Photos from the last time I rode this are here.

This is a link to the RideWithGPS route.

This is a link to the Excel Route Sheet

This is a link to the GPX file (you may need to right-click to download the file)

If you need a TCX file let me know (lane_parker@yahoo.com)

This is a link to the RideWithGPS route

This is a link to the Excel Route Sheet

This is a link to the GPX file

If you need a TCX file let me know (lane_parker@yahoo.com)

Photos from the last couple of times I led a ride to Half Moon Bay are here and here - the route we’re following (below) is slightly different from the one in the pictures.

This is a link to the RideWithGPS route

This is a link to the Excel Route Sheet

This is a link to the GPX file

If you need a TCX file let me know (lane_parker@yahoo.com)

The route starts at the Los Gatos Park N Ride then up Hwy 9 to Skyline.  We travel up Skyline to Alpine and down a great descent to Pescadero then over to Stage and north.  There are several places to get water along the way in Pescadero and San Gregorio.  We continue north up to Tunitas Creek and inland through the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve then to the coast for lunch at San Benito House.  The trip back to Los Gatos takes us up Tunitas Creek and down Kings Mountain through Woodside, Redwood City, Los Altos, and others back to Hwy 9 and the Park N Ride.

This is a link to the RideWithGPS route

This is a link to the Excel Route Sheet

This is a link to the GPX file

This is a link to the TCX file

Photos from the last couple of times I led this ride are here and here.

This is a link to the RideWithGPS route (you may want to download your GPX file from this link)

This is a link to the Excel Route Sheet

This is a link to the GPX file (you may need to right-click to download the file from DropBox or download one from the RideWithGPS route)

If you need a TCX file let me know (lane_parker@yahoo.com)

This is a great ride with a long stretch on the Sawyer Camp Recreation Trail and great views from the California Legion of Honor including the Golden Gate Bridge.

Photos from the last few times I led this ride are here, here and here.

This is a link to the RideWithGPS route

This is a link to the Excel Route Sheet

This is a link to the GPX file

This is a link to the TCX file

I’ve biked to Monterey from Santa Cruz with friends over the years and I’ve led a ride down there several times for the ACTC bike club.   The ride is primarily an out-and-back so it’s easy to cut the ride short at various points and head back to Santa Cruz but my main objective is to see Monterey again and enjoy some clam chowder on the wharf.  The next ACTC ride I’m leading down there is April 28, 2012.  We roll at 8:30AM from Natural Bridges State Park at the intersection of Natural Bridges Dr and Delaware Ave in Santa Cruz.

The map below is of the complicated section near the end of the ride.  The goal is to get over to the Santa Cruz Wharf or The Dream Inn then head back up to Natural Bridges.

The complicated portion

Photos from the last time I rode this with the club are here.

This is a link to the RideWithGPS route

This is a link to the Excel Route Sheet

This is a link to the GPX file

This is a link to the TCX file

Even at their casual pace I was struggling after about mile 40 but I trudged on.  One of my other good friends (Kryia Adams) dropped back to shepherd me for awhile and that was great for me but a slow go for him.

It was great to see the level of the Morgan Hill reservoirs up so high.  We’ve had lots of rain in the Bay Area lately so the creeks & streams are flowing well and the reservoirs are brimming which is rare.

At mile 50 Guy, Kryia, Sheila, Tina, and I stopped at the Dunneville Market for a re-fill on fluids and a bite to eat.  While we were there David and Christin rolled up and then Jon, Michael, and Nick came by.  The others had stopped a few miles back for a nature break and we passed them.  After a short stop the group of us took off for Hollister and the climb up Lone Tree.

At the start of the climb I let everyone take off ahead of me since I still had 60 miles to get back home and didn’t think I had the legs to keep up with them and still make it back home.  About three miles from the top I decided that was enough and headed back home.  I should have ridden to the top but just didn’t have the motivation.

On the way back I shoveled down a burrito at the Country Market then trudged back home.  It was miserable heading north to San Jose in the afternoon, as usual.  The winds were typically strong so the ride home alone was a struggle but I was glad to make it back and actually felt strong the last 20 miles.

My photos from the ride are here and my GPS results are here.

