Santa Cruz to Los Gatos??
05-17-13, 05:23 PM
#1
de oranje
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Santa Cruz to Los Gatos??
So Cal dude poking my nose in here. Any suggestions on routes to get from SC to LG? Thank you people.
05-17-13, 06:07 PM
#2
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Lots of ways.
The fastest is up San Jose-Soquel road, north on Summit then down San Jose-Soquel on the other side. When you get to the Bear Creek overpass on 17, ride the shoulder of 17 to Alma Bridge road. Its less than 1/4 mile and reasonably safe. Cross the dam and go down the bike path. It turns to gravel and there is one short steep section that you may or may not wish to ride down, but the rest is easily rideable on a racing bike. It crossed under Main st in Los Gatos.
More interesting is to go up Mountain Charlie to summit. You can either go south on summit to San Jose-Soquel or north and go down Black rd. That ends up at the Bear Creek overpass.
Or if you keep going north you can get to highway 9 which will take you down to Saratoga.
You could also just take 9 all the way. Not the most fun due to traffic and lack of shoulder. Once you get a ways past Boulder Creek there's some shoulder and less traffic but the part in the San Lorenzo valley kind of sucks.
All options have significant climbing, the first has the least of the options.
The fastest is up San Jose-Soquel road, north on Summit then down San Jose-Soquel on the other side. When you get to the Bear Creek overpass on 17, ride the shoulder of 17 to Alma Bridge road. Its less than 1/4 mile and reasonably safe. Cross the dam and go down the bike path. It turns to gravel and there is one short steep section that you may or may not wish to ride down, but the rest is easily rideable on a racing bike. It crossed under Main st in Los Gatos.
More interesting is to go up Mountain Charlie to summit. You can either go south on summit to San Jose-Soquel or north and go down Black rd. That ends up at the Bear Creek overpass.
Or if you keep going north you can get to highway 9 which will take you down to Saratoga.
You could also just take 9 all the way. Not the most fun due to traffic and lack of shoulder. Once you get a ways past Boulder Creek there's some shoulder and less traffic but the part in the San Lorenzo valley kind of sucks.
All options have significant climbing, the first has the least of the options.
05-17-13, 09:08 PM
#5
always rides with luggage
I did that way (as part of my Sunnyvale-Capitola epic) once. Awesome.
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--Ben
2006 Trek SU100, 2009 Motobecane Fantom CX, 2011 Motobecane Fantom Cross Uno, and a Bakfiets
Previously: 2000 Trek 4500 (2000-2003), 2003 Novara Randonee (2003-2006), 2003 Giant Rainier (2003-2008), 2005 Xootr Swift (2005-2007), 2007 Nashbar 1x9 (2007-2011), 2011 Windsor Shetland (2011-2014), 2008 Citizen Folder (2015)
Non-Bike hardware: MX Linux / BunsenLabs Linux / Raspbian / Mac OS 10.6 / Android 7
05-18-13, 07:05 PM
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Soquel-San Jose would fastest from nearer to Capitola or Soquel. From Santa Cruz, going up Glen Canyon to Scotts Valley Drive, Glenwood, and Mountain Charlie to Old Santa Cruz Highway would be two to two and half miles shorter. Another alternative would be Highway 9 or Graham Hill to Felton, then up Zayante and down Bear Creek to Highway 17, which is about a half mile longer than the Mountain Charlie option.
05-19-13, 07:57 AM
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Both mountain charlie and zayante are much steeper than Soquel-san jose and climb higher. That is why I think Soquel-san jose is faster even if it is slightly longer. But I like Zayante and Mountain Charlie more, both because of the climbing and the lack of traffic.
I try to avoid the east side of bear creek. Too much traffic going way too fast. We call it Bear Creek International Raceway. I'd never ride up it (use Black instead) and even riding down it is not that pleasant.... you'll get a 4x4 riding your ass.
I try to avoid the east side of bear creek. Too much traffic going way too fast. We call it Bear Creek International Raceway. I'd never ride up it (use Black instead) and even riding down it is not that pleasant.... you'll get a 4x4 riding your ass.
