Sunday A-Ride 4/5/26 - China Grade

In search of some friends to do a big climbing ride with me on Sunday! I’m going to gauge effort by vibes because I don’t have a power meter right now but aiming for 3-3.5 w/kg type effort for you power dorks. Planning to do some big climbing over towards Santa Cruz, highlights include HWY 9 up to skyline, then dropping down East Zayante road into Ben Lomond, climbing China Grade and continuing up out of Big Basin before dropping down Page Mill to finish.

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3474859572169187684

Summary: 83 miles / 8,500 feet: See above

Start: Summit Bicycles, Palo Alto

Time: Meet 9 a.m., Leave 9:10 a.m.

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

Ride Leader: Jon Wells

[Los Gatos] Saturday A Ride 4/4 - Henry Coe

Dear adventurers, 

This week, while it is not yet unreasonably and blisteringly hot, we are embarking on an expedition down south to experience a climb that is new for most of us - Henry Coe State Park. We will start from Summit Bicycles in Los Gatos and take Kennedy to Hicks to Almaden to Uvas before crossing through Morgan Hill to reach our mysterious destination, where untold treasures await…

There is plenty of street parking around Summit; alternatively, you can use this lot or the library across the street. I’ll be rolling at 3w/kg all day long. I hope you will come explore with us!

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3436968055542727784 - 90mi / 7,700ft

Start: Summit Bicycles, Los Gatos. Meet 9:00 AM, Roll 9:10 AM

Ride Etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

Ride Leader: Richard Red

AVA-E Saturday 3/28 - Pigeon Point & Shake Shack

Saturday’s forecast is looking perfect, we’ll do an iteration of one our classic routes to take advantage of the sun & scenery to Pigeon Point. We’ll even have a light tailwind if we’re lucky. This will be an efficient ride. Let’s keep it smooth and single or double file on La Honda & Highway 1 and be sure to call out any road furniture to keep everyone safe, rotating through where possible. We will regroup at each climb and have a 10-15 min stop in Pescadero at mile 50. See you there!

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3471332048284834284

Summary: 83 miles / 6,800 feet: Summit Bicycles > OLH > La Honda down > Highway 1 > Gazos Creek > coffee/snack in Pescadero > Pescadero Creek up > West Alpine up > Page Mill down > Shake Shack

Start: Summit Bicycles, Palo Alto

Time: Meet 9 a.m., Leave 9:10 a.m.

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

Ride Leader: Sam Moskal

Sunday A Ride: Mt. Tam via Alpine Dam + Hwy 1

Time: 8:45am meet, roll by 9am from Crissy Field East Beach parking lot

Date: 3/29/26

Ride Leader: Wil Gibb

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3472239870892956590 ~70 miles/~7k feet

After a weekend of hard racing, it’s time for a beautiful Mt. Tam ride to refill our cups. This is my favorite way to do Tam, going across Alpine Dam, climbing the seven sisters, and descending down to Stinson Beach before rolling along the most stunning section of Highway 1. The main food stop will be at The Coffee Roastery in Fairfax, and there’s water/bathrooms at the top of Tam. The ride will be endurance pace, except for the Hawk Hill finale — if the wind is favorable maybe we can go for an effort.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

Sunday A ride - 3/22 Cat’s Hill hangover

One water stop at pesky this is not a super long route so it should be reasonable. Minimal stopping otherwise. I think we can get it done in 4-5 hours

We should be averaging about a zone 2 pace I might be shelled from the day before but I’ll do my part to keep the pace up

Route: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/54323098

Summary: 72 Miles, Kings, 84, reverse stage, Haskins, Alpine, down page and home

Start: Summit Bicycles, Palo Alto

Time: Meet 9 a.m., Leave 9:10 a.m.

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

Ride Leader: Leo Minami

AVA-E 3/21/26 - Dirt to Race Spectating

Ok this may be more of “a ride” than “A Ride” if you get my drift. Last year Richard Red led a fun looking dirt route to LG for Cat’s Hill spectating but he is unavailable, so we are running the route (mostly) back with me, Temu Richard.

This will definitely be closer to B pace so if you would like some dirt don’t be afraid to join! Ride will unofficially end at the race in Los Gatos, hang out as long as you want or head home when you need to.

Fun fact: I’ve never done El Sereno so some new trails for me! Those wishing to get to racing earlier can either detour off 9 to Sanborn to JNT to black, or skip the second half dirt altogether and just take 9 all the way to LG. Lots of options that the leader may or may not need to avail himself of depending on how hard he gets dropped. See you there!

