Cycling for the Arthritis Foundation: Training Ride 8/1: Woodside and Los Altos

The arthritis training group met at 8:30 on Canada Road for a ride around Woodside and Los Altos, two upscale communities with lots of quiet, leafy streets. We had a very large group turn up for this ride, but we quickly broke into several smaller groups.

From Canada Road we headed into Portola Valley (another upscale place) on Portola Road and then over to Alpine and Arastradero and then Purisima Roads. We skirted Foothill College and went through a number of residential neighborhoods, with large, if not impressive, houses in Los Altos.

As we were cycling down a road in Los Altos, the sight of this elaborate fountain struck me. It was a real surprise to me; it seemed like something out of another time period.

We emerged at Foothill Expressway and continued on that to Magdelena where we pulled into the Rancho Shopping Center to stop at one of the restaurants for lunch. Some headed to the bagel place and others to the bakery.

After lunch outside in the shade, we returned to Foothill and continued along it at a good clip. The bike lane is wide and the scenery isn't bad, but there is a lot of traffic driving fast, so not a relaxing area. We turned on to Sandhill, which is nice enough except for the section where the bike lane is in between the two car lanes as drivers sweep in and out for the various freeway exits and entrances. The area can be tricky and you've got to be paying attention.

At the bottom of the hill, we took Manzanita. A quiet and relaxing change from the Sandhill freeway traffic. When we were almost to the end, Keith got a flat tire. It gave me a few minutes to stop and check out the chickens.