# Finally kept up with the Spectrum Ride



## rj2

It's taken me 4 years. I don't care what Bob said about the pace being easy today.

I hooked up with some friends over by Peets in Los Altos when another rider approached us and asked if we were joining the Alto Velo ride. Young guy on a Cervelo, full team kit, cycling jockey thin, white shoes, etc. I guilted him into joining us with some friendly banter. 

We rode up to Arastadero and waited for the peloton. I made it a point to stay near the front of the climbs and let the riders pass me as needed. At least I wasn't off the back without any cover.

My last attempt, 3+ months ago, I was dropped on Portola, before Alpine. I was off the back a bit today at that point, but didn't lose contact. 

Got to show off the new bike and made some great business contacts at Peets after the ride.


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## Rhino4Five

Congratulations! I have been meaning to try riding with this group, but I'm positive I'm not fast enough. What do you recommend averaging before attempting? How are the group dynamics? Do they welcome noobs?


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## rj2

I got spit out the back more times than I care to remember. Just show up. It's the only way to gauge your ability.

If you can climb Old La Honda around 20 minutes, you're ready. Working on increasing my anaerobic threshold so I could deal with the peloton's surges meant success. 

If you're comfortable pacelining and riding elbow to elbow, no one will harass you. In fact, you'll be ignored unless you make an egregious mistake. Noobs are always welcome. Stop by Peets afterwards to chat.


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## answ

I went out on the 23rd which was my second time attempting the ride. The first time which was over the summer, I was dropped on alpine. This time I managed to keep up quite easily; however, it was raining and because it is early in the season I imagine that the pace was a lot slower than normal.



Rhino4Five said:


> I have been meaning to try riding with this group, but I'm positive I'm not fast enough. What do you recommend averaging before attempting? How are the group dynamics? Do they welcome noobs?


This is a good time to try the ride because it is slower than it will be once spring and summer roll around. The average speed of the ride wasn't too hard, about 22mph, but it was raining so Im sure it is normally faster. Usually, there are a lot of people so you wont be noticed unless you make a lot of mistakes, like rj2 said.


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## Diesel~

rj2 said:


> It's taken me 4 years. I don't care what Bob said about the pace being easy today.
> 
> I hooked up with some friends over by Peets in Los Altos when another rider approached us and asked if we were joining the Alto Velo ride. Young guy on a Cervelo, full team kit, cycling jockey thin, white shoes, etc. I guilted him into joining us with some friendly banter.
> 
> We rode up to Arastadero and waited for the peloton. I made it a point to stay near the front of the climbs and let the riders pass me as needed. At least I wasn't off the back without any cover.
> 
> My last attempt, 3+ months ago, I was dropped on Portola, before Alpine. I was off the back a bit today at that point, but didn't lose contact.
> 
> Got to show off the new bike and made some great business contacts at Peets after the ride.


The congrats may be a bit belated, but nice job, Rich! Very cool to hear of the progression.

-D


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## Francis Cebedo

Ha! There's is a turn by turn write-up on the spectrum ride that describes what you have to go through and where the key spots are for getting spit off the back. I was looking for it but I found some cool photos.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/khphotos/sets/72157608562806038/

They're cool since they have photos of me on a road bike! And I don't look clueless!!









We climbed the Canada hill at 20+ mph and then this guy on the right and I took a flyer!









Anyway, I stopped riding that since we broke too many laws at the time I was getting more conscious of motorist relations.

I might try it again just to check out.

Here's the old report. It's the best free race in town. Unless you're a Cat 3, you have to do it many times to keep up. It's easier in the winter and on weekends where there's big races. You can get a head start in Arastadero, in Alpine or on Portola road to get good position at the toughest parts. But the real jockeying and fireworks start at Foothill and Page Mill road.


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The Spectrum Ride
If you have been riding on the San Francisco Peninsula, chances are you have heard of this ride. It's not the most splendid setting per se (unless you happen to like your front man/woman's derriere), but it's a great ride, and you can join whenever you like.

