Northern California - Los Gatos-Saratoga area midweek night rides

Now that daylight savings time has ended and with winter approaching I find it harder to get motivated to go riding after work. So to combat the laziness I thought that doing a regular, scheduled night ride with other people would help. For me Tuesday and Thursday are good days to ride. I like these days because because you can ride two nights in the middle of the week but they're not adjacent to the weekend.

One thought I had was to have the Tuesday ride be hilly and the Thursday ride flatter so that the legs still have energy left in them for the weekend :) An example of a hilly ride would be the one I did last week of climbing Bohlman. Something like Montebello could be a good candidate too. Also there are some good ~800 foot climbs tucked away in the foothills above LG that are nice. I might not want to climb something like Hwy 9 though just due to traffic concerns at night. These rides would involve prolonged climbs with around 100' of vertical per mile.

Then the Thursday ride would be flatter but still with some rollers and shorter climbs to keep things interesting. These rides might work out to 50' per mile. For instance here's a route I'm planning to do tonight just to scout out some roads I haven't been on before. It's a lot of residential streets that shouldn't have much car traffic:

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=91812

Both versions of the ride would be probably be in the 20-30 mile range and hopefully not take much longer than 2 hours. Maybe plan to roll at 6:30 and be done by 8:30?

Any interest in this? If so I would plan to have the first ride next Tuesday (Nov 17) and that would likely involve climbing Bohlman again since it was so much fun the last time I did it :) Next week I won't be able to ride Thursday though since I have a prior appointment that night.

ps, Some of the inspiration for this came from Marco's night rides in San Mateo earlier this year. I'd love to continue those but it's not feasible for me to make it up there without having a car :(

Ben,

I'd be down for some Thursday rides in the south area, assuming my light ever arrives...

ps, Some of the inspiration for this came from Marco's night rides in San Mateo earlier this year. I'd love to continue those but it's not feasible for me to make it up there without having a car :(

I hear ya.

I am thinking of starting those up again, is any of you are interested (those closer to San Mateo).

I have a similar problem, only it involves dragging myself out of bed at 6 am. :(

I hear ya.

I am thinking of starting those up again, is any of you are interested (those closer to San Mateo).

I should be down for it.

Night riding's GREAT! Don't forget the San Jose Bike Party rides again this Friday night, the 20th, with the ~30 mile route being announced the day before on their web site. It's in the Hellyer quadrant of San Jose this month, ending downtown. Excellent group cruise. Excellent dating activity on a bike! Dress it down and enjoy bicycling with the "Everyday People" Sly Stone sang about, without the push to "train" or "race". It's much more Woodstock than Altamont, on a bike.

So what with the forums being down and all I never got around to posting a ride report from last Thursday. The short version is that I'm pretty satisfied with that loop except for one part along Quito where there's no bike lane, not very good visibility, and too much traffic. Will cut that part out for next time.

Anyway for tomorrow (Nov 17th) I'm going to do Bohlman via some of the side streets (Norton, Kittridge, Quickert) like the Low Key hillclimb did a couple weeks ago. This route affords better views of the valley. In case anyone else is crazy enough to join me I will be stopping by the Starbucks at 624 Blossom Hill Rd (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=624+Blossom+Hill+Rd,+Los+Gatos,+CA+95032&sll=37.234582,-121.963692&sspn=0.013599,0.015149&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=624+Blossom+Hill+Rd,+Los+Gatos,+Santa+Clara,+California+95032&z=17) at 6:30pm.

Here's my intended route: http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=92354

24.5 miles and 2800' of climbing according to bikeroutetoaster.com

Night riding's GREAT! Don't forget the San Jose Bike Party rides again this Friday night, the 20th, with the ~30 mile route being announced the day before on their web site. It's in the Hellyer quadrant of San Jose this month, ending downtown. Excellent group cruise. Excellent dating activity on a bike! Dress it down and enjoy bicycling with the "Everyday People" Sly Stone sang about, without the push to "train" or "race". It's much more Woodstock than Altamont, on a bike.

I hope to make it to one of these sometime but have too many logistical hurdles to make it work for me right now, especially on Friday nights.

Well I did Bohlman tonight and then across the dirt stretch and down Montevina. It was good to not sit inside and be lazy but it wasn't the most satisfying ride ever. Montevina is a pretty technical descent and I"m not that familiar with it yet so I took it slow and cautious all the way downhill. Even so I still hit a gravel patch in a hairpin turn while on the brakes and skidded the front tire for about an inch. YIkes!

