The Friday Cyclotouriste

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The route was prety straightforward. If you’re not familiar with the Bay Area you should print out some maps, but we basically made our way from memory.

The trip breaks down roughly into three sections.

Mile 0-35: a mix of urban and suburban roads and bike paths which wind through Marin cities such as San Anselmo, Ross, Corte Madera, and Sausalito.  You cross the Golden Gate Bridge and head west toward the coast and climb Skyline Blvd. before enjoying a nice descent into the city of Pacifica.

Mile 35-50: the long climb outside of Pacifica past Devil’s Slide offers some spectacular coastal views on the descent. Then it’s mostly flat or gentle low rolling hills to Half Moon Bay (which is a good place to remember to eat something or at least stock up on food).

Mile 50-100: a lot of short steep hills in this section makes it difficult to maintain much momentum. Also there’s no running water at the numerous coastal campsites, but Pigeon Point Lighthouse will let you use their hose spigot to refill water bottles. A few miles past the lighthouse is Gazos Grill in Pescadero, which will serve you a meal. Then there’s Davenport (see my espresso review).  Finally, in the last 14 miles or so, the hilliness decreases as you roll past fields planted with brussel sprouts and begin to hit the outskirts of Santa Cruz. We crossed town, mostly on bike paths, to arrive at our friend’s house near the boardwalk where we would stay for the night.

Note: the picture above is of my brother along the climb outside of Pacifica. It’s steeper than it looks, the shoulder is quite narrow, and there’s lots of truck traffic heading up to the construction project where a massive new tunnel is being built.

Read Part I here