Seventeen miles, climbing up to the ridgeline south of Redlands. That's a bit of a boring climb, but pretty wide streets with low traffic and not steep. Just monotonous. Stopped at a garage sale for kicks. But then you summit and can drop into Oakmont Park and WOW, you have some good stuff available to you!
I usually do this ride in reverse, but decided to practice some climbing (hmmmm, any reason I need to get my legs in shape???).
My Rivendell All-Rounder climbed perfectly up the singletrack switchbacks.
Really, just glided up the trail.
I was trying to stitch the three best trails in town together: Oakridge, Deer and Creekside/Coach. Success! You can see the map on Bikely.
Oakridge is flat but curvy with a steep drop off to the south:
Deer Trail is really unknown and might be on private property. It is a "historical" trail in town though. The first part of it is where all the paint-ballers play their games. Some definite hike-a-bike sections that I couldn't ride, but didn't mind hopping off for at all!
That trail drops you down to San Timoteo Creek where you can pick up the western side of of the Creekside Trail. This incorporates portions of the Coach trail that was once the main route between Colton and the low desert used by the Earp brothers. It's probably my favorite route in town and I ride it maybe once a week. Again, usually in reverse though.
So about the bike thing. I put on fatter/knobbie tires (Ritchey Zed 700cX44mm). Coulda' done it with the usual Paselas, but why beat yourself up. The top tube is a bit high for hopping over when I was doing the hike-a-bike parts, but really the hardest part to clear was the saddle. I dinged it up a little bit with my shoes, but it will survive.
Seventeen miles in a bit under two hours. Speedy Gonzalez I am not, but a load of fun locally on a beautiful and comfortable bike is a good thing!!!
