Twelve of us decided to brave the high temperatures by riding a century from Los Gatos out to the coast and back. When we rolled at 7:30AM it was 75F so we knew we were in for a hot day on the bike. Fortunately, there’s a lot of shade on this route since it travels through some well forested areas, mostly Redwoods.
Due to the immediate climb up Old Santa Cruz, Mountain Charlie, Summit, Bear Creek, and Skyline we split up quite a bit. By the time we made it to the Skyline peak there were four of us out front with Richard leading the way. After San Gregorio I didn’t see any of the group I was supposed to be leading and I found out later that we used four different routes back to Los Gatos. Only one person, John P, rode the 110-mile route with 9,000 feet of climbing.
It was really cool out at the coast so the ride through Pescadero and San Gregorio was a lot more enjoyable than when I made it to the top of the Tunitas Creek climb. Descending Kings Mountain, the temperature was at least 100F with massive heat radiating off the pavement. It was then that I decided to take the easy way back and skip Mt Eden, Pierce, and Highway 9 on the way back.
It was great to be back at my car with a cold chocolate milk and water waiting for me. But it wasn’t fun riding up the 2 miles of unpaved Los Gatos Creek Trail to get there.
Check here for photos or click on the map above.
This was my 14th century (90+ miles) of the year. I’ve done 1810 miles on the road counting the shorter rides along with the centuries. .