Breaking Down Barriers

Last week passing through the Planet of the Apes was a bumpy somewhat off road adventure that was a total blast. But I remember at the top when meeting those other cyclists, before I stopped I heard one of the guys on a mountain bike mention "The roadie is most likely going that way", referring to me pointing down the mostly paved section that drops out to Highway 1. It was weird, because I feel like a huge anti-roadie, taking my bike everywhere, hopping curbs, riding in the rain, dirt, mud, but for whatever reason, most likely my thinner tires and drop bars had me mistaken for a roadie. So since then I've decided it's time to get back on the trail I've been craving for; I saddled up and headed for the Ridge Trail in Redwood Regional Park.

This dude followed me all the way up Snake.

The Ridge Trail that connects the Redwood staging area with the Lake Chabot staging areas in Redwood Park has been often designated as a "beginner fire road". I had taken the Western section before to the observatory and remember it being not so bad, so I decided to head in that direction, as opposed to the East.

These Salsa Cowbells are meant for light trail, but don't function all that well on them.

Do Redwoods ever stop being cool?

With unBay like 70 degree sunny weather (especially in the hills), Redwood was packed. When I arrived at the park dog walkers and joggers were everywhere, but few bikes. The lone cyclist at the trailhead I rolled my 28 mm onto the dirt and started heading south along the contours of the hills. The beginning section wasn't so bad, my bike bobbed and bounced, but nothing too crazy. There were a few points to dip back out to the road, but I was feeling daring and pressed on, shooting up some short steep climbs and back down the other side.

This woman had trouble getting down this steep hill. I had an even more troubling time, but I kept rubber side down!

I still like distant hills.

It wasn't long before I had reached the observatory once more and decided to see what lay beyond my last stopping point. Little to my knowledge the trail gets a little rougher here. Still considered a fire road I suppose, with a wide gerth, but a lot of the trail is very rocky and on top of that some parts are incredibly steep. As much as I wanted to ascribe to the idea of any bike anywhere, there were points where I was clearly ill equipped for this kind of terrain, my Salsa Cowbell bars were my biggest disadvantage. Riding on the hoods gave me great control and no braking or I could ride in the drops with good braking but poor handling. I switched back and forth between the two several times, until I figured out, not having braking ability is terrifying, and faced these downhills in a low position in the drops. There were points where I was almost certain I was going to bail and of course these are always at the points right near hikers, no one ever falls when no one is watching, right?

Creek at the end of West Ridge Trail. This was near where I saw all the Mountain Bikers unloading their bikes from their SUVS.

Tilden Park creek. I sat here for a long time, feeling miles away from the city.

Despite the challenges of the bike, the trail was quiet and scenic and this is why I'm trying to get back on trail. Sure there are definitely roads that can lead to solace, but nothing like a trail can. There were no cars passing by and at points nothing could be seen but the trail and the backside of the hills blanketed in green trees. That's what I'm in search of and why I still am in love with this place, because these places are so close. There weren't even crazy hardcore mountain bikers to tear up the trail and ruin the mood, it was just quiet. I was so in love with this ride I repeated a shorter one to Tilden the following day to a silent creek near Lake Anza. These places are so close and it's becoming obvious almost any bike can take you there. Now that the weather is breaking and trails are drying up along the West Coast there's no better time to try getting out on trail and if your bike isn't quite suited, so be it, hike and bike are better than dealing with motorcycles up your ass.