Northern California - Sun 12/7 ride

Hi everyone,
I will be leading the following ride on Sunday. It is 63 miles and about 6000' vertical. This is a Western Wheelers club ride but guests and Gladiators welcome.

OLD LAHONDA, PESCADERO, WEST ALPINE. Meet at Gunn H.S. at 9:50 am for a prompt 10:00 am departure. It is tried; it is true; it is beautiful; and it is pretty tough. 20 - 30 minute break at mile 33 in Pescadero. RSVP if possible, and contact Chris O’Connell (chrisco@yahoo.com).

Cue sheet (http://home.pacbell.net/spro/routesheets/Gunn_OLH_Pescadero_Alpine.pdf)

Should be good for this one (most likely solo).

But I would ride to the start. Maybe I would meet you at the start of OLH.

I'll be doing my Montebello Sunday ride that day.

Should be good for this one (most likely solo).

But I would ride to the start. Maybe I would meet you at the start of OLH.

Sounds great. I'll be looking out for you and we should be getting to OLH at 10:30-10:35.

Hey guys I have never ridden Oldlahonda before, looks like this sunday is my day!!

I should be in for this. Haskins hill on the way back should be pleasant during this time of year? A lot of climbing this weekend. Q, Ham & S on Saturday and this on Sunday.

Dang, it looks like I might have to cancel the Montebello Sunday ride in favor of this ... decisions, decisions ...

Hey guys I have never ridden Oldlahonda before, looks like this sunday is my day!!

You'll love it ... especially the road Upenuf !!!!

Hmmmm my parts won't be in yet....

Maybe I'll convince Ruth to come ;)

I hope Ruth can come out and play. Or you could always take the commuter. It's not like you'll have problems keeping up.

Having just moved out here, I found the Western Wheelers Bike Club (http://www.westernwheelers.org/main/index.htm). They've been good to me. They sent out an SOS looking for ride leaders for December so I signed up to lead one ride each week. I was a little worried about whether anyone would show up, especially since they don't know me. So it's great to see some Nor☼Cal BFers planning to come out.

Between Old La Honda, the town of Pescadero, and the long climb up Alpine, it is a great ride. There is a nice hidden Taqueria at the corner gas station in Pescadero, so if your in the mood, that's the place to go. Otherwise, the Country Bakery is an excellent food joint and they have benches in the back where we can enjoy a brief lunch break.

I have some responsibilities to the group but you guys can feel free to rip it up.

Having just moved out here, I found the Western Wheelers Bike Club (http://www.westernwheelers.org/main/index.htm). They've been good to me. They sent out an SOS looking for ride leaders for December so I signed up to lead one ride each week. I was a little worried about whether anyone would show up, especially since they don't know me. So it's great to see some Nor☼Cal BFers planning to come out.

Between Old La Honda, the town of Pescadero, and the long climb up Alpine, it is a great ride. There is a nice hidden Taqueria at the corner gas station in Pescadero, so if your in the mood, that's the place to go. Otherwise, the Country Bakery is an excellent food joint and they have benches in the back where we can enjoy a brief lunch break.

I have some responsibilities to the group but you guys can feel free to rip it up.

If it wasn't for being an organized group ride, I usually chose to head down Skyline and take W84 from the top (Skylonda) rather than WOLH to W84. W84 is the tandem fun road!

Very tempted on this one. Never climbed Alpine before, and the timing is very friendly for people who would be going out the night before. I'm a 80% in!

I've only ridden this area once and it was a blast. I wish I could join you, but I am committed to fixing my broken upper link on the MTB that day.

Enjoy the ride.

BR

I should have mentioned but as a Western Wheelers Club ride, this is classified as a D ride with 6000 ft. vertical in 63 miles. Which means it will be a relatively strong group of riders, I hope. (The hope refers to the group size and not their strength). There should be a degree of group cohesion/parity.I don't know exactly how to quantify it but you should be able to hold 20 mph on the flats in group riding. (Not that there will be too many flats but that's one gauge.)

Sorry, I don't mean to be elitist but having met mostly gladiators here, I forgot that not every one goes really fast.

WW D riders are about the level of Gladiators. In fact, they had a D ride that went up Mt. Hamilton the same time we went up. You'll like them ... they don't like to set at lunch for a long time. One thing I couldn't stand about the C riders is they would spend a long ... I mean a really long time at lunch.

D riders are typically fast up the hill ... faster than me at least.

The WW rule of thumb for A-D (actually A-F, but I haven't seen any E or F rides listed) is time up OLH. "D" is 25-30 minutes. http://www.westernwheelers.org/main/schedules/ride_info.htm

I hope to join the ride tomorrow!

Chris,
I'm going to bail on this tomorrow. have a good ride.

Just a quick follow-up on the ride. It was a really strong group of riders - 13 started but 3 cut out Stage and Pescadero and went straight to Alpine from La Honda, leaving 10 for the whole trip. We had CRSturdivant and Bostic representing the BF'ers, and representing well. It's just a fabulous ride, up and down lovely Old La Honda, then the screaming section of 84 into LaHonda; Stage Road is just gorgeous; and finally the 6.5 mile Alpine climb and its corollary, the Page Mill descent...

It was a very fast ride, we were going well over 20 mph the whole way from La Honda to San Gregorio and we kept it together. And I got to enjoy the view from the back. (As ride leader, it was my duty to make sure no one got dropped, especially myself.) There was an awesome dude Brody, a real gladiator bravely (some but not me would say recklessly) leading the way. But then on Stage, CRS and Bostic disappeared into the horizon, far ahead. As it should be.

We left Gunn H.S. just after 10 and got back just after 3 with about a 25-30 minute lunch and some regroups along the way. Coming off Hamilton, I was a little worried but my legs held up well. And they've been resting since. So thanks for coming out CRS and Bostic, I had a great day.