Going back to Menlo

Posted on October 20, 2011 by .
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Wednesday and Thursday have been spent back at my former work place in Menlo Park.

Although I now work in Santa Clara, we still have several computer servers in our old labs in Menlo Park while my employer constructs a new building to house everything. Wednesday and Thursday, I and the others in my software group spent the day consolidating equipment to prepare for The Big Lab Move after the new lab building is complete.

Since I no longer have a monthly Caltrain pass for the trip to Menlo Park, I biked the 25 miles from San Jose to Menlo Park on Wednesday via Park -> Homestead -> Foothill -> Page Mill -> El Camino Real -> Willow Road.



Downtown to my Santa Clara office is not quite seven miles, mostly on the Guadalupe River Trail. When I traveled on Homestead this morning, the automotive fumes were almost overwhelming to me — traveling on a quiet river side bike path has spoiled me!

I took it easy Wednesday morning, saving my energy for the work day. The ride was mostly uneventful, with only a couple of memorable near-incidents. The first was where Homestead runs into Foothill Expressway. The driver of a gray Acura coming off of Grant came *that* close to t-boning me when she failed to stop for the stop sign. (When drivers learn to follow the rules of the road, I’ll respect their right to use the roads!). I yelled at the driver and she responded with a mea culpa kind of guilty look.

The other was a goofball on a hybrid bike on Willow Road headed to his job at Facebook in Menlo Park. I had passed him back at Middlefield Road without a second thought, but I suppose that was an affront to his manhood or something. I’m stopped at the red light north of Highway 101 and Goofball screeches his brake immediately next to me and bumps bars with me before taking off and running the light. After the light turns green, I catch him and have a friendly chat with Goofball. It turns out I completely misinterpreted his intentions. Oh well.

As I type this on Wednesday night I’m undecided on my Thursday morning route, but I’ll likely take the fast Central Expressway route from downtown San Jose: The Alameda -> Homestead -> Scott -> Central Expressway -> Rengstorff -> Middlefield -> Willow. I’ll probably be in a black and white Scotts Valley Cycle Sport bike jersey. Wave if you see me, and please feel free to bump bars with me anytime!



See also:

  1. Cyclist killed in Menlo Park
  2. Carnage in Menlo Park
  3. San Jose to Palo Alto bicycle commute
  4. Mountain bike Bayfront Park Menlo Park, CA


  • Jerry

    You sure the offender at the Homestead/Foothill interchange was a grey Acura and not a grey Honda minivan!? :-) Thats the wife’s coffee run location.

  • sean head

    It’s worth noting that you can get form downtown SJ to the PA airport almost 100% on trail. If you take the Guadalupe trail up to the bay you can take that trail system through Mountain View behind Moffet, up to Palo Alto.  Parts of it are a little rough for a road bike, but it’s workable.

  • http://www.cyclelicio.us/ Cyclelicious

    THanks for the tip. I’ve taken just about every imaginable route from SJ to PA, including the Bay trails. The only I haven’t done yet is the section across Moffett since it’s been opened.
    I love Baylands in the early morning, but I’m comfortable riding in traffic too.

  • http://www.cyclelicio.us/ Cyclelicious

    Nope, it wasn’t Darlene. :-)