Steve's Mountain Bike Page
Turlock, California

Red Hills

December 10, 2000

Today I rode with Kip and Randy at the Red Hills Area of Critical Environmental Concern. At 65 degrees, no wind, and clear blue skies, it was a perfect day to ride this area, which is normally quite hot and dusty much of the year. It had been three months since I rode there and I was curious about my fitness and skill levels. Although I have certainly improved, this is still the toughest area I have ever biked. The trails are very narrow, often through thick brush, and there are plenty of steep climbs and descents on very loose rocks. We took the Old Sage trail (6), Soaproot Ridge trail (7), an unmarked trail off the Soaproot trail that eventually joined the Six Bit trail, back along the Old Sage to the Soaproot Ridge trail and then back via the Overlook Loop trail (4) and Verbena Loop trail (3) to the Red Hills road. Here is a map, I've approximated where the new trail goes. Despite the rough terrain there was only one minor incident. Randy tried to jump the log that I didn't make on my last trip. He didn't make it today either. However, he was way ahead of us and got back up before I could get a picture. He had a pretty good cut on his leg. More pictures of this area are available from two previous trips September 2, and September 4, 2000. Two are included below.

Trailhead	Kip's bike	Catching  some air	Chugging onward	Lake Don Pedro
On the trail	Typical surface	Cool trail	Narrow trail	Rare smooth spot
Kip	Randy	Me	Me	Sunset approaching

[ Home ]