Saturday, November 7, 2009

Another Short Training Route

Having a baby in full time daycare is cutting into my training regimen. Since I am responsible for dropping her off in the morning, it is tricky to get any riding into my morning schedule. The outdoor route is out of the question since I do not have the time for it. Even riding the trainer is hard to fit in.

On top of schedule limitations, the baby brings home plenty of germs to get herself and her parents sick. She gave me the gift of a virus that got me sick and kept me off the bicycle for two weeks.

I had some time for a bike ride this past weekend, but not enough for a long ride. With only a couple hours free, I initially thought about trying my usual short training route, which I have not done for a while. But then I thought I should try something new.

For some time, I have been wanting to attempt some very steep hills in the nearby cities of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills (although the names are almost the same, they are separate cities which are adjacent). Note that the latter is currently the 8th most expensive city in the US by median house price ($3.28 million). This route certainly takes me by many HUGE mansions and estates.

This route contains 5 notable hills — Mora, Viscaino, Ascension/Anacapa, La Barranca, and Quinhill. These are the names of the streets containing the hills. These are all very steep, with grades between 16% and 20%. However, all the the hills are short; no more than a couple blocks long.


The large loop is ridden clockwise, and the smaller ones are done as figure-eight loops.

I found that the total elevation of this route is about 2000 feet, which is slightly more than my usual Cupertino/Saratoga loop. Because it is two miles long and because of the number of very steep roads, my total time is about 15 minutes longer than the Cupertino/Saratoga route.

I will probably try to do this route occasionally in the mornings when I have time.

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