sjammer

Great ride on Canada Rd and through Woodside today. I have been looping Whiskey Hill Road, Manzanita, Mountain Home Rd, with some other backroads. What roads do other’s ride in the area? I am always looking for different routes.

KJ43

Lots of great routes through Woodside and Portola Valley. I rode up from Palo Alto to Woodside the other day, up Kings Mountain Road, south on Skyline and back down Spring Ridge Trail in the Windy Hill Preserve. Then it was just Alpine Road back down to Palo Alto.

Off of Canada Road there are some fun routes through the Redwood City Hills. You can really sneak in a lot of elevation depending on what you do all around that area. There are lots of excellent rides around Portola Valley as well which is right there. If you are willing to go more south into the Palo Alto and Los Altos Hills there is more great riding.

genejockey 

Hang a right off of 84, near the school, on Albion. It's pretty, and shaded. At the intersection you can go straight onto Manuella, which goes to Kings Mountain, or right which goes to Olive Hill, which runs into Canada.From Kings Mountain, turn left at the store onto Tripp, which takes you back to 84. These days, all my rides include Albion to Manuella to Kings to Tripp, then left onto 84 and back through Woodside to Whiskey Hill.

Another nice diversion is to take Willowbrook off of Portola, right past Windy Hill Open Space. That leads to Alpine. Mostly I hang a left and follow Alpine down, but on rare occasions I'll turn right and head up to the gate. Not too steep, except the last pitch. Descent is not as fun as you might think. It gets a little fussy with berms and stuff.

From Alpine, I usually take Arastradero. The descent is a blast, though you do have to watch for a couple bumps. Then the little jog on Page Mill to the rest of Arastradero. - short, sharp climb with a short, sharp descent with a stop at the bottom. I usually roll it, but not at the 35 mph I'm carrying off the hill! From there I turn at Deer Creek, go past Tesla back over to Page Mill, turn left and go up then down, and turn right onto Old Page Mill, which is another one of those relaxing, shady back roads. You COULD get to Old Page Mill by not taking the right onto Arastradero from Page Mill, but then you have to navigate the Page Mill/280 interchange, and I like being alive.

I have taken Golden Oak off of Portola, which is okay but there's a lot of up and down including a REALLY steep downhill that dumps you onto Alpine. You need good brakes!

genejockey 

Speaking of Woodside, I discovered two things today. First, there's construction on the piece of Portola that runs from 84 to Mountain Home, complete with a section with a single lane and stop lights at each end. Avoid if possible.

Second, THEY TURNED OFF THE WATER FAUCET AT ROBERTS MARKET!!!!!! For the last 25 years, my long rides have always depended on refilling bottles at that tap. Today, I got there, already thirsty, two empty bottles. I had to ride to the Water Temple to refill, and wait patiently while the nice couple in front of me filled FOUR BOTTLES! I filled one and drank half of it while filling the second. Man, was I DRY!!!!

sjammer

Thanks for all of the info. I am going to dig deeper into google maps/strava maps to plan some different routes. I do not mind the climbing, it is the descents that give me a bit of pucker factor. I am curious what the other side Portola Rd is like (opposite of Sand Hill).

sjammer

I like the Los Altos area and have considered riding there. I have thought driving down that way and parking to ride the area and venture into Sunnyvale/Cupertino area. I just do not have an idea of where to leave my car with out it being a problem. What are some of the good areas to ride in Los Altos?

KJ43

A really nice route into Los Alto can be done right by Gunn High School in Palo Alto. There is a park just down a multi use path also. Either of those places may have parking, I'm not sure since I always ride from my house.

There is amazing riding in the area, but just like getting used to the climbing, getting used to the descents is necessary.

I got the idea from these routes from the Western Wheelers Bicycle Club website, check their ride information area for GPS routes. I have used some of the routes I found there and built some fun rides.

On my Strava here are a couple of routes through Los Altos Hills that I really enjoy.

Local Hills to Old La Honda Road You can add a bit of spice to this by turning left onto Moody Road and climbing that to Page Mill Road instead of Altamont.

Foothill and Stevens Creek If you are fine riding trails you can keep going up Stevens Canyon past the gate up into Montebello Open Space Preserve which has a ton of trails off of it. You could also choose to go up Montebello Road instead of going past it on Stevens Canyon Road

LarrySellerz

So many good roads around here.. if youre in Los Altos I would check out the Egan ride. tuesdays at 6, they climb all over the place near you. pretty easy ride. Bring a helmet

cthenn

Heatmap is your friend! You can link up any number of roads into almost any length/climbing ride you want.

2cam16

No wonder it's been backing up the past couple of weeks at the Canada/Woodside stop. I've been wondering why there have been more than usual cars coming down Woodside. Today I started a reroute and am staying away from that intersection until it eases up.