Today with a break in the rain and super bowl fests occupying weekend drivers, I took the opportunity for a 35 mile ride including a favorite local climb. Page Mill Road climbs approx 2,200ft to Skyline boulevard and a springboard for a number of additional ride routes. You can cross directly over Skyline to Alpine Road down a valley past a fantastic grove of old growth redwood trees near La Honda and then to Pescadero or San Gregorio on Hwy 1 at the coast.
When I started out at 10:00am it was partly cloudy with some blue sky and on the way up and slightly warm in places. But towards the top it got colder with more wind. I was prepared and brought a lightweight GoreTex shell that cut the wind and kept me warm over two layers of wool I wore. I took it easy on the climb, considering going to the coast. Near the top at Monte Bello preserve I stopped to make a photo.
After I made the above photo I noticed I had a slow leak in my rear tire. A fencepost came in handy for hanging the bike while I replaced the tube.
I couldn't find anything in the tire and discovered later it was a leak at the base of the long valve stem. Most local bike shops seem to have an annoying preference for carrying long stem presta valve tubes (48mm) more suited for high profile aero rims for racing. These longer stems can wiggle around quite a bit when you're pumping them up if you have a normal profile rim like a Mavic Open Sport that has a slightly rounded profile where the presta washer comes in contact to the rim (note to self: only buy tubes with 36mm valves + make a washer filed out so the valve stem won't move around on longer stems).
I rode a 54cm Ebisu bike that I'd recently set-up with fenders as a lightweight Randonneur. Lately I've been favoring building-up bikes with double cranks, rather than a triple to save weight, paired with a very wide-range rear cassette. For this bike I have vintage Stronglight 49D crank arms with new TA Specialités Cyclotourist chainrings in 48/34 along with a 11-34 9-speed rear cassette. The bike with fenders and a front rack weighs just under 24 lbs. Not bad for a traditional lugged steel frame bike. The Stronglight/TA crankset combination is particularly lightweight and very responsive. Although I have a current rear Shimano 105 SIS index shift compatible rear derailleur, I prefer to use vintage Campagnolo Nuovo Record downtube friction shifters.
The combination of these shifters with the Shimano 105 rear derailleur provides perfect and **silent** shifting that you can adjust precisely unlike SIS systems. When you get the feel for shifting with friction levers, it's very satisfying to be able to shift almost effortlessly with no annoying clicks. To add to making the Ebisu more of a Randonnuer, I added lightweight Honjo aluminum fenders. These don't add much weight and are definitely worth it in winter and/or spring conditions. The Ebisu was extremely light for a steel bike before without the fenders, but even with them, it's totally worth it and it rides great.
Page Mill is a difficult climb in a few places, there's a few surprising drop interludes as you climb, making for a varied an interesting climb. I only used my lowest gear 34/34 a couple of times (bear with me, this is a traditional, lugged steel frame bike). When I got to Skyline boulevard the coast was looking very cold and gray and possibly rainy, so I proceeded north instead. About mile 16 I saw what looked like a dog on the side of the road running towards me. With reddish fur and a fluffy tail, I knew it was a fox and it quickly disappeared into the brush. On Skyline it's unique because in a few places you can see both west out to the coast and east to the Bay Area in places as you straddle the ridge road. I dropped down Old La Honda Road to avoid weekend traffic on hwy 84 further up. Once back in Portola valley the sun was out. Amazing the difference in climate just a few miles away. From there I took Mountain Home Road to Woodside then dropped back into suburbia via Redwood City/Menlo Park.
I'm looking forward to better weather and next time maybe riding out to the coast once again.
