I’m planning a ride to Montara (near Half Moon Bay), leaving Saturday morning 1/15, staying overnight in the Montara Lighthouse(!) Hostel, and coming back Sunday morning.
About 25 miles each way, some hills and deserted/derelict highways (see below), and about $30/person for the hostel. If you’re interested in joining, let me know ASAP– I got tentative confirmation of some space at the hostel but need to call back in the next few days to confirm and put down a deposit. [edit: whoa, 10 people interested so far!] [edit edit: up to 12-14]
Some other notes about the ride:
* The Half Moon Bay Brewing Company is only about 3 miles past Montara. That might have to happen (food, beer, Jimmy Buffet tribute band).
* I’d like to take Old San Pedro Mountain Road, aka “Planet of the Apes” road and related dirt paths / fire trails for part of the ride– this gets us off traffic-heavy Highway 1 (and in particular, lets us avoid biking around Devil’s Slide), and sounds like a desolate (in an interesting way), decrepit old road that used to be a highway decades ago but is now closed to cars.
It’s in rough shape in places, a mix of pavement, broken pavement, and dirt, but I’ve heard from people who’ve done it on road bikes (you may just need to walk a few sections). Since we’re only going 25 miles we have plenty of time to take it easy, or backtrack in the worst case if there’s a mudslide or pack of mountain lions or spacemen or something. Be flexible. Have fun.