Directions
The ride starts at 9 AM every Saturday, come rain of shine, at the intersection of Hollenbeck and Homestead in Mountain View. That's where the old Spectrum bike store used to be, and if you are an old timer, you still have your Spectrum store jersey with you!

Highway 87 has an exit "Homestead". Use that one, and go to the East from there. Soon you'll get to Hollenbeck and its Starbucks (why do all bikers end up at coffee houses?). The trek leaves at 9 sharp, so be punctual!

Basically, Spectrum is an open ride and anyone can participate. It is quite a fast ride, so you have to be fit to participate. A lot of us jump on and leave after a variable amount of minutes, proud of having been part of the pack. Others though are pretty annoyed at slower bikers, and people don't mince with their disapproval, especially at newcomers.

The Ride
After doing all of Homestead to Foothill Expressway, you'll follow Foothill past Los Altos. You will see a lot of really good bikers joining there - they have been waiting for the fast part of the game, at the Los Altos Peet's. You should go there to check out the latest bikes.

Lombardi Sport and Alto Velo now lead the pack down Foothill. You will be many, so you will probably ignore a lot of the traffic signs. Even police seem to feel unable to stop that rude behavior. The first change of pace will happen now - you'll stop on the left turn lane onto Page Mill road, after the famous ascent that has shred many a youngster's dreams of belonging.

You'll turn on Page Mill and rush through Old Page Mill road, an abandoned section. Soon you'll join the main road and cross highway I-280. You'll still be enough to scare the heck out of cars shooting down the off ramps at 70 mph. Again you'll ignore the stop sign, zip along until you turn right on Arastradero, and there the hammering starts.

The Hammering Starts
Arastradero is famous for its (frankly rather short) hill. The pack will break at the bottom, and a few riders will be chewed out, unable to join the main group again. You'll reach the top of the hill, turn right and descend gently (at 30 mph, of course). Watch out, the road surface is abysmal.

Ari (as I tend to call the road lovingly) ends at a T-intersection onto Alpine road. You will want to turn left, which means you'll have to cross traffic. Nominally, the speed limit is 35 mph, but you can be sure cars are going to come both ways at about 50 to 60. Good moment to let the pack split into many parcels, particularly dangerous since from now on it's slightly uphill again.

If you managed to avoid all the guys with flat tires, if you succeeded in turning on time, if you succeeded in catching up to the snobbish lead group, things are rosy soon after. When Alpine hits Portola Valley road, you'll turn right. Police will try to stop those that didn't stop at the stop sign (, but with two hundred riders, they'll be able to catch only the slow ones.

Portola is a descent almost all the way, and it shows. The pack bends and gets out of shape while the best guys shoot ahead in an attempt to gain and keep leadership. Soon, much sooner than you'd like, you'll reach the turn on Portola that indicates Old La Honda is near. That's another day's ride, for now you go straight ahead until the intersection with Mountain Home road.

Gushing Through the Side Streets
Mountain Home forks after a few hundred yards, and you'll take the turn left towards highway 84 (La Honda road). It starts downhill but immediately catches up and has an impressively decieving uphill stint. Soon you'll get to highway 84, which you'll follow on the flat side (turn right).

After a while, you'll reach a turn. You'll stay straight and ride through the side streets (pavement sucks again) until you hit King's Mountain road. This is another ride you'll have to do on your own, for now it's all about turning right.

A hidden turn that you will easily miss if you are the leader by now gets you onto Manuella, an unassuming neighborhood road that serves the only purpose of not getting you through Woodside proper. Soon enough you'll turn left, then right onto Olive Hill road, which leads to the long awaited Canada road.

Long-Awaited Canada
Canada is an almost perfectly straight road that lead six miles to the Northwest. To you ignorants that's towards the wind. And here's where the courageous captains of fortune try their luck. A breakout group is almost certain to form on the downhill ride after topping the hill. Usually a single rider will shoot forward, and if he's lucky (never seen a woman do the trick), he'll get to the end first. More likely not.

Riding against the wind is not pleasant, and a few try drafting as much as they can. The pace gets undecided, since people don't really know how fast they can get any more. Some weeks 25 is the best all can do, others we get closer to 30.

