Flatwater 100, CA
I gave this San Francisco Bay Area ride its name due to two things: (1) it is about as flat as a century ride can get in this area, and (2) it goes through 3 of the major bodies of water between Fremont-Belmont-Los Altos: the San Francisco Bay via Dumbarton Bridge, the Crystal Springs Reservoir, and the Stevens Creek Reservoir.
It’s not the most exciting ride—I suppose most flat rides aren’t—but it’s a good recovery or winter-season one.
Route Sheet
| Total | Segment | Directions |
| 0 | Central Park in Fremont (near Stevenson/Paseo Padre intersection) | |
| 0 | West on Stevenson | |
| ~3 | R (north) on Cherry | |
| L (west-north) on Thornton. | ||
| ~7 | L (west) onto Marshlands Rd. (CA-84) | |
| West onto Dumbarton Bridge bike path (on south side of Bridge) | ||
| L. (south, then west) on Willow Rd. in Menlo Park (next intersection after University and 84) | ||
| R. (north) on Middlefield Rd. | ||
| L (west) on Ravenswood Rd. | ||
| Ravenswood becomes Menlo Ave; go straight (west) | ||
| R (north) on University for a couple of blocks. | ||
| ~17 | L (west) on Santa Cruz Ave. | |
| 19 | L (south) on Alameda de las Pulgas | |
| L (south) on Junipero Serra. | ||
| R (west) on Alpine Rd. | ||
| R (north) on Portola Rd. | ||
| ~2 | L on Whiskey Hill Rd. | |
| 0.2 | L on Woodside Rd. | |
| R on Canada Rd. | ||
| 47 | 0.25 miles before Skyline Blvd., R onto Ralston Bike Path (easy to miss!) on other side of Crystal Springs Reservoir. Here are the steepest climbs (they’re short). | |
| Ralston Bike Path merges into Ralston Rd. Descend down (east) on Ralston. | ||
| R (south) on Alameda de las Pulgas. Somewhere and somehow this becomes San Carlos Rd. for a couple of miles, going east; don’t be alarmed when it seems like you are not on Alameda de Las Pulgas anymore! | ||
| R (south) on Alameda de las Pulgas again. | ||
| <1 | S (south) on Junipero Serra Rd. | |
| 10 | S (south) on Foothill Rd., all the way to Stevens Creek Park. | |
| 62? | ~13 | Go back north on Foothill, then Junipero Serra, then Alameda de las Pulgas to Santa Cruz Rd. |
| 94 | 19 | Go back the exact same way you came from, back to Central Park in Fremont. Good job! |
From the Logbook
December 22, 2002 (Sun)
December has been an extremely wet month here in the Bay Area, but fortunately there was a long-enough reprieve for me to squeeze in one more self-supported century for the year.
Because I hadn’t been riding much since the 2002 Death Valley Double, focusing most of my training on running in preparation for the California International Marathon, I wanted to do something flat and easy. Hence this ride. I was actually climbing quite well, but my endurance was definitely off compared to months ago when I had peaked for the year. Somewhat demoralizing, but this is the off-season!
I ended up having to ride about an hour in darkness since I started really late, like 11:30 in the morning. Luckily I had my blinking taillamp; would have been a good idea to bring a headlamp too. This ride meant that I had done a century every single month this year except for February, and in fact every single month (except February) since November of 2001! I hope to maintain this streak well into 2003!