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3469748463556186372

Summary: 64 miles / 6,800 feet: Summit Bicycles > Dirt Alpine> Canyon > RWG > 9 > Saratoga (water/snack?) > El Sereno > Montevina > LGCT > Cat’s Hill > Rail Trail/Foothill back

Start: Summit Bicycles, Palo Alto

Time: Meet 9 a.m., Leave 9:10 a.m.

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

Ride Leader: this can’t be right… Jonathan?

AVA-E 3/14/26 - China Grade

Sorry for the late ride posting — I was only recently bullied into being A-ride leader for the weekend. Since I’m the ride leader and I am also racing Bariani on Sunday this is going to be basically the exact opposite vibe of Rachel’s ride last weekend: we will be doing steady endurance. and maybe a hint of tempo on the climbs.

B riders who are contemplating A ride are especially welcome! I’m thinking a 50-55min Page Mill pace (please wait at the top if you’re fast or just keep going if you want to be fast all day) and safe, friendly, and SMOOTH pacelines on the flats. If we can be courteous to other road users and not blob out into traffic when there is a bike lane that would be appreciated.

Food stop in Boulder Creek will be efficient but enjoyable.

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3467724944509143796

n.b. if you would like less climbing, feel free to descend Highway 9 on the way home.

Summary: 86 miles / 9,000 feet: Summit Bicycles > Page Mill > Skyline > water @ fire station > driveway/skinny Skyline > Bear Creek > coffee/snack in Boulder Creek > China Grade > 9 up > [Skyline > 84] or [9 down > RWG > Foothill]

Start: Summit Bicycles, Palo Alto

Time: Meet 9 a.m., Leave 9:10 a.m.

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

Ride Leader: Robin Betz

Sunday A-Ride 3/8/26 - Pigeon Point

Feels like it’s been a while since we’ve had one of these on a Sunday right? It should be really nice out this weekend, so this should be a good one. My coach wants me to do “steady endurance” pace, so this should be about 3-3.5w/kg the whole time. We’ll have a quick water stop in Pescadero after the Cloverdale loop, but minimal stopping otherwise (I don’t want to wait for 15 minutes at the top of every climb).

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3254515217037370706

Summary: 84 miles / 8,100 feet: Summit Bicycles > OLH > 84 > Haskins > Cloverdale/Gazos Creek > Hwy 1 > Bean Hollow > Pescadero (water stop) > Stage > Bike Hut > Lobitos Creek > Tunitas > Kings > Summit Bicycles

Start: Summit Bicycles, Palo Alto

Time: Meet 9 a.m., Leave 9:10 a.m. (also remember DST starts Sunday)

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

Ride Leader: George Wehner

AVA-E 3/7/26 - Bonny Doon

8:30AM START

It’s another beautifully sunny day out, and there are no races this weekend which means the ability to destroy our bodies comfortably in a type 2 fun kind of way on a nice Saturday ride. I’ve been wanting to do this route for a while so take a look at the route link that’s what we’ll be doing. There are two water stops listed below. We can choose to stop at Pesky for coffee and pastries or find something further, I just don’t know where a good place to stop is. Stop lengths will depend on how much time we’re making up on the ride so we don’t get back too late. Pace will be 3.5w/kg. Note to meet at 8:30am.

Stops:

• Pesky mile 31.4

• Jamison mile 71.5

Summary: Page Mill —> West Alpine —> Pescadero —> Clover —> HWY1 —> Pine Flat —> China Grade —> Big Basin —> HWY9.

109 mi, 10,800 ft

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3444442616716402214

Start/End: Summit Bicycles, Palo Alto

Time: meet 8:30AM, roll out 8:40am

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

Ride Leader: Rachel Hwang

AVA-E Saturday 2/28/26 Shake Shack

It’s looking sunny for the first half of the day, so going towards the coast! Route will be up Page Mill, along Skyline, stopping in Pescadero for a really quick water/coffee break at mile 39.5, loop around Purisma and Higgins Canyon, up Lobitos/Tunitas, down Kings to Shake Shack. Pescadero will be the only water stop so remember to fill up. My goal is to get to Shake Shack at a reasonable hour. Pace will be 3.5-34.0 w/kg on climbs, together on rollers, and will regroup at the top of each major hill.

