Rideable roads?
Lina Mårtensson
Apparently there are all sorts of weird roads on the map if you just
zoom in far enough! Then, of course, comes the question of which are
actually rideable.
Which roads are blocked?
Which roads are rideable on a road bike?
Which roads are rideable on a cross bike?
Which roads are not rideable/don't exist/whatever?
- Higgins Canyon Rd (~hwy 1 - Skyline area)
- Old Canada Rd
- Phleger Rd (Skyline - Canada)
- Bear Gulch Rd (Woodside Rd - Skyline)
And I know of Planet of the Apes and definitely need to do that some time.
Other interesting roads?
-Lina
Lina Mårtensson
Awesome!
-Lina
Chris Franco
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Lina Mårtensson
"My second test: a route from Palo Alto to San Gregorio, another route
over the Santa Cruz Mountains. This time, Google Maps wanted me to use
Bear Gulch Road to climb from Woodside Road to Skyline Drive. That
would be a nice idea, except that you can’t get through. Even worse,
Google Maps wants me to take the rest of Bear Gulch from Skyline down
to an intersection with San Gregorio Road, which is better known as
Highway 84. The problem: after a huge, steep descent, of more than
1,000 feet, you’d come to a screeching dead-end; the road runs through
a ranch owned by singer Neil Young. He might be able to take the road
the rest of the way. But you can’t. No, at that point, your only
option would be to turn around and take one seriously nasty climb back
up the hill, with grades that soar well past 10%."
I just hope Neil Young has a road bike.
-Lina
ammon
slide again!... until they finally complete the tunnel and it's closed
off to autos.
Here's an old map I made of the san bruno->san mateo-ish area:
http://bit.ly/cQIGUi
The dirt descent from Sweeney Ridge to Fassler Ave _is_ ridable on
road tires if you take the switchback trail (slowly) and not the steep
fireroad decent. Just follow the hiking sign placed by the split
between the fireroad and trail. Here's a map of a ride I did there
last week on my road bike: http://www.strava.com/rides/104900 Oh and
bicolor lupine are in full bloom on Sweeney Ridge right now:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sysbeep/4627998240/
Purisima Creek Trail (Higgins Canyon Rd) is the only one in the
Purisima Creek Redwoods area that is completely climbable without
mountain bike gearing. (It's still not easy — just ask xton!) I'd wait
at least a week after the last rain to try it with road tires since
that area retains moisture well. If you don't mind hiking a few steep
bits, the side trails to Tunitas creek can be fun:
http://www.openspace.org/preserves/maps/pr_purisima.pdf
Old Canada Rd and Phleger Rd are closed water district roads. Bear
Gulch Rd (eastern) is a public road except for a little portion in the
middle which is private and gated. Yes, this means residents there
finagled a mostly publicly funded private road. Two years ago the low
key hill climb series targeted this road by descending it from Skyline
to the gate and climbing back up: http://lowkey.djconnel.com/2008/week4/
There's so much that could be added to that map... I just left it with
my favorite Montebello fireroad which you can also see in that strava
link above.
ammon
Lina Mårtensson
On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 2:11 PM, Ammon Skidmore <skidp...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Old Canada Rd and Phleger Rd are closed water district roads. Bear Gulch Rd (eastern) is a public road except for a little portion in the middle which is private and gated. Yes, this means residents there finagled a mostly publicly funded private road. Two years ago the low key hill climb series targeted this road by descending it from Skyline to the gate and climbing back up: http://lowkey.djconnel.com/2008/week4/
Hm, that contradicts what I read in that comment. Is all of Old Canada
closed, or just part of it?
-Lina
ammon
> > Old Canada Rd and Phleger Rd are closed water district roads. Bear Gulch Rd (eastern) is a public road except for a little portion in the middle which is private and gated. Yes, this means residents there finagled a mostly publicly funded private road. Two years ago the low key hill climb series targeted this road by descending it from Skyline to the gate and climbing back up:http://lowkey.djconnel.com/2008/week4/
>
> Hm, that contradicts what I read in that comment. Is all of Old Canada
> closed, or just part of it?
closed in the middle, but you can ride the rest.
Thomas Haggerty
Lina Mårtensson
Scott Crosby
ammon
> Does closed just mean a gate to climb? I'm actually waiting on a call back
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=San+Bruno,+San+Mateo,+California&ll=37.409948,-122.272725&spn=0,0.043774&t=h&z=15&layer=c&cbll=37.414498,-122.26899&panoid=f0Ap2Hb9WQTNfup5emYVUg&cbp=12,195.24,,0,5
> from someone at Filoli with some authority. Another employee said Old
> Canada was a private road on their land, but left hope when she encouraged
> me to contact the other. We'll see if I ever get a return call..
that this is in/near Woodside, my guess is that it's a private dirt
road with right to pass granted only to the water district and special
horse clubs.
