Saturday – Arastradero
It was a beautiful day on Saturday! Julie and I decided to ride from home over to the Secend Saturday Social at Arastradero. We had a great turnout of 9 people, and 8 bikes. Fortunately one of them was a tandem.
We started out at areasonably slow pace, doing a loop on the north side of Arastradero Rd. On the RedTail Loop, clockwise. At the top of the first climb, John’s friend Chris’s chain broke. John stayed to help Chris get his chain fixed, while we road the long way around, and met back up in the parking lot.
We regrouped, and headed up the regular side, saying “hello” to the numerous dog walkers and hikers out there. As we headed up to the bridge, I decided to see how the groups skills were and rode through the dip from the fire road, over to the dam, through the little creek. Ken was right behind me and did not quite make it up the other side. Well, mountain biking is an inherently dangerous sport.
We continued up the fire road, and took the first single track The Acorn trail, and crossed across the middle of the park on the Ohlone Trail. We then headed up to the big bowl on the Woodland Star Trail. We played around on the big bowl for a while and then headed over to the jumps. After about ten minutes of jumping, we rolled out, around the Bowl loop and down the Woodrat trail. The switchbacks were much too tight for the Tandem, but it was a good learning experience about how much was doable.
We headed back up the Acorn trail again so that we could go up the muddy, unsustainable Meadowlark trail, and back down the new trail from the Big Eucalyptus.
We finished up our ten mile thousand foot ride heading down the bumpy new Meadowlark reroute and back to the parking lot. All in all, it was a great ride and a beautiful day.
Sunday – SDF
Sunday started out a little ominous with heavy fog, as I picked up the ROMP contingent for the Second Sunday Ride: Henry and Tom. We drove up to the main parking lot to find quite a crowd of bikes and bikers already there, for Trail head Cyclery’s Demo of Specialized, Maverick, and Yeti Bikes. Henry tried out an ML8. I rode for a few feet. That is a sweet ride!
We met up with Darryl, Mark and a few others from MBOSC. After much discussion and waiting we rolled out.
As soon as we hit buzzards lagoon, the temperature jumped ten degrees, and the sun was out in force. A few of use headed through Cusacks, which was all right, although heavily rutted and muddy in places. We regrouped at the gate.
We decided to check out Corral trail. Right now it is in pretty good shape, but it is pretty steep, and I wonder how dusty and loose it will be in the summer. Mark, Darryl and I hit some of the jumps and walls, as Tom and Henry looked on cautiously. What little I have learned in the streets is really paying off on the trails!
Next we headed up Sulpher Springs. Man, that was hard. I was glad to discover I still had the legs to ride the whole thing, although just barely. It made me think I should spend some more time in the gym, working on my quads.
Then we headed down Braille. I had a blast booting off the little log overs and did not hesitate at all on the skinnies. I could not quite set up the teeter after both skinnies though. That is still a tremendously fun trail and the conditions are great right now.
I’d like to commend everyone who has been out doing trail work this year for making the riding in the Bay Area so great. If you have not put in your twenty hours yet this year, there are plenty of opportunities coming up. Follow the links below to sign up.
Saturday, Feb 19th – Water Dog
http://www.romp.org/index.php?module=PostCalendar&func=view&Date=20060219&tplview=&viewtype=details&eid=274&print=
Saturday, Feb 19th – Demo Forest
http://www.trailworkers.com/volunteer.cfm
Josh
