Mission Peak Ride, 3rd Time's the Charm

I find I need a few trips to the east bay hills to get into the groove of climbs. My 2nd attempt was better, but at the ridge, I encountered some very dark clouds coming in from the SW so opted to bail out down the Stanford exit. Then we had several weeks of hot weather and I don't like doing this climb in those conditions, the exposed climb out of Ohlone College is brutal with the light colored banks reflecting the heat onto the road.

Timeline:
0:00 Introduction
1:11 Climb out of Ohlone College
2:05 Ridge Top
2:30 East side of the Ridge
3:35 Eagle Spring Backpack Camp
4:26 One Wheel Wipeout
5:32 Mt. Allison
6:44 Monument Peak Trail
7:50 Rock Walls
9:53 Agua Caliente Trail descent

Finally had a promising weather forecast so decided to try the ride for a 3rd time. I usually like to do this route earlier in the spring when it's greener. Still some green up on the ridge but it's starting to turn brown as the season progresses. This time the new gravel sections were much better packed down, making them easier to ride.

Once dropping over the east side of the ridge, I only saw 5 other people until I got close to Ed Levin Park at the end of the dirt. Found one GeoCache along the way:
https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC5097C_rub-a-dub-dub-allison

Then was able to locate a spot I found with Google Maps satellite view with some good examples of the east bay rock walls. This is a really useful technique for locating features out in open ground. Doesn't work for things under heavy tree cover, though. Photo w/ information on the rock wall location:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/7hG8AXK4K5Taj1gM7

Descending the Agua Caliente trail, a segment of the Bay Ridge Trail, is tricky. It's very steep, sections topping 25% are common and I even saw some 30%+ ramps on the Strava segment. It's also lightly traveled, poorly marked and at times, I've had to zoom in on the bike computer map to make sure I was still on the "trail". Earlier in the year sections can be very muddy and later in the year, those muddy sections dry to a incredibly rough surface. Potentially lots of cattle grazing up here and if you encounter some on the narrow road cuts, you need to wait for them to move out of the way. On a bicycle, this is the only "legal" trail and it's really easy to take a wrong fork and end up on a hiking-only trail by accident (BTDT). Best tip is to always take the downhill fork at any intersection, which should be mostly to the right.

At the bottom, near Sandy Wool Lake, try to find the Tularcitos or Calaveras Ridge trails, both to the right and you can exit the park on trail instead of having to climb over the gate into the main part of the park (BTDT). Take Old Calaveras Rd. down into Milpitas then hang a right on Evans, it'll turn into Jaclyn. Then hang a right on the Hetch Hetchy Linear Parkway bike path, turns into a road then back to a bike path that'll connect to Dixon Rd. Left on that, it'll change to Dixon Landing Rd. which crosses 880 and joins up with the Coyote Creek bike path. I think that's the safest way to get across Milpitas, or you could go south on Evans/Piedmont Rd. and hit Landess or Berryessa if you are headed that direction.

Mission Peak Regional Preserve:
https://www.ebparks.org/parks/mission/

Ed Levin County Park:
https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/parkfinder/Pages/Ed-Levin.aspx

Good article on the E.O. (Sandy) Wool and his 800 acre ranch which was originally part of Rancho Los Tularcitos, an early 19th century Spanish land grant, which he purchased in 1919:
https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/09/08/up-for-sale-800-acres-and-a-bay-area-legacy/

Some information on Weller Rd:
https://cycling.stanford.edu/local-routes/
From that write-up:
"As you ride up the hill you may notice stone walls around the ridges. Some of these were built by an Amish family that lived here, others are very ancient and their origin is hidden in the dark ages."

East Bay Walls:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Bay_Walls
YouTube video by @cf-apps7865
https://youtu.be/M9JKp_HXav0

Ride stats: 43.4 mi (70km) distance, 3773ft. (1150m) climbing, w/ approx. 33 mi. (53km) of pavement. Ride time 5h11m, but overall was about 7 hrs. with filming stops, etc. Got home about 15 mins. after sundown.

The next time I try this ride, I've learned you can do the lower portion of the climb on Mill Creek Rd. north of Ohlone College. You can ride up to the gate where Spring Valley Trail and Mill Creek Rd. intersect. Looks like you may need to toss the bike over the gate, but then ride up the trail from there. Some distance farther up Mill Creek Rd. is a gate where it becomes private property. At least this way, you skip all the steep, bumpy, rocky trail at the base of the climb.

More to come...
Subscribe for more content like this
Comment, rate, share & click the bell icon
And as always, thanks for watching
#gravelbike #monstercross #partypace #GeoCaching