Cycling in San Jose

[cookieguy]

It's looking like I am going to be on a long term assignment in San Jose, CA. Is there reasonable road cycling in the area or is this really mountain bike country? Any pointers to good rides?

[Grant McLean]

Hwy 101, Skyline Drive, Redwoods,
Santa Cruz, Woodside, Old La Honda,
Mt. Tam, Marin county.
Awesome weather 350 days a year.

I'd say, a reserved "maybe"....

G

[don compton]

don't forget sierra rd. and calaveras rd. they were part of the tour of ca. then there's mt. hamilton and mines rd. down to livermore. these are great cycling roads.
don c. :beer:

[bshell]

heaps.

[tmanley]

There are a ton of great loops. Here are some resources:

http://www.westernwheelers.org/main/resources/BA_Climbs.html
http://www.actc.org/billygoats/billys.html


PM me if you want more details for SJ, Peninsula and South Bay rides.

[NAHBS]

Hiway 9 is a fun climb.
Old Santa Cruz Highway to summit and up or down.
Theres always Mt. Hamilton....

DW

[Ken Lehner]

It's looking like I am going to be on a long term assignment in San Jose, CA. Is there reasonable road cycling in the area or is this really mountain bike country? Any pointers to good rides?

This may be the ultimate route guide for the area: http://www.chainreaction.com/roadrides.htm

Detailed, varied, reliable. I'm from New Jersey, and use this guide whenever I'm in the area (try the Tunitas Creek ride for a couple great climbs with nary a car on the roads (for the climbs themselves)).

[CalfeeFly]

It's looking like I am going to be on a long term assignment in San Jose, CA. Is there reasonable road cycling in the area or is this really mountain bike country? Any pointers to good rides?

To say cycling there is reasonable is like saying Eddy was a decent rider. :bike: :banana: You should have a ball.

[Zard]

It's looking like I am going to be on a long term assignment in San Jose, CA. Is there reasonable road cycling in the area or is this really mountain bike country? Any pointers to good rides?

Congrats. You will find a lot of rides. Start out in Los Altos - foothill expressway - don't worry, it is not an expressway - you will see. That will take you to any number of routes - The Loop in Portola Valley, La Canada road in Woodside. All of the roads in the area have a bike lane or wide shoulder with light traffic.

One of my favs: Try Old La Honda off of Portola Valley keep going down the Westside of Old La Honda down to 84 down to San Gregorio / Pacific Ocean. You can head south along Hwy 1 to Pescardero, Pescadero Road back to Alpine Road - Up the westside of Alpine Road back down Page Mill Road back to Los Altos.

Check out a map call The Bay Area Cycing Map - I got mine at Palo Alto Cycles. A set of foldable, "tuff' maps that are really handy.

If you want some climbing, Mt. Hambilton, Mt. Diablo (Danville / Walnut Creek)

If you have time, go over to HWY 1 and ride down to Santa Cruz, Monterey, and through Big Sur, etc. A great ride.

Have fun. See you on the road.....

[Skrawny]

One good website with many Bay Area rides is The Velo Girls website:

http://velogirls.com/resources/routes.php#south

I ride mostly in the North Bay, but let me know when you're in town, we can ride.
-s

[vaxn8r]

There are several pretty good loops south toward Morgan Hill. I don't know street names but I ride down there every year and you'd be surprised at how little traffic there is on some of those roads. Specialized has a big group ride every day around noon. It's pretty hilarious to see several hundred riders strung out. The first ones are the racer boys, followed by the pretty fit riders and finally by the stragglers that look like they are hating life and counting the miles until they get off their bikes. I assume the ride is mandatory for employees. Heh...

[tmanley]

don't forget sierra rd. and calaveras rd. they were part of the tour of ca. then there's mt. hamilton and mines rd. down to livermore. these are great cycling roads.
don c. :beer:

I rode Sierra today at noontime and there's quite a bit of road work activity going on. When I last went up the road about 3 weeks ago there was a temporary chain roping off the damaged roadway; due to the heavy rains a portion of the road slid down the hill. Fast forward to today...

There were 5 dump trucks lined up and taking dirt down the hill. The slide that closed one lane is now a big hole at least 30 feet across and covering both lanes. A large backhoe is making the road ready for some steel support beams (according to the foreman)...this will eventually make this section passable via 1 lane.

I was able to continue up the hill only after getting off the bike and hiking around the area through the barbed wire fence and the cow field. But there were no cars after that!

[jel]

Another site:

http://bikemaster.home.att.net/routes/index.htm

[cookieguy]

My exposure to the area has been limited to heading up and down the 101. The Serotta will be on the roof rack when I head out. I've been spoiled here in Boulder, CO and was a bit worried

[sevencyclist]

Here is another guide.

http://www.paloaltobicycles.com/rides.html

See you on the road/trail.