Pacific Coast Bike Tour

The "LA to LA" ride: Los Altos to Los Angeles.

Day 1 · Saturday, September 5

Los Altos → Santa Cruz

Distance
44.5mi71.6km
Elevation gain
2598ft792m
Elevation loss
2709ft826m
Max elevation
1624ft495m
Los Altos → Santa Cruz Switch basemap (elevation / vegetation / plain) top-right; click any point for Google Maps, Apple Maps or Street View.
Download GPX — Day 1 Open in Ride with GPS

Google Maps Apple Maps Neither opens this route — they take only a start and an end over a link, so each draws its own way between Los Altos and Santa Cruz. Use them for the lie of the land; the GPX and Ride with GPS have the line we ride.

The day at a glance

Starts across the Santa Clara Valley, orchard country until the 1960s and built over since, then climbs into the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA — one of California's oldest, and among its coolest and steepest, worked by small producers scattered through the redwoods rather than in open blocks of vineyard.

Worth looking up for

  • Starts from Los Altos High School on Almond Avenue, then crosses the Santa Cruz Mountains with redwood canopy over much of the climb.
  • Descends to the coast at Santa Cruz; Capitola is a short detour off the end.

What to watch for

  • The one sustained climb is mi 22.2–24.5, 637 ft at 5.2%. It comes when legs are fresh but it is the day's crux.

Towns along the way

  1. 0 Mountain View 1.2 mi off
  2. 4 Loyola Corners
  3. 7 Cupertino 0.5 mi off
  4. 11 Saratoga 0.5 mi off
  5. 16 Los Gatos
  6. 24 Redwood Estates
  7. 27 Summit
  8. 30 Summit Woods
  9. 34 Fidel Ranch 1.5 mi off
  10. 40 Capitola 0.9 mi off
  11. 44 Santa Cruz 0.6 mi off

Stops along the way

Mapped in OpenStreetMap and carried in the GPX as waypoints, so they show on a head unit too. Distances are miles from the start. Tap a name for Google Maps, or the arrow for Apple Maps. Not verified on the ground — opening hours and whether a tap actually runs are anyone’s guess. Water and restrooms are not listed here, because they are long lists you find on the road rather than plan around — but they are in the GPX, so a head unit still shows them. A marks a stop somebody picked by hand and vouched for, rather than one the OpenStreetMap query happened to return. Everything else here is within a quarter mile of the line; the few that are further say how far.

Shops & markets 6

Food & drink 6

Worth a look 4

Restaurants in Santa Cruz

Places to eat at the end of the day, gathered by hand rather than from OpenStreetMap, so these are not the same as the stops above and are not in the GPX. Most are a short walk from the hotel; where one is not, the address says so. Nobody has eaten at them. Opening hours are deliberately not listed — they change, and a stale hour on a page is worse than none — so tap through before you set out. A name with no link had none to hand.