Northern California - Tam, Diablo, and Hamilton in one day

What
Climb three prominent Bay Area peaks in one day without a car.

Why
This idea has appealed to me for a few years for a few reasons:
* Tam, Diablo, and Hamilton are the three best-known peaks in the Bay Area. While Tam is pretty short compared to the likes of Umunhum or Loma Prieta, it still gets the nod due to being more well known and also for having better access to the actual summit. (I probably won't hike up to the fire lookout though!). Any one of these climbs could be considered a full day's work and the Devil Mountain Double combines two of them (Diablo, Hamilton) but how awesome would it be to do all three? Apparently very.
* I like the idea of riding from home when possible. It turns out that bikes, in addition to being fun to ride, also let you get places so why not take advantage of that.
* Last year was my first introduction to double centuries. This year I'm upping the ante by doing one that is self-supported.
* Planning this ride seems like fun. There's a lot to do figure out starting with figuring out the route, picking a day to ride it, figuring out where to get food and water, deciding how to carry said food/water, and so on.

How
After weighing many options I decided to do the route clockwise, that is to say Tam first, then Diablo, then Hamilton. If the weather is normal (northwesterly winds) then this should result in more tailwinds as opposed to doing it the other way around. Also Mt. Tam is a state park and I had some concerns with it being closed if I saved that peak for last.

Here's the route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/528792 (http://ridewithgps.com/routes/473316)

It is 218 miles as drawn (ending at my house so ymmv)

When
Friday, July 8 departing San Francsico Caltrain at 6:00am. I will be catching the train at Diridon station in San Jose at 4:30am.

Last year for the Terrible Two, which has a similar distance to elevation ratio, I averaged 15mph including stops. However that included maybe 20 miles of high speed pacelining at the start so maybe 14mph if I had done it solo. At that speed it would take me 15:34 to do this route or round it up to 16. So I should be home by 10pm. Hey that's only 1.5 hours of riding in the dark!

Who
I realize this isn't the type of ride that appeals to everyone. There are considerable "junk" miles. But I welcome any company for part or all of the ride.

Alas, I'll be driving to Markleeville on Fri 8th, looking forward to the ride reports though :thumb:

That is my kind of crazy... but I wouldn't survive more than half of it... and likely less.

Alas, I'll be driving to Markleeville on Fri 8th, looking forward to the ride reports though :thumb:
I'll be doing the same thing as Beaker. I'll have to join next year's version of this ride.

Man, you're crazy!

The idea sounds interesting. I will be doing my first back-to-back double this weekend, I'll see how I feel about it afterwards.

Getting water at Mines Road will be hard, finding food and facilities may also slow down the average somewhat. Gotta be prepared to descend Hamilton at night.

What a startlingly cool idea. I just wish I had the cycling chops to go with you. Alas, that's not the case. Perhaps if I camped out part way or something...
In any event, photos must be made! I tee shirt commissioned!

The Junction cafe is open until 9pm on Friday (or at least that's what their web site says) so I should be able to get food and water there.

Good point about it taking longer to get food and water compared to a supported ride. If my total average speed was 13mph then it would take 16:46 or over 2.5 hours in the dark. I'll bring enough headlight batteries to run on high for 3 hours.

Already thought about descending Hamilton in the dark. Even better, I will also be cutting off at Quimby and descending that! The twilight views should be gorgeous but I certainly won't be setting any PRs ... unless some wild boars start to chase me. The moon will be halfway illuminated and in the southwest sky so that should help a bit since there isn't much tree cover.

Wouldn't the ride be quicker if you double back to SF and take the ferry over to Alameda and continue on Diablo that way? Or are you trying to do this purely by cycling the entire distance?

I thought about something like that (doubling back to SF and then taking BART to Pleasant Hill). It would save about 40 miles of riding. When you consider the time spent waiting for and then riding the train this option would save maybe 2 hours at most. I decided that it was worth it to me to ride the extra distance. Plus loops are always more appealing to me than out-and-backs just on general principle.