Past Edgewood road, with its flurry of activity, you'll get to the most beautiful section of road I have seen on a bike. Filoli Gardens is to your left (although you won't see much of it). The Crystal Springs reservoirs beckon while you start ascending the last hill.

When you get to the top of the hill, the group is already tired. The breakout is still zooming, and won't stop until the bitter end. Which fortunately is not far, but requires a last ascent on a really windy breath taker.

The end of Canada is flat. You'll find a lot of cars, and the winners and losers will cheer each other up, turning around, almost crashing into each other. Then the return starts.

Rushing Back
The pace now becomes more friendly. People start talking to each other, riding back at a quick but reasonable pace. We will ride through Woodside, this time, losing a few of the pack to the luring cafes and bakeries.

It's Whiskey Hill road, then Sand Hill to Junipero Serra. We try to be fast, but it's a sunny day (usually), and we don't need the pace. I zip around a bit, not tired from the original race since I haven't partaken in any of the sprinting. Lousy sprinter, you know.

The race is off, and most of us get lost in their original path before we get back to Homestead. A few hardy will have parked their car and go all the way back. That's when you make friends. Not with the Lombardis and the Alto Velos on Foothill. You meet the nice people at the parking lot.

And it was fun.

Marco R. Gazzetta


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## Killroy

From what I have heard, the Spectrum Ride is sounds fun, but not in the spirit of "Share the Road". It sounds like it goes at race pace and blows traffic laws left and right. 
Check out the pic above: There is lots of shoulder, but most people are taking up the roadway and there is a string of cars waiting to pass. Alto Velo is known for this mistake too.


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## Francis Cebedo

Killroy said:


> From what I have heard, the Spectrum Ride is sounds fun, but not in the spirit of "Share the Road". It sounds like it goes at race pace and blows traffic laws left and right.
> Check out the pic above: There is lots of shoulder, but most people are taking up the roadway and there is a string of cars waiting to pass. Alto Velo is known for this mistake too.


He, he... good eye.

Yes, the Spectrum takes over the whole road usually. And it usually blows through most stop signs. What happens is the lead riders will slow down and jump at an opening in traffic. then it's a free for all for the whole peloton. The real problem is the back of the pack and the dropped riders. Every millisecond counts at that point that they will usually blow through the stop signs or for sure lose contact with the pack.

Once you lose contact with the pack, you can't catch them. 

The summer Valley Ride is exactly the same. It's even more aggressive since it's mid week and there's a 600 foot hill in the middle at Huddart park. There is a noon ride too and morning ride. These are all drop rides so racing is king and rules are second There's town sprint points too and all that jazz so all hell breaks loose at those spots. The morning and Lunch rides are more sedate for sure.

These are free races that have been going on for the last 20 years. No one is in charge so it's very hard to enforce anything. They're the best and the worst of Peninsula riding 

I loved getting in shape for it and meeting a lot of cool folks. But there's a lot of angry people in there. There's a lot of cars honking with rage, a lot of yelling in the peloton, lots of police, some wrecks. So I stopped. Maybe I'll check out the noon ride first.

With all the stopsigns and lights, average speed was 23 mph. And surprisingly, there's 1800 ft of climbing in the 40 miles.

fc


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## sirkrameroy

Nice roadie form, FC! :thumbsup: 

I pretty much stopped riding these regularly for the same reasons. A bit too much of a free for all. I still hit up the noon ride every now and then to test my fitness and practice pack handling skills. 

The key to these rides is timing. You have to be quite fit, but more importantly you have to know when to go full tilt and when you can rest/recover. Pack placement is also key, since if you're too far back and there is a break, you'll be hard pressed to catch back up to the lead group. 

The only time I got seriously dropped early on during the ride was during July, when every aspiring roadie has Lance Armstrong syndrome and the pack swells to 200 plus riders, with the lead group seriously hammering to whittle things down. In the off-season it's a bit more relaxed, and if the rain continues I can see myself trying it again in the next few weeks, just for motivation and training.


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## Francis Cebedo

Cadel Evans was on the morning ride today!


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## worst_shot_ever

Did he get dropped?


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