taxi777

The 1st third of the ride wasn't a whole lot of fun! I thought this was going to be another one of those " What The Hell Am I Thinking" tours! The weather was pretty miserable when I left this morning. Cold wet and foggy ( my favorite! ). From Daley City toMontara I was really quite apprehensive and had the feeling of impending doom the whole time. The fog was pea soup thick descending intoPacifica . I had a Pickup with fat tires who tried to get as close as possible to me, which kind of rattled me a bit. He gave me a look like..."So what are ya gonna do?"

Devils slide was really bad with loose rock all over the place and tons of traffic...



There's no shoulder to speak of and the traffic just zooms through there!

The scenery was pretty astounding though...




Things cleared up at Montara and I was able to get my average speed up a bit.

I stopped to take a few shots...Brought the old, old camera with me today.





Eventually I got to Half Moon Bay and getting a bit hungry at that point, so I stopped at Subway to chow down a chicken teryaki sandwich...I highly recommend one if you haven't partakin in such a delicacy. While I was there I made a call to Alan to see if he was interested climbing Tunitas with me, but he called back after I had passed his house and he unfortunately had other plans. Right at that time I had the fortune to run into a guy named Tim on a recumbent who said he'd like to join me. He was one of the guys from Alan's half moon bay ride last month. He was the guy in the "Hindenburg" recumbent with faring all around and going a billion miles in hour. What a great talk we had on the climb up Tunitas, from Hobbits to spirituality and Neil Young to time trials. That really made the day. He convinced me to ride up Starr hill road and then Swett road neither of which I'd explored before. Nice Syncronicity filled day.


Hobbitt land My Camera steamed up on me...looks pretty cool!

When I got to the top, I got a call from Ramon. I flew down Kings Mountain to the bakery in Woodside then across to meet He, Silent Ben, and El Marco at Roberts where they plied me to ride with them back up KMR...No way, too wet and cold. Marco checked his magic phone and told me I needed to beat it to the train if I wanted to catch it. I had 29 mins, so I hauled but and made it with 1 minute to spare!

synchronicity...BTW no ride tomorrow. That Devils slide corrider freaks me out and I don't want to be responsible for anyone getting hurt...I couldn't live with myself.

taxi777

.....................................TIM>>>>>>>>>


From Alans ride below

JoelS

Nice! Glad you got out today. It was pretty miserable weather here, so I did another trainer ride. I'm hoping to be able to get out for a few hours tomorrow.

I'm thinking someone needs to plan another NorCal Laid Back style ride out of Vacaville or somewhere roughly equidistant between Sac and SFO.

spingineer

Great pics, as always. Maybe there is a good reason why they call it devils slide?

gpelpel

Two of your photos are really great; the 3rd one from the top and the foggy forest.

taxi777

That was my Sh**ty camera...Monday I get my Samsung back I could of used that and some company today but the weather sucked.

gpelpel

Not good for cycling but often makes for some more dramatic pictures.

SesameCrunch

For your info, Tim's personal best on the "Hindenburg" in the Pizza Century was 3:37. 100 miles. No joke. He was a RAAM rider too.

Sorry I couldn't go up Tunitas with you today....

taxi777

x136 

No it wasn't. A bit windy, but otherwise not bad at all.

That'd be nice. I might even make it to one!

Call it ****ty all you want, I think it's fascinating.

WTF? Inconceivable!

taxi777

Long story short...On Alan's ride I had a medication malfunction and fell asleep in a bus shelter
I had one eye open and I saw Tim's Hindenburg fly by! Oh the humanity! I got up staggered to my bike and before one pedal stroke He was gone over the rise as if he was in a rocket sled!

ricebowl

Dang, Devil's slide? You're a brave guy, I get the willies just thinking of it.

SaiKaiTai

Yeah, that ride up does test your nerve... it's an are where I try to be mindful but unaware of he cars.
I don't think it's beneficial to dwell on them too much. Just ride on faith alone.
Its worked for me so far.
One time, I did go all the way to HMB... I don't know if I'd want to ride Hwy 1 back up the Slide.

pacificaslim

Thanks for sharing your ride and those amazing photos. When people ask me why I live in Pacifica, I should show them those pictures!

May I ask which way you went down? Most people seem to go up skyline all the way, pass the onramp cars would take on to hwy 1 (no bikes allowed on this section), continue on skyline and then go down into Pacifica via Manor or Sharp Park. But there is a third option that I think is better. When you get to Westmoor, the last stop light on Skyline Blvd. (35) in Daly City, the intersection where the KFC and Kragen are, turn right. Make an immediate left on to Skyline Dr. and work your way through the residential area to the coast. You can follow Skyline Dr. until it dead-ends facing the ocean, turn left on Westline, which quickly turns in to Palmetto which takes you all along the coast through Pacifica. No worries with cars by taking this route down into Pacifica, and you spend more time right along the coast.

Rumor has it that when the tunnel is done, the existing hwy will be turned over to bike/foot traffic (until it falls into the sea I suppose). But for now, it's crazy and you are braver than I for doing it solo! A large group would bring some safety, as would a trail car (if you guys organize another ride, I'd be happy to grab my car and play that role and then hop on the bike once we get to Montara and do some of the ride and then head back on the coast to get my car).

There is another way from Pacifica to Montara for those on cyclocross or mountain bikes - it's the old San Pedro Rd. Something like this: https://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united...a/473029443696

I'm planning on doing that ride tomorrow in fact, weather permitting.

taxi777

Thanks for the info;
I went down Sharp Park BTW

You guys live in one of the nicest locations in California.

SesameCrunch

Pete:

How did Tim do on Tunitas with the recumbent? Was he staying with you? If so... that's pretty dang good for a 'bent.

taxi777

I was about half speed, but we were having a nice conversation, so I didn't want to go blasting off on him. He was at his threshold so I wanted to keep in conversation range. I had trouble keeping up on the downhill with him!

SaiKaiTai

Yep. And why I've never lived anywhere else for 54 of my 56 years.


Heh heh heh... who says? Seems everytime I ride up Skyline back home, I have my head down... guess I just just miss seeing that sign. Rode down Hwy 1 just yesterday, in fact. If Pacifica's Finest have nothing better to do than to pull a cyclist over and tag, well, more power to them...

That's the plan but, from what I hear from CalTrans, they aren't doing anything with the approach coming up out of Pedro Point. So, once you get past the Sun Valley trestle, great... up to that point, though, you're still sharing a very narrow road with the cars. A missed opportunity.