Arastradero

Jobs are a time between riding with your friends

March 22, 2004

For the start of the 2004 season, I spent some time in the San Francisco Bay Area (it's amazing how much time you get when you go through layoffs), not only looking for work, but also to ride. We used to live up here for five years before moving south, and I really miss the riding up here. Long Ridge and Arastradero are two of my favorite rides in the South Bay/Peninsula area.

Arastradero was my local trail for the last year I was in the Bay Area. It's a neat trail, being in Palo Alto, and it has a lot of variety and need places to play around. Ayumi, one of my best buds, went with me on this trip. This time, my photographer goes with me (as opposed to Long Ridge, where I had to grab "volunteers").




After we got our bikes ready to go, and Ayumi remembered what it's like to be on two wheels again :-) It was fairly cloudy in the morning, which is a great feeling especially when riding uphill. After we left the parking lot, we went up the de Anza trail until we reached the lake. The lake also provides a wonderful time to pose for pictures.



We took the left after the lake and continued on the Arastadero Creek Trail. This is a fireroad that continues through the lower lying areas. You can take various singletrack trails up to the top of the hill. We took the Woodrat Trail, which has plenty of switchbacks. Then we jumped on the Meadowlark trail until we reached the Bowl Loop.



The Bowl Loop (NOT the Bowl Loop Trail, these are different) is a very narrow singletrack trail that goes down and quickly up, and then around, and back down and up again. The pictures of me going down are at the start of the Bowl Loop (I left the second one in there because Ayumi likes it :-), and the one of Ayumi going downhill is at the end of the Bowl Loop. From Ayumi's picture, you can see the other mountain bikers coming from the left, this is the direction we headed: to the Jumps.



The Jumps are a fun little area that most people ride up and down the various ramps and sometimes get a little air on the little bumps. However, there are some folks that you should just hang around and watch. I was just having fun getting used to go down something steeper than I usually bike. I love the second picture that Ayumi took even though it's blurry. This is the "commit" point on when you can't bail when hitting a downhill. To me, this is just the scariest but most fun thing about mountain biking.




After the Jumps, we have a small but really steep uphill on the Bowl Loop Trail to go before hitting the Punch Bowl.


At the top. This the highest point of the ride, and it's just so pretty see the area below. It's hard to believe you're just off I-280 and Page Mill.. Then, there is a very short downhill and you're at the Punch Bowl.



At the Punch Bowl. This is aptly named because you go down about 15 feet, ride along the bottom of a dry lake bed, then "punch it" to go straight up. From the first photo, this is the view directly across the lakebed. The second photo is what I've been staring at for a couple of years before I actually decided to pick today to go down. Technically, it's a very easy ride. The problem is if you stare at it long enough, you psyc yourself out. Not today :-) I finally made it.




At the end of the Bowl Loop Trail, it's a bumpy singletrack down to the Woodland Star Trail, which is another gravelly fireroad. You can get a lot of speed on the Woodland Star Trail, but you don't want to go too fast, or you're miss the gate to your right that leads to the Bay Laurel and then the Ohlone Trail. These are both some very sweet singletrack. The trail dumps out at the de Anza trail fireroad.



Once we got back to the Meadowlark Trail, we took at quick left uphill. This is another steep uphill that I have yet to make it up. The quick left turn just kills your speed. Fortunately, this is the last uphill on the trail, and the Meadowlark Trail is great to zoom down. After the ride, there's no better time to pose for a final picture :-)


Route taken: 4.5 mile loop through various trails. The description gives you more information, along with the official Arastradero Preserve map (PDF) from the city of Palo Alto's site.