Ride Host: Randy Simpson
Cell Phone: 925-980-9304
Name of Ride: Sunol to Sierra Road
Type: Conditioning with periodic regrouping
Starting/ending location: Niles Canyon Railroad Parking Area, Sunol. Adequate car parking should be available at the railroad station, there is other public parking nearby.
Start time: Rolling at 10 am
Estimated mileage: 46.6 miles
Elevation gain: 4,983 ft
Ride Rating: 3B; Moderate, occasional regroups.
This is a deceptively hard ride. The Sierra Road climb is ~1,800 ft in just 3.5 miles having an average grade of ~10%. The good news is we won’t be riding down Sierra Road. My last dog was so implacable that we named her “Sierra” after the climb.
All participants must register online on the VSBC website or via the Wild Apricot app. You do not need to be a VSBC member, but we’d appreciate your support and you’ll appreciate the many benefits in being a member.
Ride Details:
There is a porta-potty at the Niles Canyon Railroad Station. Water will be available near the start and at Mile 16 at Ed Levin County Park. There is no easily accessible water between the Sierra Road climb and Sunol. I am going to carry two water bottles.
Route map below.
History Nugget:
The Tour of California (ToC) was the most important international race in the United States. It ran from 2006 until 2019. It was the only World Tour of the UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) in the U.S..
Our Bay Area was a big part of the ToC. One year there was a mountain top finish on Mt. Diablo and Livermore was both a starting and finishing city.
Sierra Road was featured in several ToCs. In 2011 it was used as a mountain top finish. U.S. rider Chris Horner won that stage and ultimately the entire race that year.
The key sponsor for the ToC was the biotechnology firm Amgen. A principle product of the company was the drug epoetin, a.k.a., EPO. EPO is used to stimulate red blood cell production for people suffering from anemia. It is a life sustaining drug for many.
Unfortunately EPO was one the leading performance enhancing drugs used in cycling. Lance Armstrong admitted to Oprah Winfrey in 2013 that he used EPO through much of his career. Ironically Amgen was running the U.S.’s marquee cycling race and also making a banned performance enhancing drug used by many professional riders.
Link to the ride ‘turn by turn’ instructions (RidewithGPS):
Click here for route
