News has been quiet on the various East Bay/Contra Costa road closures. But there have been some updates.

Palomares Road: “Alameda County Public Works Agency is extending the closure of Palomares Road to all traffic between Palo Verde Road, Castro Valley, and Niles Canyon Road, Fremont, through September 22, 2017. Crews have completed the slide repair, removed loose rocks and debris from the hillside, placed protective netting along the slope above the roadway, and installed rock slope protection along the embankment.  These measures should add protection from debris falling onto the roadway during future storm events. Both the Contractor and Public Works Agency crews are finalizing the installation of a debris barrier at the base of the slope, completing roadway surface repairs, and striping the travel lanes to enable reopening Palomares Road to all users.”

Calaveras Road: Calaveras Road was reopened by the City of Milpitas on Friday 9/1. Further repairs do not entail complete closing of the road but may necessitate temporary traffic delays.

Alhambra Valley Road: Earlier the projection for the repair completion was by the end of September–possibly just before the Fall Social! But the August 5 project update says the contractor is behind schedule, has no anticipated catch up schedule, and the end date has therefore been pushed to October 9.

Morgan Territory Road: Steel soldier piles have been erected as part of the retaining wall to prevent the hillside from encroaching on the road. But the end date is still projected to be “mid-October”.

Redwood Road: No update. Roger and I rode out Redwood a few days ago to check it out. The K barrier has been moved up to the Marciel Road entrance of Chabot Regional Park since we were last there the day it closed. We took Marciel to Brandon Trail, which is a very nice wide fire road all the way to the golf course. Although it had a couple of short sandy sections and one moderately bad washboard section, it was still quite doable on road bikes. The return going uphill was fine too.

Canyon Bridge: no official update but an NBC news report refers to the projected date of the temporary one-lane bridge opening as November. The Lamorinda Weekly reports that the demolition of the Canyon bridge is delayed because Sprint has to reroute a cable under the creek and is encountering problems. The demolition is supposed to start mid-September as long as the permits are in order and the contractor will have just 21 days to finish. The city of Moraga plans to rent a metal bridge and is currently still seeking one. But the site will have to be prepped for the temporary bridge.

Skyline Boulevard on the Peninsula: not in the East Bay but an important byway for recreational road cyclists. As of May 25 the projected end date for Caltrans repairs is September 30.

This Friday, August 25, the Sonoma Marin Area Rapid Transit  or SMART train will finally commence services. After a lengthy delay SMART received approval from the Federal Railroad Administration for its Positive Train Control system, which is designed to prevent accidents. There will be an opening ceremony at the downtown Santa Rosa SMART station at 9 a.m. with full service to begin at 12:49 p.m. All trains are free that day and then fares will be 50% off through Labor Day.

SMART runs from San Rafael to the Sonoma Airport, which is just northwest of the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, which you probably know if you’ve done the Wine Country Century. Eventually the system will run to the Larkspur Ferry Terminal and all the way up to Cloverdale. A trip from one end to the other should take 67 minutes and cost $11.50. There are 34 trips per day planned for weekdays and 10 per day on weekends.

And yes, bicycles will be allowed on SMART but how many will depend on how crowded the cars happen to be. There are up to 24 spaces for bikes per train but some of those slots are also designated for wheelchairs or have fold-down seats. In other words, there isn’t as clear a policy on bicycle access as there is for BART. For the details, go here.

The importance of SMART for us is that it gives cyclists another option to get out of the central Bay Area and ride in northern Marin and Sonoma counties without having to drive up there. Instead of biking from SF to Healdsburg, Guerneville, or Calistoga–all of which would be lengthy,  day-long trips–you can ride to San Rafael and board the train and take it to Sonoma Airport to begin your northerly explorations. You can view the weekend schedule here. Note that the first northbound train from San Rafael on weekends is at 11:52 a.m. and it arrives at the airport at 12:59 p.m. That’s a bit late for a big ride up north but still reasonable for shorter club rides. And of course if you’re not going that far up, then the time you debark is even earlier. Weekday trips are much better connection-wise: there are more trains and they run earlier. Also, the northbound trains shouldn’t be crowded since commute traffic will be heading south to SF and the reverse will be true in the afternoon too.

