Northern California - just moved to mountain view

i don't really know the area. what are some good 2-3 hour rides? what roads should i avoid? i want to ride Saturday.

i'm at about cat 4 pre-season strength right now (raced collegiate season). 6-8% hills are nice but not necessary

thanks!

i don't really know the area. what are some good 2-3 hour rides? what roads should i avoid? i want to ride Saturday.

i'm at about cat 4 pre-season strength right now (raced collegiate season). 6-8% hills are nice but not necessary

thanks!

For me 3 hours is up PageMill, down Skyline to 84 to Woodside and back via foothill. It's 50 miles, like 3k climbing. Maybe for you, it's 2.5 hours, but it's a good ride none-the-less.

Otherwise, Montebello out and back is shorter. I can do it in just over 2, about 2.5k climbine 33ish miles.

Here is a list of some good roads to ride in the area:

Page Mill
Old La Honda
Woodside road (down mountain only between skyline and Woodside town)
Portola Road
Alpine Road
Los Trancos
Moody Road
Elena Road
Foothill (has some faster traffic, but wide bike lane almost everywhere)
Montebello
Stevens Canyon
Redwood Gulch
Pierce Road
Mt. Eden Road
Skyline (HWY 35) (personally don't riding on this road too much on weekends because that is when a lot of fast cars and motorcycles like to go fast on the road)


A couple roads I would avoid

El Camino Real
Stevens Creek Blvd

Ygduf has a good route there. Done that one a couple times. If you wanna piece a couple more hills into it, you can take Moody Road before page mill, then after you go down Woodside, go back up either Old La Honda or Los Trancos. There are a lot of good hills between Page Mill and Kings Mountain. Very easy not to get bored with the same route.

Here are some routes:

http://bikemaster.home.att.net/routes/index.htm
http://www.paloaltobicycles.com/bay_area_rides.html
http://www.westernwheelers.org/main/resources/BA_Climbs.html
http://www.rahul.net/kenton/fun/bike/

Alto Velo B-Ride leaves promptly from Peet's on State St. in Los Altos @ 0910 every Saturday. Typical ride length is 40-60 miles, is a reasonable Cat 4 pace, and usually includes at least one climb in the 3+ mile range.

Website: www.altovelo.org.

B-Ride is posted here: http://www.altovelo.org/ride_calendar/b_ride.php

- SteveE

So I went up Redwood Gulch -> Skyline -> Page Mill -> Foothill today.

Redwood really suprised me... defiantly a knee killer at 39x27. Skyline wasn't bad. I ended up descending in the middle of a biker line for a while. Page Mill is quite a fun descent, though I was on the brakes a bit because it was my first time down. Saw a lot of packs of cyclists on foothill... only a few fast people though. I think I love this area.

You could also check out the ACTC website for their club rides. There are also race teams all over this area if you want to continue racing.

So I went up Redwood Gulch -> Skyline -> Page Mill -> Foothill today.

Redwood really suprised me... defiantly a knee killer at 39x27. Skyline wasn't bad. I ended up descending in the middle of a biker line for a while. Page Mill is quite a fun descent, though I was on the brakes a bit because it was my first time down. Saw a lot of packs of cyclists on foothill... only a few fast people though. I think I love this area.

That is a good route there. Pagemill is a good descent, but there are some bad secions of pavement I am not a huge fan of.