Peninsula Coast ride this weekend?

My roommate Amie and I are planning on doing the ride from Palo Alto, over the mountains to the coast and back this weekend for anyone who is interested in joining us.
Basically we will be doing this route: http://www.paloaltobicycles.com/Flas...coast_loop.swf
(if you can't view that link try this one: http://www.paloaltobicycles.com/ride4.html
except instead of leaving from down town Palo Alto, we will leave from Stanford University (there is a lot more parking there).

We haven't decided on Saturday or Sunday for the ride yet.... any requests? We have one other friend who has voted for Saturday.

Let me know if you are interested and we will work out details such as time and exact meeting location.
Ellen

That looks great !

Either Saturday or Sunday would be fine with me, but I'm leaning towards Saturday.

Sounds fun, but it's pick Em up from camp weekend. :cool:

Don't forget to stop into the San Gregorio General Store for a drink-live music on Sat and Sun. Its my favorite place to hang-out. Dont forget to remove your cleats though-the owner gets upset about that. If you havent done this route just FYI; Highway 84 is very curvy with no shoulders so be aware of that. ts a beautiful ride though! Have fun and pls post how :D your ride went.

It scares me when Jobob says it looks great :eek: :eek:

Any idea what the elevation is like? I saw Old La Honda on there and I've heard some tales about that climb. I'm not sure how much punishment I can sign up for, but I am curious...

Foothillgirl, I think we're going up and over Old La Honda and joining 84 where it intersects OLH on the west side, so from there to San Gregorio 84 is fairly straight with reasonably good shoulders. For the most part. :D

I love the San Gregorio store, it's such a hoot! :)

I also like Pescadero, incredible croissants at the bakery/general store out there. But our route won't be taking us out that way (unless I can twist some arms ...)

Here's the profile from my Bikemaster program: (larger version here)

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...profile-sm.jpg

According to Bikemaster, it's about 48 miles starting from near Stanford, with about 4700 ft of climbing

Hey Z-
Old La Honda really isn't that bad.... I just gear down and go VERRRRY slow :rolleyes:

I haven't done Tunitas Creek on the way back, but again, I am planning SLOOOOWWW.

Come on... join us, I haven't seen the fancy new bike,and you have all those nice low climbing gears (our friend who may be joining us is riding a standard double :eek: and is able to make it up Old La Honda). Do you have a Sat or SUnday preference? Right now it is looking like Sat is winning....

What time would people like? It gets warm in the valley here, but everything we will be riding will be nice and shaded, Old La Honda never gets too hot. The coast will likely be fogged in for at least the morning, but might clear by noon time. Meet at Stanford at either 9 or 10? What do people want?

E.

Well, I am cogitating on it! If I felt I could manage it, Saturday would be my preference (which, as it happens, will be my birthday - a long hard ride provides lots of time to contemplate my ever-aging body! :p )

I'm hesitating primarily because, climbing gears notwithstanding, the "1 mile : 100 ft climbing" ratio is tough for me (e.g. 48 miles, 4800 ft of climbing is twice :eek: the Pinehurst loop, which about killed me a couple of weeks ago), and I still have this very unpleasant tailbone pain to contend with... :(

Hmm - I will think on it and post back later today or tomorrow.

Hi E -

Either 9 or 10 am would be fine with me.

I hope you don't mind, but I might take a segway off the route after we pass thru the town of La Honda and take a left off of 84 onto Pescadero Road, then head north on Stage Rd and rejoin your route at 84 & Stage in San Gregorio.

I have a 200K next weekend (gahhhhh) and I really should get some more climbing miles in this weekend.

No problem Jo, in fact, you will probably still catch up with us at some point as I will be going SLOOOOW :rolleyes:

OK, so here is the plan at this point:
Saturday morning, meet ~10 am (my roommate's request). We will meet at the top of the oval on Stanford's campus.

Directions:
From East Bay (crossing Dumbarton Bridge):
after crossing the bridge, turn Left onto University Ave (first stop lights after bridge). Take University Ave through East Palo Alto, across 101 and through Palo Alto. University becomes Palm Drive when it gets onto Stanford's campus. Take Palm Drive all the way to where it loops back on itself (this is the oval) right in front of the quad. There is parking all around here, and it will be free on the weekend.

If you are coming on 101 take the University Ave exit and head West to Palo Alto and Stanford Univ. The rest is the same as above after crossing 101.

