First solo century route in South Bay?
 

Just did my first metric last week, running up Foothill from San Jose, looping around Alpine/Sand Hill, back down Foothill, around Steven's Creek Reservoir, and back up De Anza. Nice ride, and not as tough as I'd thought.

Now I'm looking to do an imperial. Any recommendations for relatively easy routes, preferably mostly rural or at least stoplight-free? I've been searching Bikely and MapMyRide, but I'm not familiar enough with the area to separate the decent routes from the chaff.

The Tierra Bella Century is in April, starting in Gilroy. That's one of the easier century rides in the south bay area with only 1 or 2 climbs. If you want to do it solo, you should be able to find an old route sheet on the internet.

If you're willing to drive to the starting point, I'd suggest going from Santa Cruz to Half Moon Bay and back. There is no easier route to navigate - Go north on Hwy 1 for 50 miles, turn around. You'll see 3 stoplights on the whole route. Wide shoulder and unbeatable scenery all the way. There's about 4,200 ft of climbing, so it's pretty easy. If you start from Santa Cruz, you'll have the wind at your back, pushing you home. It'll be the easiest century you can find around the Bay Area.

Both good ideas -- I might actually sign up for the Tierra Bella after looking at the website. It wouldn't hurt me to be less of an antisocial ******* every now and again.

As for the coastal route, I'm intrigued, especially by the scenery. But how bad is that wind on any given day? I went out for what I thought would be a 20-mile sprint this afternoon (locally, in San Jose and Santa Clara) and it turned into a brutal slog. Thirty-mile-an-hour winds are no fun.

Coastal winds vary. Sometimes they are light, sometimes not so light. 30mph winds are very rare. There is also an inland route parallel to Highway 1 (Stage Road, etc.) that reduces the wind somewhat, but it does add some small hills.

The winds in the last couple of days (today included) were exceptional; I'm sure it's been windy all through the Bay Area. Normally, in the Spring, winds are lighter - say 10mph or less, and more varied in direction. In the Summer, the winds come up in the afternoon and they're stronger, like in the 15-20mph range, and more consistently from the South.

Hence my suggestion of starting in Santa Cruz. You'll ride north in the morning when the headwinds are low. Then when you turnaround, the wind will push you all the way back. Nothin' like 50 miles of downwind riding - what a thrill!!!

I wouldn't say it's one of the easier centuries as the climb up Heny Coe isn't that easy.

Tierra Bella is the easiest 100 mile organized century in Santa Clara County, at least that I can think of.