mountain biking

Once the rains in San Jose finally stopped, I returned to mountain biking at Almaden Quicksilver Park and surrounding trails. However, I noticed that my rear tire was constantly losing pressure.. . . . . . . . At first, I took my 2011 Specialized FSR Stumpjumper S-Works FSR Carbon to Trail Head Cyclery. The mechanic there redid the rear tire. However, one week later,…

I plan to ride the Russian Ridge OSP with the South Bay Mountain Biking meetup for about a week. I have been to other South Bay mountain bike riders, and this was a chance to ride some new trails that I have not previously ridden.. . Despite early morning fog in Los Gatos, the weather was fantastic at Russian Ridge OSP, and we had a…

I have never mountain biked at Monte Bello OSP in Palo Alto, so I went with the local South Bay Mountain Biking Meetup.. . I arrived at the Monte Bello parking lot around 9:40 am, ready for the 10:00am bike ride. I had changed both of the tires on my Specialized S-Works bike. I did not realize that these tubeless tires needed to be re-sealed…

As the weather was sunny and mild, I decided to try to mountain bike the Saratoga Gap and Peters Creek trail in Saratoga (starting at the Vista Point parking lot at the intersection of Highway 9 and Skyline Boulevard).. . Initially, I wanted to ride this trail with the South Bay Mountain Bike group on meetup, but there was no space (8 people had already…

I have been riding my old 1997 Specialized Ground Control on all sorts of trails for 18 years. It cost me $1,399 back in 1997 when I lived in Sacramento and biked on nearby trails and near Lake Tahoe.. . . . Recently, when it came time to do maintenance, I took it to the nearby Summit Bicycles. The mechanics there told me that my…

I decided to mountain bike at my nearby Almaden Quicksilver County Park in south San Jose, this time using the Hacienda Park entrance (Eastern side of the park).. . When I arrived at 8:45 a.m., there were not too many cars. I assembled my Specialized Ground Control bike and started on the ascent of Mines Hill Trail.. . The park map is below:. . .…

Today, I decided to sample multiple mountain biking trails at Joseph D. Grant County Park. When I arrived, I parked at the parking lot on Hamilton Road, a few hundred feet past the park's entrance (near Grant Lake).. . I shot a short video on my GoPro Hero 3 Black here of my ride from Halls Valley Road to Canada de Pala and returning by…

Today, instead of visiting Lake Tahoe, we decided to visit Half Moon Bay. We had never been there before, so we were curious about the trails and beaches.. . When we arrived around 10:00, I discovered that the front tire on my Specialized Ground Control mountain bike was flat and wouldn't stay inflated. I decided to have it repaired at the local bike shop -…

Today, I decided to try mountain biking at my nearby Almaden Quicksilver County Park in south San Jose.. . . . . The entrance to the park is pictured below.. . . . I started at the Mockingbird Hill entrance (the park's Northern side) and took the Virl O Norton Trail, heading east toward the Hacienda trail. Norton Trail is very steep, and I had…

Today, I decided to try mountain biking at Santa Teresa County Park in San Jose. The park is nearby, and I was surprised to learn I had never been there.. . . . I got up early in the morning and researched all of the trails. There are many trails at Santa Teresa, and it's easy to get lost. I followed the recommendations posted by…

Today, I mountain biked on Limekiln Trail near Lexington Reservoir in Los Gatos.. The Limekiln trail starts out moderate but gets very steep. It's a great workout for mountain biking, providing excellent cardiovascular exercise. It's pretty challenging, and I often walk at least the upper part of the trail.. . . . Here is a short GoPro Hero3 Black video on the bike's handlebars.. .…