If you type Stanford, CA into google maps it will put you at the bottom part of the oval, we will meet at the top.

Let me know if you have any questions. I will bring some route maps on Saturday, mostly for getting people back onto campus and to their cars if we get seperated (though other that Jo taking off to do more crazy climbing I don't expect that we will)

See you on Saturday!
Ellen

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bikerz

Well, I am cogitating on it! If I felt I could manage it, Saturday would be my preference (which, as it happens, will be my birthday - a long hard ride provides lots of time to contemplate my ever-aging body! :p )

I'm hesitating primarily because, climbing gears notwithstanding, the "1 mile : 100 ft climbing" ratio is tough for me (e.g. 48 miles, 4800 ft of climbing is twice :eek: the Pinehurst loop, which about killed me a couple of weeks ago), and I still have this very unpleasant tailbone pain to contend with... :(

Hmm - I will think on it and post back later today or tomorrow.

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Ahem. Um, Ms. B-day Girl, are you forgetting that we have to be in El Cerrito at 6pm? Cleaned up and ready for action? :eek:

Our past track record for getting done with rides and showing up on time to the next event is ... er, less than stellar. But as the mutual funds folks say "past performance does not predict future performance." Therefore, I'll consult a more reliable source to see if we can do this ride and still be on time to your party....

Uh oh, here's what my Magic 8 Ball has to say: Very doubtful.

Here, let me try it again: Outlook not so good.

Well wait a second, let give it another go: My sources say no.

OK, who needs a Magic 8 Ball -- it's a silly kid's toy. Let's use our superior logic and reasoning abilities.

1. It's a 48 mile ride, somewhat hilly. Let's say that we average 10.6 mph (avg. for Pinehurst) during the ride, so that's 4.5 hours of riding. Even more if we get a flat. (But that never happens to us. ;) )
2. The ride is scheduled to leave at 10am. But it's a TE ride, so let's say that it leaves at 10:30am. (I mean this in the nicest way -- it's just that I need to include it in my calculations.)
3. Let's say that we stop during the ride for about an hour. (I really think we'll stop for longer. I mean, come on -- we can't skip lunch!)

OK, so we leave at 10:30, ride for 5 hours, have 1 hour of stops...well, that puts us back at Stanford at 4:00ish. That gives us an hour and a half to load up the bikes, drive back to Oakland, clean up and change and get out of the house at 5:30. Driving time from Stanford to Oakland probably = 45min - 1hr.

Hmmmm, nope, probably not gonna make it to the party by 6pm.

Not only that, but do you really want to precede a night of wine tasting/celebration with a hard day of contending with tailbone pain and contemplating your ever-aging body?

Sorry to be a wet blanket.

The voice of reason... Well - maybe we'll do Pinehurts (um, I mean Pinehurst) again. :rolleyes:

Ellen, I know you guys will have a grand time - that ride is one I'd love to do, time and tail-bone permitting! When do you have to go to Houston? Will you be doing this ride again before then, do you think?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jobob

I hope you don't mind, but I might take a segway off the route after we pass thru the town of La Honda and take a left off of 84 onto Pescadero Road, then head north on Stage Rd and rejoin your route at 84 & Stage in San Gregorio.

I have a 200K next weekend (gahhhhh) and I really should get some more climbing miles in this weekend.

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Jobob - all I can say is :eek: :eek: :eek: You are like a superhero to me!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bikerz

The voice of reason... Well - maybe we'll do Pinehurts (um, I mean Pinehurst) again. :rolleyes:

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But, but, but... Do you really want to precede a night of wine tasting/celebration with a hard day of contending with tailbone pain and contemplating your ever-aging body?

-- The Voice of Reason

gee whiz Voice of Reason, where are you when I need you? :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jobob

gee whiz Voice of Reason, where are you when I need you? :p

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That's a good question. My question is: how come you get to be the Superhero and I'm just the boring old Voice of Reason? :p

uhhhh ...

- jobob, wondering how to gracefully extracate herself from this. :eek:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bikerz

Ellen, I know you guys will have a grand time - that ride is one I'd love to do, time and tail-bone permitting! When do you have to go to Houston? Will you be doing this ride again before then, do you think?

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Hey Z-
No problem... have a wonderful birthday! I leave CA on Sept 11 to travel and move(South America first, drive to Houston, and then to France) ....maybe we can try to do a TE farewell ride at the end of Aug. or very early Sept. We can talk about this up at the Holstein... you are going to be there right??

E.