14 October 2006

Eat and ride day - Progressive dinner

The ride was to start by meeting on Highland for coffee and pastries at 9, so I got my bike out about ten minutes before that. I decided to try using a camera phone for adding pictures here, so I took a picture of my bike. The easy route and the food succeeded in attracting a lot more riders than usual, despite the chilly, overcast weather. There were even four tandems.

We headed out back to High, then down Western to the bike path along Wilder. After an out and back, we headed down through Natural Bridges, along West Cliff, by the Beach Boardwalk, and over the trestle bridge where I took another picture.

We went around the yacht harbor and out on Brommer and stopped at Sorrento Oaks Park for snacks and appetizers. I took a picture of all the bikes there.

We headed out along Brommer to Capitola, down Cliff, up Monterey, and along Park. We passed by New Brighton, taking McGregor and State Park and Soquel to Huntington. I had never before ridden Huntington, a nice quiet road with a few ups and downs leading to Valencia.

A short leg along Valencia led to the well-worn Day Valley to Freedom. We headed down Freedom, briefly on Corralitos, Varni and Amesti to lunch on Corona Ct. There was salmon and various salads for lunch. I took a picture before leaving after lunch.

The long route option, which I was riding, had most of its climbing, such as it was, after lunch. I headed out in a small group along Amesti and Pioneer. On the rollers of Pioneer, I got ahead of all of them except one guy. I gradually gained on him on Green Valley, and continued on when he stopped at the Hazel Dell intersection. I headed off on my own up Hazel Dell and down Browns Valley to Corralitos, up and down Hames, along Freedom and Soquel. I saw the four tandems between Aptos and Capitola.

From Capitola, I took East Cliff, went around the yacht harbor, and took the river paths through Santa Cruz, up Potrero to High St, then up the steep end of Highland. I took a picture at the hairpin in the middle of the climb. At the end of the ride, there was dessert. The apple pie and apple cobbler were quickly finished.

Since it was still chilly, I headed home soon afterwards. But, before leaving, I took a picture of three of the tandems.

7 October 2006

I headed out solo to climb Page Mill for the first time. Since the Stanford campus was right by there, and since I hadn't been on the campus since I was born there, I decided to ride the campus loop, but ended up only riding half of it because I didn't really know the area.

I started up Hwy 9 to Felton, then up Zayante, Summit, Bear Creek, Skyline, down Hwy 9, Pierce, Mt Eden, Stevens Canyon, Foothill and through the Stanford campus. I then headed up Page Mill, Skyline, down Hwy 9, Hwy 236 to Big Basin. I returned home via Jamison Creek and Empire Grade.

This was the twelfth time I climbed Jamison Creek this year, and, despite having ridden about 95 miles and 7 and a half hours to get to it, climbed it in just over 32 minutes, which is about 3 minutes off my personal best.

1 October 2006

Surf City Century

Because of the cloudiness, I didn't wake up until 7, so I took a quick shower and had a skimpy breakfast and was on my bike at around 7:30. I rode to Cabrillo College to do the Surf City Century. I got started just after 8. The 100 mile route went to Corralitos, Gizdich Ranch, Aromas, San Juan Bautista for the lunch stop, Salinas, Castroville, Elkhorn, then back to Cabrillo for dinner. Afterwards, I rode back home. It rained a little around Castroville, and the roads were wet for the rest of the ride.

Since I had memorized the route from the web site, instead of taking Murphy Crossing, San Juan Highway, and Aromas Road to Aromas, I took Highway 129 and Rogge to Aromas, which had about the same distance, less climbing, but was narrower with fast traffic, including RVs and the like. Had I read the route sheet, I would have followed it, as it was the better option.