I'm curious, because I've looked at routes around the bay before, but isn't Hwy 37 illegal for bicycles? That 37 section has always stymied ideas I had. But this sounds like a really neat idea. Having ridden both Mt Tam double and DMD, it really appeals to put all three mountains together.

Here's what I turned up about Hwy 37 that suggests it's quite rideable even if not that pleasant:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/223857-Vallejo-to-Novato-on-Hwy.-37

There's only one part that is of some concern and that's the bridge at mile 55.7 on the ridewithgps route above. It looks like the shoulder essentially disappears over the bridge although there's a teeny tiny elevated sidewalk that's probably way too narrow to ride on.

I actually seriously considered riding the Richmond-San Rafael bridge since it is more direct and would also be tons more epic. But I decided the day would have enough challenges without flouting the law. Maybe in another few decades ... http://www.marinbike.org/Campaigns/Infrastructure/RSRBridge.shtml

The worry I would have on 37 is the section between the racetrack and Vallejo (miles 60 to 69). It has a center divider with a very narrow single lane on each side. There's not much of a shoulder/bike lane and the cars do not have much room to pass you with what can be considered safe clearance. To make it worse this is a much travelled roadway.
Honestly with such a climbing challenge for a one day ride I would play it safe and use BART or a ferry to cross the bay. It should be a great ride.

this sounds genuninely epic. That is a long day in the saddle.

I'd suggest you check out 37 in a car before you ride it. It really doesn't seem like a reasonable place to ride.

Having driven Hwy 37 more times than I can count, at all hours of the day and days of the week.... let me say this.

You do not have enough money to get me to ride my bicycle on that stretch of highway.

I used to drive Hwy 37 a lot when I lived in Larkspur and visited friends/family in Sacramento. I honestly don't remember it being that bad but then again I wasn't a cyclist then and wasn't evaluating it from that point of view. Thanks for the candid warnings, I'll take them under advisement.

^^ I would seriously think more than twice about it.

Back to the original topic...last summer, my friends and I did a version of this Triple Crown: Drove to the base of Hamilton. Pedaled to the top and back to the cars. Drove over to Danville, pedaled to Diablo summit and back. Drove to Mill Valley, pedaled to Tam summit and back. Good times were had.

Your version is way more epic. My version was a lot of fun.

It's always a good idea to drive the route by car if you are not sure. I don't trust Google Maps or GPS maps, because they don't always get timely updates.

Epic is the word! I ask though: please don't do this alone, without some sort of on-ride support: other bikers (even if they only ride parts of the route), or someone driving. Especially in summer!

in

I'll be devil's advocate and say that THAT ride is impossible. Prove me otherwise.

Sure it will be a long day and a tough ride but it's not exactly pushing the limits of cycling. By randonneuring standards the ride isn't even all that long - only 350km.

I did the backside of Mt. Hamilton a couple months ago. It was definitely one of the more difficult rides I've ever done. Wouldn't mind trying it again, though. What time do you think you'll be getting into Livermore. I may try and tack on for the stretch to San Jose.

We'll turn onto Mines road at mile 141. It's hard to anticipate what the pace will be like up to that point but taking a wild stab I'd say 4:00pm +/- 45 minutes. From that point it's at least 4.5 hours up and over the backside until you get back to San Jose, probably more like 5 hours when you factor in stops. This means descending in the dark so if you come out be sure and bring lights. It would be great to have some extra company out there. I'll probably post my ride progress at http://twitter.com/silentben

Great. I'll plan on latching on where Mines and Del Valle Rd. Split. You'll be able to spot me by my faded green jersey, blue Bianchi cap, and forest green Novara w/ full fenders (not the best horse for the journey, but it's what I got). I'll go ahead and follow you on the twitter so I can anticipate when you'll be there. Will you need me to bring a couple gallon jugs of water, or will you guys fill up in DT Livermore?

