One great thing about Permanents is that if you happen to be away from home, there may be a Permanent to ride nearby.
My wife and I were spending last week in Monterey, so I looked up Bill Bryant's and Lois Springsteen's Santa Cruz permanents. Of course, if I'd not known there were permanents in the area, I could have checked the RUSA Permanents Map:
I zeroed in on the Moss Beach Ramble 207k:
The day of the ride, Bill graciously started me off on his commute to work, with some added tips for good measure.
A nice start, just after dawn, heading up the coast towards Davenport.
Parts of Highway 1 are open, parts more sheltered.
Spanish Moss adorns the coastal pines.
The route turns inland up Gazos Creek Road. I wasn't expecting to encounter a woolly mammoth!
Pescadero Road climbs through redwood forests.
The cool forest air had me putting on more layers, only to bake at the top of the Haskin's Hill climb which breaks out into dry, sunny landscape before plunging to the control at La Honda.
The San Gregorio store may be the stateliest convenience store I've come across.
Heading through the open foothill landscape back to the coast ...
... and up to the turnarount point at Moss Beach.
The Moss Beach control was friendly, if less stately.
Heading back down the coast, you climb above the cliffs at Halfmoon Bay ...
... and veer onto Stage Road.
An avenue of eucalyptus trees greets you.
Sure enough, a road with the word "Stage" in it is bound to have some good climbing.
While folks may be fleeing hurricanes in the Southeast, or volcanoes in Washington State, here it's tsunamis. It's not so much how far away or how fast you go, but how much you climb that counts.
Much of the route was very quiet, like this stretch of Cloverdale Road.
Sandy cliffs along the Pacific Coast need regular excavation, to provide room for slides at the base. They were doing this as I passed.
The final coastal stretch featured great views from above the cliffs including the faintly-visible Monterey Peninsula to the south ...
... and some actual beaches with surfers and picnickers.
Soon the finish line came into view ...
... and a fitting end to an enjoyable, scenic day of riding.
Bill and Lois did an excellent job designing this route (no surprise), and were very hospitable in providing this great riding opportunity!
-jle
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