And once the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge has a bike lane a truly intriguing East Bay to Sonoma County multimodal ride becomes possible. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

It’s well into summer, it hasn’t rained in months, and you’re thinking, “All those closed roads in the East Bay should be open by now!” Unfortunately that is not the case and for some roads, if the end is in sight the counties are being very mum and not willing to announce an expected completion date. So here’s the skinny.

Calaveras Road. Absolutely no word. Are the seismic issues anywhere near being resolved? Who knows. Calaveras is closed 24/7 to all traffic for the indefinite future.

Redwood Road. No word at all. On the Valley Spokesmen listserv there has been mention of members circumventing the K barriers and then getting ticketed. If you need to get through Redwood, then take the Brandon Trail, which connects with Marciel Road, to get around the closure. The Brandon Trail is a road bike friendly fire road and it’s short.

Alhambra Valley Road. The repair is underway but there is no recent update and the only word is “end of September”.

Palomares. Work on the landslide is proceeding but slowly because of the hazardous conditions. The latest word is repairs will continue “through August”.

Canyon Bridge/Pinehurst. The City of Moraga will be receiving Caltrans/FHA emergency funding to construct a temporary one-lane bridge. But the timeline for funding/bid out/start date is unknown. Don’t hold your breath. The ad hoc diversion through East Bay Regional Parks land just might get you a ticket if the rangers are around. If you must ride Pinehurst, consider using Skyline/Redwood instead. Update here.

Morgan Territory Road. The repair is underway and consequently the road is closed to all traffic through mid-October. There is a diversion, Leon Drive, but it is technically for residents only. You need a pass issued by the Sheriff’s Dept. to use the diversion because the road crosses the Detention Facility. Use at your own risk. For more info go here or here.

Maybe they’ll be open just in time for another wet winter!

The Year Of The Cock Ride managed to combine pain and pleasure in the best way possible. Our C-paced ride ended up being a D-pace, which at my age is a hard thing to do. Neville from England, a mere whippersnapper, likes to go fast and he showed it. We were climbing at a 10+ mph pace and the flats were 20+ mph. When we had a headwind, Roger showed us what his e-bike could do: at one point we were doing 24 mph as he dragged us along literally in his wake. Don’t ask me about the downhills because David and Neville bombed down them and disappeared in the distance leaving Roger and me in the dust. Despite the literally breathtaking pace we managed to have lots of delightful conversation but mostly when we had regrouped. The day was forecast to be hot but it never materialized: it wasn’t even 80 degrees in Yountville! The negative of the day was the robust traffic on Highway 121 and 128, boaters heading to Lake Berryessa. We also took in an amazing Porsche rally on Sage Canyon Road—there must have been 50+ cars that passed us (at least they know how to drive).

The highlight of the day was lunch at Addendum. Yes, the buttermilk fried chicken lives up to its reputation: cooked perfectly (i.e. not dry!) with a breading that was crumbly, flavorful, and ample. The side dishes were an uninteresting macaroni salad and a really delicious slaw. Yum! For some reason that I did not fathom neither David nor Neville had chicken, opting instead for pork. Hmm, Year of the Pig perhaps? I think next time I’m going to order a small bucket of chicken; after all it was only eight flat miles back to the car. Lunch at the outside picnic tables at Addendum under the trees was most pleasant! Either a short nap in the shade or a stroll down the street for an espresso would have topped off the afternoon.

The postprandial ride section took in the new bike path, the Vine Trail, which parallels Solano Avenue and Highway 29. It’s excellently executed and worth doing. We also got to race the Wine Train (it doesn’t go very fast). We ended with post-ride refreshments at Starbucks and more juvenile conversation on the patio.

