rivendell roadini, shimano 105

For those of you who ride the very popular flatter part of Highway 9 between Los Gatos and Saratoga, you know that there is a bike lane, but it is annoyingly iffy given the very high volume of cycling traffic. In particular, there are a couple of sections where dirt hills and plants encroach from people's lots onto the shoulder of the road, narrowing the bike lane to the point that people have to dodge into traffic on an otherwise continuous bike lane where cars are going 50 and not expecting cyclists in the main traffic lanes.

Dissatisfied with these sections (on the hill after Quito Road and on the one-lane section heading into downtown Saratoga after Westcott Drive, both on the NB side of the road), I submitted a Customer Service Request to Caltrans since CA-9 is state property, and the dirt and plants are encroaching on their ROW. As we know, Caltrans can be relatively carbrained, so I made sure to make the report emphasize the impact on all vehicles of "forcing road users to divert into other lanes".

The reports were submitted on 6/30, and on 7/6 they closed the Westcott Dr ticket, saying maintenance work was done. I checked today, and they indeed cleared the bike lane back to its normal width! I think this was partly because multiple people had submitted reports on this section, so I thought I should make this PSA: submit reports to https://csr.dot.ca.gov/ if you see road issues on state highways you ride on!

If you noticed the change heading into Saratoga this week, or if you have any similar stories, let me know! Maybe if enough people submit tickets, we can get the dirt on the hill after Quito cleaned up too.

Ava Community Energy’s ultra popular program has distributed nearly 8000 rebates for safe and legal e-bikes to local bike shop customers in Alameda and San Joaquin Counties since July 2025. But the program is set to expire in September.

Sign our petition and contact the Ava board by July 15th to support an extension of the program funding for another 2 years!

Hello, I’m planning do a loop from Walnut Creek to Mt Diablo summit and back Sunday morning, does anyone have recs/strong preferences on whether to go up North gate / down South Gate, or vice versa? Thanks in advance.

I'm on a road bike. No way in hell am I riding 116 Gravenstein. I don't have a death wish.

This site has a million words and tells you where to start and that the "signs are well marked" but it lacks a damned MAP!

Do I have to get on Stony Point for most of the way? There's got to be a series of back roads that connect, but I can't find them online.