San Jose (~85 miles)

My buddies Lubos, Michael, and James were doing the Big Sur Marathon, so I decided to head out to Monterey (actually Carmel) to cheer them on at the finish line. But that was on the menu for Sunday, not the Saturday before. Since my buddy Chris just moved out to San Jose a month ago, I thought it would be fun to visit him. So I drove up to Salinas, CA (near Monterey) on Friday night and on Saturday morning, 04/26/2008, I jumped on my bike to ride up to San Jose. This was to be a one-way ride...I would spend the afternoon hanging out with Chris and his wife, Megan, then they would drop me off back at my hotel.

This ride started with a lot of countryside/farming land scenery and end up in the heart of downtown San Jose. Originally, I had planned to track CA-101 up to Monterey road then continue straight into San Jose. Of course, the twisty windy roads beckoned, so I ended up taking a somewhat more convoluted route. (Some parts of the CA-101 are rideable...but it was prohibited near Salinas because there were clear alternatives. I'd really like to know what part of my favorite highways (CA-1, CA-14, CA-58, CA-101, CA-395) are bikeable in both a legal and prudent sense.)

This was right outside my hotel room (Motel 6 near the airport) in Salinas. Lettuce, maybe? I'm glad I had my little GPS thing to figure out how to get to the highway.

San Juan Grade road looked to be a fun ride on the map. It was climbing, but not insanely steep. This is a view looking back towards Salinas.

This is after the crest of San Juan Grade road (which turns to Salinas Road) looking down towards San Juan Battista. San Juan Battista has a famous Mission, but I only stopped outside to talk to some fellow cyclists from Hollister. There was some sort of art fair going on and a lot of roosters running round town. I so wanted a picture but I failed. Damn roosters move too fast!

San Juan Grade road looked like it had once been a more major thoroughfare...back in the old days. Especially during the descent to San Juan Battista, the pavement was extremely rough...my cyclocross bike would have been a lot more comfortable. What was a little trippy is that this was actually still a working two way road! I was passed by cars in both directions, but, fortunately, not by cars in both directions at the same time.

There were some nice and twisty roads on the west side of the map, so I again headed away from the CA-101 and through farm counry (a lot of strawberries) to CA-152. There was a pretty treacherous climb (because of the lack of shoulder and fairly heavy traffic) to Mt. Madonna State Park. There was some cool hippy wagon that was a very considerate passer along the way. Way to go rubber tramps! Along the climb, there were these cool shaded valleys with lots of redwoods. I'm not sure why, but I kept thinking of the book "Where the Red Fern Grows." At the top of the hill was Mt. Madonna State Park. I thought I'd just peel off into the park to take a leak, but little did I know that there were a few gnarly climbs between me and the campground with the toilets. I almost fell off my bike it was so steep. At the campground, I ran into an older couple who were RV'ing it and they suggested that I take Uvas canyon road into San Jose instead of Monterey Road. (It turns out that they were ex-bikers).

This is a shot of the Uvas reservoir. Once a year, they open this up for the San Jose Triathlon.

This is a shot along Uvas canyon road. It's probably 15 miles away from downtown San Jose. I love how the character of California can change so totally in such a short distance.

Conclusion: An interesting ride through coastal farmland in Central/Northern California. For being just south of San Francisco bay, it felt a lot more like the central coast of California. The roads do get a little crowded as you head towards San Jose. On the other hand, every new ride is something special to me, so you'll find no regrets here.