Northern California - Y'all's hills are fun!

Been out here for two months now and am having a lot of fun on these hills! I will probably be out here through the end of the year but may find my riding severly curtailed beginning around Thanksgiving.

I rented a bike for the first month from the Campus Bike Shop at Stanford (Fuji CCR3) before shipping my bike out after my last trip back to Austin. We have hills but not like these. The biggest challenge has been learning how to descend twisty roads. I'm getting better but still need some work.

So far, starting from Los Altos, I've done "The Loop" many times (Portola Road going north from Alpine is a LOT of fun), Montebello Road, Alpine Road all the way to the end of the paved section, Old La Honda twice and did Kings Mountain Road to Skyline yesterday. Also drove out to Pescadero and road Stage Road up to 1 and up Tunitas Creek for several miles. Nice.

I still think I would still like to do: Page Mill to Skyline, Hwy 9 to Skyline and ultimately I'd like to ride from Los Altos to San Gregorio Beach via OLH/84 but need to figure out the shuttle back. What else am I missing?

I ride the weekends with my brother (in Los Altos) but wouldn't mind a mid-week ride (preferrably noon time) with any BFers in the area. My Foothill Expwy speeds are in the 16 - 21 mph range (depending on direction of travel) and my second ride up OLH last Wednesday was 31:11. Looks like more perfect weather, at least through the middle of the week.

Hwy 9 uphill is boring because of all the traffic. Only do it if you are connecting to something on the west side of Skyline.

Alpine Road from La Honda up to Skyline is a beautiful climb. If you ride out to the beach, this is a great way back to Los Altos.

Don't forget the big 3 climbs in the Bay Area: Mt. Hamilton, Mt. Diablo, and Mt. Tamalpias. Hamilton is within riding distance of Los Altos.

Page Mill Road is obviously the biggest climb in Los Altos (or is that in Los Altos Hills?). If you've already done Montebello, I think Page Mill Road is easier.

Y'all's accent is fun too! j/k! I can say that since I lived in the Dallas area for 5 years and started cycling over there! (It was lonely being the only Niner fan in my office!) haha!

I must say, it was a big shock to come back home to the Bay Area after I started cycling in Dallas! The hills I took for granted out here killed me (and still do)!! Whereas the "speed bumps" in Dallas were a cake walk comparatively. Don't get me wrong, there were some good hills but not mountains like out here! hehe!

Hopefully you can tackle the "Big 3" while you are out here!

If you post up when you ride you'll probably get a few folks in the forum to join you!

Have fun and say hello to TX for me!
Gary

Seconding the call to post rides. I'm in Mountian View and would definitely hop on some weekend rides starting from MV/Stanford/PA area.

Lots of group rides (like every day of the week) in the MV/Stanford/PA area here: www.westernwheelers.org

Hwy 9 uphill is boring because of all the traffic. Only do it if you are connecting to something on the west side of Skyline.

Alpine Road from La Honda up to Skyline is a beautiful climb. If you ride out to the beach, this is a great way back to Los Altos.

Don't forget the big 3 climbs in the Bay Area: Mt. Hamilton, Mt. Diablo, and Mt. Tamalpias. Hamilton is within riding distance of Los Altos.

Page Mill Road is obviously the biggest climb in Los Altos (or is that in Los Altos Hills?). If you've already done Montebello, I think Page Mill Road is easier.

I gotta disagree, I love the HWY 9 climb. I actually do repeats on it during race season. Hwy 9 through Big Basin and return up E Zayante then up Summit to Skyline. Alpine is also one of my favorites, I find it tougher then Tunitas. Mt Hamilton is a great off season climb since it is less steep then most of the others.

Sierra Rd to Welch Creek is a must do. Sierra was on the Tour of California route several times. This is a good time of year since its cooled off a bit.

Thanks for all y'all's responses! I should probably come clean before I meet anyone here...you will notice, when we meet, that I have NO Texas accent...due to the fact that I was born in San Jose and raised in Palo Alto/Los Altos Hills. We've lived in Austin for the past 15 years, so the "y'alls" roll off the tongue pretty easily.

Regarding WesterWheelers rides...it looks like you need to join to gain access to the ride calendar. Maybe since I belong to the Austin Cycling Association someone can PM me the "standard" ride calendar?

Anyway...after reading that Mt. Hamilton rarely exceeds 7%, I think my brother and I are penciling in an assault attempt for Saturday. Maybe see you out on the road this week!

Non-members are usually welcome on Western Wheelers rides. The user name and password for the ride schedule are listed on the club web site. The login mechanism helps to keep spambots away.

BTW - Mt. Hamilton rarely gets much steeper than 5%. It is a very gradual climb, but it does take a while. Mt. Diablo and Mt. Tamalpias are more in the 7% range (except for the driveway at the top of Diablo).