As you know a sizeable section of Highway One along the Big Sur coast has been closed to traffic due to massive winter landslides and the destruction of the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge. Last Thursday we went down to Big Sur to ride Highway One before everything opens and the full onslaught of traffic hits what is now a strangely placid tourist zone. The reconstruction of the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge is the northern closure. To the south Paul’s Slide near Lucia and the Mud Slide near Gorda are the southern closures. We were hoping to go before Paul’s Slide was cleared, resulting in the opening of the southern end of the Big Sur area to traffic coming over Nacimiento-Fergusson Road. Caltrans originally planned to have it open by the end of July; then it was moved to July 20. But they managed to have it open two days earlier! We were pretty sure that despite this good news that there wouldn’t be much car traffic coming from the south and it turned out we were right.

We had to get up pretty early to make the drive—almost three hours from the East Bay—and avoid the South Bay commute madness. Traffic was light until we got to Monterey, whose commute hour we managed to hit. We decided to go on a weekday because we surmised that the weekend would, despite the closure, bring out a horde of visitors to enjoy the scenic coast. Nonetheless we were only mildly surprised when we encountered a fair amount of car traffic heading south out of Carmel. Where could they all be going except Big Sur? There’s not much else south of Carmel Highlands. Despite a winter that brought no less than four major slides to Highway One, Big Sur is still a busy area—it’s just the busyness is confined to Highway One only so far as Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, where the bridge is out. A quick scan of license plates showed that some of them were definitely from out of state. But so many tourists have rental cars, that having a CA plate is no guarantee it’s being driven by a local. By the time we got to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park traffic had mostly petered out. However the crowd must have been there because the Park campground was completely sold out.

We weren’t exactly sure where the Community Bypass Trail started. But a visit to the Big Sur Station Visitor Center, which is conveniently right where the road closure starts, quickly answered that question: it starts not at the road closure but inside the State Park. We were able to park the car by the side of Highway One and ride into the Park to the trailhead.

The trail is about a half-mile long and it’s almost entirely a series of switchbacks up a steep hillside. It’s hard to believe that locals were hiking up and down the trail with groceries and goods for months before the State Park improved the trail. It’s now fairly safe to walk even with your bike: it’s wider, has a level surface for the most part, and has steps and rails. We started up the trail at about 9:30 a.m. and we encountered little foot traffic. We did however run into a couple of cyclists from Santa Cruz whose intent was exactly the same as ours. After about 200 vertical feet of ascent you’re back on Highway One where the construction is taking place; two large cranes were at work and lots of cars were parked there, no doubt belonging to the Caltrans crew. Were they really driving all the way around over Nacimiento-Fergusson Road? That’s a long commute!

We headed south and were immediately struck by the quiet; Big Sur is a different experience when there are almost no cars and you have the entire road to yourself. In the summer time Highway One is a non-stop parade of tourists zooming down the road, a mixture of RVs, rental convertibles, and pickup trucks. It’s not exactly conducive to a peaceful bike ride but perhaps more in line with a near-religious experience as one contemplates being edged off the cliff by yet another punishment pass. But this time was entirely different: the only cars were an occasional local, Caltrans vehicles, and a few who apparently came over Nacimiento-Fergusson Road. That isn’t to say things are fine and dandy: one pickup came zooming up the road at 70 mph, and one car seemed to think it had the road all to himself as it strode up the middle of the road.

But overall it was a glorious ride. The day was sunny and clear, a bit of wind but not too strong, about 70 degrees. The Pacific was placid—no white caps and just the rhythmic waves coming from the horizon. It was quiet enough to hear the elephant seals barking far down on the rocks. Caltrans had taken the opportunity to do a host of minor repairs to the roadway. The repairs weren’t the typical fill-a-pothole type but substantial repaving of sections, making the roadway rideable along sections that no doubt were damaged by winter rains. That section of Highway One will probably never be in such good shape again! There are plenty of vista points to pull over and take in the view and a few snapshots. Without the terror of riding next to cars, the lack of exhaust fumes and the incessant drone of engines, riding in Big Sur was a joy!

Not that everything is easy-peasy: Highway One rolls up and down all the way down the coast with only a couple of “flat” sections. None of the ramps is especially steep but there are plenty in the 7-9% range, none of them too long. By the end of the day we had about 4,700 feet of vertical from riding down to Lucia and back (about 50 miles altogether). About 200 of that was from walking up the Bypass Trail. The uphills may have been challenging but those downhill sections were awesome!