On nearly all my rides I capture the route on my GPS (currently an Edge 705) and I take pictures of the participants and a few scenery shots.  Most of the albums are at my Picasa albums page but some are in the Almaden Cycle Touring club gallery on SmugMug.

Below is a brief summary of each of my 2010 centuries with the most recent ride at the top:

#46 on 14-Nov – Part of the Hollister Permanent with Ken Emerson.  Photos of this 119-mile ride at this link.

#45 on 30-Oct – Old Tierra Bella – 105 miles led by yours truly.  Photos at this link.

# 44 on 23-Oct – Skyline Ramble 200K – 125 miles with my good buddy, Ken Emerson.  This is the 11th month in a row where Ken is riding a randonneuring event toward his R-12 Award.  I’m happy I was able to accompany him on part of his journey.  And this only represents about 25% of his riding for the year.  This ride started in Santa Cruz went to Freedom up to Los Gatos through Corralitos then up to Skylonda for lunch followed by a screaming descent down Hwy 84 to San Gregorio.  From there it rained all the way back south to Santa Cruz as we rode through Pescadero and Davenport.  There weren’t many other cyclists out there but we did run into Andrea Symons as she was heading north just outside Pescadero on the Pizza Century.  I only took a few photos due to all the rain.

# 43 on 16-Oct – Reverse Mt Hamilton – 123 miles led by yours truly with photos here This was one of the toughest of the year with 10,500 feet of climbing.  On top of that I’ve gotten into a bad habit of not doing a lot on my bike between the centuries so conditioning is not where it should be.  By the time I got to the back side of Mt Hamilton I was gassed but had to trudge my way to the top.  Paul Metz had been with me for the prior 30 miles but I told him not to wait on me since my legs were feelin’ it.  I was really happy to make it to the Lick Observatory at the top to take some photos and grab a candy bar and a coke. 

