To the Coast and Back via Backroads

Bill Bushnell — Saturday, July 17, 1993

Hildy Licht, Scott Wiley, Jim Haughey, John Hughes, Richard Mlynarik and I ride up east Alpine Rd. to Skyline and down the coast side to Camp Pomponio Rd.

We turn left on Camp Pomponio Rd. and plunge very quickly toward the redwood forest below. The view of the Pescadero Creek watershed is wonderful, but the road demands 90% of our attention. There’s a wonderful whoop-de-do where the road splits just after we descend into the redwoods. I register my maximum speed here. We turn left on Bridge Trail and continue across Pescadero Creek. Poor Hildy takes a spill on the bridge and manages to cut open her knee on a nail sticking out of one of the planks.

We continue down the Old Haul Rd. Hildy and Richard ride to Memorial Park where she calls her son for a ride home and to the hospital to get her knee stitched. The injuries aren’t life-threatening, yet continuing the ride would be neither pleasant nor prudent. When I called Hildy after the ride, she told me her knee required 11 stitches but the scrape on her elbow hurt more. I hope she recovers for our next club ride to Santa Cruz in August.

We continue down Wurr Rd., and wait briefly at the Loma Mar Store for Richard who had ridden with Hildy to the phone at Memorial Park, before riding into Pescadero for lunch. Thanks, Richard.

After lunch we ride north on Stage Rd. to San Gregorio, where Richard returns up CA-84, and beyond to CA-1. Along the way we pass a San Mateo County Sheriff deputy watching something intently through his binoculars. When greeted with a “Hello.”, he acknowledges with a grim, unsmiling nod. What heinous crimes could possibly transpire in the idyllic fields in the rolling hills above San Gregorio?

We continue north to Verde Rd. and then to Purissima Creek Rd. We turn right on Purissima Creek Rd. and continue up Purissima Canyon on the dirt road. We turn right again on the Borden Hatch Mill Trail and wind our way up the thickly-forested hillside. The Borden Hatch Mill Trail is beautiful. It is mostly rideable with only one short uphill pitch with a grade in excess of 25% that no one can ride. Yet, even Jim on his road bike with 23mm tires and 42x25 gearing manages most of the climb without shifting to his two-foot gear.

The Borden Hatch Mill Trail hooks up with the Grabtown Gulch Trail before arriving at Tunitas Creek Rd. where the latter crosses the ridge line. We continue up Tunitas Creek Rd. to Star Hill Rd. where we turn right on Star Hill and left on Swett Rd. about 1/3-mile later before stopping at the school for water.

At Skyline Scott decides to return down Kings Mountain Rd., and the rest of us (John, Jim, and I) ride north on Skyline to Windy Hill and then down the Spring Ridge Trail (aka Windy Hill Trail). The Spring Ridge Trail is very bumpy in places, but the soil is hard packed most of the way, giving our relatively thin slicks good traction. John finally gets to put his front fork shock-absorbers to good use on this trail. Yet, descending the Spring Ridge Trail is not nearly as difficult as descending the steep, loose soil of Ward Rd. But that’s another story.

At the bottom of the Spring Ridge Trail, John turns left to go home, and Jim and I shift into afterburners as we zip down Alpine Rd. to I-280. At the Sand Hill Rd. mess I turn down Sand Hill, Jim turns right on Junipero Serra Rd., and we both head home.

Ride stats:

distance: 77.7 miles

climbing: 6610 feet

total time: 8:56

riding time: 6:10

average speed: 12.6 mph

maximum speed: 41.0 mph

index: 104

irp: 12

mirp: 17

cd: 85

cr: 0.0161

An article on indexing can be found here.

©2004, Bill Bushnell

Please do not publish or distribute for profit without permission.