Things To Know About Riding Big Sur

Once the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge is completed—currently expected at the end of September—the opportunity to ride your bike down Big Sur mostly free of car traffic will almost certainly end. At that point car traffic will be able to flow south and over Nacimiento-Fergusson Road. So set aside a day to go there before it’s too late.

The Community Bypass Trail. The trail starts in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, in Campground 4 near campsite 31. The trail is about a half-mile long and ascends about 200 vertical feet over a series of switchbacks to Highway One. The trail is dirt but has been improved to a Class I trail, i.e. flat surface, steps, and railing when necessary. To find the trail, enter the park and go straight past the entrance kiosk (do not go left or right at the first intersection inside the park—go straight). If you’re driving in, you will have to pay a day parking fee of $10 to park in one of the lots (if you can find a space). The entrance kiosk also has directions to the trailhead. Take the bridge on the right across the Big Sur River and enter the campgrounds. At the T-intersection, go left to Campground 4 and look for site 31 on the right. There should be a trail sign there. Dismount and walk up the trail. Depending on the time of day you may run into trail traffic. Early morning the trail seems rather deserted. But as the day progresses more people get up and decide to check out Nepenthe. The shuttle service from Andrew Molera State Park also drops off groups at the trailhead. In the afternoon workers are dropped off at the top of the trail to walk down and take the shuttle back to their cars. Although the trail is improved, it can still get tight with walkers passing each other. Be sure to step aside when possible to let those faster pass you and your bike. If you have a regular road bike, you won’t have any problems getting it up the trail. You can roll it on the ramps but you’ll have to lift it up the steps. If your bike is heavy—let’s say you decided to bring your e-bike—then you are in for a workout. We got Roger’s 40-pound e-bike up the hill but we were both pretty sweaty! You may not want to walk up the trail in your cycling shoes. If you’ve got MTB shoes, they’ll work fine. However I brought tennis shoes and simply switched shoes for the hiking portion. Another cyclist did the same and he was even brighter: he stashed his shoes in his daypack at the top so he didn’t have to ride all day with a pack on.

Where to Park. Day parking in the State Park is $10 per vehicle. On weekends it is likely to fill up before noon. You can park on the sides of Highway One as long as your car is not in the roadway, and then enter the park by bike and avoid the fee too. But on weekends you will probably not find much parking by the road unless you arrive early. The safest bet is to park at Andrew Molera State Park. The shuttle to the Community Bypass Trail uses the Molera parking lot even though the park itself is closed. I’m not sure if there is a parking fee (but there probably is). From Andrew Molera it’s about a 4-5 mile ride to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park and the trailhead.

Bikes on the Trail. Technically bikes in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park are allowed only on the roads and not the trails. And this may be the belief of many passersby. However Big Sur Station clearly stated to me that bikes ARE allowed on the Community Bypass Trail as long as they are walked and not ridden. Do NOT ride your bike on the trail even at the beginning where it is flatter!

Services. Once you are south of the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge construction site there will be very few services. As time goes by and the word gets out that Paul’s Slide is gone, more businesses south of the bridge may open especially on weekends. Of note: Nepenthe is indeed open for business! Uncharacteristically it was not crowded and therefore made for a truly pleasant lunch. The inns south of the bridge and their associated restaurants do not appear to be open at least during the week. The only place we found to get a snack is Lucia, which is just before Paul’s Slide, at the Lucia Lodge store, 23 miles after the bridge. Note that there isn’t anywhere to get water before Lucia—Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is closed—so bring all you’re going to need.

Cars. There should be very few cars. The few that you will see are likely to be locals going back and forth. But the word is getting out and some tourists are braving Nacimiento-Fergusson Road to get to the coast. There is also some truck traffic related to the bridge construction but it is infrequent. So the good news is that you have all of Highway One mostly to yourself. I say “mostly” because the fact that there is little traffic means that some idiots in cars think they have the road “mostly” to themselves. Like the numbskull who passed us in his pickup doing over 70 mph. And then there was the bright bulb in a SUV who drove down the middle of Highway One, clearly relishing his moment of anarchy and freedom from the Man. Speaking of the Man, it seemed there aren’t any police or fire stations let alone towns, so you are unlikely to get assistance of the legal or EMT kind if you should have a run-in with one of the aforementioned harebrains. So exercise caution!

