Los Alamitos Creek Trail
Route Review
I had biked this loop before and wanted to share it with Cassie. However, we biked this at night, which was fun in its own way.
We biked a similar route to the previous ride, except that we stuck to paved roads on the Almaden side. This was because I did not want to encounter mud in the dark, which could be no fun.
What Happened?
20.2 miles, 2 hr 18 mins, 719 ft of ascent
We found a quiet night to get outside and our goal for this day was to bike in a large loop to Santa Teresa County Park and back. We rode easily to Santa Teresa County Park and found the roads to be lightly trafficked—as a bonus, these cars also gave us a wide berth whenever they passed.
When we got to Santa Teresa County Park, I gave Cassie a heads-up that the steep road that would get us over to the Almaden side would be the most sustained ascent yet for her. With that warning, we headed up and slowly started to gain elevation.
At first, it wasn’t so bad, but I knew that the middle stretch of the road would be hard, where it is over 12% grade. When it got steep, I started motoring on ahead as I wanted to keep a steady pace to make sure I didn’t fizzle out. I showed Cassie how to cut the steep grades by snaking up the road (there were no cars, so it was safe) as I raced on ahead. At the top of the hill, I drank some water and waited for Cassie. When I looked back, I saw that although she was biking slower, she had not gotten off her bike! She made it up without stopping and drank some water while catching her breath. By this point, the night was fully here and the place was dark and deserted.
We then headed to the mine trail by looping around the picnic area and started riding the single-track trails. The trails were flat on packed dirt, which is as good as it gets. Unfortunately, it soon turned to a rocky trail, which was fun for me, but not so fun for Cassie, who rides a drop bar bike that she is still getting used to in terms of stability. This meant that she finally had to walk the bike while I biked short segments to make sure I didn’t leave her behind.
It took a while, but the trail dumped us out to McKean Road. We biked this road until we could get over to the Los Alamitos Trail, then took that back home.
It was Cassie’s first time riding her bike at night and also her largest single climb to date. I was surprised how well she did and it just confirmed what a badass person she is!