Summary:

88mi, 8800ft

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3444442616716402214

Start/End: Summit Bicycles, Palo Alto

Time: meet 9:00AM, roll out 9:10am

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

Ride Leader: Rachel Hwang

Saturday A ride 2/21- Kings - Hillsborough + Emerald Hills

I don’t entirely trust the weather to not turn this weekend, but for now its supposed to be nice and with an odd wind from the south. To make use of that wind we will start our ride on the noon-ride/spectrum route over to Kings. Then descend down to 92 before doing some smaller sharper climbs in Hillsborough and Emerald Hills on our way back. Not really sure what water stops are best, but like old store if we really need it, but more likely it will be the corner of Skyline and Crystal Springs is our first water stop. We will do loops on SkyFarm and Black Mountain Road and work our way back over to Palo Alto. We can get a coffee stop in either on the way back through crystal springs or at Emerald Hills Coffee Roasters.

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3459792156556993862

Summary: Alpine/portola/tripp, Kings, 92, Sky Farm, Black Mountain Road, Polhemus, Ralston, Hastings, crestview, Jefferson, Canada, Whisky Hill, Sandhill

Start: Summit Bikes Palo Alto

Time: Meet 9:00 AM, Leave 9:10 AM

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules 

Ride Leader: Hannon Ayer

Saturday A ride 2/14- OLH-Pescadero + Cloverdale

This week we’ll head towards the coast for a loop around Pescadero and Cloverdale. We’ll do stops at Sky Londa and Pescadero for water. People can send it on Old la Honda and West Alpine if interested, but lets keep the group together on the rollers/flat sections. Weather looks ok so far, but we can modify the route if it looks like some rain will move in. Rumor has it there will be a stop at Alpine Inn at the end of the ride for interested parties.

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3456864894159130310

Summary: Sandhill, Old la Honda, Skylonda, San Gregorio, Cloverdale loop, Pescadero, West Alpine, Pagemill

Start: Summit Bikes Palo Alto

Time: Meet 9:00 AM, Leave 9:10 AM

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules 

Ride Leader: Steph Hart

Sunday A-ride 2/8/26 — Bohlman/Soda Springs/Hwy9 + AVRT picture day

As the race season started, it’s time to do some long steady effort! We will do three major climbs 🏔️ — Bohlman, Soda Springs (not full climb, just first 6k then we’ll go down a side road), and Hwy9 from Saratoga. Feel free to go as hard as you want on the climbs, but I’ll try to (until fail) set a steady ~4.2 w/kg tempo, with regroup on the top of each climb. We will also check out cat’s hill course and have a ☕ coffee break in Los Gatos. Lots of places you can bail on this route, and the view around Lexington reservoir is always incredible — hope to see you there!🌊✨

Note: If you are on the race team and miss the Saturday photo shot, Wil will be there at the start on Sunday too!

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3454006010880478546

Start/End: Summit Bicycles, Palo Alto

Time: meet 9:00 am & roll out 9:10 am. Race team - meet 8:30 & wear team kit for photos

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

Ride Leader: Jack Liu

Saturday A Ride: Butano Gravel + AVRT picture day, 2/7/26

Hello everyone! The weather is warming up & there hasn’t been rain for awhile, which means it’s a perfect weekend for Butano, the back door into Big Basin. This is my favorite ride in the area, hands down. We will start by climbing dirt alpine, and going allll the way down west alpine to Portola State Park for a brief water stop. We will then traverse Old Haul Road, the first dirt section, down to Pescadero. We’ll briefly stop for a coffee/pastry/water - the last water stop for about 2 hours. The real fun begins after, where we climb Butano fire road, where, at its peak, you can see all the way to Monterey. After ten miles of gravel, we are spit out onto China grade/big basin, where we will climb up highway 9 to the fire station for water. After the fire station, we’ll head down skyline, -> page mill -> summit. This is a big, beautiful ride so we’ll try to make efficient stops to allow for time spent dismounting to hop over trees and taking photos at the old air field.