Nepenthe. Nepenthe is the logical, if sole, place to get a meal on the south side. Before the bridge went out, a typical weekend lunch at Nepenthe would perhaps mean having to wait a while for a table and the tables on the outside deck overlooking the cliffs were bound to be full. With the bridge gone, the clientele was much reduced and we were able to get a table on the deck immediately. Keep in mind we were there on a weekday. There did seem to be foot traffic from the Bypass Trail, which is only two miles north of Nepenthe. There is also a shuttle that ferries people to the trail and back. The food is as good as ever—and as expensive as ever: remember you’re paying for the ambience, and now you’re paying for their high cost of getting supplies. Keep in mind that Nepenthe, like all the other businesses along the Big Sur coast, has taken a huge economic hit with the closure of Highway One. People parked and locked their bikes in the lot. But we saw a couple of cyclists park their bikes on the restaurant level within easy eyesight. The restaurant staff didn’t seem to mind but it also wasn’t packed with a crowd either. There is also a handicap access parking lot in the back and it is possible to park your bike there where it is out of sight and less likely to be nicked.

What if you don’t want to bring your bike? The prospect of schlepping a bike up the hill can be daunting. It’s really not that hard. But if you don’t want to bring your bike yet still want to ride, you can instead rent an e-bike at Big Sur Adventures, which is just south of the bridge closure. We saw plenty of folks riding them down the coast. And they make going up the rolls much easier. What a cool way to explore Big Sur!

Nacimiento-Fergusson Road. You might be tempted to ride down Big Sur and go up Nacimiento-Fergusson Road. In other times this would be a great if challenging ride. But the characteristics that make this road most excellent for cycling are now a liability—it is narrow, steep in sections, isolated, and has plenty of curves. Heavy trucks bringing construction earth and supplies for the bridge repair are using the road. Tourists are starting to come over because it’s the only way to access the Big Sur coast due to the Mud Slide near Gorda. If it is not obvious, this is a dangerous mixture and I would not recommend it: more car traffic, heavy trucks, crazed tourists not paying attention to the road, very narrow road—you be the judge! Nacimiento-Fergusson Road is unlikely to return to its quiet isolation until after the Mud Slide is cleared and Highway One fully reopened from Cambria to Carmel. The Mud Slide is so massive that the current Caltrans estimate for reopening is summer 2018, presuming that it is not worsened by another horrific winter. David Gaus’s already long-delayed tour down Big Sur and over Nacimiento-Fergusson now looks to be postponed yet another year. Sigh.

Wow. Believe it or not, the road up Mt. Umunhum is actually going to be open to the public on Saturday, September 16. This has been so long in coming that I thought it was never going to happen in my lifetime. Mt. Umumhum is the site of the old Air Force radar tower, the “Cube”, which can be seen throughout the South Bay. It’s been closed for decades after the Air Force abandoned it, and it ended up being a hazardous waste site that needed to be cleaned before it could be opened. Then locals opposed opening the road. I won’t go into the entire history of delay–it’s now over!

Although some, ahem, have been riding on Mt. Um for years, it’s not been legal and some of the locals were downright dangerous. Now we can all go up there on our bikes without fear of being ticketed or shot. The big deal about Mt. Um is that it’s at the top of Hicks Road–you know, that road that has a four-mile section that is over 10% and a half-mile that is 14%. Surmounting Hicks is a private victory and now you can add another 2,000 feet of vertical by turning right and heading up Mt. Um. This threatens to enlarge the Three Peaks In A Day challenge to four peaks!

You can read a bit more about it here and here. I think this calls for an official Different Spokes venture, don’t you think? Stay tuned to the DSSF Ride Calendar for the date!