Sweet! We should be able to fill up on water in Livermore and again at the junction but thanks for the offer.

A few years ago, I did the three mountains on three consecutive days (driving from Sacramento each day!), and despite missing the fourth of the three peaks (San Bruno), I was pretty impressed with myself. Not so much any more. :lol:

Good luck skill!

Ooh, I forgot about San Bruno. Maybe for next year!

I sooo want to do this... but can't get away with another vacation day, after RAAM and all.

Have fun!

You did RAAM? Excellent. Solo or tandem?

How many miles does it add if you take -121 to -12 to -29 then American Canyon to -80. McRary Rd along 80, then Lopes rd across the Benicia Bridge. Once across the bridge, Shell Ave, Pacheco, Imhoff, Iron Horse trail, Bancroft, Walnut Ave to the north gate (25 ish miles from Benicia to the "Y")
I would climb Cummings Skyway to Franklin Canyon if you go thru Crockett. Road is way better.

You did RAAM? Excellent. Solo or tandem?

8 tandem team... basically exchanging 30 minute pulls (hard TT efforts) in order to finish under 6 days (our goal). We ended up finishing in 5 days 20 hours 19 minutes.

Much different animal than solo RAAM, but very hard in a different way (speed + recovery were key) ... and very hard on the crew (constantly transitioning bikes... tandem bikes, navigating, etc.). I will do a ride report soon, when I find some time to sit down and and do it. I was hoping to get some more pics from some others as well.

Anyway, back to Ben's "near death ride"

8 tandem team... basically exchanging 30 minute pulls (hard TT efforts) in order to finish under 6 days (our goal). We ended up finishing in 5 days 20 hours 19 minutes.Amazing. I don't think I could drive that far in that long. :lol: Congratulations!

Hey turkey, It looks like your proposed route would add about 25 miles to the ride. It looks like an interesting route. However I've scouted out potential water and food stops for my original route and don't want to make any major changes this late in the game.

So you'd recommend Cummings Skyway, Franklin Canyon instead of Carquinez Scenic drive? Is that just because the road surface is better? Carquinez Scenic looks more "fun" on the map ...

Hey turkey, It looks like your proposed route would add about 25 miles to the ride. It looks like an interesting route. However I've scouted out potential water and food stops for my original route and don't want to make any major changes this late in the game.

So you'd recommend Cummings Skyway, Franklin Canyon instead of Carquinez Scenic drive? Is that just because the road surface is better? Carquinez Scenic looks more "fun" on the map ...

ho man, I'll domestique for you all day but one of us better know where we're riding!

Ben, you got any partners? PM me if you still need some. I'm interested. I've done a few doubles before, but never with so much elevation.

Argh, don't have 50 posts so I can't PM ya back. Anyway, would have love to ride with ya, but I've got a meeting I can't get out of. PM me anytime you get a hunkering to do anything like this again. I've been wanting to do this ride for a while... Here is my version... http://ridewithgps.com/routes/406568... just avoids 37, as I don't like that section. But with another rider, I guess I'd do it again.

I've done Diablo & Hamilton in a day. http://ridewithgps.com/routes/85624. And I've done a solo 200 miler around the bay. http://ridewithgps.com/routes/86574
But never a double century with so much elevation. Good LUCK!

Unfortunately I now have a funeral to attend today, so it looks like I won't be meeting you out in Livermore. Hope you guys have fun, and be safe out there.

Ride report for the non-twitter/strava crowd.

Incredibly hard ride proposed by Ben. First 110 miles included turns about every mile. Impossible to get any rhythm. Then we rode on a freeway for 17 miles. That was cool. Around mile 80 at Mare Island crossing into Vallejo it started to get hot.

Then it got hotter. And hotter. We climbed Diablo, the second peak from 1pm - 2:30ish pm. It was an absolute furnace. In retrospect, this was the beginning of the end.

