Hey guys-

So I did the Woodside loop yesterday with my buddy. We went from Woodside, up Old La Honda, left at the top, right on Alpine, L on Pescadero to the town of Pescadero, across Stage all the way to 1, down the short stretch of 1, up Tunitas and down Kings back to Woodside. Is that the exact ride that you guys did a few weeks ago?

A couple of observations- that ride is pretty tough for only being 50 miles (right?) and about 5000 ft of climbing. It felt much tougher. I guess I am not that strong a rider. Our all-in ride time was about 6.5 hours, although we did make plenty of stops to check out the views, enjoy a snack, etc. Still, that is less than 8 mph total average speed! How long does this ride usually take you guys?

I also thought that Tunitas was BRUTAL! It is only my second time doing it, but it was just as bad as I remembered. Part of the problem is that it's always at the end of the ride (assuming you are riding from Woodside). The part from "6 miles to go" until "3 miles to go" is very steep and difficult. I made it up the whole way (from 1 to Skyline) without stopping, but I was not going very fast at all. The last two miles are not bad at all, except that I was mentally and physically exhausted. The top was FREEZING cold and I was shivering like crazy the whole way down Kings. It was after 6:30 at this point, so it was starting to get cold (even though there was plenty of light thanks to DST).

Finally, OLH was not as bad as I expected. We took it very easy because we knew we had 45 tough miles in front of us. I made the climb in 26 or 27 minutes (used a cell phone to time ourselves). Not very fast, I guess. This looks like it would put me in the D group for the Western Wheelers rating system. (WW Ratings (http://www.westernwheelers.org/main/schedules/ride_info.htm))

Hope everyone else had fun riding this weekend!

I just checked on Klimb and it looks like the ride was actually 56 miles, not 50, and 6000 ft of climbing (not 5000).

Hey guys-

So I did the Woodside loop yesterday with my buddy. We went from Woodside, up Old La Honda, left at the top, right on Alpine, L on Pescadero to the town of Pescadero, across Stage all the way to 1, down the short stretch of 1, up Tunitas and down Kings back to Woodside. Is that the exact ride that you guys did a few weeks ago?

A couple of observations- that ride is pretty tough for only being 50 miles (right?) and about 5000 ft of climbing. It felt much tougher. I guess I am not that strong a rider. Our all-in ride time was about 6.5 hours, although we did make plenty of stops to check out the views, enjoy a snack, etc. Still, that is less than 8 mph total average speed! How long does this ride usually take you guys?

for me it depends. I can ride it pretty fast, or I can take it slow. I don't recall the actual hours, but "fast" was around 3.5 hours, and "slow" was around 7 hours.


I also thought that Tunitas was BRUTAL! It is only my second time doing it, but it was just as bad as I remembered. Part of the problem is that it's always at the end of the ride (assuming you are riding from Woodside). The part from "6 miles to go" until "3 miles to go" is very steep and difficult. I made it up the whole way (from 1 to Skyline) without stopping, but I was not going very fast at all. The last two miles are not bad at all, except that I was mentally and physically exhausted. The top was FREEZING cold and I was shivering like crazy the whole way down Kings. It was after 6:30 at this point, so it was starting to get cold (even though there was plenty of light thanks to DST).


yep. It's the end of the ride, steep section in the middle and bad pavement (also they did some improvements, it used to be worse).
another part of it is that you are battling strong winds near on Stage (or if you take Hwy 84, then on 84 near town of San Gregorio). not enough recovery lead to more fatigue.


Finally, OLH was not as bad as I expected. We took it very easy because we knew we had 45 tough miles in front of us. I made the climb in 26 or 27 minutes (used a cell phone to time ourselves). Not very fast, I guess. This looks like it would put me in the D group for the Western Wheelers rating system. (WW Ratings (http://www.westernwheelers.org/main/schedules/ride_info.htm))

Hope everyone else had fun riding this weekend!

26-27 minutes is not bad. If you ride OLH often then you'll see improvement in about 3-4 weeks. the key to ride OLH fast is avoiding overburn on the first section ("I feel great, I'll push it hard" and then by the time you have 1.0 mile to go you're toasted.) If you keep yourself paced than you'll have enough energy to push it through the last section and then recover either on WOLH or on Skyline (regardless of which way you go).

This (or variations of it) is one of my favorite loops.

1) I can start from my house
2) I like Tunitas
3) I like OLH
4) It's familiar territory
5) I am close to home (relatively). So I feel safe riding it alone or with one riding partner.

My absolutely favorite loop on the SF peninsula is to start at Stanford and go up Page Mill Road, then the rest of the loop you did. Any loop with more than 100 feet of climbing per mile is a good hilly ride. Tunitas is really only hard in a half mile steep section in the middle of the climb. The rest is no harder than OLH, though of course you are more tired at the end of the day.

This is a must do loop if you are in the peninsula. Yes, Tunitas is tough, because it is at the end of the ride. Oh, about the WW rating ... D riders will stop for just enough to fuel up, while C riders will stop till your knees get cold and it really aches when you start again, after that long 1.5 hour lunch stop. I don't see how some of them can put down so much, then be able to climb Tunitas after that.

For the WW rating system, am I supposed to give me time on an all-out sprint of OLH (as in, that's my only riding for the day) or should it be the way I did it (a more measured pace because I had 95% of my ride yet to complete)?

I'm sure I could have taken off a lot of time on an all-out sprint.

For the WW rating system, am I supposed to give me time on an all-out sprint of OLH (as in, that's my only riding for the day) or should it be the way I did it (a more measured pace because I had 95% of my ride yet to complete)?

I'm sure I could have taken off a lot of time on an all-out sprint.

The WW rating system means that is how fast the group will be going when OLH is part of a group ride. D-level rides never have only 1 climb all day.

D rides will usually average 1000 feet climbing per 10 miles, and they do it at a fairly good clip ... not as fast as Alto Velo B rides, but still a respectable speed. They'd do the Pescadero Tunitas Creek loop on a regular basis ... at least 20 times during the year.

Love that loop. My little lap loop is :

Woodside / OLH / Skyline / Kings / Woodside

Nice little fishbowl style loop.