25 November 2006

Palo Alto to the Sea and Back

The club ride was to start at 9 from the Page Mill Park and Ride in Palo Alto, so I started early using the same route to get there that I used last week.


Lights in Boulder Creek It was so dark and cold on Hwy 9 that I decided that I wouldn't start riding until after sunrise in the future. I was blinded by the headlights of cars, and, in the early going, I was going at a slower pace than last week. At Felton, the big tree on the left had lights on it, so I took a picture of it, but it was too dark for the picture to be even passable. It finally lightened up by the time I reached Glen Arbor, but the sky was still fogged over. There were also lights at Boulder Creek, so I took a picture there too.

Up to Boulder Creek, I was about 10 minutes slower than my usual pace. Continuing up Hwy 9, though, I set a new personal best to the top by a minute or two. Right around the upper Hwy 236 intersection, direct sunlight finally started trickling through the trees. Heading down Hwy 9 towards Saratoga, there was much less traffic than last week. I only saw one cyclist, between Sanborn and Redwood Gulch, climbing Hwy 9. I turned off at Pierce, and took Mt Eden and Stevens Canyon to Foothill. On Foothill, there were lots of cyclists. There was one big group in red jerseys headed the opposite direction. Perhaps they were with Stanford, in which case the red would be cardinal. I turned left at Arastradero and headed for the Page Mill Park and Ride.

I arrived just as the group was getting ready to go at about 9:06. I signed in and got a route sheet, and would be the eighth person in the group. I was happy to follow at a leisurely pace as everyone else was getting warmed up on the early part of Page Mill. We stopped at the Palo Alto Foothills Park for a regroup, and I refilled my bottle. Above Moody, the group split apart, but we regrouped at the top. From there, the route sheet had us going down Alpine, then Pescadero to Hwy 84, but the ride leader took us along Skyline, with its panoramic views of the bay, to Old La Honda. The sky was clear and cloudless up in the mountains. The stop lights for road work that were there the last time I rode this leg were no longer there. After regrouping at the Old La Honda intersection, we headed down to La Honda, where we stopped at the store to get sandwiches, since there wasn't much in terms of food in San Gregorio. The frog croaking sensor by the door was still operating. Ribbet ribbet.


San Gregorio General Store From La Honda, we continued down Hwy 84 to San Gregorio. The latter half was into a headwind from the coast. We ate lunch outside the San Gregorio General Store, and I took a picture. The route would continue up Stage to Hwy 1, then up Tunitas Creek and down Kings Mountain before returning to the Page Mill Park and Ride. I and another guy, who had gotten a ride to the start, would continue on Hwy 84, then take Hwy 1 back to Santa Cruz.

Along the coast, it was cold and sunny. There were scattered clouds, getting denser over the ocean. On the descent to Scott Creek, I would only manage to get up to 46 mph. My riding partner stopped at Davenport, so I continued by myself. Just after the entrance to Wilder, the tailwind shifted to a headwind, so I struggled the rest of the way into Santa Cruz. I had planned to head up Western, but it was closed for road work, so I continued to Bay.