RR: Lake Chabot Park in Norcal

[pshloss]

I was up in the Bay area last week and went on several fun rides. This was the only one I took pictures of. It is a medium sized area that is pretty fun with some variety. I went there on Monday, so it was pretty deserted. Luckily, I met two firefighters from the area named Jim and Stephanie and we rode together. They had been there a couple of times before, but not done much exploring. So we went on a pretty good exploration of the place and found several fun trails.

I had been there once last August and rode up the first big hill. But I was short on time that day and had no water or really anything. Just my son's old (we're talking center pull brakes and a Rock Shok Indy SL fork) MTB and a helmet.

So this time I had my trusty Weyless SP (don't laugh, it is tricked out...) and all of my gear.

The ride started out with the weather clear and about 50 degrees. There is about a 2 mile paved path leading to narrow foot bridge, then the dirt starts. The first thing is a long very steep climb up a bumpy fire road. Stephanie was only on about her third ride, so this was a major challenge, but she did make it up OK. We then hit a nice long singletrack on the top of the ridge with some nice rollers.

After that we found a cool loop through a grove of giant eucalyptus trees and passed one of the two hikers we would see that day on the dirt. After that we dropped down a long steep trail that was covered in grass. That felt pretty weird, and it was a tiny bit muddy. The mud spattered up into our eyes and we had to "use the force" a little bit to the bottom.

The last trail was a super sweet singletrack through what was at times dense forest with giant ferns. This reminded me of a ride I did earlier in the week at a place called El Corte De Madera Creek out on the Peninsula in the mountains above Palo Alto. That was nearly all forest and included some pretty cool technical stuff. Anyway, that trail brought us out to the fire road and the lake. We crossed back over the foot bridge and cruised back on the paved path to our cars. All in all about 16 miles.

At start, the marina


View of lake near start


Stephanie, local firefighter and newbie enjoying the ride


Jim, another firefighter in the jungley section


Jim and Stephanie in the eucalyptus grove


Last view of the lake after fog rolls in


Me on a the sweet singletrack section

[Ladd Jasper]

Nice report and pics., Pete. Thanks! Haven't caught many posts lately, glad to see you still poke your head in from time to time.