2009-06-25 Alba and Big Basin loop
With the death ride just a couple weeks away I'm trying to get some good hard last minute climbing in. So yesterday after work I headed out to get some miles (and more importantly elevation) under my belt. When planning my route I wanted to get the infamous Alba Road as well as a descent of Hwy 9. This is what I ended up doing:
Things started a little slow with me exploring some residential streets in Los Gatos in search of an alternative to Los Gatos blvd. Then they got slower when I hit the Lexington Creek trail. And pretty slow as I rode the single track between Alma Bridge road and the Bear Creek overcrossing. I must say that it's frustrating to have to ride 15 minutes on dirt and gravel just to get to the fun roads
Anyway I climbed Black road. It was very hot and exposed at first but then tree cover takes over about halfway up the climb and that was a welcomed change. I took the shortcut on Gist road which is pretty much switchbacks the whole way up to Skyline. Then Skyline south and a right turn on Bear Creek road to descend into the town of Boulder Creek. This was a seriously fun descent. The gradient and radius of the turns was perfect for staying off the brakes and just hanging onto the bike for dear life and coasting through the sweepers
I got some Powerade at a gas station at the junction of 9 and 236 and then continued south toward Alba. When I made the turn I was greeted with some conflicting signs. One said "detour" (presumably to bypass the closed section of Hwy 236) and the other said "road closed". Nice. I went onward and 1/4 mile later I came across a bunch of trucks doing repairs of the overhead power lines that follow the road.
So I had heard all kinds of horror stories about Alba. I actually really enjoyed this climb, probably because I was only 27 miles into my ride at this point and still pretty fresh. I took it easy and marveled at the redwoods and was at the top before too long.
Then Empire Grade north and a quick descent of Jamison Creek where a nice truck actually pulled over to let me pass
When I got to the bottom and met up with Hwy 236, a CHP was parked there and was enforcing the closure of 236 between this point and Hwy 9. I got momentarily turned around and thought I was supposed to turn right here so I asked if I could go through the closed part of the road and he said that was okay. I had ridden maybe half a mile when I realized I should be going the other direction so I turned around.
Originally I had planned to take China Grade and cut out the extra miles of taking Hwy 236 the whole way. But 236 was just so scenic and there were hardly any vehicles on the road so I stayed on it. I stopped at the Big Basin ranger station and topped off one of my water bottles while fighting off hordes of mosquitoes that materialized out of nowhere as soon as I had stopped.
Continuing on, I met up with China Grade and stopped again to put on my arm warmers. Again swarms of mosquitoes out of thin air.
Finally I reached Hwy 9. I knew the stats to the top: 6 miles and 1300' of climbing. You would expect this to be a piece of cake. Certainly easier than Alba at 4 miles and 2100'. Wrong. This was the hardest part of the entire ride for me. It was a seemingly endless slog. Steep enough to feel it but not steep enough to get out of the saddle and rest my weary @$$. The one redeeming factor was catching glimpses of an amazing sunset through the trees to my left.
At the top, I kicked my headlight into high and began the long descent into Saratoga. This is an awesome road to descend at night! The orange reflectors in the middle light up like crazy and the pavement is smooth. I was having a blast.
Nearing the bottom the road flattens out slightly. I was cruising along a little slower than at the top but still at a good 25-30mph when I noticed a shape. A moving shape. In front of me. Without any conscious thought I adjusted my line to the left and went around it. What just happened? It was so quick that I had to kind of replay the event in my head after the fact and that's when I realized that I had just nearly decapitated a possum. It had been on the right side of the road slowing walking to the center of the road. I'm glad those guys move so slowly! The weird thing about this event is that it didn't get the adrenaline up at all. It was mostly funny.
Finally I got down the hill and had a 7 mile mostly flat stretch back to my house. I'm pretty sure I had a tailwind and it felt great to pedal hard and go fast. I stopped and got some Ibuprofen on the way because I was fresh out and figured I might be needing it
Stats:
71.5 miles, 7700' of climbing
Total time: 5:45
Moving time: 5:19
I was making it a point to minimize the stops and I guess I did pretty well
