tunitas creek/kings mountain

a nice little ride through the santa cruz mountains...   i found a less gnarly way to get down to pacifica/half moon bay.. ride up skyline blvd to westridge road where (right) and hop onto skyline DRIVE (parallel to skyline blvd).. it's a climb through a suburban neighborhood with some killer views of the mountains/pacific ocean.. then you take a left on crenshaw and a quick right onto polmetto and follow the bike signs from there (they eventually lead you back to cabrillo highway (1).. this avoids riding on the freeway completely!

then it was on down to tunitas creek road, a quick stop at the bike hut to fill up and i hammered up tunitas in 39 minutes up to skyline.. caught my breath and flew down the excellent descent down kings mountain road.. to get back to the city, you take a left on woodside rd, left on cañada rd follow the signs to highway 35 (dont turn onto it, go straight for a minute and you find the san andreas bike path on the left). didn't take many pictures on this ride as i was racing the sun and didn't stop much.. that's what i get for leaving at 12:15pm in the winter.

tunitas creek road+kings mountain road=REDWOODS!

Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total Distance: 138.12 km (85.8 mi)
Total Time: 6:04:38
Moving Time: 5:22:37
Average Speed: 22.95 km/h (14.3 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 25.69 km/h (16.0 mi/h)
Max Speed: 64.80 km/h (40.3 mi/h)
Min Elevation: -30 m (-100 ft)
Max Elevation: 620 m (2033 ft)
Elevation Gain: 1983 m (6507 ft)
Max Grade: 20 %
Min Grade: -24 %
Recorded: Wed Feb 10 12:19:43 PDT 2010

king's mountain (tunitas creek climb)

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Created by My Tracks on Android.

Total Distance: 127.80 km (79.4 mi)
Total Time: 6:29:06
Moving Time: 5:16:27
Average Speed: 19.71 km/h (12.2 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 24.23 km/h (15.1 mi/h)
Max Speed: 69.30 km/h (43.1 mi/h)
Min Elevation: -27 m (-89 ft)
Max Elevation: 637 m (2089 ft)
Elevation Gain: 2293 m (7521 ft)
Max Grade: 24 %
Min Grade: -13 %
Recorded: Mon Nov 16 09:31:48 PDT 2009

santa cruz mountains!
finally went south instead of north.. there was some beautiful coastline, and devil's slide was fun, but other than that the first 20 miles or so (of highway one) were a little too gnar gnar if you ask me.. but you didn't.

this  is the tunnel they're building through the mountain because devils slide has been known to  crumble down the cliff (and in to the ocean) every once and a while.

finally! i turn (off cabrillo highway aka 1) onto verde rd. and onto tunitas creek rd (pictured)

i climbed-up (7 miles gaining 2000 feet) king's mountain and turned left onto skyline blvd
this is crystal springs reservoir and the later pictures are of san andreas lake. both of these bodies of water are filling the san andreas valley (created by the san andreas fault not unlike tomales bay!) the bail-down on skyline blvd from kings mountain rd/tunitas creek rd lasted for 9 miles and was probably one of the straightest (least winding) descents in the area.
stumbled upon an awesome path that went on for about 8 or nine miles along the fault line!

the san andreas valley (dry side of the dam)

back to the golden gate park.. "ahhh..."