Steve's Mountain Bike Page
Turlock, California

Annadel State Park, Santa Rosa, CA
"Long A$$ Loop"
November 25, 2006

The first time I rode at Annadel about three years ago I probably did about 15 miles in five hours. But I liked the park so much it has been my main winter ride ever since. About two years ago I instituted the "slowpoke ride" of about 25 miles and that used to take 6+ hours. I count time in the saddle and effort more than miles, so once that got down to four hours I began adding various bonus loops to bring the time back up to six hours. Two weeks ago I had no trouble doing about 34 miles and if it were not for sunset approaching I would have done more. 

So this week I called for a 40+ mile ride and seven people showed up: GuruAtma, T Horse, Pimpbot, GadgetGuy, Spinstoked, ElHombre and Washedup. We started out on the usual slowpoke ride: up Richardson and South Burma, down Lawndale, up Schultz and Ridge, up and down South Burma, upper North Burma, across Live Oak and all the way down Rough Go. Three guys left at the bottom of Rough Go and the rest of us went up Canyon and Marsh, where ElHombre left us. T Horse, Pimpbot and Spinstoked then accompanied me up Ridge, and then down Schultz and up Lawndale. Pimpbot had some cramps and other problems so he left us at Two Quarry. T Horse, Spinstoked and I then went back up and down South Burma, and then came all the way back down North Burma, and back to the parking lot. All GPS units were a bit different but we got an honest 45+ miles, well over 5,000 ft of climbing, and we felt great at the end. I tried to get the guys to go over and down Cobblestone but they would have none of that. 

Weather was a bit cool at the start, warmed to short sleeves, and then cooled quite a bit toward sunset. For the first two hours I did my usual trailing behind and continuing on while the others stopped. But at about two hours I really felt good and I was forced to give up my "solo" ride, sometimes even riding toward the front of the pack. By then I knew I would be doing the big ride as planned, I just hoped someone would be willing to accompanying me. Occasionally I had to remind the guys to keep moving and good thing I did, we finished about 15 minutes before sunset. Going down Ridge/Schultz was a blast, and a lot more fun than that smooth Lawndale superhighway. And despite reaching the bottom of Lawndale after 37 - 38 miles of tough riding, it was a lot easier climbing than I expected. Thanks everybody for a truly memorable ride! I tried not to stop too much for photos, below are a few. Baycat we missed you. When you are ready we'll take you down Ridge/Schultz, which is great! Here is the trail map.

Click on an image to enlarge it

On Lawndale	T Horse	GuruAtma	Pimpbot off that rock	Pimpbot, Washedup on North Burma
GadgetGuy  North Burma	T Horse Rough Go	Spinstoked Rough Go	ElHombre Rough Go	Rough Go
Rough Go	Sunset approaching North Burma	Spinstoked	GadgetGuy Rough Go	Pimpbot Rough Go

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