It was a long year waiting for Stage Road to reopen. Although it did not fall victim to the New Year’s Eve Massacre, which closed Mines, Patterson, Redwood, Veeder, Calaveras, and scads of roads in the Santa Cruz Mountains, it succumbed a couple of months later and was closed for repair until late November. With so many roads closed throughout the Bay Area, San Mateo County had to work to line up a contractor who could fit it into its schedule. I’m sure it wasn’t cheap too. In the meantime club trips to coastside were severely constrained because Stage Road features in several of our favored routes. The fact that Old La Honda and Highway 84 were also closed didn’t help at all. How many Gazos Creek loops and Kings Mtn. Road loops didn’t take place because of all the mishegos?
I didn’t want to delay any longer to see how the rebuilt section of Stage Road turned out as well as to revel in the greening splendor after the recent rains. The weather was iffy until the morning of the ride when the rains completely vanished and we had bright blue sky! Hemming and hawing now put to rest, there were six of us out for a welcome winter jaunt: Cathy, Jeff, Ginny, my husband Roger, Alden, and I.
Ever since David cut the Gordian knot and started leading Pescadero loop rides from Pescadero instead of Palo Alto or Half Moon Bay, the scales have fallen off my eyes and I wholeheartedly embrace this much shorter version. It is heretical for me to say but I really don’t like cycling on Highway One. So I don’t miss the long section north of Stage Road especially if I start the ride in SF. Yeah, it’s beautiful, the Pacific is awesome, etc. But it’s replete with dangerous drivers especially on a weekend afternoon when they’re beered up and heading down the highway at 70 mph, oh, and passing the drivers who are already speeding but not speeding enough for their taste into the oncoming lane directly at us. Add in the tourists in rental Mustangs gawking and the at times nonexistent shoulder and it’s nerve wracking enough to ruin a nice day’s ride.
We started at the now closed Pescadero High School just at the edge of town and immediately went through the tiny town on Stage Road. The road was just slightly damp and the sun was ashining. The group took off as Cathy and I caught up on news; Roger did a one-eighty and headed back to the car because we had forgotten to lock it. (Not that Pescadero is like San Francisco, mind you, but old habits die hard.) Stage Road has three short climbs and just past the first one we encountered a short repaved section of road with a new guardrail. Could this be it? It seemed too early. Because I didn’t think it was the repaired section I didn’t stop to take a photo. But we didn’t spot any other obvious new pavement continuing on, so that must have been it. We caught up with the group at the San Gregorio Store and stopped to chat and reflect on how fortunate we were to be riding in dry, sunny weather.
After the last climb up to Highway One we bombed down the coast southward. Unlike the drive down, traffic on One was now brisk. It was a smooth, breezy ride with just a couple of sections of shoulder fully encroached by the ever-moving sand dunes. Eventually we arrived at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse, which was doing brisk business. The lighthouse itself has been closed for ages—I thought it would never reopen. But I’m wrong: a restoration is starting this spring and is expected to last two years at which point we will have a beautifully restored and open lighthouse that we can actually go up to take a gander at the Pacific from the height. Bathroom stop and selfies done, we paraded a couple miles further south to Gazos Creek Road.
Riding on Gazos is always welcome. You’re finally away from cars, the road is in great shape, and Gazos Creek is always a gurgling treat. Only us oldtimers remember when Gazos was a dirt road. It was still pretty good to ride on back then but I like the asphalt better! Here the best of coastside is on display: Gazos Creek was roaring from the previous night’s rain and quite a turbid brown. But it was swaddled in green vegetation making it a pastoral delight. Gazos continues into Big Basin State Park where it’s dirt and goes all the way to the park center, which is now completely burned down. We turned off Gazos onto Cloverdale and were greeted by the soothing, greening hills completely devoid of urbanization. Did we even pass anyone? I think we encountered exactly one car the entire way.
Back at the high school Jeff, Alden, and Cathy decided to ride to the Loma Mar Store while Ginny, Roger, and I took the easy way and got into our cars. We all arrived at Loma Mar at the same time!
Loma Mar is also a survivor of another age. Back in the day Loma Mar was a PO and just a store. So I used to ride to Pescadero to get grub at Arcangeli Market or Duarte’s. But after a long closure for a complete rebuild, Loma Mar finally reopened and with addition of a restaurant. And it’s a good one too. So it’s now my fave for lunch (unless I absolutely have to have the artichoke bread at Arcangeli or the artichoke soup at Duarte’s). Like restaurants elsewhere dishes at Loma Mar aren’t ‘cheap’ anymore. A very good sandwich and a coffee is going to add up to more than $20 after tax and tip. We all sat there gabbing for an age about wildfires, the difficulty getting house insurance, and cycling coastside.
Finally we moved our butts and headed home. What a great ride with great company and scenery!
The Chain Letter 