The Cañada and Stephens-Alpine Go-To Routes

 

Since the last time I talked about Go-To routes, I have added three new ones. The table at the top of the post is a list of my current Go To routes with the new ones highlighted in yellow. I have also renamed two routes, New Alpine has been renamed to simply Alpine, and similarly, New Alpine-Cañada to Alpine-Cañada. The previous routes which used to have those names I renamed to Old Alpine and Old Alpine-Cañada. The routes are listed from most difficult to easiest.

Miles is how long the ride is, in terms of distance. Minutes is how long it is in terms of the time it takes to complete. A hillier ride will take longer per mile, and also this number varies from ride to ride, depending on how fast I decide to ride the route. Feet is how much total climbing there is on the route, and Feet/Mile provides one metric of how hard the ride is, though of course I always have the option, within limits, of taking it easy up the hills. Subjective Intensity is how hard or easy a ride is per minute of riding. A one hour ride on a hard route leaves me more tired than a one hour ride on an easy route. If you look at the table closely, it may seem that the Subjective Intensity of the Emerald Hills ride is out of line. The reason is that I almost always do that ride on my eBike which reduces the effort required to complete it.

Is every route I ride on this list? No, only the ones I ride fairly regularly. Arguably, the Lake Loop route should now be removed from the list and there are one or two that maybe could have been added. These decisions are fairly arbitrary and will almost certainly change over time.

In the descriptions below, I explain the purpose of the three new routes and what they add to the routes I was already riding.

Cañada

The new Cañada route is something of an alternative to the Alpine route. It is a bit shorter, but the important difference is that it is significantly more pleasant to ride. It has a lot less traffic and it is prettier. Whatever I am planning, however low my enthusiasm might be, I always try to get in 300 minutes a week of what the medical community refers to as moderate intensity rides in order to maintain my health. I can easily ride on my trainer at the lower end of that intensity and this new Cañada ride is at the high end of that intensity. If I alternate Cañada rides and Trainer rides, taking off one day a week, this adds up to 330 minutes, more than enough to maintain my health.

Stephens-Alpine and Stephens-Cañada

I developed the “Old Stephens-Alpine” and “Old Stephens-Cañada” routes while living in San Carlos as longer rides to help me prepare for a metric century. The current versions are very similar to the old versions, relating to them in exactly the same way that the newer Alpine and Alpine-Cañada routes relate to the old ones. The map above shows the Stephens-Alpine route. The Stephens-Cañada route relates to that one in the same way the Alpine-Cañada route relates to the Alpine route. If you look back at the Cañada route, it has a stem-loop structure. The Stephens-Cañada and Alpine-Cañada routes are created by inserting 11.4 miles out and back on that stem into the Stephens-Alpine and Alpine routes.

Why am I adding these routes to the Go To list now? For a couple of reasons. The first is that originally, I tried a number of different longer routes to prepare for a metric century and I now think I have settled on these. The second is that I have started riding the Stephens-Alpine route more regularly, not just when I am preparing for a metric century, but sometimes when I am just in the mood for a longer ride or when I feel like it might benefit my fitness.

In the late winter/early spring of 2020, a house came on the market just steps away from my grandkids. As I was debating purchasing it, my son argued that “better cycling” was a plus in that consideration. He argued that the scenery in Emerald Hills was much nicer than in San Carlos. He was right. I argued the opposite, that “worse cycling” was a minus in that consideration. I argued that the hills would make it hard for me to find a riding schedule I could sustain. I was right. Immediately after moving into this new house, my Form (my ability to ride fast and/or long, increased by Fitness and reduced by Fatigue) seemed to improve. However, that improvement was not sustainable. After about four months my Form began to fall and then stayed low for the next nine months. As a result of that, I was unable to prepare for the 2021 running of the Art of Survival Metric Century. I believe that both the early improvement and later decline were the result of the hills in my neighborhood which resulted in an increase in my training Load, an increase which first increased Fitness but which also produced an increase in Fatigue. Since then, I have done three things to decrease my training Load: 

1. I began using my trainer for easy rides.
2. I began using my TranyaGo sports watch to help me avoid riding too fast.
3. I developed new routes, including the routes described in this post. 

The goal of these changes was to reduce the training Load of my schedule and it seems like these efforts have succeeded. I firmly believe that the routes described here have contributed to that success.