Saturday, May 29th, 2010

Road: An Afternoon Spin

It’s a gorgeous Saturday. The morning has passed quietly while we were just relaxing around the house. Feeling the need to get out though. It’s almost 1 o’clock. What’s Erik suggesting? A ride out to Pescadero. Sounds good to me.

Here we are, in Pescadero. What’s that big intersection we passed before we came into town? Cloverdale Rd. That’s right! Tour of California went that way. Maybe we should check it out.

Cloverdale Rd is a beautiful rolling path, and suddenly we are on Hwy 1 looking at the ocean. You know, I don’t think Bonny Doon is very far from here. Wanna check out that climb? Then we can turn around and go back home.

Wow, Bonny Doon is a long climb. There is never a pitch that’s really exciting (steep), and even the scenary along the road does not stand out (not like Sierra Rd or W. Alpine Rd). I wonder what the hype is about this climb.

This ride is starting to sound like a bad idea for taking these new riding shoes, cheapo shoes for that matter, out for the first time. Hot spots all over my feet. Oh, pain… But Erik says pain is all just part of the fun. Didn’t I drop him on Bonny Doon? Pffft! Good that there is wine tasting at the Bonny Doon/Pine Flat intersection. The wait was not bad at all.

Oh, now we hit Empire Grade Rd, and I have 40+ miles on my GPS. Hmmm… turn around or a loop? Well, a loop is always preferred over out&back.

Dang, this Hwy 9 does not seem to have an end. It just keeps going and going. I swear someone has moved that stop sign (@Hwy 35) on us!

Whee, the descent on W. Alpine makes me smile. I’m hungry, thirsty, and tired, but home is not far.

87.7 miles and 8000’+ feet later, I’m back home from our afternoon spin. Next time when Erik says let’s go for a short spin, I know what I should prepare myself for.

Oh, by the way, in case it’s not obvious, it was a helluva fun ride!

Update: Here is Erik’s ride report

2 Responses

  1. # Patrick Herlihyon 02 Jun 2010 at 2:48 pm

    Bonny Doon is a tough climb because of where it comes in a typical ride, not so much for its grade (although it’s not “easy”). For ToC it comes right on the 100 mile mark. Riding from Redwood Shores, it comes about about mile 55, after already climbing up OLH & Haskins (for me) so I’m in need of food!

    Cloverdale and Gazos Creek are really nice to ride, aren’t they! Both times I’ve been down there I’ve had a good tailwind.

    This must be the great part of living on the other side of the Santa Cruz mountains from the bay – I couldn’t just go wondering around there without a plan to get back… awesome!

  2. # mudwormon 02 Jun 2010 at 5:59 pm

    But the pros after 100 miles and you after 55 miles are just like me after mile 0! I guess you can make anything, hill or flat, hard if you go hard at it. Mainly, I was a little disappointed that nothing stands out on this climb for me. I had other expectations for it I guess. On this ride, we also checked out Wurr Rd after Haskins. One of these days, we want to check out as many side detours as possible. For example, Swanton off of Hwy 1.