Cycling for the Arthritis Foundation: Training Ride 8/23: Big Basin

On Saturday 8/23, the Arthritis Foundation training group met in Saratoga for a challenging ride. We started in downtown Saratoga on 4th Street. One group headed up Big Basin Highway (also known as highway 9) for a 7 mile climb (about 2,170 feet) to Skyline Blvd. (highway 35). Another group went by car up to Skyline to create a shorter loop with less climbing. Both groups continued separately on Skyline for about 10 miles with rolling hills and a winding descent.

We turned right on to Bear Creek Road and followed that for about 9 miles, mostly down hill but with a few rollers thrown in, back to highway 9 in Boulder Creek. Both groups met here for lunch. The group on the shorter loop got back on highway 9 and continued all the way back to Skyline. The group on the longer loop took a few back roads to get on to Big Basin Highway. We climbed another approximately 1,000 feet over about 9 miles to arrive at the visitor center at Big Basin State Park. The park is beautiful with some wonderful redwoods. There were also plenty of pine trees; I could smell them throughout the afternoon.

The day was warm, but there was lots of shade as we continued up Big Basin Highway to the summit. The road gets pretty narrow at times and we did encounter a driver who just couldn't wait another 30 seconds and had to pass us on a blind curve while we were descending. There was another car coming around from the other direction, but fortunately there was no collision. At the end of Big Basin Highway we returned to highway 9 to climb up to Skyline Blvd.

Although it was a beautiful ride, there was a lot of climbing, so I was happy to reach Skyline. After crossing Skyline everything is downhill! The seven curving miles down to the starting point are great fun to descend and luckily, perhaps due to the road construction, there was very little car traffic around me.