27 June 2009

Saturday harbor ride

There was light fog that was burning off early in the morning. On the way to the harbor, I got a number of green lights that normally would be red. The fog soon cleared up, and it was a nice day, not too cool, not too warm.

The pack went relatively slowly on San Andreas. I would find myself at the back, then move up on the outside left without too much effort, then get back in line, and then see riders coming by on on the left and I'd be at the back again.

A small contingent headed south from Watsonville, maybe a quarter of the pack or less. On 152, only 2 or 3 turned off at Holohan. However, about half of the remaining pack turned off at Casserly and Mt Madonna. There weren't any super strong attacks on Mt Madonna. There were 2 riders with somewhat of a lead, and I stayed with 2 others. On the first part of Hazel Dell, the 3 of us made up some ground on the 2 ahead. On the Hazel Dell climb, 2 riders went ahead. I stayed with 2 others. I sat behind them on the descent to Corralitos.

I continued up Hames solo, then joined another rider down Hames, Day Valley, Valencia, Trout Gulch, and part of Soquel. There was a tailwind on Hames, but on Soquel, it became a slight headwind. From Soquel, I headed home solo.

20 June 2009

Pescadero, Tunitas, and Sky Londa

It was cool and overcast when I started out. There was a decent headwind heading up Hwy 1. The green wind sock near Waddell had been shredded, but the remaining tatters stood straight out, indicating a pretty strong headwind. I got some relief from the wind on Gazos Creek, and the wind was not quite as strong on Cloverdale. I saw a bobcat or a fox on the side of the road on Gazos Creek, but it disappeared into the vegetation before I got near it.

At Pescadero, I got signed in and started off, taking North St to Pescadero Rd, then backtracking on Cloverdale and Gazos Creek. Then, it was north on Hwy 1, into the wind again. I took the lead and pulled. At one point, a guy on a big yellow bike (Jobst Brandt?) headed the opposite direction pointed downwind and said "That way." as we passed by. At Bean Hollow, we turned right. The wind lessened considerably. At Pescadero Rd, I turned right and headed back to Pescadero, where I found that I was alone, so I headed up Stage to San Gregorio. I later found out that the route headed left on Pescadero Rd to Hwy 1 north to Hwy 84 to San Gregorio.

From San Gregorio, I headed up Stage to Hwy 1 down and then up Tunitas Creek. I stopped briefly at the Bike Hut for a snack, then continued up. The road had been resurfaced and looked like it wouldn't be a totally horrible descent like it was before. And there were a few riders descending. I turned right at Star Hill. At Swett, I headed up the initial steep rise and into the fog. Skyline into Sky Londa was cold, damp, foggy, and windy. And drops of water fell from the trees at times. It got slightly sunnier and warmer as I rolled into Sky Londa.

I joined a couple of riders who skipped the Cloverdale-Gazos Creek loop at the start of the ride from Pescadero at Alice's Restaurant. It got cloudy again, and, from time to time, there were cold gusts of wind outside, so we moved to a table inside. I got hot tea and a sandwich. We joined up with another couple of riders that skipped the Cloverdale-Gazos Creek loop that I had passed on the Tunitas Creek climb. After an hour, nobody else from the ride showed up. I wonder what held them up.

The route would then head down Old La Honda and Hwy 84 to San Gregorio, then south on Stage back to Pescadero. I took Skyline all the way to Hwy 9. It was around 1:30 when I continued, so I figured I'd be home around 4:30 to 5, since I was feeling pretty tired with all the wind. It was windy and cold most of the time. At times, the sun came out and it was warmer. A lot of the time, it was foggy, with the fog streaming from right to left.

I finally got to Hwy 9. The hot dog stand was back in business there. For the summer, at least, I guess. I headed down 9. At first, it was cold and into a headwind. At one point, I saw the guy on the big yellow bike from Hwy 1 headed up (back to Palo Alto?). After the 236 intersection, it started warming up, and it was sunny by the time I got to Boulder Creek, and remained sunny all the way back to Santa Cruz. I got home before 4:15.

13 June 2009

Alba

I wanted a quick ride, so I headed up Hwy 9. It was mostly sunny, but the road was wet in the shade, and drying in the sun. There was a slight tailwind on the way out. There was heavy traffic to UCSC.

I started up Alba at 12:18. As it was mostly in the shade, the road was mostly wet. It was 12:51 as I got to the top. The descent was damp and slightly cold in the wind after sweating on the climb. It was warmer in the sun after Felton-Empire.

6 June 2009

Big Basin

It was partly sunny and not as warm as I had hoped. I headed up Hwy 9 to Boulder Creek. There was a dead skunk that stunk up Hwy 9 on the way to Felton. I took the Glen Arbor detour, since I had plenty of time. I signed in at Boulder Creek. It was the standard Big Basin route.

The route went up Park and Hwy 236. A slide had taken out a chunk of the right lane at one spot on Hwy 236, and there was a stop light regulating traffic through the remaining one lane. Then it was up Lodge Rd to the Big Basin Park Headquarters. From there, it was up Escape and around numerous gates closing the road, then Hwy 236 and up Hwy 9.

At Saratoga Gap, there were Santa Cruz mountain bikes being demonstrated. Unfortunately, there was no hot dog stand. After a break, it was up Skyline and down Bear Creek back to Boulder Creek.

From there, I headed back out Hwy 236 solo. I started up Jamison Creek at 1:43. The 1.33 sign still had the skunk tail and the investigate 9/11 sticker on it. It also had a Specialized sticker on it. I got to the top at 2:09 and headed back home on Empire Grade.

At the Bonny Doon airstrip, there was a sign saying there was an event, and there were a bunch of cars parked there. I didn't look to see what it was.