bike from oakland to santa cruz and back

my (very uneducated) guess is that it will take about 3 to 4 days,
taking your time.

i'm also guessing that it would be best to take a coastal route.
frankly i don't know what the coastal route to SC looks like, so maybe
3 to 4 days is way off..

does anyone have the urge to set me straight on any of these topics?

On Feb 6, 12:46*pm, joshhh wrote:
my (very uneducated) guess is that it will take about 3 to 4 days,
taking your time.

i'm also guessing that it would be best to take a coastal route.
frankly i don't know what the coastal route to SC looks like, so maybe
3 to 4 days is way off..

does anyone have the urge to set me straight on any of these topics?

Well, it's about 50 miles on the coast from SC to Half Moon Bay,
another 15 or so miles to Pacifica on the coast. How about that? 65
miles, how long would that take you? In the Tour of California they'd
eat that up in 2-3 hours, yeah? If you're going south you're going to
be on the cliff side of the road...brrrrrr, gives me the willies just
thinking about that drop. Other hand, if you go north you're on the
side of the road where you're a target for those giant boulders that
roll down from on high...are you sure you wouldn't ride somewhere nice
and safe, like downtown San Francisco?

ABS

joshhh wrote:
my (very uneducated) guess is that it will take about 3 to 4 days,
taking your time.

i'm also guessing that it would be best to take a coastal route.
frankly i don't know what the coastal route to SC looks like, so maybe
3 to 4 days is way off..

does anyone have the urge to set me straight on any of these topics?

If you are a good endurance rider, a day. At most, 2 days. And the
'coastal route' means getting to the coast at what point in your
mind? If it is anywhere north of Pescadero or so, then you would
likely be taking BART to at least SF if not Daly City or Colma or
Millbrae, all of which would make the distance shorter.

If riding the entire distance and you do not want to use BART the best
route option would be to ride south to Fremont, take the Dumbarton
Bridge across. If you wanted to get to the coast then the best option
at that point is to head west and:

go up Page Mill Road,
continue on Alpine Rd to the intersection with Pescadero Rd.
take Pescadero Rd. and then use one of the options to get to Hwy 1
go south from there

This route has one big hill, Page Mill and one smaller hill, Haskins
Hill on Pescadero Rd.

Or you could go further south, go over Hwy 9 and down into Santa
Cruz. Or you could go south into Los Gatos, take the Los Gatos Creek
Trail to Lexington Res., go around the Resevoir to Old Santa Cruz Hwy,
take that to Summit, and use Mt. Charlie Rd. or San Jose-Soquel Rd. to
descend down to Santa Cruz.

- rick

Josh Harrington writes:

my (very uneducated) guess is that it will take about 3 to 4 days,
taking your time.

i'm also guessing that it would be best to take a coastal route.
frankly i don't know what the coastal route to SC looks like, so
maybe 3 to 4 days is way off..

I ride to Santa Cruz often, as I did today in beautiful weather with
clear skies to the ocean horizon on which four huge container ships
headed north. Riding south has two major advantages as I see it.
From the right side of the road, you are as close to the ocean as you
can get, looking nearly straight down on the surf, and the winds are
nearly always from the north.

There are a few good food stops, HMB, Gazos Creek, Davenport, and of
course Santa Cruz. I make that a round trip from Palo Alto, making it
at least 115 miles and 6500 feet of climb. I think any able bodied
rider should be able to put away that distance in daylight even on 21
December.

Besides, do it now, before the tunnel makes Devil's Slide only a
memory, built by the Ocean Shore Railroad:

http://tinyurl.com/2xpbw5

Jobst Brandt

On Feb 6, 8:35*pm, wrote:
Josh Harrington writes:
my (very uneducated) guess is that it will take about 3 to 4 days,
taking your time.
i'm also guessing that it would be best to take a coastal route.
frankly i don't know what the coastal route to SC looks like, so
maybe 3 to 4 days is way off..

I ride to Santa Cruz often, as I did today in beautiful weather with
clear skies to the ocean horizon on which four huge container ships
headed north. *Riding south has two major advantages as I see it.
From the right side of the road, you are as close to the ocean as you
can get, looking nearly straight down on the surf, and the winds are
nearly always from the north.

There are a few good food stops, HMB, Gazos Creek, Davenport, and of
course Santa Cruz. *I make that a round trip from Palo Alto, making it
at least 115 miles and 6500 feet of climb. *I think any able bodied
rider should be able to put away that distance in daylight even on 21
December.

Besides, do it now, before the tunnel makes Devil's Slide only a
memory, built by the Ocean Shore Railroad:

http://tinyurl.com/2xpbw5

Jobst Brandt

thanks all for the insights.. i think perhaps i'll stay away from the
cliffs of the coast and instead try to go all the way down 9. this
will by far be the longest ride i've ever attempted. my longest so far
has been fremont to hayward at 1 am because i fell asleep on the last
bart train.

joshhh wrote:
On Feb 6, 8:35 pm, wrote:
Josh Harrington writes:
my (very uneducated) guess is that it will take about 3 to 4 days,
taking your time.
i'm also guessing that it would be best to take a coastal route.
frankly i don't know what the coastal route to SC looks like, so
maybe 3 to 4 days is way off..
I ride to Santa Cruz often, as I did today in beautiful weather with
clear skies to the ocean horizon on which four huge container ships
headed north. Riding south has two major advantages as I see it.
From the right side of the road, you are as close to the ocean as you
can get, looking nearly straight down on the surf, and the winds are
nearly always from the north.

There are a few good food stops, HMB, Gazos Creek, Davenport, and of
course Santa Cruz. I make that a round trip from Palo Alto, making it
at least 115 miles and 6500 feet of climb. I think any able bodied
rider should be able to put away that distance in daylight even on 21
December.

Besides, do it now, before the tunnel makes Devil's Slide only a
memory, built by the Ocean Shore Railroad:

http://tinyurl.com/2xpbw5

Jobst Brandt

thanks all for the insights.. i think perhaps i'll stay away from the
cliffs of the coast and instead try to go all the way down 9. this
will by far be the longest ride i've ever attempted. my longest so far
has been fremont to hayward at 1 am because i fell asleep on the last
bart train.

If it's not too late, I second the coast route. I have done the Santa
Cruz-Half Moon Bay century on Hwy 1 and it is a tremendous ride. But
as Jobst points out, the wind can be a factor when northbound. Just
smile and don't cuss the headwind and hopefully it'll be a tailwind when
you turn around.