Date: Saturday, February 11Meet time: 9:30 a.m.
Ride-out time: 10:00 a.m.
Meeting place: Parking lot at Villa and Franklin streets, Mountain View (across from the Tied House) (map)
City: Mountain View
Rain policy: Heavy rain cancels
Category: 3 - moderate-fast pace (12-15 mph)
Terrain: 3 - rolling hills with some steep climbs
Miles: 50
Description:
This ride teaches you one of the most important lessons to have a successful ride in June: Pace yourself.
The first half of this ride is almost completely flat, and you might be tempted to ride all-out. But don't -- because then we shift into a festival of hill-climbing, starting with the Quadbuster-esque Westridge in Portola Valley. This year, there's a new challenge (that's the "plus"): We'll then head up to the end of Alpine Road and then climb (or, in some cases, cross-train) the fairly short but even steeper Joaquin Road. The reward is an amazing descent down Los Trancos Road back into Portola Valley. And as if that weren't enough, we'll finish with the dual climbs of Elena and Taaffe in Los Altos Hills. Yes, that's a lot of hills, but none of them are more than a mile long, so you can always cross-train where needed.
Strava reports about 2,900 feet of climbing for this route, almost all of it in the second half.
This ride is Caltrain- and VTA-friendly. The first southbound train of the day leaves SF at 8:15 and arrives in Mountain View at 9:29. We're about four blocks from the station.
Beginning with this ride, the Distance Training rides move up to a 12-15 mph pace. But you do NOT need to be a 15 mph rider to do these rides! Our experience has been that many cyclists taking part in Cat-2 training rides actually ride at a Cat-3 pace. And it's perfectly OK if you're at the lower end of the Cat-3 range.
RSVPs are requested but not required. 