Two-Thirds of a Weekend: One for the Gravel, Two for the Road

Well, its a one for the gravel, two for the road, three for the mountain, now go cat go, but don't you step on my black swede shoes. Well, the mountain bike didn't make it out this weekend but the road bike did on Saturday, and then came some Sunday gravel, so two out of three ain't bad. With many days of rain in the forecast I made the extra effort, even though there is some Christmas shopping still to do, to get out as much as possible this weekend. Saturday's ride along the SGRT was not the least bit shabby and I actually got a little of that shopping done at Chalan Rest Stop. A couple pair of socks worth of shopping anyway.

on the move

taking flight

group #1: Scouts, I believe

Group #2: How do we fix this chain?

something appears to be wrong here

I don't know why they park those cherry pickers with the arms extended

coffee and danish, and the usual suspects at Chalan Rest Stop

the near mountains

Chalan Rest Stop on the SGRT

home, homeward bound

Sunday's ride was some solo gravel. I thought maybe I would be racing the rain, but the morning dawned mostly sunny, with a sky that never really appeared threatening. There is this little bit of dirt road / trail running roughly parallel to Mt. Baldy Road, but moves in and out of the little canyons on the north east side of the pavement. It is something that I discovered fourteen, maybe fifteen years ago, when the firm I was working for was hired to conduct a study of bike routes / trails in the upper San Antonio Heights area. I had not ridden it in a good ten years, at least. I was stoked to see that, what was a road-width route then has nicely narrowed into a fun little single track. Apparently it is still pretty popular (though no one was on it today), since it is very distinct, the brush not encroaching on the trail.

you could enter from that way, but it is kind of wide and boring

lost shoe

the spreading grounds

starting up the trail

smooth

fun

still some sunflowers

the eponymous yellow gate

my turn around on this day

tire's eye view of the upward trail

bizarre - at the top of the rise, where the trail bends to the right, is another sign you see when coming from the other direction. There are no signs at either end of the trail, but for this one-hundred to one-hundred fifty feet section at some rough mid-point along the overall length, cyclists, runners, hikers, equestrians are, apparently, trespassing on lands owned by something called the Claremont Venture Estate Corp.

back and down the trail

forward and up the trail

view across the valley

I had forgotten all about this little figgy thicket