Sunday A Ride - 05/05/2024 - Pacifica > HW1 > West Alpine

The weather on Saturday is looking rough, but fortunately Sunday is unaffected and the show goes on.

My ideal A Ride is one where I only get dropped by a little bit, so I’ve put together a route that promotes this aspiration. We start with 70 miles of “flats”, riding north to Pacifica and coming back down the coast on Hwy 1. We’ll stop for water at the Devil’s Slide lookout, and continue south all the way to Pescadero. We’ll do a coffee stop at the Loma Mar Store, before climbing our way out over Haskins and West Alpine.

My intent is that the thought of climbing West Alpine after 75 miles will organically keep the pace reasonable up until then. We’ll be doing 2.5-3.5 W/kg and will regroup where necessary. After Loma Mar, the reigns are off and people can smash to their heart’s content, but I’ll be crawling up it.

The plan is to not stop for food until 67 miles in, so plan accordingly. If you’re short on time or fitness, there are multiple places to turn left from Hwy 1 and shorten the route up — Tunitas (74 mi), Hwy 84 (80 mi), or Hwy 84 after Haskins (still 93 miles but 700 ft less climbing). Also, this is the first weekend that we will be starting at 8am. It would be a shame to leave anybody.

Summary: 93 miles / 7,500 feet: Summit Bicycles > Cañada > Skyline > Pacifica > HW1 > More HW1 > Pescadero > Loma Mar > Haskins > West Alpine > Page Mill > Summit Bicycles

Route: AV A 5/5/24 | 92.6 mi Cycling Route on Strava

Start: Summit Bicycles, Palo Alto

Time: Meet 8 a.m., Leave 8:10 a.m.

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

Ride Leader: David Domonoske