# March 26th Sierra Road to Calaveras 9am



## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

This is a repeat of the Sept 11th 2010 ride. 


Route: Sierra Road, to Calaveras road
Mileage for A route: 3800 foot climb , 40 miles
Meet Time: 8:45
Roll Time 9:00 am
Place: 3094 Berryessa Rd, San Jose, CA.


Sierra Road is a great tough climb. I have only done it once during the 2010 ride. I swore I would never go back, but riding with people that have not hit some of the classic climbs in the area has inspired me to show them the pain, oh I mean fun and satisfaction of hitting these classics. 

Once the climb is over the rest of the ride is a beautiful ride that can be enjoyed at any pace. 

Depending on the turn out there are A,B and C options. Meeting place is the same as the previous ride or the Super Bowl Hamilton ride. 

Berryessa road by that big Penitencia park
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...7.39384,-121.848056&spn=0.00941,0.020664&z=16


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## fun2none (Mar 16, 2010)

*3094 Berryessa Rd*

The link provided was mangled. Here is a link that should work. I'll check my schedule and see if I can make it.
3094 Berryessa Rd


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## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

Thanks, don't know whats going on with my map links lately. Also when I try to embed the map it never shows the location pin.


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## tosa (Aug 23, 2010)

IMHO, not splitting the ride into groups for the Sierra climb would mean that no one needs to wait, or waiting will be minimized. On the Sep '10 ride, the 'a' group waited a long time in the parking lot, and the 'b' group waited at the top of Sierra.

The fast climbers who get to the top can come back down Sierra and ride back up with the slower climbers. Some people may like that so much they may even go up and down 7 times! Everyone gets to the top together and rides the rest of the ride together. Of course there may be some waiting / early starts for those towing their daughters up the hill (or may be not if it's UKBloke powering up the hill!).


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## jetdog9 (Jul 12, 2007)

tosa said:


> The fast climbers who get to the top can come back down Sierra and ride back up with the slower climbers. Some people may like that so much they may even go up and down 7 times!


Given the details from the post about his recent ride there, Francois will do it 45,000 times.

Anyway, slight possibility I can make it, but most likely not this time around. Looking forward to another opportunity, though.


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## CHL (Jun 24, 2005)

Hoping that the weather cooperates for this ride but the forecast shows a down poor for the next two weeks. Hopefully, the foul weather breaks to at least give us an opportunity to ride before the event. Not sure it would be feasible to climb Sierra after an extended stay off the bike.

If UK shows up with is daughter in the little trailer, I'm tying a tether to the trailer as a contingency to get up the hill.

chl


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## kwikryder (Oct 7, 2010)

My girlfriend actually lives about 5 blocks from Sierra road. I scouted the route in a car last month to see how Do-able it is.... FAK, forget that! Its definitely something to work up to though. Maybe by next year I'll be there with the rest of you.


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## pastpob (Jul 31, 2008)

what are the stats on sierra rd (distance and elevation)?


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## fun2none (Mar 16, 2010)

Sierra Rd stats


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## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

Well looks line we should postpone this ride. Anyone up for doing it next weekend? Weather permitting.


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## CHL (Jun 24, 2005)

Heythorp:

Are you planning to head up Sierra Road on Saturday or Sunday? Forecast on accuweather has the upcoming week devoid of rain. This should allow us to have some training time before we head up this Monster.

C.


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## shibaman (May 2, 2008)

I did Sierra, and Calaveras as part of this ride on Sun. 
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/317147 Sierra was a tough one, but it didn't seem as steep as Quimby. Calaveras was beyond beautiful, like a rain forest. Had 2 water crossings going up Hamilton. One wet foot!


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## PoorCyclist (Oct 14, 2010)

Let's go!

Saturday wind will sail you up sierra road.


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## ShaneW (Sep 6, 2008)

kwikryder said:


> My girlfriend actually lives about 5 blocks from Sierra road. I scouted the route in a car last month to see how Do-able it is.... FAK, forget that! Its definitely something to work up to though. Maybe by next year I'll be there with the rest of you.


HAHAHAHAHA.......I'm with you kwikryder!!!:thumbsup:


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## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

If we can get some quick feedback, I am open to either day. Same start time and place. I am open to either day.


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## CHL (Jun 24, 2005)

Okay, I'll be there Saturday @ 9:00am. The start point from the Mt. Hamilton ride sounds like a good idea.

C.


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## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

All right, its going to hurt, but I will be at the lot at 8:45 to be rolling by 9. 

This is a social ride and we will regroup at the top of the hill.


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## CHL (Jun 24, 2005)

What should have been a moderately difficult ride with one ascent of Sierra Road ended as a knee buster with the additional ascent of Welch Creek. The group did agree that riding up those two roads in the near future would not occur.

Sierra Road jumped at at us right from the get go with some very steep pitches, punctuated by small areas of moderate gradient. It definitely is a ride that will tax you mentally as I doubt any of us had any gotten any real miles before today, owning to the recent weather. The weather cooperated very nicely as the overcast conditions kept the temperatures at a comfortable level. 

View attachment 227418


Descended and made a right on Calaveras Road. Having never ridden in this area, the scenery, frankly, amazed me. The high number of riders riding southbound amazed me. It looked like Foothill Expressway on a weekend. Got to Welch Creek Road and Heythorp decided to check it out. 

The first mile appeared to be quite easy. The steep gradient (above 20% by my Garmin) yielded and the many long stretches of easy grades afforded areas of rest. We thought the remaining 2.5 miles would remain constant and afford and easy ascent. Decided to continue on and was met by reality. The remainder of the road is worse than the ascent of Hicks Road from Camden Avenue. Hate the cattle grades and my foot unclippped out of the pedal at the wrong time. Made it to the top after some "colorful" words and serious wear and tear on the lungs.

Returned without too much trouble. The descent on Sierra from Calaveras is simply a joy. Got to nearly 40mph with a tail wind on a nearly straight road. Sorry to hastily bail on you guys at the end but I was about an hour late, and my other half had some of those "colorful" words for me.

CHL


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## z3phrn (Mar 19, 2011)

Great riding with you guys. I'll definitely bring my gear (and a bike that won't explode) next time.


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## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

Ended up being a great ride. Sure there were some snags along the way. OK well z2phrn had them mostly. Forgot his pedals (more on this), chain break and running out of water.

He also gets the HTFU award for the day. He road this with flat pedals that looked to have been made in 1970 and sneakers!!!!! Um, maybe to the supermarket, but up Sierra and Welch Creek? Crazy!

The first mile of Welch is pretty tame with all of the recovery sections but the last 3 miles is just brutal. Glad I did it because now its off the list and never have to do it again. 

Ironically, Elle and I pick a random place to go for a hike most weekends and we ended up back out there at Sunol Park right off of Caleveris on Geary Road. This place was crazy busy and now I know why all the cars go that way. 

All the rain has just made the entire area visually stunning. People were commenting to us that they had not seen it like this in 20 years.


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