"Planet of the apes" scouting

Saturday July 18th. Not technically a commute, but this ride passes as scouting for a future epic commute. Rode from home south to the Chris Hipp memorial ride at 92&Cañada, and then rolled back north with the group. On Sawyer Camp trail my road bike's rear derailleur cable snapped so I single-speeded it home. Quickly swapped over to the cross bike and hoped to catch up to the group by "cutting through" Sweeney Ridge. I never saw them again, and mountain bikers on Pedro Mountain Rd told me I was about 20 mins back from the "large group of road bikers". After passing tons of stuck traffic on Hwy 1, climbed Higgins Purisima Rd into the park, taking the Purisima Creek trail all the way to Skyline. Had a nice lunch at the Woodside cafe, then rode the dirt trail along Cañada for the portion where there aren't any "no bikes" signs, before heading back to the road where eventually Timmay, Julie, and Paule came up from behind cutting through the headwind at the end of their roadie ride. Great day.

Terrain verdict:

- Baquiano trail has a very steep descent close to Fassler Ave. I'm not sure that road tires will be able to get enough traction to slow down. I wonder if descending Mori Ridge trail from Sweeney Ridge is better. Even if it is, crossing Hwy 1 at the Shelldance Orchid gardens could be annoying, making Sharp Park the best bet.

- San Pedro Mountain road, a shell of its former glory, is ridable on road wheels. Sure there's potholes, some singletrack, and dirt, but nothing too terrible and the grade of the climb and descent isn't that bad.

- Purisima Creek Trail was a hot, tough climb at a steady grade. Doable on a road bike with low gearing and a strong will.

iPhone's battery cut out near the end. Finished the ride by taking Skyline to Larkspur's descent to right on Helen, cutting through Junipero Serra park on the fireroad, and descending Crystal Springs on home.

Pedro Mountain Road:

West Skyline to 2-park cut-through

Thursday July 16th, AM. Hooked onto Skyline via Burlingame Hills and then cut through two parks: Palo Alto Foothills (requires some hiking to enter) and Rancho San Antonio. Rode excellent singletrack from Central Dr off Page Mill to Moody. Only 2 stop lights from the start all the way until Homestead: crossing El Camino and at the 92. The extra hills and dirt only add about 20 minutes to the default Sand Hill/Foothill out of Portola.

Panda on Cañada:

Boronda Lake in PA Foothills park:

Singletrack (Artemas Ginzton Pathway):

East Skyline

Wednesday July 15th, AM. 1st East Bay commute. Took the 5:37 AM Bart from San Bruno to Ashby to begin the ride. Fellow intrepid travelers:

Entire sf2g crew Scott, Mark, Trinh, Faye, and John on Tunnel Rd:

Pinehurst Rd & Redwood Rd regroup:

View from top of the Palomares Rd climb:

Found some dirt along the trail that follows the creek out of Niles Canyon:

To the Dumbarton:

Great ride this morning on mostly car-free east bay roads. The medium pace and breaks were nice for a change, even though I did get to work a bit later than expected. Many more photos & stats (some of which, like the max speed of 60.07 mph are just a wee off...) on the trailguru link. Drained the iPhone's battery so the map cuts off early – continued on to Apple via Stevens Canyon Trail like yesterday.

Bayway dirt exploration

Tuesday July 14th, AM. Tried new dirt for the first time right between Whipple and the "bridge to nowhere". Then right before the bike path along the 84, a large piece of metal ripped the rear tire's sidewall. 1st epic commute flat! Sidewall punctures are the only weakness of the Conti Gatorskin + Mr. Tuffy's setup. Last time I hit a piece of metal it didn't get past Mr. Tuffy's and just pinged the frame on each revolution. Managed to get the tire to hold a new tube at a low pressure. Had been making great time until then, so after the setback took some leisure time to explore dirt by the dumbarton: rode underneath the bridge and tried all the dirt possible. Various cranes hauling dirt stopped my progress a few times (some kind of wetlands restoration project). Grabbed a new gatorskin at Chain Reaction Cycles in Los Altos.

Burlingame hills ala trailguru

Monday July 13th, AM. Same extra-hilly route through Burlingame as recorded last week. The luck with the lights on Foothill was better today so I didn't detour as much on the parallel route. That plus fresh legs and little wind made the trip 5 mins faster than last week. Trailguru did a great high resolution job recording without using much of the iPhone battery, and the detailed stats like elevation profile on the link below are also nice.

33.34 miles, 1:54

Fixie route to Cañada

Friday July 10th, AM. San Mateo's Crystal Springs Rd is the least hilly way from the northern part of the bay to hook onto Cañada Rd. There's still an inevitable incline, but nothing knee-blowing. (San Bruno Ave to the San Andreas trail would be the second best option I think.) Capped the morning with two bike/ped bridges over 280: the one along 92 pictured here and the one by the 85 connecting Mary Ave.

35.6 miles, 1:51

Burlingame hills redux

Thursday July 9th, AM. Same route as yesterday's Burlingame hills, with a little detour to add in a couple hundred more feet of climbing by descending Hillsborough's Pullman/Pinehill/Sandra to climb Robinwood/Denise. Added a mere 5 mins to the commute. This is becoming more like an Egan Ride.

32 miles (from Millbrae/Burlingame border), 1:59

San Bruno mountain home

Wednesday July 8th, PM. Avoided tonight's caltrain trouble with a lift to Colma. Hadn't planned on riding much in my street clothes after this morning's hilly commute, but the weather was too nice to head straight home. iPhone (old) pics:

14 miles, 0:50

Burlingame hills

Wednesday July 8th, AM. Rode one of the hilliest ways possible through Burlingame:

Hillside, Summit, Bella Vista, Macadamia, Skyfarm, Darrell. Barely any auto traffic at 8:30 am! Continued the hill tour with Polhemus, Hallmark, Crestview. Saw deer on Crystal Springs Cross Country Course and later along Junipero Serra (time to cull the herd?).

Next time a little hilly detour in the "perfumed city" is in order:

Chateau descent, Ralston, Pinehill, San Raymundo/Sandra, Robinwood, Denise. Or Pullman directly to Pinehill if there's as much traffic as seen on Chateau's street view.

31.2 miles (from Millbrae/Burlingame border), 1:54

Standard Fare

Wednesday July 1st, AM. No time to mess around today. 2-hill route out of San Bruno, Skyline, Cañada (+ select dirt portions paralleling the road), Manzanita, Sand Hill, Foothill (+ usual parallel detours based on light luck), and Homestead. Didn't come across any Woodside/Portola police combating the scourge of cyclists on the land — a good thing as I might have been cited for excessive bean exhaust.

34.7 miles, 1:53