US Election Ride

Since I am not allowed to vote here in the US election, I had a spare 4 hours to go for a ride. I'd done a few reccys to sort out some local trails and it was time to link them together for an honest solo-Jonny-mission.


I dropped the kids at school and continued on up to Windy Hill OSP. This park is mostly walking-only and during the week is chock-full of wives walking groups. The main bike opportunity here is a decent climb that takes you straight up to the top of Skyline, about 400 metres vertical. There's also a few other fun single tracks that head over to other parks. I took the wiggly traverse that connects to Alpine Road. Alpine starts out as tarmac 1 car wide and really pretty with the fall leaves. After about 20 mins of climbing it becomes dirt for another 20 mins, all up about 500 metres vertical.

I crossed into Monte Bello OSP, past the location of a previous rattlesnake sighting, and headed up Bella Vista and Old Range trails, about 2 km of sweet single track climb through open grassland to a highpoint at about 850m, perfect gradient for the single speed. From here it's a super-fast descent down a 4wd track back into the Canyon Trail. The Canyon Trail is about 8km gently down the San Andreas fault underneath huge oak trees all hanging with moss. Very pretty with lots of deer. It starts out as 4wd and slowly narrows to a fun single track. At the bottom you arrive at a scene straight from Deliverance, scary. I was out of there as fast as my banjo shanks would go! A bit further down the valley the tarmac started again and I turned hard right up Redwood Gulch road - ye gods a super tough climb. According to my onboard gps-computer-sattelite-tv doodad it maxed at 31%, and continued on for nearly 2km at nearly this grade. There was no way I was going to walk and managed to mash my way up, not pretty but no walking! After this it turns into a more reasonable climb for a further 5km and a total of 600m in one stint.

At the top I teed into the Bay Area Ridge trail at Saratoga Gap OSP, the beginning of some great single track. The trail follows alongside Skyline highway and links up many different parks. I puttered along for about 8km though Saratoga Gap OSP, Long Ridge OSP, Skyline Ridge OPS and into Russian Ridge OSP, all fun single track with lots of good views. I was starting to fade at the 3 hour mark having brought only water and no food (yeah good one). I took the tarmac back to the top of Skyline for a fun descent. On the way down there are lots of side track options that remind me of the technical bits of Mt Vic, fun.

Some stats (geek, that's me): 3 1/2 hours, 55km, 1700metres climbing. 75% off-road, 50% single track. A dozen deer, 1 huge turkey, 1 raccoon, 500 squirrels, no mountain lions (this is good). Two beers and a lie down, I'm starting to feel human again :)