August
02-14-2013, 12:00 PM
I had read this was the place to ride in my new grand neighborhood, so I packed some food and made the trip, about and hour's drive from my house. I was not disappointed. Boggs Mountain Demonstration State Forest is that rare synthesis of gorgeous landscape with carefully laid out and maintained single track situated just far enough out of the way that almost no one rides there. I saw two other riders in three hours; granted it was a weekday afternoon, but the sun was bright, temperatures peaked in the mid sixties, and hey, this is California, so there ought to be at least a few cycling scoundrels on the public dole gone for a leisurely time of it. Anyway, more for me.
The parkland seems to be distributed evenly on top of a hill (or mountain, I guess) with a network of jeep trails and access roads between and around which I found some of the smoothest, fastest, most rewarding single track I've ever ridden. This time of year it's covered in pine needles dropped from the stately sugars and lodgepoles, some of which looked to be over one-hundred-fifty feet tall. There's an understory of manzanita with its dusty-looking leaves and vivid red bark and a crusty douglas fir here and there.
Boggs Peak Trail, things get pretty squirrelly cornering fast on an inch of pine needles.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8241/8473151741_010e9f9a9e_b.jpg
Jason's Trail, as steep as anything I've ridden out East, but with fewer technical features. This pine was down on the middle of the trail.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8387/8474241404_32f78e196f_b.jpg
Berry's Trail, which gives a good representation of the lodgepole and sugar pine groves. It's pretty sunny with very little growing beneath. Controlled and accidental burns seem to go on now and then. Continuing from here onto Jethro's Trail, I rode through the northern face with it's thick live oaks and moss.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8522/8473152039_f18267c243_b.jpg
I think I'll keep this up for a while documenting this new-to-me riding. It would be nice if someone would follow suit--it's always good to see what else is out there and to imagine riding in places beyond those immediately accessible to me.
Maybe next I'll take to the roads with my Kirk.
The parkland seems to be distributed evenly on top of a hill (or mountain, I guess) with a network of jeep trails and access roads between and around which I found some of the smoothest, fastest, most rewarding single track I've ever ridden. This time of year it's covered in pine needles dropped from the stately sugars and lodgepoles, some of which looked to be over one-hundred-fifty feet tall. There's an understory of manzanita with its dusty-looking leaves and vivid red bark and a crusty douglas fir here and there.
Boggs Peak Trail, things get pretty squirrelly cornering fast on an inch of pine needles.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8241/8473151741_010e9f9a9e_b.jpg
Jason's Trail, as steep as anything I've ridden out East, but with fewer technical features. This pine was down on the middle of the trail.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8387/8474241404_32f78e196f_b.jpg
Berry's Trail, which gives a good representation of the lodgepole and sugar pine groves. It's pretty sunny with very little growing beneath. Controlled and accidental burns seem to go on now and then. Continuing from here onto Jethro's Trail, I rode through the northern face with it's thick live oaks and moss.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8522/8473152039_f18267c243_b.jpg
I think I'll keep this up for a while documenting this new-to-me riding. It would be nice if someone would follow suit--it's always good to see what else is out there and to imagine riding in places beyond those immediately accessible to me.
Maybe next I'll take to the roads with my Kirk.