Bring your climbing legs! This one is a doozy!

In the interest of getting others from outside the City involved with RCC activities, let's incorporate the Caltrain schedule to make things easy. On weekends, Caltrain now runs every 30 minutes and is a much better, smoother ride than before, since all the trains are now electrified. Same "tag on" and "tag off" rules apply with your Clipper card.

Weekend schedule is here: https://www.caltrain.com/media/33908

If coming from 4th and King in SF, there's a train that leaves at 7:55am and makes all stops along the way down south, getting you in to Palo Alto at 8:45am. I'll likely be on this train, but hopping on in San Mateo.

Coming from the south, you have a few additional options that start even earlier, but there are two trains that get in at 8:25am and 8:55am that should coincide with those coming from the north.

This ride will take us up and over the ridge into Pescadero, a small town with a quirky coffee shop and Arcangeli market, known for its freshly baked garlic-artichoke bread and even some sandwiches in the back. It's worth it, I promise.

There should be plenty of us around that day, but you may want to bring a small lock if you need to leave the bike outside and wait for a sandwich (it can get a bit busy on the weekends).

There are effectively 4 climbs to this ride:

• Page Mill Road, the longest climb of the day, a little over 6 miles and about 2k feet of climbing
• Pescadero Creek Road, one of my favorite climbs of the Bay Area, but relatively tame by comparison
• Stage Road, a meandering up and down south to north road that keeps you off highway 1 as we head north after filling up on delicious bread (it includes a couple climbs, generally)
• Tunitas Creek Road, an iconic climb that will definitely test you after all the previous climbing! Not as intense as Page Mill, but quiet and a Bay Area staple for road cycling.

Besides the climbs, there are some glorious descents to be had through redwood forests, quiet roads, and scenic views. Alpine Road towards the bottom is quite a sight to behold, following a beautiful stream that takes you in a quiet gulley.

If anyone has questions or comments on any of this, feel free to ping me here and I'll be happy to help! See you all there!