# Up OLH, skyline, Page Mill.



## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 2001)

I just did the perfect weekday ride. The weekend was booked with a great mtb ride at demo forest then bad weather joined by a full day with the glorious Gran Turismo 4.

Monday comes along and I feel the road bike itch. It's sunny. I take off work from San Mateo at 3:30. I get to the park and ride at Page Mill and 280 and am ready to ride by 4pm. Can I pull it off? OLH then down Page Mill? It's a great ride but surely there's no time. I'll descend in the dark...

Oh well, let's hit it. I'll just have to pick up the pace. And there unraveled the perfect weekday solo ride. Check the graph below for some details:
- zero stops 1 hour 30 ride time, 1:30 elapsed time
- my climb up OLH was controlled with good heart rate and good acceleration at the end. 21:20 minute climb which is my best in 6 months.
- I didn't have to keel over at the top of OLH and lose my lunch. Turn left at skyline and recover while climbing.
- The views of the valley and of the ocean were incredible.
- The page mill descent was a bit wet from last night's rain. And as usual, the climbs were still there. I didn't matter... today was a good day. I hit it with some confidence and got going to 30-35 mph. The <a href="https://mtbr.com/author/photos/look585.jpg">new bike is good</a>. The new Nokon cables and Zero Gravity brakes work in harmony with no flex.
- No cars pass me on the descent. A total of 15 cars pass me on the road and they leave plenty of room.
- I get back to the car at 5:30 and there's plenty of light left. The sun is a-coming once again and this is a prelude to longer days.
- 24 miles, 2500 feet. Not a bad monday.

Don't mean to brag about how fast I am, etc. etc. It's just nice when everything comes together on one good ride. I think the speed, power, efficiency, the scenery and the descent are quickly getting me addicted to the sport,

francois


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## kar (Feb 24, 2005)

yeah - it was a perfect ride day.
and nice lawn.


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 2001)

kar said:


> yeah - it was a perfect ride day.
> and nice lawn.


Thanks. My lawn and I are friends now. Last year, the weeds were out of hand and being a lawn newbie, I sprayed it all with round-up. Needless to say, the lawn showed me who's boss.

fc


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## johnny99 (Apr 2, 2004)

OLH and Page Mill is one of my favorite loops (counterclockwise; clockwise I will go down Hwy 84). It is close enough that I can ride there from home. Once you get west of 280, there is very little traffic. Between OLH and Page Mill is the second most beautiful section of Skyline (first is between Purisima and Hwy 92). I wish my legs were as fast as yours, though.


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## jumpstumper (Aug 17, 2004)

Yeah, that's a cool loop. From home I usually do the hwy9/skyline/92/canada/foothill loop on the weekends. Can't figure out how to paste in my Polar chart in like you do...


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 2001)

jumpstumper said:


> Yeah, that's a cool loop. From home I usually do the hwy9/skyline/92/canada/foothill loop on the weekends. Can't figure out how to paste in my Polar chart in like you do...


If you can't get the polar to save the graph as gif or jpg file, do the Printscreen trick:

Put the image up on your screen
Press ALT and PrtScn keys - this puts your screen image in the copy buffer
Open paint or photoshop, Create a new document and select Paste.
The screen image should be in a document now that you can save as a gif or jpg file.

francois


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## AlexCad5 (Jan 2, 2005)

That's a cool program. What is it? Amazing graphics and info. 
Did almost the reverse of that ride a couple of weekends ago. My inlaws live off of Arastradero. Road up Page Mill to Skyline, then south into the wind to Hwy19. By then my legs were dust from all the climbing. At the time I didn't realize it is a climb on Skyline to 19, but after I hooked a u-ie my speed more than doubled. Rode to La Honda and down that beautiful decent to Woodside and back on the expressway. 45miles. Don't remember my avg. Page Mill is a brutal climb. Looked down at my computer between a pedal stroke and saw 5 mph flash for a second. I live at the foot of Mt Diablo, and I think Page Mill is quite a bit harder, if not as long.


francois said:


> I just did the perfect weekday ride. The weekend was booked with a great mtb ride at demo forest then bad weather joined by a full day with the glorious Gran Turismo 4.
> 
> Monday comes along and I feel the road bike itch. It's sunny. I take off work from San Mateo at 3:30. I get to the park and ride at Page Mill and 280 and am ready to ride by 4pm. Can I pull it off? OLH then down Page Mill? It's a great ride but surely there's no time. I'll descend in the dark...
> 
> ...


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 2001)

AlexCad5 said:


> That's a cool program. What is it? Amazing graphics and info.
> Did almost the reverse of that ride a couple of weekends ago. My inlaws live off of Arastradero. Road up Page Mill to Skyline, then south into the wind to Hwy19. By then my legs were dust from all the climbing. At the time I didn't realize it is a climb on Skyline to 19, but after I hooked a u-ie my speed more than doubled. Rode to La Honda and down that beautiful decent to Woodside and back on the expressway. 45miles. Don't remember my avg. Page Mill is a brutal climb. Looked down at my computer between a pedal stroke and saw 5 mph flash for a second. I live at the foot of Mt Diablo, and I think Page Mill is quite a bit harder, if not as long.


The graph is from a cycling computer call the Ciclosport HAC 4 Plus. $400+ for this little device with a lot of data. It also measures grade of the hill and power generated..

The only thing better is this GPS based device called Motion Based. Truly amazing:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/...pkValue=837&backgroundDatasourcePk.pkValue=11

Page Mill is a harsh climb. It keeps changing pitch so it's hard to get a rhythm. You have to be like Pantani or Lance and accelerate all the time to enjoy this climb. It's also too long to go hard on.

