Saturday GRAVEL Ride 3/22 - Cat’s Hill

This week’s a ride both rough and grand,
Through gravel trails and rugged land.
Not Summit’s start, but Egan’s lot,
From Los Altos, off we trot!

Arastradero, then Dirt Alpine,
Climb Black’s peak—a view so fine.
Canyon Trail, a river splash,
Then Stevens Canyon in a dash!

Redwood Gulch, a climb so steep,
Then down Highway 9 we sweep.
El Sereno? We’ll decide,
If time is tight, we’ll let it slide.

By 2:30, we must be set,
To cheer our teammates—don’t forget!
They’ll climb Cat’s Hill, so steep, so fast,
Lap by lap, huge watts they shall blast.

When racing’s done, if legs remain,
We’ll take the Rail Trail home again.
By six o’clock, we should be near,
So dress up warm and bring your cheer!

(This poem was written mostly by ChatGPT using the normal ride description below as input)

Hello friends, this week we are doing a special edition GRAVEL ride to spectate and cheer on our teammates who are racing in Cat’s Hill! We will start from NOT SUMMIT but the Los Altos Chamber of Commerce (the Egan start location) at 9:00 AM and go to Arastradero to Dirt Alpine, climb to the top of Black Mountain, then descend Canyon Trail where there may be a river crossing! After we make it down to Stevens Canyon we’ll do Redwood Gulch and descend Highway 9 to Saratoga, from where we’ll wiggle our way towards the El Sereno dirt climb. From the top we’ll go down Montevina and make our way back into Los Gatos via Jones Trail.

The Women's P/1/2/3 field begins at 2:40pm so we will do our best to get there by 2:30pm or so, but in The Spirit of Gravel this should be a pretty chill ride (A Endurance Ride pace, 3 w/kg on the climbs) so if we feel rushed we can always cut off the El Sereno climb or play it by ear some other way. A whole bunch of our women’s team will be racing, and with the Men’s P/1/2 field following at 3:50pm, it’ll be a ton of fun to watch and support our friends as they repeatedly blast up the 23% wall!!!

If we’re still together after the race, we will take the Rail Trail back up to Foothill. We can probably expect to be back near Los Altos at like 6pm - since this is an all day thing be sure to dress accordingly. Hope to see you there!

Route: https://www.strava.com/routes/3337567278033243772

Summary: 62 miles / 7,400 feet: Los Altos Chamber of Commerce > Dirt Alpine > Black Mountain > Canyon Trail > Redwood Gulch > El Sereno > down Montevina > Jones Trail > Los Gatos > Rail Trail > Foothill

Start: Los Altos Chamber of Commerce (Egan start location)

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

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

Ride Leader: Richard Red