Steve's Mountain Bike Page
Turlock, California

Annadel State Park, Santa Rosa, CA
November 11, 2006

One of the first major rains of the fall came in yesterday and quite a few people bailed out on this ride.  But the mountain biking gods nearly always smile on my rides and today was no exception. I drove through two hours of rain (checking the radar before I left) and by the time I hit Santa Rosa it had stopped, and eventually the sun came out, giving us a beautiful day. About 15 people showed up and we had a nearly on time start. I was about the last to the Two Quarry/Richardson junction, and as usual there was much discussion about which way to proceed. However, since I clearly posted in the organizational thread, and I mentioned on the ride up, that I don't take that shortcut, I just said "see you at Lawndale" and I rode on. Eventually about six others joined me and the rest went up Two Quarry. At the top of Schultz we met Pimpbot and a few others but they had no idea where the rest of the riders had gone.

Most of the remaining group did the usual 25 mile slowpoke route, up Richardson, South Burma, down Lawndale, up Schultz and Ridge, down South Burma and upper North Burma, across Live Oak to Orchard and down Cobblestone. A few riders peeled off here and there at bail-out points. I was usually at the rear but when the others stopped I kept going, so we were in contact most of the ride. However, we were moving pretty fast and it was quite evident we'd finish in about four hours. I was feeling really good so I said goodbye at the the Rough Go/Orchard junction and then took off solo all the way down Rough Go, then up Canyon and Marsh, and then back via South Burma, upper North Burma, across Live Oak to Orchard, part way down Rough Go, and down the outer Cobblestone Loop. All I can say about going all the way down Rough Go is wow! One full mile of really rocky downhill, the best I've seen in the park. Although I made it down without a hitch, I took it a bit easy since I was solo, had never done it before, and didn't bring my elbow pads. This will be added to my regular Annadel ride from now on.

Although going up Canyon and Marsh, as well as climbing back up South Burma again, added another 4+ miles of climbing, it was all fairly gradual. I actually think I went up South Burma faster the second time. I felt so good at the Marsh/Ridge junction I briefly contemplated going down Schultz and up Lawndale, but I wasn't sure I had enough daylight should I have a problem. However, I ended up doing 34+ miles with at least 4,000 ft. of climbing, in less than six hours, and I felt very fresh at the end. So I was quite pleased. This was the first chance to test the new bike on a trail I knew really well and it performed magnificently! It went up everything as never before.

Click on an image to enlarge it

Rainy skies?	Almost ready	Break on Schultz	On Schultz	On Schultz
Baycat	Velocipus	Robnfl and Ed #1	Dan'ger out of a dip	Ed #2
On Ridge Trail	Pimpbot	Baycat down South Burma	Robnfl on South Burma	Rough Go
Bottom of Rough Go	Rough Go	Near Rough Go	Near Rough Go	On South Burma

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