Sunday A Ride 6/28 - Butano Gravel (Classic?)

The days are long and the trails are dry - those fire roads aren’t getting any better than this for the summer! This Sunday, we’ll bring it back to everyone (with taste)’s favorite gravel paradise: Butano State Park. I think we can call this a Classic now that this is the 4th time we’ve done it this year… and I had fomo when I missed Rachel’s last instance.

We’ll start via Dirt Alpine, descend down Portola State Park Road to Old Haul, and ride that down to 84 for a water refill in Pescadero… and possibly a spro based on my usual Sunday grogginess. This will be our last water/snack refill for a long while. We’ll then go down to the main feature - Butano Fire Road - for a beautiful 2k’ exposed gravel climb, looking over the healing Big Basin and out over Monterey Bay. We’ll then continue down China Grade → Big Basin Way → HWY 9 → Skyline (+ firehouse for water) → Page Mill to get home.

Gravel bike is very highly recommended. Will be keeping pace ~Z2, with the usual bit higher on the climbs.

Route: Butano Loop from Summit (Strava)

Summary: 83 miles / 9,000 feet: See above

Start/End: Summit Bicycles, Palo Alto

Time: meet 9:00 am & roll out 9:10 am.

Ride etiquette: https://www.altovelo.org/ride-rules

Ride Leader: Kevin Kauffman