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thoughts on this San Mateo Co route?

1K views 6 replies 7 participants last post by  Cory 
#1 ·
So, after pouring over my Roads to Ride South book, I put together this ride for my Bay Area trip. I have the impression that this route would have less cars than any comparable route in Santa Cruz. I have three days to ride while I am here and this will be one of the easier ones as my lust for climbing to mountan peaks will lead me to doing a Mt Hamilton ride (up from the SJ side and maybe down and back up the backside) and a Mt Diablo/Morgan Territory monster ride. Anyway, I would appreciate any feedback on this proposed route. I estimate that it should be just under 50mi with 3000 ft of real climbing - especially some killer steep spots on Tunitas. If any one has suggestions on a better ride with similar characteristics (distance, climbing, senic beauty, low traffic, etc...) I would appreciate it.

starting at pescadero beach, go west on pescadero rd to stage rd.
Stage rd north to highway 1.
Highway 1 to Tunitas Creek rd
Tunitas Creek East to Skyline
Skyline South to La Honda rd
La Honda South to Pescadero rd
Pescadero West back to starting point
 
#2 ·
Good route

Tunitas creek is a nice long mellow ride.

Old La Honda actually hits hwy 84 which then hits Pescedero road just outside La Honda.

Make sure you stop in Duarte's in Pescedero post ride. Get the cream if chillie and cream of artichoke soup (ask for the half and half). best soup ever.


Have fun,
G
 
#3 ·
A slightly modified route

Your route:

starting at pescadero beach, go west on pescadero rd to stage rd.
Stage rd north to highway 1.
Highway 1 to Tunitas Creek rd
Tunitas Creek East to Skyline
Skyline South to La Honda rd
La Honda South to Pescadero rd
Pescadero West back to starting point[/QUOTE]

That's a good route. You might try continuing on Skyline to Old La Honda instead of La Honda. Make a right turn down West Old La Honda (other side from the mail boxes). Old La Honda and La Honda will meet up about 3 mi down. It's quieter than La Honda for sure.

For Morgan/Diablo, you might want to do Morgan Territory first so that you can have the option of bailing out/loading up on water at the Junction of Diablo before heading to the top.
(I think there's a ride report in the appropriate section on this website.)

Enjoy this area, it's beautiful!
 
#4 ·
That's a good route, but I would start in the town of Pescadero, which is inland about a mile from the beach. It's a cute little one-street town with a store that sells fantastic bread (http://www.arcangeligrocery.com/bread_artichoke.html). There's also a great furniture store there (http://www.madeinpescadero.com/).

Stage Road is a road I really enjoy. You'll do about 1000 feet of climbing on it alone. On Stage, a few miles outside of Pescadero, just before you start the first climb, there's a huge skeleton sculpture holding a 50 caliber machine gun. Very strange. They teach dogs how to handle sheep there, and you should stop to watch if they are doing a session.

Tunitas is a great road to ride up, and it is fairly steep in sections, but riding under a canopy of redwood trees makes it all worth it. Only the middle third is hard.

Someone suggested continuing to Old La Honda Road after reaching Hwy 84. Old La Honda Road is fun, but you have to do a decent climb to get there from 84, so I'm not sure it's worth it.

Pescadero Road is one of the great roads for riding in the bay area. Just before you break out of the redwoods, you cross a bridge over the creek. Stop there and check out the pink flamingo house. There's nothing like it anywhere.
 
#5 ·
Alpine Road

Instead of La Honda Road (Hwy 84) or Old La Honda Road, another option is to continue up Skyline to Alpine Road. This is the most scenic section of Skyline with great views of both the bay and the ocean. Alpine Road is kind of beat up so you can't go real fast, but the ocean views and old farms are beautiful. During the spring, you also see alot of wildflowers here. Alpine Road takes you down to Pescadero Road.
 
#6 ·
For less driving and more riding you could start in Woodside:
Mountain Home to Portola to Old La Honda
Up Old La Honda and Down Old La Honda to 84. to
Pescadero Rd. to
Stage Rd. and 1
Up Tunitas Creek
Down King Mtn Rd to 84 and Woodside.
More like 60 miles and 5000 ft. but avoids Skyline which I really do not like. Your other ride will be more than 3000 ft of climbing I think.
 
#7 ·
This stuff's making me homesick...

I grew up in Redwood City and went to San Jose State, so I rode all over that area for years. In those days I thought 25 miles was ultra-distance, and I didn't realize what a great area it was to ride.
Assuming the condominiums haven't taken over and the cars don't kill you (I haven't lived there since the early '80s, so I dunno what's been developed lately), any of the routes anybody's mentioned here should be really nice. I like the Pescadero-Stage Road loop, which I did last summer.
 
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