# San Jose to Gilroy using Monterey Hwy



## crc408 (Nov 4, 2006)

Live in San Jose and wanted to expand my miles. Thinking of doing to Gilroy using Monterey Hwy/Rd/St, and just wondering how manageable the shoulder and cars are. Thanks.


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## Fr Ted Crilly (Feb 7, 2002)

crc408 said:


> Live in San Jose and wanted to expand my miles. Thinking of doing to Gilroy using Monterey Hwy/Rd/St, and just wondering how manageable the shoulder and cars are. Thanks.



From San Jose to Morgan Hill at least, I can't think of any reason to ride a bike on Monterey Hwy when Santa Teresa Blvd/Hale Ave runs parallel and has a decent shoulder and much less, (& usually slower), traffic. That stretch of Monterey Hwy is my idea of a terrible road to ride, (from what I remember of the one time a few years ago when I did ride it). I think the shoulder is wide enough but there was a lot of debris on it and cars and trucks speeding past at 60mph plus. South of Morgan Hill, Monterey Hwy is a more pleasant ride with a bit less traffic. 
From San Jose to Gilroy another route is along Almaden - McKean Rd - Uvas Rd - Watsonville Rd - Day Rd. It's longer with some rolling hills and far more pleasant than Monterey Hwy.


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## crc408 (Nov 4, 2006)

Thanks. I'll look up the Santa Teresa-Hale Ave path.


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## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

crc408 said:


> Live in San Jose and wanted to expand my miles. Thinking of doing to Gilroy using Monterey Hwy/Rd/St, and just wondering how manageable the shoulder and cars are. Thanks.


Monterey highway is an awful route for a lot of reasons. For most of it, the shoulder is wide, but there is a lot of crap on the road on many sections. Unless you have no other options (and there are some much, much better alternatives), there is no reason to ride it.


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## Ignatz (Sep 9, 2004)

Another vote for the McKean-Almaden-Day Road area. I've used Montery Highway to get from the San Jose area to Morgan Hill when I was commuting and just wanted to get home but it is, as has been said, pretty crappy. Mostly it's a debris issue. The shoulder is plenty wide for most of the route but it is covered with junk. I've cut tires and banged up paint courtesy of chunks of metal on the road.
Another option is to grab the bike path at Monterey and Metcalf. This cuts out a large portion of the Highway. 
All in all though, the roads by the reservoirs are much nicer to ride. Minimal shoulders but less traffic, a far higher number of other riders, and much better scenery. Also, these roads go through rolling hills so you get a better workout than you would on pancake-flat Monterey Highway.


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## z ken (Dec 30, 2006)

i've ridden many time from san jose to gilroy and back via monterey road. the road ( shoulder ) is wild enough and if you ride on the week day ( m-th ) between 12-4, you shouldn't have any problem as most people are at work. beside those hours, usually big traffic jam. the road surface?? it's not great but rideable and i even use Continental supersonic tires ( 165 grams ) by the way from san jose to gilroy is DEAD FLAT and pretty much straight.


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## crc408 (Nov 4, 2006)

Thanks all again for the suggestions. The McKean to Day looks like a nice ride, at least from Satellite view. Are the elevation changes intense?


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## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

crc408 said:


> Thanks all again for the suggestions. The McKean to Day looks like a nice ride, at least from Satellite view. Are the elevation changes intense?


There is nothing intense out there. The toughest climb around is probably Willow Springs from Santa Theresa. There's also Sycamore from Oak Glen which is very short. Or perhaps Llagas, which is pretty short. Other than that, it's all mellow. The area around Uvas and Calero is fantastic for cycling.


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## chas (Aug 10, 2006)

mohair_chair said:


> There is nothing intense out there. The toughest climb around is probably Willow Springs from Santa Theresa. There's also Sycamore from Oak Glen which is very short. Or perhaps Llagas, which is pretty short. Other than that, it's all mellow. The area around Uvas and Calero is fantastic for cycling.


+1 Our office is in South San Jose, so we usually head out to this area on our lunch rides for some nice 1-2 hour loops. McKean's got some nice rollers that, depending on the wind direction, you can either cruise along at 25-30mph, or grunt, groan and struggle to crank out 15-18mph. Generally heading south will get you the tail wind.

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