While I don't really ride my bike in many other places, it sure seems like we're spoiled here in the Bay Area. Four out of five out-of-towners will confirm this. Nowadays, most of the hills I ride are in Marin county. Before this, I lived a few miles down south on the peninsula. I would regularly train on Old la Honda and King's Mountain and all of the gorgeous roads between the bay and the ocean, pretty much all of which lead up to Skyline.
A couple weeks ago I had a weekend day off with no race on tap (whoa!), so I decided to drive down and ride my favorite roads. Yes, I drove a truck somewhere to ride my bike. It was worth it.
First, I buried myself up my absolute favorite climb ever, Old la Honda. I set a personal record and finally managed sub-eighteen minutes. I then flew down 84, took a detour over Pescadero Creek Rd. and Stage Rd. (the same route of a certain state championship road race), and rode up 1. I hit the best pre-Tunitas road, Lobitos Creek, and then settled into a (slow) rhythm up Tunitas Creek Rd. Here's a video of about .75% of that climb. Try to spot the red flowers on the right.
-Ryan