Well, you missed a really hot one yesterday. By the time we rolled back to John and Randy’s house at 2 p.m. it was over 100 degrees. Riding up their long gravel driveway with the heat pulsating off the ground, I felt like my head was going to explode. My legs had already exploded a few miles back after the last short uphill when Roger punched up it with 350 watts of e-power. Although I might ride in 100-degree weather in the East Bay, I’m always doing it adagio, not presto as in this ride. Both John and Daryl took turns setting a blistering pace during the day, John mostly on the flats and Daryl mostly on the uphills. Combined with the punishing heat, the tempo made the day a blur—mostly I remember following somebody’s wheel!

Driving up to Santa Rosa we knew it was going to be a hot one. It was already 80 degrees at the start. Maybe it was the weather forecast that kept some of you away or perhaps it was the drive up north. But you missed a beautiful ride. The Gravenstein apples were ripening and we could see them on the few remaining  orchards. We rode through the West Sonoma farm roads to Occidental, on roads just north of Apple Blossom Ride territory but no less rolling. The big hill of the day came early, Harrison Grade at 8%, and fortunately it was partly covered by trees so we didn’t melt completely. I was expecting the temperature to cool down a bit in Occidental but I was completely wrong: it started to get hotter. The heat was made tolerable by the long descent on the Bohemian Highway, mostly in the shade. John, Daryl and Kevin were absolutely relentless and disappeared down the road; perhaps their knowledge of the numerous potholes allowed them to drive the pace. Randy, Roger and I were more timid and went down less headlong. Winter has not been kind to Sonoma roads, not that they were in great shape beforehand either. But the roads have definitely seen better days (mostly many years ago!) On the uphills that’s no problem but they present a problem going downhill. My lord, the potholes had potholes! And I swear we passed a pothole that looked like a bomb had gone off in it. Some dear soul had come along and marked many of them with white spray paint so that hapless cyclists could see them in the darkness before dropping into them.

We took a long (and needed) break at the new Creekside Park coffee stand just outside of Monte Rio. It definitely is the place to hang out and chill if you’re riding up to Guerneville or thereabouts. We were all in need of liquid refreshment and to take a break in the shade on their pleasant wood deck. After iced coffees, smoothies, snacks, etc. and lots of delightful chatter we got back to the business at hand. The Fearsome Foursome took off from the starting line leaving Roger and I to chase them up River Road. We were averaging about 20 mph. I’d like to say that riding into Guerneville was fun. But it wasn’t this time. Sunday traffic was out in force and the back up heading into Guerneville was two miles long. That and the prolific amount of broken glass on River Road had me worrying that one of us (hopefully not me) was going to flat and we’d have to stop in the sun and change a friggin’ tube while our skin melted off. Fortunately no such thing occurred. Guerneville was experiencing a major traffic jam and I was sooo glad to be on a bike despite the Arabian weather—we passed a very long line of cars! But every time we got out of the shade into the sun I could feel the intense heating radiating back at us from the pavement.

We got off River Road onto Westside and of course Daryl punched it up the short climb. By now the shade wasn’t helping a whole lot and I kept looking at my cyclometer wishing I was closer to the end. Right around this point I think everyone (except Daryl) gave in to the heat and slowed down. I certainly didn’t want to stroke out and wake up in an ice bath at the ER. With about three miles to go Roger decided he’d had enough of the heat and just wanted the ride to be over and took off. I gamely tried to follow but my body was shutting down so I ended up sputtering along.

We made it back to John & Randy’s house, which despite the outside heat was cozily cool inside. They plied us with ice water and PB&J sandwiches, but all I wanted was water, food being far from my mind. My skin was coated with a sheen of sweat and my jersey was white with salt. They kindly allowed us to shower up (perhaps the stench was too much to bear!) John checked the local weather stations. At the house it was about 100; at towns nearby—some that we had passed through—it was 104, 107, 102, etc. Yeah, that was one hot ride. But I have to say that it was pretty awesome; I don’t often kick out the jams like that on a ride. We’ll be back but hopefully not during another heat wave!

