Northern California - Saturday Big Basin area ride.

Meeting at Holmstead/Foothill Peet's Coffee at 9am tomorrow.

Route is rated (by me) as: Hard. Like 7+ hrs ride time likely. Also, Ben suggested it, so there is probably a ropes course and dirt roads with deep-water stream crossings involved. :notamused:

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=101687

Arrgh!! Another Saturday ride I can't make because my wife has Team in Training and I pull kid duty that day.

After March 13th and the Solvang Century she is doing, I will be chomping at the bit to join some of these great rides.

Meeting at Holmstead/Foothill Peet's Coffee at 9am tomorrow.

Route is rated (by me) as: Hard. Like 7+ hrs ride time likely. Also, Ben suggested it, so there is probably a ropes course and dirt roads with deep-water stream crossings involved. :notamused:

http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=101687


Just wait till you have kids, or a dog.

After calling around I found the correct number for Road closures, 408-366-3100. Redwood Gulch is closed due to recent rains and it's down to one lane. They have not had a chance to clear mudslides yet.

After calling around I found the correct number for Road closures, 408-366-3100. Redwood Gulch is closed due to recent rains and it's down to one lane. They have not had a chance to clear mudslides yet.
Hmmm, I just went up Redwood Gulch this past wednesday and it haven't really rained since. I wonder if that's still valid ?

After calling around I found the correct number for Road closures, 408-366-3100. Redwood Gulch is closed due to recent rains and it's down to one lane. They have not had a chance to clear mudslides yet.

I said this was Ben's route. What else would you expect?

Sorry can't make this one. My bike is in a shop with potential broken rear derailure. Although I am hoping it is just bent drop out.

Here is the ride as I ended up doing it. It was a nice ride for 80 miles, until I decided to turn left and head up Skyline to Descend Hwy 9 and head home out of Steven's Canyon Rd. It was around 4:30 or so on Skyline, and the incoming clouds/rain had cooled the area significantly. I wasn't dressed for wet/cold at all and ended up giving myself a pretty bad case of hypothermia. My hands were numb stumps. I had to stop to shift gears, and have my girlfriend help me get my shoes off once I did get home. Really miserable for a while there.

But, 2 days later, I can look at 113 miles, 11.2k climbed with a 14.3mph average and be pretty happy.

A big thanks to Ramon and Ben for coming out and letting me keep up!

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/FB7kXdZi9BtupuIvT_nyDQ?feat=directlinkhttp://lh4.ggpht.com/_6DQj7sK5vY8/S4K0QOAFoFI/AAAAAAAACQA/bOwfWhvcv5U/s800/big%20basin%20ride.png

I was freezing up at elevation. Maybe that $300 Castelli Radiation jacket is worth it to not have to lug around so many layers of clothing. A tough ride, Jamison Creek is never easy. The home stretch by myself from Los Gatos back to Sunnyvale was one red light after another.

I would love that climb out of Santa Cruz to the top @ 35 & 9 on any other day. I did pass, at like 4:45, right as the rain started, a group of people who looked to be totally out of their element. They asked for directions, told me they were staying at a campground somewhere off 35? I hope they made it back without incident. I was rushing trying to beat daylight, but they were huffing/puffing, out of shape, wearing like cotton t-shirts and pullovers.

Jamison Creek was HARD. My lower back never hurts while riding, Jamison Creek got it aching.

nicely done guys. that's a pretty serious route for feb. i did a much more mellow loop up 9, down skyline and out and back on soda springs.. my fingers and toes were happy to get off skyline and get some feeling back into them. how was the temp down in big basin?

I think the temp was in the 50s for most of the day. I only got cold when we stopped for lunch, and then when the rain started up on the crest.

14.3 mph for 113/11k is very impressive.
Do you guys ever do a nice mellow recovery ride that mere mortals like myself can have a chance to join ? :)

Sure. Propose 1 on a Sunday morning sometime, you'll get takers.

Geez, remind me to think twice about joining Ygduf's rides!

I think I decided to skip this ride, perhaps due to a little bit of burn out? My fear is by doing this, I'd overtrain for Solvang ... I'll pick it back up again next week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF8ddqsoMZc

We'll see if this works. This is the 1 minute of semi-interesting video, of course where I passed Ramon & Ben, and probably nearly caused Ben to crash into me as I slow for a corner!