Anyway, I hear Diablo is a beast too. I hope to try that sometime this year.

francois


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## johnny99 (Apr 2, 2004)

*Page Mill Rd*

I like climbing Page Mill. The uneven grade lets me rest on the easier sections in between the harder sections. None of the steeper sections are really long (except maybe that one near the Feliz house).

One nice loop is to go up Page Mill and head north on Skyline. Descend Hwy 92 (if you're strong enough to climb Page Mill, you're probably fast enough to keep up with traffic on 92). Return on Canada Rd.

Another loop is to go up Page Mill then head south on Skyline to the Summit Store (a few miles past Hwy 17). Descend the Old Santa Cruz Highway, around the east side of Lexington Reservoir, then the Los Gatos Creek Trail (dirt road, sometimes closed, try to check in advance). Return via Hwy 9, Mt. Eden, and Foothill.


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## Lemonhead (Mar 3, 2005)

*Planned my first 50 mile ride yesterday...*

My route came up just short of 50 miles, but was a milestone for me nonetheless.

It was a beautiful day. I started near Skyline (Hwy 35) and King Dr. in Daly City. Rode southbound on Skyline past San Andreas Lake, then past Crystal Springs Reservoir through the Sawyer Camp Trail. Connected back onto Skyline and then all the way down Canada Rd. 

I finally turned around at the T-intersection of Canada and Woodside Rd. because I didn't know whether to make a right or left and I didn't want to get lost. Looking at a map now, I think I would hit La Honda Road if I made a right. This was also the halfway point of my ride and I realized then that my ride would be just shy of 50 miles.

The ride back was great for the most part. I had to stop a couple of times due to traffic and construction on Canada Rd but it wasn't for very long. Mile 41 kicked my butt though! I was riding uphill on Skyline against a slight wind. My legs were already screaming! I was struggling, doing only 6-8mph, but I found comfort in knowing that I'd be home in a few miles.  

Ride Stats:
- Total miles: 44.51
- Total time: 3.06.17h
- Average speed: 14.3
- Max Speed: 36.2
- I wish I had an altimeter!

Overall, it was a great ride on a beautiful day. One of the reasons I love living in NorCal. I look forward to doing it again. Perhaps next week, and perhaps connect to OLH to make it 50+ miles!


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## johnny99 (Apr 2, 2004)

Lemonhead said:


> It was a beautiful day. I started near Skyline (Hwy 35) and King Dr. in Daly City. Rode southbound on Skyline past San Andreas Lake, then past Crystal Springs Reservoir through the Sawyer Camp Trail. Connected back onto Skyline and then all the way down Canada Rd.


According to the Klimb program, that route has about 2500 feet of climbing (round trip) with mostly gentle rollers. If you had gone out Old La Honda Road and looped back along Skyline to Hwy 92, you could have doubled your climbing. Klimb is a great free program for Bay Area bike route planning: http://www.klimb.org/klimb.html


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## Lemonhead (Mar 3, 2005)

johnny99 said:


> According to the Klimb program, that route has about 2500 feet of climbing (round trip) with mostly gentle rollers. If you had gone out Old La Honda Road and looped back along Skyline to Hwy 92, you could have doubled your climbing. Klimb is a great free program for Bay Area bike route planning: http://www.klimb.org/klimb.html


Just downloaded it. It's a neat program, thanks! My route differs a little from the one on program, but it will work just fine until I can justify shelling out $400 for a Ciclosport HAC4.  Thanks again!


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 2001)

Ok, just did the ride again today. Man whatarush!

Exact route, much warmer day, I was using Reynold tubulars and I was more motivated to keep my speed up.

My time was 1:26... shaved off 4 minutes. The cool thing is I figured out how to superimpose my data to the last ride.
- my start was faster
- OLH climb was slower at 21:43
- skyline climb and page mill descent was faster. 

This will be my bread and butter ride for the season. Speeed and power... what I like about the road. 

The Page Mill descent is turning out to the longest, most thrilling descent in the area. I hope I don't hurt myself. Holy cannoli there's a few sections that are just unmatched!!

francois


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## jkh (Jul 25, 2004)

*Here's my sick variation....*

You used to be able to do this on a road bike. Now you have to have a MTB:

1) Up Page Mill
2) Down dirt Alpine
3) Up Windy hill
4) Down 84
5) Back up OLH
6) back down 84


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## derek (Feb 14, 2005)

*Another Option*

That's a good loop, although I've been exploring the backroads throughout Los Altos Hills to make my commute home more interesting. Another good option is to hit the local "hills" (see map below). From the Park and Ride you could head down Arastradero and then on Purissima to Elena to Moody instead of backtracking to Foothill.

If you want details how to get from Moody back south through the Foothills let me know and we can go for a ride (if you are willing to wait for me!)

<img src = "https://www.paloaltobicycles.com/ringmap/ringoffire_map.gif">

<img src = "https://www.paloaltobicycles.com/ringmap/Ring-of-fire-profile.jpg">

See https://www.paloaltobicycles.com/ringmap/ring_of_fire.html for more details.


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## johnny99 (Apr 2, 2004)

That Palo Alto Bicycles "Ring of Fire" is a pretty tough loop. Golden Oak is a short, steep climb. Los Trancos/Ramona/Vista Verde is a longer climb and seems to keep getting steeper up to the top. If you haven't had enough yet, Vista Verde keeps climbing for another half mile past where the route turns off. This is a good winter ride with lots of bail out points if the weather turns nasty.


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