# Linking them all together.



## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

I don't know why, especially with how much I have been suffering up the hills the past week, but anyone interested?

Thinking this route.

Up Kings
Down Tunitas and back up (i know not great but hang on there)
Down 84 
Up OLH East
Down OLH west
and then up Alpine. 

Only one I don't know how to get in there without a down and up again is Page Mill and since that is my least favorite I don't mind leaving it out.

This is about the least milage to hit the most hills. The other option is after Kings is to go down 84 to tunitas but that adds a lot of milage.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

This sounds like a neat idea to link these climbs up. Unfortunately I won't be able to get for a while due to family stuff, trips, and work. Have you worked out how many miles and much elevation gain this is? How about this as an alternate route:

Up OLH east
Down OLH west and 84
Stage Road, Highway 1 and up Tunitas Creek
Skyline back to Sky Londa (lunch?)
Down 84 to Pescadero Road
Up Alpine west
Down Page Mill Road
More miles than yours and one less major climb, but it hits the best climbs while joining them together into a pleasing figure-of-8 loop.


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## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

Yeah, thats not a bad one. I mean you could get really sadistic here and do all of them, but really the problem (for me) is the milage would build up really quickly unless you do down and ups on at least 2 of them. 


Up Kings, down 84, up E OLH, down W OLH Down 84 to Tunitas, Up tunitas, Down 84 to pescodero, Up W Alpine, down and up Page MIll. Coffin waiting at the top. 

OK there it is with only one down and up. 

OUCH, hurts thinking about it. Its really not that much elevation gain in a day. but my 10,000 foot days have been in a form of lots of short hills, never anything like this and this is not even 10k.

Kings 1500 (but at the top if you make a left you climb on skyline a while longer)
E OLH 1280
Tunitas 2000
W. Alpine 2000
Page Mill 2000


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

This is fun - making up routes and not having to ride them!

Up Page Mill, down West Alpine, ...., up Tunitas Creek, down Kings Mountain, up OLH East, down OLH West, down 84, up West Alpine, down Page Mill.


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## robwh9 (Sep 2, 2004)

Maybe you guys would like <a href="http://bushnell.homeip.net/~bill/bike/ride_stories/index.html">Bill Bushnell's ride reports</a>. He has lots of interesting Peninsula and South Bay ride reports. It's old, but good food for thought.

I attempted Mr. Bill's Nightmare once, but couldn't finish it.


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## *Dude* (Feb 26, 2004)

*Thanks*

Bills site is awesome...


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## Undecided (Apr 2, 2007)

Not interested, but I've done

up Kings
Skyline south
84W
up East OLH
Skyline north
84E
up OLH
Skyline north
84W
over Pescadero Rd to go up Alpine and descend Page Mill

several times. It just has the two short pieces of repetition on Skyline between OLH and 84, and 84 between Skyline and East OLH.

I guess you could keep rolling down 84W the first time, to Stage and head over to Tunitas and then from the top of Tunitas you could get back onto the route above, but that seems like a lot . . . .


heythorp said:


> I don't know why, especially with how much I have been suffering up the hills the past week, but anyone interested?
> 
> Thinking this route.
> 
> ...


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## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

Just fell short of the goal today. I just didn't have enough to go do W. Alpine. 

Kings - E.OLH - Pescadero - Stage - Lobitas - Tunitas

Really wanted to head down to 84 and up W. Alpine, but was cooked. If it had been an event or something I would have made it, but we were out there pretty long today and I don't think adding another 2.5-3 hours would have been good after 6:45

While the climb was looming in my head I was actually dreading the ride home from the top. 

Anyone interested in giving this a whirl?


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## rox (Jul 7, 2009)

why is everyone leaving out hwy 9?


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

rox said:


> why is everyone leaving out hwy 9?


Yeah, Highway 9 doesn't get much love around here. I find the combination of the shallow grade, the length, and the variability in grade makes it really hard to get into a good rhythm to set a decent time. So I tend to lose interest about half way up and soft pedal the rest. It is also a bit far from the others mentioned on this list to make good routes. However, you can use it to get to Boulder Creek which opens up a bunch of other challenging climbs.


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## rox (Jul 7, 2009)

yeah agreed, I dont really prefer climbing 9 all the way from the bottom, but one of my favorite loops from sunnyvale is foothill -> stevens canyon -> redwood gulch -> 9 -> skyline -> page mill.

9 also makes a good option for a descent if you go up olh or page mill.



ukbloke said:


> Yeah, Highway 9 doesn't get much love around here. I find the combination of the shallow grade, the length, and the variability in grade makes it really hard to get into a good rhythm to set a decent time. So I tend to lose interest about half way up and soft pedal the rest. It is also a bit far from the others mentioned on this list to make good routes. However, you can use it to get to Boulder Creek which opens up a bunch of other challenging climbs.


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## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

I have been here now 5 months and have yet to climb 9.

I have done hamilton, diablo, ridden to SC and climbed Bonnie Dune and of course the ones mentioned above. 

To be honest I have not read anything that makes me want to go out and do 9.

Can anyone one convince me this is a must do?


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## bustamove (Aug 12, 2004)

heythorp said:


> I have been here now 5 months and have yet to climb 9.
> 
> I have done hamilton, diablo, ridden to SC and climbed Bonnie Dune and of course the ones mentioned above.
> 
> ...