So next time around I'm going to switch the route up but not sure how yet.

It was 21 miles and 2400' of climbing at an average speed of only around 12mph :o

Ygduf, hope your light gets here before too long. I also am trying to recruit bam to come along since he lives like 1/2 a mile from me. But he doesn't have a good light either.

Next ride is Tuesday 11/24 in case anyone gets sick of being warm and comfy in the evening ;)

Well I did Bohlman tonight and then across the dirt stretch and down Montevina. It was good to not sit inside and be lazy but it wasn't the most satisfying ride ever. Montevina is a pretty technical descent and I"m not that familiar with it yet so I took it slow and cautious all the way downhill. Even so I still hit a gravel patch in a hairpin turn while on the brakes and skidded the front tire for about an inch. YIkes!

So next time around I'm going to switch the route up but not sure how yet.

It was 21 miles and 2400' of climbing at an average speed of only around 12mph :o

Ygduf, hope your light gets here before too long. I also am trying to recruit bam to come along since he lives like 1/2 a mile from me. But he doesn't have a good light either.

Next ride is Tuesday 11/24 in case anyone gets sick of being warm and comfy in the evening ;)

My light has arrived, so any real excuse is out. I will plan on meeting you somewhere on the 24th. Let me know; and try to keep it easy. ;)

Hmm, this sounds interesting (at least the flat route for this out-of-shape rider), and might be close enough to make it to (from downtown SJ) someday.

I think I will do this route next Tuesday. It's 23 miles and 1300' as drawn (starting from my house) but would be more like 20 miles starting at the Starbucks:

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=92656

Chris, were you planning to drive to the start? Eventually I want to do some of these rides up a bit farther north towards Cupertino which might make them more accessible to some people. I think this route will be at a medium level of difficulty which is well within your abilities :) There are two steep climbs of about 200' each and a lot of rollers. The descents are mostly on good pavement with good visibility. The biggest challenge will probably be navigating at night if you're not already pretty familiar with the roads. There are a lot of twists and turns so I'll try to be a good ride leader and call those out.

Alex, this route isn't exactly flat. But I did get to thinking that my initial goal of "one super hilly, one with rollers" per week might be too ambitious :) So I might try and do one with rollers and one flat. Maybe next Thursday can be a flat one.

Yeah, I will either drive down, of if I'm super brave, once the days get longer, I will ride down. The distance isn't prohibitive, just cycling to work in the freezing morning is...

Alex, this route isn't exactly flat. But I did get to thinking that my initial goal of "one super hilly, one with rollers" per week might be too ambitious :) So I might try and do one with rollers and one flat. Maybe next Thursday can be a flat one.Oh, I didn't assume it was perfectly flat. I suppose I should have air-quoted the word in my last post.

I'll have to find a route out thataway, and set up my bike with lights galore.

Oh, I didn't assume it was perfectly flat. I suppose I should have air-quoted the word in my last post.

I'll have to find a route out thataway, and set up my bike with lights galore.

Cool then come on out, just wanted to make sure you knew what you were getting yourself into ahead of time :)

I may ride to the start for this, and possibly head back home when it gets to Saratoga area.

Looks like it will be another nice clear night and not super cold either. Gotta take advantage of these nights while they last. Also the more I ride the more pumpkin pie and turkey I can eat :)

I think spingineer is riding for sure and Ygduf is a maybe.

Riding again tonight starting at the same time and place. Here is my planned route:

http://www.gpsies.com/map.do?fileId=rkerlsrluhcbbccc

29 miles, 2500' with quite a few roads I've never been on (thus a good probability I'll get lost ;))

Ben, need more warning. Would have packed the bike up and ridden tonight if I'd known. :P Are you riding Thursday this week?

Yeah i'm going to try and ride thursday too. I need to get as many miles in as possible before I go off the bike for the second half of the month

Okay these rides haven't exactly taken off but I'm still doing them, at least on Tuesday nights. If anyone is interested in joining tonight or any other week please PM me (so I get the email alert) as I don't check the forum as much these days. Tonight should be a good way to test your latest new cold weather gear :)

I did Bohlman, On Orbit, and then to the top of Apollo Heights last night so tonight will probably be an easier ride but I haven't decided on the exact route yet.