# 42 on 10-Oct – Day 2 of Bay in Two Days – 108 miles led by Russ & Sheila Stevens with photos here

# 41 on 9-Oct – Levi’s Gran Fondo – 100 miles led by Levi Leipheimer with photos here

# 40 on 2-Oct – Santa Cruz to Monterey – 107 miles led by yours truly with photos here

# 39 on 1-Oct – Home to SV for lunch w/Samy – 103 miles led by yours truly with photos here

# 38 on 25-Sep – Lexington School to Half Moon Bay – 108 miles led by yours truly with photos here

# 37 on 18-Sep – Legion of Honor – 100 miles led by yours truly with photos here

# 36 on 17-Sep – TGIF to the reservoirs – 102 miles led by Tom Green with photos here

# 35 on 11-Sep – Poppy Century – 100 miles led by Jon Kaplan with photos here

# 34 on 4-Sep – Tierra Bella Worker’s Ride – 104 miles led by Doug Gillison with photos here

# 33 on 28-Aug – Santa Cruz to Half Moon Bay – 112 miles led by Jon Kaplan with photos here

# 32 on 15-Aug – Chattooga Century – 100 miles led by Georgia Boys with photos here

# 31 on 9-Aug – Silver Comet Century – 123 miles led by yours truly with photos here

# 30 on 3-Aug – Last New Jersey Century – 109 miles led by yours truly with photos here

# 29 on 31-Jul – Cheeseburgers at the Junction – 100 miles led by Donny Axtell with photos here

# 28 on 28-Jul – New Jersey Century – 100 miles led by yours truly with photos here

# 27 on 24-Jul – SC Mountains Challenge – 101 miles led by Maura Noel with photos here

# 26 on 17-Jul – SC to Monterey – 106 miles led by yours truly with photos here

# 25 on 10-Jul – SJ Livestrong – 112 miles led by Livestrong with photos here

# 24 on 3-Jul – Far Hills to Lambertville – 105 miles led by MAFW with photos here

# 23 on 26-Jun – NYC Tour de Cure for Diabetes – 106 miles led by ADA with photos here

# 22 on 19-Jun – Street Light Mission for homeless – 101 miles led by Streetlights with photos here

# 21 on 22-May – Through the Pine Barrens again – 117 miles led by Neil Cherry with photos here

# 20 on 15-May – Cranbury to Tabernacle – 102 miles led by Neil Cherry with photos here

# 19 on 2-May – Grizzly Peak Century – 104 miles led by Grizzlies with photos here

# 18 on 27-Apr – Big Basin Loop – 107 miles led by yours truly with photos here

# 17 on 18-Apr – Polhemus Loop – 114 miles led by Deb & David Hoag with photos here

# 16 on 15-Apr – Tierra Bella Worker’s Ride – 117 miles led by Doug Gillison with photos here

# 15 on 9-Apr – TGIF – 90 miles led by Leo Hartung with photos here

# 14 on 3-Apr – SC to Monterey – 109 miles led by yours truly with photos here

# 13 on 27-Mar – Half Moon Bay – 129 miles led by Deb & David Hoag with photos here

# 12 on 20-Mar – Permanent w/Steve and Ken – 139 miles led by Ken Emerson with photos here

# 11 on 13-Mar – Solvang Century – 100 miles led by SCOR with photos here

# 10 on 6-Mar – Reverse Mt Hamilton – 129 miles led by Russ Stevens with photos here

# 9 on 27-Feb – Russian River 300K – 184 miles led by Rob Hawks with photos here

# 8 on 20-Feb – Mt Diablo – 148 miles led by Deb & David Hoag with photos here

# 7 on 15-Feb – Legion of Honor – 148 miles led by Brian Chun with photos here

# 6 on 5-Feb – Two Rock 200K – 123 miles led by Rob Hawks with photos here

# 5 on 30-Jan – Metcalf to Sunol – 103 miles led by Deb & David Hoag with photos here

# 4 on 23-Jan – Point Reyes 200K – 127 miles led by Rob Hawks with photos here

# 3 on 16-Jan – Kings Mountain – 104 miles led by Deb & David Hoag with photos here

# 2 on 9-Jan – Winter Solstice – 113 miles led by Deb & David Hoag with photos here.  Postponed from December due to bad weather.  This annual event was formerly the Winter Solstice Double but the club added a century which attracted a lot more riders.  200 miles in December or January is a bit much to ask.

# 1 on 2-Jan – SJ to Redwood City – 95 miles led by Deb & David Hoag with photos here.  Technically, this ride didn’t meet the letter of the law since it was a 95 mile ride but the UltraMarathon Cycling Association recognizes 90 milers as centuries so I’m counting this one.  Besides, it was cold and I had three flat tires that day.  This was a ride organized by Deb and David Hoag as a Long Distance Training Ride (LDTR) for our Almaden Cycle Touring Club (ACTC).   Nearly every week-end there’s an LDTR led by Deb & David, Jon Kaplan, or me.  Deb’s and David’s are usually hammerfests like this one but Jon’s and mine are much more relaxed.

Millie and I drove to Lompoc Friday afternoon for a night’s stay in the Day’s Inn.  The hotels in Solvang were nearly fully booked several months ago with the only rooms being much more expensive than they were worth.  After arriving in Lompoc I drove the 20 miles to Solvang to pick up my registration packet.  The crowds were huge with at least 3000 of the 4000 people arriving at about the same time.  However, it was very smooth and fast.  I spent a few minutes checking out all the booths of the cycle stores, health food vendors, and a variety of other interesting cycle-related businesses. 

After a surprisingly restful night’s sleep we loaded up the car at 6:30 Saturday morning (Millie loves that part of my rides) so I could get on the road before 8:00.  At around 7:30 I launched from Solvang with hundreds of the other 5500 riders.  My pictures show what a great day it was for us but only one photo shows how windy it was out there.

The 100 miles were pretty much uneventful with only the occasional close call with crazy riders from hardcore bike teams and a few minor accidents that seemed to be mostly the fault of the cyclist involved.  As usual I came across a few of my friends from here and there as well as some really nice people to talk to which helped to break the monotony of non-stop pedal pushing.

While I was out on the road Millie spent time in one of her favorite cities.  There are a bunch of craft stores and shops with the kinds of knickknacks she loves to collect.  I don’t even want to know how much money she spent.

Solvang is one of my favorite centuries that I’m sure I’ll ride again, hopefully even faster.  I probably could have pushed harder but I always worry about running out of gas with miles remaining to ride.  As usual, I had plenty in the tank but that feels better than being completely wasted prior to a 250-mile drive home and a 10K run the next day.