We descended Diablo and rode to Livermore. Half way there both Ben and I were out of water. At a stopsign I waved a utility-truck guy down to ask if he had water in the cooler strapped to the back. He did, yay! It tasted like serious plastic, yay! Neither of us cared. Temps on Ben's Garmin 500 were reading like 110f on the roadway.

We made it to livermore and stopped at a gas station to refuel for the trip over Mines road. This was mile 130. I drank a soda, a huge gatorade, and ate a meal bar. Generally this works for me. We also both filled 2 bottles and carried a 3rd in a pocket. Good to go, right?

Before we left that station I asked Ben if he'd felt an earthquake. Nope. Turns out I was just already wobbly.

As Mines ground on, it was incredibly hot and my stomach was awful. I figured I'd overdone it a little at the station, so I tried to just sip gatorade and out last it. I was fading pretty quick though. My stomach felt full of fluid, sloshy, and increasingly nauseated.

I kept grinding though, waiting for the descent into the junction. Maybe sit in the shade a bit (it was like 6:30, so cooling down finally) and recover. But when we crested Mines and the descent began, the bumps in the road did it. I puked off to the side of the bike, then I stopped and the gates opened. Everything I'd had to drink in probably the past 3 hours came up. It was gross, my day was done.

I gave Ben the cash I had (he'd lost his cc/$$ bundle somewhere), devised the plan to have him go ahead to the Junction and use their phone to call the shame wagon.

After I sat for 15 minutes, some woman stopped her car and wouldn't let me sit there and die. She wanted to drive me somewhere or call someone for me, but I wasn't having it. I got up, finished the descent to the Junction Cafe. Met Ben, confirmed that he'd reached Sue Wen, gave him any of my supplies that he could use and sent him on his way to finish, solo, in the dark.

I talked with country people for 90 minutes while I waited for a ride. Sipped water, ate a turkey sandwhich for 60 minutes, a gram at a time. When Sue Wen arrived and we finally made it home I 2 In-n-out double doubles, animal-style fries, and a chocolate shake.

Ben FINISHED the mother****ing thing and rolled in at his place in Los Gatos around midnight. 18 hours after we'd left the Caltrain station in SF, 220 miles 18k climbing later.

I've done DMD 2x, That's 208 miles, 20k climbing. But it's supported. I've totally overestimate how important it is to have people putting food in your mouth and giving you rideable, easy-to-navigate 20-30mile chunks of progress. This was a totally different beast.

I ended my ride with a 16mph average speed, 168 miles and 14k-ish feet climbed. I was 162lbs (from 172) when I got home. All these numbers combined are surpassed by the road temperatures from about 12:30pm -> 6:30pm.

I am not sure if I could have done anything differently. I drank TONS. I ate on schedule. It just wasn't my day, I think.

http://app.strava.com/rides/900512

Respect !

Amazing ! You deserve some :beer:

The heat wave arrived suddenly yesterday, the morning was fine and then around 1pm it kicked in. Must have been torture on Diablo. That's probably what got you, the heat.

Amazing ! You deserve some :beer:

The heat wave arrived suddenly yesterday, the morning was fine and then around 1pm it kicked in. Must have been torture on Diablo. That's probably what got you, the heat.

Definitely. My power was fine, like 210ap through first 7 hours. Running low on water heading to livermore started it. I felt cold-ish, meaning my core temp got way elevated. I felt a little wobbly at livermore, and it seemed like none of the fluid I drank at the station actually absorbed into my system, despite taking enduralytes to help it along.

I'm glad I tried, very happy Ben actually made it, but I wouldn't recommend this ride to anyone else. The part on 37 was pretty crappy, the volume of turned needed to navigate between the mountains makes it stressful and difficult to get into a rhythm.

TFU H'ed by both of you. :beer:

TFU H'ed by both of you. :beer:

Total DITTO! Amazing...

Wow. Let's hope Ben is in one piece enough to repost to this thread.

That ride is complete and utter madness right there.

Well it took me longer than expected but I did finish the ride.