You must do it at least once just to say you did it.

Planning another 8k day this Saturday which will include Redwood Gulch and Hwy 9. I'll post up another route plan very soon.


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## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

Ha, yeah I have done too many things just to say I have done it 

I just cleaned my bike from our last ride. It took 2 hours. Totally a mess. 

Post up the ride. sorry wont be able to make it will be in Yosemite.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Two reasons to do Highway 9 for the first time:

You'll set a new PR on the climb - guaranteed!
It is a fast, fun and safe descent (though don't go over the rumbly yellow lines!)
You can also get a coke and a hot dog at the top at the weekends.


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## ratpick (Jul 31, 2008)

You want linkage, how about this.. 140 miles, 20K (Garmin connect footies, that is).

<iframe width='465' height='548' frameborder='0' src='http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/42860147'></iframe>

From JT's description:
1. Los Trancos Rd/Ramona
2. Page Mill/Moody/Page Mill: 13 miles to the top. Skyline to 84W
3. West Alpine. Once at the top turn north on Skyline to 84E
4. Old La Honda East to 84W
5. West Old La Honda to 84W
6. Stage Road, Tunitas Creek to 84E/Tripp
7. Kings Mountain then home via the most expeditious route


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## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

funny i set out today to do almost this but i started 3 hours later than i wanted to and called it quits.

here is the new goal.

Kings, down tunitas, around lobitas, up tunitas
south on skyline, west on 84, up WOLH,
down 84 east, ,up EOLH
Down WOLH, to 84 to pescadero, 
climb pescadero, turn around go down and up W alpine, down page and back up page and home anyway you see fit.

I did about half of this today. 

the ride above is just plain silly


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## dwgranda (Sep 8, 2009)

Flat version:

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/ca/newark/589127964097528040


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## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

I would like to know how many stop sighs there are in that routte


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## Guest (Sep 23, 2010)

ukbloke said:


> Yeah, Highway 9 doesn't get much love around here. I find the combination of the shallow grade, the length, and the variability in grade makes it really hard to get into a good rhythm to set a decent time.


Funny, I feel completely the opposite. I think the grade is way more consistent than that of a lot of the other climbs discussed here. I climb it almost every day and really enjoy the ride (although I wouldn’t mind if it was a little steeper). I usually get a pretty good rhythm going. The only things I don’t like about it is the traffic going up and the way they messed up the center lines with those rumble strips. The descent is awesome. There’s only one turn on the whole descent where you need to use your brakes (and only lightly). I hate really tight, steep, bumpy descents where you have to be on you brakes the whole time.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Power Play said:


> Funny, I feel completely the opposite. I think the grade is way more consistent than that of a lot of the other climbs discussed here.


My real problem is that I'm never as fast climbing Highway 9 as I think I should be. This is also reflected in my power numbers. There's nothing like a bit of steep to get your power output up - I find it much harder to sustain it on a lower grade (unless I'm chasing someone). The rub is that Highway 9 is considered an easy climb because of its grade. The truth is that it is only easy because you're not riding it fast enough.

I completely agree about the descent.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

Here's my effort at a caption for your route:


> After 50 miles dwgranda determines that there's a flaw in Garmin's suggested route to the nearest 7-11.


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## ukbloke (Sep 1, 2007)

ratpick said:


> You want linkage, how about this.. 140 miles, 20K (Garmin connect footies, that is).


This is an insane route and I can barely comprehend its magnitude. JT is a monster, and it sounds like he was riding with a friend of the same disposition.


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## ratpick (Jul 31, 2008)

ukbloke said:


> My real problem is that I'm never as fast climbing Highway 9 as I think I should be. This is also reflected in my power numbers. There's nothing like a bit of steep to get your power output up - I find it much harder to sustain it on a lower grade (unless I'm chasing someone). The rub is that Highway 9 is considered an easy climb because of its grade. The truth is that it is only easy because you're not riding it fast enough.
> 
> I completely agree about the descent.


OK.. I climbed Hwy 9 from Saratoga to the Gap for the first time today (pop out at Redwood Gulch normally). I agree with ukbloke - it's just a little too easy and I found myself spinning up it enjoying it (the enjoyment of a climb should be after it's done, right? . It helped that the road construction (reconstruction?) was blocking traffic so there were long periods of no cars/trucks which made it much more pleasant than normal.

Oh, and I'd already climbed 8700' when I got to Saratoga so I had an excuse to spin 

I've only descended it once, a few years ago, and loved it at the time. But I like the more technical descents these days (eg Kings Mtn) although with enough speed, Hwy 9 would become technical I suppose! 

I descended Montevina again today and I really dislike it as a descent - very bumpy. Bohlman is kinda fun as a descent, although there are a couple of large potholes that will easily knock you to the ground if you hit them unexpectedly; but on the straight bits you can get a lot of speed very quickly.


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## heythorp (Feb 17, 2005)

ukbloke said:


> This is an insane route and I can barely comprehend its magnitude. JT is a monster, and it sounds like he was riding with a friend of the same disposition.



Whats really insane is it says he only burned 3600 calories. Average person burns between 500 to 700 an hour (race pace is different)

Even if you want to say 500 an hour, that would still be 4700 for the trip. Which still seems stupid low.


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