riding is about 75 miles and about 9,900 ft of climbing.

Very doable in a day.

Sounds like an interesting challenge, keep us posted.

Your route & mileage may vary, but here's how I calculate it:

Hamilton is 19 miles to the top (38 RT) - 4200 ft.
Diablo is 11 miles to the top (22 RT) - 3200 ft.
TAM is about 7 miles to the top (14 RT) - 2,500 ft.

Total riding is about 75 miles and about 9,900 ft of climbing.

Very doable in a day.

Forgive me for the hijack but where does Diablo officially start anyway? Athena High of elsewhere?

Well it sounds very doable. I will start planning and as I go forward would love some participation /company at each venue (or al if others want to do it all). Thanks for the input everyone keep it comin!
thanks again,
Paul

I'm planning on going up Mt Diablo this weekend. Just the climb though. I'll let you know how it goes.

???? You're going to ride up but not down?

Yes, I plan on chucking the bike over the edge and rolling myself down the mountain in a barrell. Got a problem with that!?

Sweet. Personally, I always wanted to try sliding down the dead grass on a cardboard box.

Sweet childhood memories. My cousins and I actually did something like that. We moved maybe 5 feet before we all tumbled out of the box and got scrapped knees and elbows. Fun times.

Forgive me for the hijack but where does Diablo officially start anyway? Athena High of elsewhere?


The race starts in Danville at the Athenian School and climbs Southgate Road. The easier route climbs Northgate Road from Walnut Creek (this is the only one I've done).

The Athenian School is here (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=athenian+school+near+danville,+ca&ie=UTF8&ll=37.837208,-121.94571&spn=0.120387,0.2314&z=12&om=1).

Sweet childhood memories. My cousins and I actually did something like that. We moved maybe 5 feet before we all tumbled out of the box and got scrapped knees and elbows. Fun times.

We were fortunate to get our hands on a refrigerator box and were able to go a few hundred feet before crashing. Yes, indeed, those were good times :).

Might be kind of fun to do with BART between each climb. You will need to bike over the GG Bridge, but it is not too far to Mt. Tam. Maybe you can take the ferry to Tiburon and start from there.

Yes, I plan on chucking the bike over the edge and rolling myself down the mountain in a barrell. Got a problem with that!?

From "News of the Weird"
In June, a 17-year-old boy survived but was seriously injured when he fell about 75 feet onto some rocks at California's Mount Diablo State Park. He had climbed over a handrail in order to fake a fall so that his pals could capture the plunge on video to put on his MySpace Web page.




The race starts in Danville at the Athenian School and climbs Southgate Road. The easier route climbs Northgate Road from Walnut Creek (this is the only one I've done).


South Gate is the easy side.

http://lh6.google.com/DiabloScottsBikeBlog/Ry-0L7Nj27I/AAAAAAAAByM/urvcjiMdSjw/s800/Diablo%20Profile.jpg

I'd think the biggest problem would be your legs tightening up on the ride downhill and the subsequent car ride to the base of the next hill, and then having to climb without warmup - though I guess if you park a little farther away it's not so bad.

Though with three long descents, your hands will probably be useless claws by the end from braking!

The race starts in Danville at the Athenian School and climbs Southgate Road. The easier route climbs Northgate Road from Walnut Creek (this is the only one I've done).

The Athenian School is here (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=athenian+school+near+danville,+ca&ie=UTF8&ll=37.837208,-121.94571&spn=0.120387,0.2314&z=12&om=1).

The south side is easier in my opinion. On the North side at Burma RD - the 1,000 foot mark - the grade is about 9 %. You don't get that high anywhere on the south side. After the gate on the south side, you have a nice down hill through Rock City. There are no downhills on the north side.

Veronica

I've done Diablo and the backside of Hamiliton in the same day, with a couple of other climbs in between. It's doable. I would not like sitting in the car, BART or the ferry between riding though.

Veronica

Your route & mileage may vary, but here's how I calculate it:

Hamilton is 19 miles to the top (38 RT) - 4200 ft.
Diablo is 11 miles to the top (22 RT) - 3200 ft.
TAM is about 7 miles to the top (14 RT) - 2,500 ft.

Total riding is about 75 miles and about 9,900 ft of climbing.

Very doable in a day.

If you're Pizza... if you're a normal human it turns to "possible" in a day.:eek:

Sounds like a good challenge.. I was going to do each one of them 1 by one and just take them off my little list of things to climb.

This sounds like a good warm up for the death ride.. pretty much a halfer for it based on the mileage and climbing i see.

If you do this, you might as well do Devil Mountain's Double!

I think DMD is much harder than just doing these three climbs. DMD adds in Morgan Territory and Patterson Pass, which together are like climbing Tam, between Diablo and Hamiliton. Except you get that really pleasant headwind as you head up Patterson Pass. :p It's worse than any wind I've experienced on Tam. There's a reason they have a wind farm out there on Patterson Pass.

Then after you do Hamiliton, from the Livermore side, which has a much steeper grade than the Milipitas side, you have the joy of doing Sierra Rd.

I gotta start training....:eek:

Veronica

The toughest part is the drive. Drive, bike, drive, bike, drive, bike, drive .... It will be easier to do Mt. Hamilton 3 times and called it 3 peaks and you probably come up ahead!

I've done the Death Ride (a while back when I was in much better shape, but, I will be ready when I attempt this). I have a couple of ideas to keep the legs loose (still planning).
I really appreciate all the comments and advice. I hope some of you will ride with me on your choosen peak!
c ya,
Paul

This would be interesting to try but the thought of sitting in a car sweaty, covered in sun tan lotion and chamois creme and then re-warming up again is not a pleasant one.

For me, it would be an accomplishment to ride them all in the same YEAR, let alone the same DAY.

South Gate is the easy side.



Cool, thanks for the profile sheet. I don't know why I thought N Gate was easier. It's also good to know that I have done the "hard" route. Looks like it is a piece of cake compared to Mt. Hamilton, though.

I'm with you gene.. Although I may make it to one of these climbs probably hamilton since its closer. We'll see how it looks closer to the time of the ride.

For me, it would be an accomplishment to ride them all in the same YEAR, let alone the same DAY.


This summer I did all three in one week (Deathride Training)
June 29 ~ Diablo
July 03 ~ Hamilton
July 05 ~ Tam

Let us know when you're doing this. Someone might be crazy to do it with you.

BR

I did Mt Hamilton back on January 1, 2000. Kind of a "New Millennium" thing. It's long, but not that steep. The big problem was the weather. When I got to the top everything I had on was soaked, which made the descent REALLY cold!!!!

I tried using Klimb to map a route that takes in all three. Besides a lot of boring city riding on the flat between the mountains, you'd also have to go way around the east side of the delta to legally be able to ride- at least from what is on Klimb, bikes can't ride across any of the east bay bridges.

The boring flat riding would, in itself, make riding all three with no shuttle not worth it. I'd rather just do Diablo three times or Mt Hamilton front, back and front.

you'd also have to go way around the east side of the delta to legally be able to ride

I presume you considered taking BART from Walnut Creek over to SF?

I presume you considered taking BART from Walnut Creek over to SF?

No. I was trying to map out a ride that only includes cycling.