The short version:

Left home at 3:59am, or 9 minutes later than planned. I had to catch the train at 4:30am and it's a 10.4 mile ride plus the overhead of buying a ticket and walking through the station to the platform. I made it with 1-2 minutes to spare. Let's just say I got a nice effective warmup on this part of the ride and it's a good thing that there's not much cross traffic at 4 in the morning.

I got two flats. First when descending into Fairfax when I had to take a bad line through some potholes due to an oncoming car in the opposite lane. Second on Hwy 37 when I hit a big piece of metal.

Diablo was very hot. There must have been a 6mph tailwind as we climbed north gate road because the air felt completely dead and still. I was very low on water and ran out a bit before the junction. At the junction I splashed water all over my head and upper body, drank a bottle of water before topping off both bottles again and continuing on. I finished about 1.5 bottles worth of water between there and the summit.

Descending Diablo was a chore. I normally love a good descent but I was getting tired and knew it. I also am not familiar with the road and really really didn't want to crash so I just kept things safe and sane for the long ride down.

There were mostly tailwinds into Livermore. I was so glad we didn't do the mountains in the opposite direction.

Hitting Mines road it seemed almost as hot as climbing Diablo even though it was starting to be late in the afternoon. Again it was completely exposed and there was no relative wind. Chris was suffering a lot more than me here .. I didn't realize at the time how bad he was feeling, just that our pace was slower which was quite fine by me. Once we got the initial climbing done I actually enjoyed this part of the ride a lot especially as the temps continued to drop a few degrees.

Between the junction and the top of Hamilton I saw two vehicles total. Talk about deserted! The climb up the backside was slow and steady but really not that painful. The sun went down as I was climbing but I kept my headlight off to conserve battery and since I could see plenty well from the moonlight at 5mph.

Descending Hamilton was the worst part of the ride. I had to stay in the drops and ride the brakes most of the way and my back and neck and hands and wrists were very sore. Also it was cold. I was very very glad to get to first intermediate climb and I did the whole thing out of the saddle just to stretch out and warm up. Then another descent. Cold and painful again. Then climbing the east side of Quimby. Then descending Quimby. Slow, steep, cold, painful.

Quimby dumps out in east san jose and from there it's 15 more miles home. The first 5 miles are horrible busy ugly roads with red lights and busy traffic. But at least I could ride in the hoods and actually generate some watts to heat myself back up. My GPS battery died somewhere at this point.

I finally rolled home around 11:50pm or so. It was extremely surreal to be finishing the ride about 20 hours after I started. It's by far the longest continuous time I've worn my cycling shoes!

I'm glad to have finished this ride so that I never have to do it again :)

Total miles for the day: 230
Total climbing: 17000'
Total time: about 19:50
Resting time: about 4:40

impressive riding

I'm curious about how you handled your nutrition/hydration. Since you were doing it self-supported, I'm guessing you either brought tons of food, bought some along the way, or some combination of those two.

The farthest I've ridden solo and self-supported is about 140-150 miles. I've started from my house in south san jose->over Mt Hamilton into Livermore and back on Calaveras I believe, and I also do a ride that is about the same distance but riding down to Morgan Hill, over Mt. Maddona, then up Old San Jose or Summit, up 35 and loop around 9/Big Basin/Pescadero area. I bring all the food/drink stuff with me (couple sandwiches, clif bars, nuun tablets).

So how much food do you bring and how much do you buy along the way? any "real" food? I'm guessing you would get tired of eating a dozen clif bars...

p.s. an afterthought. How much easier do you think this ride would have been if it was during the winter? Hypothetically speaking, say temperatures never went above 60, Sunny/partly cloudy, dry roads. Personally I love the cooler weather and would be open to doing this ride when it's cooler. You sweat less and drink less, never overheat, though you do need extra cooler weather gear for descents like warmers and gloves. Besides that I love riding in that kind of weather.

Kudos to you both.

i'm not going to encourage this kind of behavior ;)