AV A Endurance - Saturday 10/19 - LKHC Alba
This week’s A endurance ride will take us to this week’s Low Key Hill Climbs segment: Alba via a route that only climbs the decent parts of highway 9.
We’ll roll from Summit up Page Mill and get a nice long warm-up before the main effort with a 50-55 min pace. We’ll climb a bit more on Skyline before heading down 9 to Boulder Creek for a very brief coffee stop to caffeinate and use the restroom before the real fun begins.
After climbing the 3.8 mi at 10+% of Alba at everyone’s max effort pace, we’ll have a generous regroup at the top, roll mainly downhill on Empire grade and enjoy descending the new pavement of Jamison Creek, getting water at the bottom. We’ll return to Skyline via Big Basin and Highway 9.
Summary: Summit Bicycles -> Page Mill -> Skyline -> 9 -> COFFEE (in Boulder Creek) -> 9 -> Alba -> Empire Grade -> Jamison -> 236 -> 9 -> Skyline -> 84
Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3281741126648348000
Start: Summit Bicycles, Palo Alto
Time: Meet 9:00 AM, Leave 9:10 AM.
Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules
Ride Leader: Robin Betz
Ride Leader’s special notes:
Pace-wise, I want to get a good time on Alba so I will be enforcing a friendly pace on Page and Skyline, and will probably be tired after the effort so will be friendly through Big Basin as well. By “friendly,” I mean a 50-55 min Page mill with a regroup at the top, and about 2.5 - 3 w/kg on other climbs. If you want to hammer Alba and all the other climbs too, Sunday A-ride is there for your enjoyment.
Fun fact, Alba is the only hill I’ve ever thrown up at the top of and I wasn’t even fast that day. Hopefully I will not be repeating that experience.
After Alba, it’s downhill on Empire grade and Jamison, and there’s water at the bottom of Jamison, so bringing just the water you need for the climb should be adequate. I’ll be bringing 2 bottles and having one full for the climb.
If you’re a B rider interested in A ride, this would be a good one to attend! Women are especially welcome!!! You don’t have to go hard on Alba and if you carry someone else’s fix a flat kit for them, no one will mind waiting at the top (we’ll all be busy throwing up recovering anyway). Bribes are definitely available - if you carry my fix-a-flat kit during my effort I will buy you a coffee.