22 November 2006

View from Valencia School Rd summit Since I had the day off, I decided to try to climb Eureka Canyon in under 45 minutes. My previous best was 51-52 minutes, but I had stopped for about 5 minutes during the climb to loan my pump to a woman with a flat. I also decided to take Valencia School Rd, as I had only ridden it once before, over a year ago, and it was on the way to Corralitos. It was a cool and cloudy day, without any wind. I felt pretty strong throughout the ride.

Since I got up late, I got started pretty late, at 10:30. That might have contributed to feeling pretty strong today. There was a lot of traffic on Soquel, which, being a weekday, was much more than I was accustomed to, as I usually only ride on Soquel in the mornings on weekends. The traffic was exacerbated by road work that closed the right lane and the last half block of the bike lane, before it disappeared anyhow after Morrissey. Then, on the descent to Capitola Rd, I held up because a skateboarder was in the middle of the right lane, and I knew that skateboarders make erratic lateral movements. After he made an erratic zag to the right, I went by him. Between downtown Soquel and Park Ave, there was a pickup truck with horrible exhaust pipes the went up behind the cabin like those on semis, and it spewed heavy, smoky air pollution that was vile. At Aptos, I was glad to make the left turn onto Trout Gulch, getting away from the traffic.

Usually, I'd bear right at Valencia. This time, I went left to stay on Trout Gulch, and, a ways later, I took the right onto Valencia School Rd, a rough one-lane road that had some short, steep climbs. The tree lined scenery reminded me of Bean Creek Rd, but the short, steep, windy, one-lane climbs reminded me of Rodeo Gulch. At the summit, by the intersection with Fern Flat, I stopped to take a picture. The descent back to Valencia reminded me of the one-lane parts of lower Mtn Charlie. I took the usual Day Valley and Hames to Corralitos. The climbs felt easier than I remembered from earlier.


View from Highland Way It was 11:52 when I checked the time at Corralitos. The signs saying the road was closed in 10 miles was still there. After the Venture Valley sign by Tindall Ranch Rd, I started going a little harder, as I was feeling pretty strong. I continued riding harder than usual all the way to the top. I suspected a slight tailwind at the time, but, on the other hand, I didn't feel like I was riding into a headwind later on the descent down Soquel-San Jose. When I made it to the end of Eureka Canyon, it was 12:35, so I did it in under 45 minutes. The ensuing descent down Highland was cold, but not really chilling, under the tree cover. A little before the place where the slide had closed the road last spring, I stopped to take a picture.

I stopped at the Summit Market for a lemonade and a break. Unlike just about every other time I stopped there, which, admittedly, were during weekends, there were no other cyclists. In fact, I had seen very few cyclists up to this point. There were the usual commuters heading up to UCSC and a scattering of transportational cyclists in town. There was also a trio on hybrids, one of them walking, climbing Day Valley. There was also a handful of mountain bikers on Highland Way.

After finishing the lemonade and half a bar, I headed down Soquel-San Jose. I couldn't help thinking that this is the easiest descent ever. I just shift to the big ring and pedal without touching the brakes until the Laurel Glen intersection, where I headed over to Branciforte.

Since it had been months since the last time I had climbed Glen Canyon, I decided to turn there, and head to Scotts Valley, and, from there, to Felton. As I was clucking as some of the chickens on the right, a descending cyclist passed by, waving. Glen Canyon is a very familiar climb to me, even though I hadn't ridden it very often since 2003, as it was part of my daily commute from 1999 to 2003, so I must have climbed and descended it close to a thousand times. When I got to Mt Hermon Rd, it was back to heavy traffic, but not more than usual, and I headed down to Felton.

I also wanted to someday climb Felton-Empire in under 30 minutes, but I didn't think I would do it today, so I didn't really try or keep track of the time. Just before the final steep pitch before the spot where the mountains shift from being on the left to being on the right, a descending cyclist zipped by, and we exchanged waves. I was still feeling pretty strong, so I started riding harder at the upper part of the climb where there weren't any steep parts. I didn't know what my time was at the time, but I had a new personal best of under 32 minutes.

There were a few more cyclists climbing Empire Grade. There was one on a road bike zooming down to the local minimum at the Smith Grade intersection. There were a number on mountain bikes after the Chinquapin trail intersection.

As I approached the final descent marked by the 8-14% grade sign, a pickup with a horse trailer was gaining on me from behind, so I pushed harder on the descent and left it behind on the turns. It caught back up to me near the top of the following short climb, and passed me when the bike lane appeared by the UCSC west entrance. I think I made a new personal best on that descent, even though I braked more than usual going into the turns.