Bay Area weekday dirt rides

Its pretty cool to ride my favorite Stonyford trails again,
but the character of the trails in the burn area is quite different now...

I don't know if all of the bulldozer work on the trails have been
done by logging contractors or Mendo NF folks, but a fresh crop
of jagged boulders have been turned up everywhere. Many narrow
singletrack have sections of 10-12-ft wide clear-cut down them for
100-ft, with deep gravel & small boulders. Kinda weird. I'm sure it
will be fine once its packed back down & some of the greenery
grows back.

Anyway ... we rode a good selection of trails that went like this;
24, 1 to the top & back down, 24, 26, 22, 20, 3, 7, all of 15 to the
bottom, and then 17N62B, 13, and 14 over to Letts Lake for lunch.



Ed powers out of a ravine






17N02 to M10 to all of Trail 6 to the west end of trail 4.


In the creek


The climb up the west end of 4 is getting pretty torn up with bigger
boulders & rock ledges now. This section is labeled blue-intermediate,
but should be black-diamond. I'm glad we got up it OK. Way too
gnarly to stop & get trail photos.

Stopped at Memorial Rock (only one so far) near the top of 4, and then
continued up to the top of Goat Mountain for a break.






The Goat Mtn ridgeline with the infamous Goat Rock in the background

Rode back to the last part of trail 4 to ride it all the way to the east end.
Nice fast & flowing trail! We rode up M5 to Cedar Camp so Ed could see
the CG, then back down to Goat Mtn Road to camp. 68 miles for the day.

I was amazed how few moto tracks we came across. We laid down virgin
tracks on several trail sections. Had to stop & clear a downed tree near
the bottom of trail 15.

It was cool at Letts Lake and on top of Goat Mtn. What a gorgeous day
for a ride!

Stopped at Granzella's in Williams for drinks & a nice dinner afterwards.
THANKS for chasing me through the forest & dinner Ed!


Catfish ...

3 old guys (2 Betas & a KTM) are meeting at Carnegie - Moto Mart at 10AM tomorrow,
Tuesday June 18. A little JL skills practice & a 20-mile mostly-singletrack loop. Blue & black trails.

Join us , or (gasp!) go to work! :huh

Catfish ...

Yeah, the west end of Trail 4 is certainly difficult going eastbound. We struggled up that with a 950SE and a R100GS a couple of weeks ago. Those of us on "dirt bikes" had an easier time. We didn't take time for pictures, either.

Wednesday, 6/26/13, 10 AM at Carnegie - Moto Mart.
Retired guys riding singletrack.


Catfish ...

You guys suck.

Every chance I get! :eek1


Carnegie is good practice, so I can go ride trails like these a few times a year;






Catfish ...

Nice watercrossing. That's at Carnegie? Don't think I've run across that one. What trail was it on, if you recall?

No way am I gonna tell you where that is. We'd have to kill you anyway, that's the secret trail. Not even Carnegie's rangers know 'bout it.

The only water at Carnegie is down at the bottom and you're no longer allowed to ride through it.

Carnegie was almost shut down for good a few years ago when some environmentalists filed a lawsuit to protect some obscure species in the Central Valley that was supposedly being harmed by polluted runoff. It didn't matter that water only comes out of there for about 4 months of the year, and that nearly all of the pollution was from the north side of the road where Livermore Labs had tested all kinds of nasty chemicals.

Once the lawsuit was dismissed as frivolous, the people at Carnegie had to at least do their best to keep the offroad vehicles from adding more pollution to any runoff from the park. So when it's wet, those areas are all roped off and you'll get a ticket if you get caught riding in them.

I do recall , but its a closely-guarded, secret trail; shhh...

Thanks for keeps secret trails secret!

If someone wants to ride that trail, they'll just have to come chase me down it!


Catfish ...

Im looking for fellow riders that might be interested in riding at either Metcalf or holister tomorrow (fri aug 2)
but be warned...I'm a noob looking to get some more experience. I am just getting back into dirt riding after about 15yrs or so.

Shoot me a pm if your interested!

Cheers,

Couple of us weekday riders heading to Foresthill this Wednesday the 7th. We are planning an early start to avoid the heat - on the trails by 9am.

If anyone is interested in joining let us know.

Ed

sunday morning i was riding my mountain bike down railroad grade on tam and a 950 blew by me with a nice drift, brought a huge smile to my face. I'm sure everyone else out there was horrified

Another SFer here. Parkside/Sunset KLR. I'll be on a cross country trip over the next 2-3 months, but I def wanna play in the dirt with you all when I get back

-WC

My buddy is still a maybe. Any interest from your friends?

Here's a gpx file of where we will stage at Foresthill. (Right-click & save as ...) Let me know if you can not open this; one short track to the staging waypoint.

Catfish ...

Good ridin' boys that was fun! It was a bit dusty but once again we had the place to ourselves.

Lets try to plan the next one soon.

Ed

Yes, weekdays are The BEST(tm)!

I was surprised when I met the girl & boy on trail 2. She was hauling, slammed on the brakes when she saw me, and stopped right beside me. Then fell over. I think she was MORE surprised to meet someone on the trail than I was!

Fun trails, and kinda powdery now. Waiting a full minute since the last rider left was the only way to deal with the dust. The DS ride over to Iowa Hill afterwards was a BLAST. What a sweet road!

Off to Oregon, Washington, & Idaho on Ms.Caponord for the rest of August.

Seeya in September,

Catfish ...

This Thursday afternoon at Metcalf? I'll probably get there at 3 or a little later. KTM 690R. There will likely be a few of us there. All experienced riders but we like meeting noobs too.

fun fun
Charlie

I am retired so I have everyday off during the week to ride DS. What I don't have is other folks to ride with during the week. I'll have to watch this thread to see who may be going to the Sierra during the week. Nothing better than a few days of riding in the mountains. I have a place North/East of Marysville at 2,500ft elevation. Can ride from there or haul to the higher elevations. if anyone would be interested in riding in that area post up.

LaPorte

Heading out to Carnegie SVRA this Thursday, Sept.26, with Ms.Beta for some JL practice exercises & a few training loops. Mostly blue & black singletrack.

Arrive 9:30am & riding at 10AM. Staging between Moto Mart & restrooms. Let me know if you are coming.

Catfish ...