Our exploratory ride up highway 108 led us to the tiny town of Dardanelle and a ride called “Milo’s Run“. It sounds inoccuous enough but it worked us all day long. Fred (From the Trogs) and I met a couple of locals, Jeff and Mark, at the Strawberry Store then we rolled to Clark’s Fork road and parked just beyond the bridge. Our route started with a monster fireroad climb followed by some cross country on some Jeep Trails then a brutal downhill which was in serious need of some trail work. This ride was MUCH more than I anticipated and at one point in time we were seriously worried about Mark getting stuck on the trail or getting washed downstream at a couple of the creek crossings. Mark and Jeff said that they never rode it as a loop, they always shuttled it. I can understand why, there isn’t much to recommend the climb but the downhill is incredible. Check out the photos and ride description.
Month: June 2006
A Ride Around Lake Natomas
Ogre and I needed to go to Sacramento on Sunday, so we brought the bikes along and got in a great ride. Starting at the Hazel parking lot, we rode across the bridge, down the bike trail, and out onto some dirt trails that break off the American Bike Trail’s paved surface to the north. These trails wander around in some old quarry areas. A beginner/intermediate rider would find some great areas for practicing their skills.
We wound around the lake mostly on the dirt with short connector sections of pavement. As we went along there were 2 rather steep hill climbs, but nothing unhikable (if needed) and one downhill by Negro Bar that is like riding down a trough. The blackberry brambles and thistles overgrew the trail and beat up our legs and arms. I had a hard time keeping up with the Ogre even with him keeping it slow for him, but I was afraid of going too fast. All-in-all it was a fun adventure culminating in a quick dip in the lake near the CSUS boat area. (More Details about Riding at Lake Natomas)
Read this Letter
This post is at the request of a friend who has put a lot of hours maintaining and building some of the trails I have gotten to know and love. I’ve posted a slightly edited version of my friend’s letter below but I will summarize it for the impatient. When you are out enjoying a trail please keep in mind that trails are the lifeblood of our sport, without trails there is no mountain biking. There are a lot of people out there who spend countless hours working on trails, please don’t frustrate them by riding carelessly and trashing their work.
Please ride responsibly.
- Ride it don’t Slide it: Avoid skidding as much as possible and learn to use your front brake.
- Don’t deviate from the trail: If there is an obstacle you cannot clean on you bike walk over it not around it or if it doesn’t belong on the trail take a minute to clear it from the trail if possible.
- Give some back: Spend some time doing trailwork, one day per year is a start
Exploring
Today’s ride wasn’t a hammerfest, nor was it an epic ride of mammoth proportions, I’m not even sore. Instead, today’s ride was about finding new trails, exploring the road less travelled, and linking up trails and campgrounds which had previously been isolated. So what did we do? Well, there are some old trail descriptions on a site called Milo’s Singletrack. He has 6 rides and maps mostly from the Strawberry/ Dodge Ridge area and while I’ve ridden most of these trails, I’d never ridden one called Strawberry Trail before. Looking at the map I saw that the route included some trails that very nearly connected the bottom of the Pinecrest Peak Downhill with the Lyon’s Lake area trails, including one of my favorite area trails, Pinball. It turns out that this trail covers about 80% of the distance between the two areas, plus puts us at a considerable elevation. Perhaps we can avoid a bunch of climbing to the top of Pinball. As a bonus there was about 8 miles of just phenominal singletrack that I’d never even suspected. The trail goes right by a great camp site right near the Stanislaus river…. Oh, and much of this trail is beginner friendly so Fiona and Jenny were quite happy with the find too.
We can certainly connect the existing trails to the Lyon’s Lake area by Forest Service Roads but, I want to try find some singletrack to bridge that last little gap to the top of Pinball, or Crandall Peak. My real D’oh of the day was forgetting my camera. To be continued.