Nearby Los Altos Hills has been much better at preserving historical
pathways (though 280 construction interrupted many, and in recent
years some wealthy newcomers have blocked trails even though the town
still has easements through the area). Apparently the town has regular
conflicts, especially visible in election season, between pro-pathways
people and the conservative-pathways-bring-crime haters (despite the
town having the lowest crime in the area and the real public safety
need for alternate exits in case of natural disaster). I haven't seen
any kind of map yet listing these paths. I just went and marked out
some favorites on the collaborative map. Bikes are legal, and very few
people are on these "pathways" at least on weekdays. I've seen horses
once, and a few hikers.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=106741500079471093241.000487acfc91eff271d7b&ll=37.368929,-122.147198&spn=0.039223,0.054846&t=h&z=14
ammon
Lina Mårtensson
much closed, and would be difficult to climb. It seems like you could
also get to some part of Old Canada Rd through Filoli, but all those
gates were closed, too. I wonder if you could go while Filoli is open,
but doubt it.
-Lina
On Fri, May 28, 2010 at 2:33 PM, Thomas Haggerty <tdhag...@gmail.com> wrote:
bbarry
Barry
Lina Mårtensson
Speaking of which... what's the route? :/ I think so far no one who
actually knows the route is joining. I've found some directions
online, but am wondering what's best (and most fun!).
Ammon has it on his map, and then it ends in Montara.
But could it be followed all the way to El Granada? Like this:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Higgins+Way,+Pacifica,+CA+94044&daddr=San+Pedro+Mountain+Rd+to:San+Pedro+Mountain+Rd+to:37.566623,-122.487988+to:El+Granada,+CA&geocode=FRB4PQIdw9iy-CmNxeeDY3CPgDESZIIUW0rfWg%3BFbVfPQIdfMKy-A%3BFatCPQIdYM2y-A%3B%3BFf4-PAId00Oz-Cl1TLetxHOPgDEN8VQpkLAPPw&hl=en&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=3&sz=15&via=1,2,3&dirflg=b&sll=37.560806,-122.492752&sspn=0.019493,0.035405&ie=UTF8&ll=37.539677,-122.475243&spn=0.155988,0.283241&z=12&lci=bike
-Lina
Brandon Chalk
Ammon Skidmore
Lina Mårtensson
Cool, thanks! I guess we won't be doing that one then. :) are there any parts where we may get lost if we're not careful?
On May 29, 2010 8:48 PM, "Ammon Skidmore" <skidp...@gmail.com> wrote:
Google maps is probably incorrect in listing the portion of San Pedro Mtn road it shows heading east to North Peak. There _is_ a fireroad that heads east to the top, but it has a very different character. San Pedro Mtn road used to be paved and the grade is never more than 6% (after-all, model T's drove on it!). The fireroad east gets so steep I had to walk my cross bike on a couple parts and there is no old pavement. A water district fence prevents you from heading further than North Peak. This exploration I did last year turned around at that fence: http://www.trailguru.com/wiki/index.php/Track:9UBH
ammon
On 29.May.2010, at 8:05 PM, Brandon Chalk wrote:
> The end of El Granada Blvd has a fence accordi...
Ammon Skidmore
Cool, thanks! I guess we won't be doing that one then. :) are there any parts where we may get lost if we're not careful?
A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.
More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have "lost". What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.
Lina Mårtensson
pace with many stops for photos etc. I'm happy I ended up taking my
road bike. It would probably be harder if you didn't go so damn slow
but we were happy to be slow today. :) In any case, road bike is the
way to go on this route in my opinion. There's a lot of riding before
and after it.
We also checked out Sweeney Ridge on our way there, and that was
great! The dirt singletrack was challenging on a road bike, but most
of all, I'd say it was a confidence thing - I don't think I really
would've had to get off my bike at all, but I did in several places,
because I don't like falling. :) It was fun though!
And we had amazing views both from Sweeney Ridge and Planet of the Apes.
Then we went to Tunitas and Kings Mountain, and eventually took BART home.
Thanks for the tips, and I'll definitely study your map a bit more - I
want try out more cool routes. :)
-Lina
Ammon Skidmore
Next time you've got to try the dirt by half moon bay airport. Red line in the map. Starts out on pavement closed to cars because the road gradually sliding into the ocean. Then it's flat hard packed dirt right next to scenic ocean cliffs. Road-bikable. It's the route I take on leisurely half-moon-bayways.
ammon