Much of the Big Sur coastline on Highway One is closed…to automobiles but not cyclists! Highway One is shut from the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge, which is just south of Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, down to about Limekiln State Park, a distance of about 23 miles one way. The north end is closed due to the demolition and reconstruction of the bridge, which won’t be done until sometime late September, and at the south end due to Paul’s Slide, which is expected to be cleared by the end of this month. Thus, there is no car traffic other than shuttle service on this section. However a week ago the so-called Community Bypass Trail, which was only open to locals willing to clamber around the bridge up a steep hillside towards Pfeiffer State Park, was opened to all visitors. The trail has been improved into a Class 1 trail, i.e. widened, stabilized, graded, and steps with rails installed. The trail is open during daylight hours only. A quick call to the Monterey District office of the State Park system confirmed that cyclists are allowed to walk (NOT RIDE!) their bikes on the half-mile trail over to the closed section of Highway One.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to ride one of the most scenic sections of the Big Sur coastline completely free of automobiles. On the other side of the bridge some services are open including Nepenthe, which is a fabulous place to take lunch because of the fantastic patio view of the Pacific, and I’m sure they’re welcoming the business after this miserable winter. Keep in mind that after Paul’s Slide is cleared cars will be able to come up from the south, so the window of opportunity is narrow, about the next two weeks. But the only traffic coming from the south will be those willing to drive over Nacimiento-Fergusson Road from 101 because the massive Mud Creek slide has closed off Highway One from Cambria. That slide is so gargantuan that Caltrans does not expect to have it reopened until sometime in 2018 if not beyond. So even after Paul’s Slide is cleared there will be less traffic on Highway One.

If you’re driving down to ride Highway One, you can park at Andrew Molera State Park (which is otherwise closed) in the shuttle lot and cycle Highway One down to the trailhead. For more information:  https://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/570/files/Pfeiffer%20Big%20Sur%20SP%20Opens%20July%201.pdf

UPDATE: Someone else had the same idea and beat us to it. We’re heading down to ride Big Sur this week before Paul’s Slide is cleared. In the meantime before our report, you can read about Big Sur by bike here.

UPDATE 2: Paul’s Slide was officially cleared and that section of Highway One near Lucia was opened today (7/18). This means that traffic from Nacimiento-Fergusson Road has access to the Big Sur coast as far north as the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge. There still will be less car traffic but it won’t be as isolated as it has been for the past few weeks.

The worst of this year’s record setting rainfall seems to be over and we can now all look forward to the day when the numerous road closures in the East Bay, Sonoma, Marin, and Santa Cruz Mountains will be reopened. As you know the East Bay has several critical road closure—Alhambra Valley Road, Redwood Road, Palomares, Calaveras, Canyon, Morgan Territory. Here is what I know about each and when they might be passable.

Morgan Territory. After several months being closed this road is now technically open with control lights over the single lane. You can read about it here. With the likelihood of significant rain very low now, slippage of the hill is likely to slow to a complete stop and then reconstruction can begin. This is a huge project that, when it does begin, is not going to be completed in a short period of time. Even during road reconstruction it will be made temporarily impassable. That said, the upper sections of Morgan Territory reportedly also sustained storm damage although not enough to shut the road down. But you should be aware that the road is in even worse condition than usual (which is to say, it’s bumpier than usual).

Canyon Bridge. This is the most recent closure and in some ways the most critical. Canyon bridge is the only way to get between Moraga and Pinehurst and Redwood. It’s a bottleneck on the most popular East Bay climbing training route. It’s also used by the Grizzly Peak Century every year except this year the closure has forced GPC to cancel the century and offer only the metric, which is really a 75-mile ride, because it can be rerouted to avoid Canyon altogether. The bridge is quite old and has been known to be in need of repair for some time. But it has been subject to earth movement, probably related to the landslide on the adjacent Lafayette-Moraga Regional Trail. A recent survey report revealed the bridge supports have been compromised and that the bridge is moving slightly sideways. Thus it had to be shut immediately to traffic. All traffic. Currently the bridge has chainlink fencing across the entire width on each side. If you want to read the full report, go here. Just by chance I happened to be at the bridge the other day when a hapless cyclist tried and succeeded in crossing the bridge! In his case he had no idea the bridge was shut and he needed to get through since it was late in the afternoon and he lived in Danville; the “only” choice would have been to go back up Pinehurst and go to Fish Ranch and descend on Highway 24 to Orinda. His solution was to climb partly up the chainlink fence and lift his bike over it and let it down. This is not so hard because there is a huge gap in the fencing that allows you to bring your arm down. He did the same thing at the second fence and then walked to the edge of the bridge and got under the fencing at the huge gap as the ground dropped to the creek below. Now, if the police (or Public Works) had been there, I’m sure he would have been severely chastised if not cited. In fact, on Strava one cyclist has an image of the citation he got by crossing the bridge despite the closure. The Moraga PD can’t monitor the bridge all the time but if you are caught, you may be cited. So going over the bridge is probably not a good idea (at least during daylight).

