El Toyonal

Maybe it's poor engineering, maybe new cars are too heavy for these roads, maybe people decided going the long way around ain't so bad, but here in the Bay Area there are a plethora of old roads closed to auto traffic. One of these roads is El Toyonal, a short road connecting Lomas Contadas and Wildcat Canyon Road. After I found this road I decided to do it in both directions.

First time I decided to go down Lomas Contadas and up Wildcat Canyon Road. I've only gone down Lomas Contadas once before and there were two things I forgot about this road; one, it's absolutely beautiful, two, it is an absolutely terrifying descending. Shortly after leaving Grizzly Peak Road, passing the Steam Trains at Tilden, Lomas Contadas hugs around Grizzly Peak opening up a panoramic view of the backside of the Oakland Hills and the foothills on the other side, stretching far back the hills slowly get bigger until topping out at Diablo. From this bend the road points straight down toward Orinda, but unlike the joyful descent of South Park Road, Lomas Contadas is scary as it twists and turns around the residential neighborhood on this hill side. On top of that the road is very skinny not giving much room for passing cars, my fear was that I'd turn around a bend and slam right into the back of a car. Luckily, that didn't happen and I safely made it to El Toyonal.

The viewpoint from Lomas Contadas

El Toyonal isn't long at all. Being the fact that it's only a pedestrian, cycle, and horseway, the road is ill-maintained, but with 40 mm tires I didn't really care. The trees lazily arched over the road as I slowly made my way along, picking that pace for no other reason beside that I like the road. Eventually there is a short wood bridge that crosses a stream that slips down the hillside. From there it's a short gravel section, then back out to Wildcat Canyon, my favorite climb up to Tilden. Then from Tilden it was back home.

El Toyonal

The second time I came back here I did the reverse, mostly because my stomach probably couldn't handle that dangerous Lomas Contadas descent. I also decided to try a different way  up taking Centennial Drive up to Tilden from the flats of Oakland/Berkeley. Rocking somewhere around 9 or 10 percent Centennial Drive was a tough one up. It is weird to me that UC Berkeley sprawled up this steep slope, but I guess it was the only direction they had left to build. The uphill part was fairly long too, but it was also the quickest way to Tilden as it crests right at the intersection of Golf Course Road and Grizzly Peak. I looked at my cyclometer, it was 45 minutes and I was already in Tilden, that ain't so bad.

The beginning of Centennial Drive.

Looking out at Berkeley from Centennial. Stopping for this picture was totally not an excuse to take a break from the climb!

Ups always look shallower in photos.

Wildcat was a gentle descent, actually noticing how the road goes down, when compared to Lomas Contadas Wildcat Canyon is a great descent, the Old Tunnel equivalent of the backside, not too steep and with enjoyable gentle bends that don't require squeezing the brakes the whole time. This was a shorter turn around to El Toyonal and once again it was a peaceful quiet trip over the bridge to the other side.

Gold Course Road in Tilden goes down right after the Centennial up.

The gate at El Toyonal from Wildcat Canyon.

This was the real challenging part, Lomas Contadas was an ultra steep grade. I really should start using my granny gear more on these climbs, I mean I'm still getting myself up even if it's a smaller gear right? Anyway, I didn't this time, although I thought of it, instead I just stood on the pedals and made it up. This was for sure one of the tougher climbs up. A roadie passed me, which has been happening a lot lately, I might be losing my tour fitness of 80 mile days, but nevertheless, we both crested around the same time, then he pushed away and I settled in to sketch at that beautiful point on Lomas Contandas.

I sketched for about an hour as a man played trumpet along to a CD playing in his jeep, a nice surprise adding some humanity to this tranquil spot. He left before I did, so I did get to enjoy these spot in peace as well. Eventually I got back on my bike and after this rest I absolutely bombed the Old Tunnel descent, hammering my pedals on the straights and focusing on form around the corners (I've been reading Bicycle magazine lately about racing tips). I actually passed a few people on the way down, including a car, which is always fun. Then it was back home. If I had to choose, this second way was much more enjoyable, a challenging climb and no death defying drops.

El Toyonal has me curious now to find more of these tranquil quiet roads that are hiding in the hills and other places in the San Francisco area, just more things for me to explore.