Note: If you are on the race team, please arrive to Summit at 8:30 & wear team kit for photos :)

Equipment: Gravel bike

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3454294432426423576

Start/End: Summit Bicycles, Palo Alto

Time: meet 9:00 am & roll out 9:10 am. Race team - meet 8:30 & wear team kit for photos

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

Ride Leader: Wil Gibb

AVA-E: PM-Jamison-Soda Springs 1/31/2026

Hi all,

A little birdie told me that there was no AVA-E ride in the works for Saturday and that made me sad :(
So I came up with this little route to fill the ride shaped void in my heart :)

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3416627466380533656
~108 mi, 12300 ft
Start: 9 AM at Summit Bikes, rolling out at 9:10
Pace: Endurance on flats/rollers. 3-3.5 W/kg on climbs longer than 5 mins. Choose your own adventure on descents.
Regroups: Top and bottom of long climbs/descents
Stops: Water at Jamison Creek Rd fire station, gas station at Felton, water stop after the Lexington reservoir gravel connector.
Ride “leader”: Paddy
P.S. Soda Springs climb can be tackled/skipped by popular vote. But I’m in favor!!!
P.P.S. I heard there might be some Shake Shack-ery. So somebody please get on the front and pull so we can make it back on time

Sunday A Ride 2/1 - Team Pescadero Loop

For Sunday, we will meet at Summit Bicycles as a team and head to Pescadero via Old La Honda. We will then take in the nature on the west side of the mountain range by riding along stage, and head back to Skyline via Tunitas. From there we will descend back down King’s Mountain with caution, headed back to Summit Bicycles.

There will be a coffee stop along the way, but otherwise we will aim to keep stops to a minimum with the option to add on some more miles at the end of the ride.

66.26 mi, 6,554 ft

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3244363266010356798

Start/End: Summit Bicycles, Palo Alto

Time: meet 9:00 am & roll out 9:10 am

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

Ride Leader: Jack Lund

Sunday A Ride 1/25 - HMB to Pescadero

On Sunday, we will make our way to from Summit Bicycles over to Kings Mountain then follow skyline up to 92 and descend over into half moon bay, where will will make a stop for water and baked goods. Then we’ll make our way down the coast with detours from 1 up Higgins and down Purissma creek then down stage road into Pescadero, where we will make a second stop to re up on water. We will then go up Pescadero creek to West Alpine and finally down Page Mill to finish.

I’m going to keep the pace chill for the entire ride, around 3-3.5 W/kg. If folks want to go crazy on the two big climbs, thats great and we can regroup at the top.

80 mi, 8,200 ft

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3449538991184377284

Start/End: Summit Bicycles, Palo Alto

Time: meet 9:00 am & roll out 9:10 am

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

Ride Leader: Jon Wells

AVA-E: HMB-Pesky 1/24/2026

Matthew Y was just so convincing on the slack so I decided to lead this week. Up Kings, down Tuni. HMB, down 1 to stage into pescadero, up haskins and west alp, down page. I’m not Steph so I’m not going to ask for a PR lead out on the climbs, but usual AVA-E pace.

top of kings, HMB, Pescadero, others as needed. We can figure out on the way whether we want a long stop in HMB or in pesky

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3449835267345628906

Start: Summit Bikes Palo Alto

Time: Meet 9:00 AM, Leave 9:05 AM

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules 

Ride Leader: Hannon

Sunday A-Ride 1/18 — HW1 Pacifica to Pescadero

I’ve led variations of this route before and I’ll lead many more. We’re going North on Skyline to Pacifica, then flipping it and taking HW1 allllllll the way down the coast to Pescadero. Our orophobia can’t last forever though, and we’ll struggle up West Alpine to make it back home. It’s all about ~balance~

The pace will be chill going up the small hills in the first 75% of the ride — I don’t plan on being over 3.5 w/kg for a single second. On the flats we’ll work together and it’ll be a choose-your-own-intensity. Take long pulls at the front if you’re up to it, or camp out at the back as designated caboose if you’re bonked. Stops will include a quick water stop at Devil’s Slide, a proper coffee stop in Half Moon Bay, and another café stop at the Loma Mar Store. After Loma Mar, you have free rein — ride up West Alpine at 8 w/kg if that’s your thing.

94mi, 7,664 ft

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3447444120081429216

Start/End: Summit Bicycles, Palo Alto

Time: meet 9:00 am & roll out 9:10 am

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

Ride Leader: David Domonoske

AVA-E: Big Basin 1/17

Saturday looks sunny, so lets take advantage of the nice whether and ride Big Basin for the first time this year. Route is up Page Mill, skyline to Saratoga pass; Big Basin to Boulder Creek + Bear Creek Rd. climb, and then descend via Hwy 9.

We’ll regroup at the top of Page mill and Bear Creek. Water stops will be the fire station on Jamison Creek Rd and Castle Rock. Pace is 3.5-4 W/kg.

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3446327614522147270

Start: Summit Bikes Palo Alto

Time: Meet 9:00 AM, Leave 9:05 AM

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules 

Ride Leader: Steph Hart