There is a second solution. Adjacent to Canyon is the Lafayette-Moraga Regional Trail. It has technically been shut for well over a year because of a landslide that has not been remediated due to a complex dispute between East Bay Regional Parks District, homeowners along the trail, and the City of Moraga. In fact there is fencing closing the trail. Yet in the past year I have repeatedly seen walkers on the “closed” section of trail. So I went to investigate and found out that it is possible to use the “closed” trail to avoid the bridge. If you take the trail from Moraga until the fence, just go around it on the street to the right until it dead-ends and then take a short dirt section back to the trail, which continues to Valle Vista. From there you can get to Pinehurst. This is obviously the route that walkers have been using. That said, as more cyclists discover this cut-through you can bet that it will be shut down pronto. Bottom line: you can get through but you’ll need to deviate onto the trail. Going over the bridge itself is a lot faster but also in plain view and likely to get you in trouble (yet it is possible).

Calaveras. This is the most serious closure. By “serious” I mean that the road closure at the Sunol end has even been staffed at the fencing to make sure there are no transgressors. The County seems dead-serious on stopping cyclists from crossing over and riding this road. Reportedly the earth along Calaveras is sufficiently unstable that the County absolutely wants to avoid having anyone out there. I also haven’t heard of anyone poaching this road since the closure (although at night anything is possible!) You can read the County notice here. Unfortunately there isn’t an easy cut-around even on dirt.

Palomares. Closed-open-closed-open—which is it with Palomares?? That’s been the story all winter. There was a report after the previous closure that Palomares might be open again by May 5. Apparently that is no longer the case [although curiously, localconditions.com shows Palomares as currently being open]. The hillside is continuing to move and it is shut again according to Alameda County Public Works (see it here). As with Calaveras there is no cut-around.

Redwood Road. Just looking at the road failure on Redwood you know it’s not going to be an easy repair; half the road is down a steep slope, which means the shoring is not going to be an easy job. In any case the rumor mill has it that if it stays dry for a week or so, then the County will open the remaining lane. Right now the concern seems to be continued unexpected slippage leading to an unexpected, abrupt slippage of the remaining roadway. If that is allayed, then the remaining lane may be used. Of course having two lanes would be best but I suspect we’re in for a very long wait until that occurs. Rumor has it that cyclists have been lifting their bikes over the K barriers and continuing on their merry way. I haven’t been up there since the day it closed, so this information suggests that there is no chainlink fencing and it would be easy to use the road as long as you don’t run into any road crew. Keep in mind that in a previous post I mentioned an easy alternate: if heading south, above the closure go into Chabot Park at Marciel Road and take it down to the day use area and cut off onto the Brandon trail, which is a fire road, and it will take you to the Redwood Canyon Golf Course building. From there just roll out to Redwood and you’re on your way.

Alhambra Valley Road. This one is a bugabear (pun intended). The complete destruction of the roadway and culvert means that a repair is not going to be cheap. The County has already allocated $4 million with the hope that it will be reimbursed with state funding under the declared state of emergency. The Board of Supervisors approved an expedited timeline with a start date of May 1 for repairs. Whether or not the County is on schedule is unclear. In any case do not expect it to open any time soon. If we’re lucky, Alhambra Valley might reopen at some point during this summer. Note that the closure is a hard one: there is chainlink fencing completely across the road at both ends but private land on either side means that getting around it is just not possible unless you want to ride on open fields and risk trespassing.

Keep in mind that these are just the major closures in the East Bay. There are still closures in the Santa Cruz Mountains (including Skyline Blvd.!) as well as in Sonoma County.