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| If you're
familiar with past TurkeyTrot rides
(always held on Thanksgiving morning), you'll know that they head
up King's Mtn, south on Skyline to 84, down 84 to LaHonda, and
then back via West Alpine. That was the original plan for
this ride, but the questionable weather up on Skyline convinced
everyone that we'd be better off heading towards the coast and
coming back up Tunitas Creek (yes, the logic escapes me as well,
but it did turn out nicely).
So for this TurkeyTrot, we rode, as usual, up
King's Mtn, south on Skyline to Sky Londa, down 84 to LaHonda and
then, instead of heading up West Alpine, we continued on 84 all
the way to San Gregorio. Then north on Stage Road to Tunitas,
up Tunitas a bit to the Lobitos Creek Cutoff, then Lobitos Creek,
and finally back to Tunitas for the final climb back over the
hill. |
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| The group meets at Olive
Hill and Canada Road promptly at 7:45am. Well, sorta...eventually
most of the group arrives by 7:55 or so and we're off! |
A couple hours later and
we're at the turn-off for West Alpine Road. Our original 11
is now down to 7. All decide to go for Tunitas! |
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| Dick, Ted, Pel, Richard,
Kevin & Todd outside the San Gregorio General Store, after
motorpacing behind Kevin from Skyline down to the coast. |
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| Is Stage Road fun, nasty,
or both? Here Kevin demonstrates that a full tri-bike can
still climb. |
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| Above is the
detail map showing the patch-quilt routing that takes you north
from San Gregorio on Stage Road, then Highway 1 for a short
distance, then east on Tunitas for a couple miles, back west on
Lobitos Creek Cut-Off, and finally back to Tunitas via Lobitos
Creek. |
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| Lobitos Creek Cut-Off is
one of the pleasant, meandering roads that you wonder why you
didn't know about...even houses with Whale sculptures! |
But Lobitos Creek (not
the cut-off) is something else again. Here it's still quite
fun & pleasant. By the way, temps were around 60 towards
the coast. Nice! |
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| It had been maybe 20
years since my last ride on Lobitos Creek, so I was still thinking
"What a cool little road!" |
Cool little road my
#$%!! This thing gets nasty with some steep and lengthy
grades. About this time you're asking what you like so much
about hills. |
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| That's Dick cresting one
of the major "little" hills on Lobitos Creek. |
The coast side feels like
it's maybe 60 years behind everything else as we head towards an
old barn. |
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| Look carefully and you'll
see a cow on the right... actually quite a few of them back there! |
And finally we're back
onto Tunitas Creek, a climb unspoiled by such silly things as
descents or even level spots, at least not until you're almost to
the top. |
| The day started out just a
bit cool at 40 degrees, but warmed up to 61 at the coast...near
perfect weather for climbing. Coming back over the hill we
were greeted by considerably more clouds, fog and cooler
weather. That's one of the great things about a bike...it
takes you places that are measured in more than just miles.
Different climates & scenery are just pedal strokes away.
All in all a very pleasant 50 mile outing that gets you back in
time for your afternoon Thanksgiving obligations, not to mention
make a bit of room for all the Turkey you'll be eating. Next
up? The annual New Year's Day ride up Mount Hamilton!
--Mike-- |