RR: Santa Fe Valley Ride

I had a chance to squeeze in a short post-Easter "linner" ride today. After my parents and brother and his family left, Rachel and I did some dishes and had some free time on our hands. Since there was some daylight left, and I was unhappy about my fitness yesterday on the Calavara ride, I figured I'd try to mix in a short local ride with some climbing.

I had not ridden my so called "local ride" through the Santa Fe Valley since mid-January, and decided to give it a shot. That way I didn't have to drive anywhere, and could hopefully get home in less than an hour. Turned out to be a bad choice.

My local ride is no more.

I rode my usual route, leaving from the house and out past where they're building Del Norte High School. I remembered from January that part of the beginning of the trail had become a little overgrown, but had no idea what I was in store for.

Because this was a quick neighborhood ride, I didn't bring a camera. I didn't even bring my camelback, instead opting for a bottle of water in the cage on the bike and some Cliff Shot Blocks in my pockets. I wish I had brought the camera. And my pack, as you'll see in a minute.

Virtually the whole trail that I had ridden so many times since last summer was completely overtaken by massive weeds and green plants. I found myself going from regular singletrack trails into dense forests of 6 foot tall weeds. Each time I encountered a new patch, I figured I could just keep going and rediscover the trail in a few yards, only to find that the weeds went on for much longer than I expected. At one point I had to bushwhack through almost a half a mile of spiny, prickly weeds that were almost above my head.

My theory is that with the High School being built, access to the trails to hikers and bikers has largely been cut off. Along with that, it was a rainy spring, and weeds have sprung up everywhere, not just along the trails.

I tried to just plow through the weeds wherever possible, and was successful for a while. I couldn't see ground beneath me at all, and was sometimes a little spooky wondering what was luring in the thick groundcover. Also, because the weeds were so tall, and the sun was setting in my eyes, I often had no idea where I was going or what was in front of me.

The trail was bad at the top of the hill near the High School, not too bad down the singletrack decent, miserable between there and the nursery, an then not bad after and for part that is used as portion of Santa Luz loop.

However the portion after it splits from the Santa Luz trail that heads uphill back to my house was an absolute horror show. Already a little overgrown on its best day, it was completely impassable. However, since I didn't have an alternate route home without a massive detour, I decided to just plow through. The weeds were so dense and high that there was no way to ride through them, and I even had to push the bike ahead of me in spots to clear a path. It was brutal.

Eventually I reached the uphill singletrack that was not overgrown, and did manage to climb up it without dismounting, which I've only done one other time. I had also made it up a previous uphill climb with less difficulty than in the past, which was nice. So it seems that I'm improving on the short climbs, but I have continued to struggle on the longer ones, like yesterday.

I realized at the top of the hill that my rear tire was going flat, almost certainly from the legion of spiky weeds that I had plowed through. I stopped to pump it up a couple of times during the pavement climb on the way back up to Camino San Bernardo, and during one of my stops I was approached by another mountainbiker. He was a very nice guy by the name of Vijay, who is apparently an engineer who lives in 4S and is looking for an MTB riding buddy. We exchanged information and will hopefully get a chance to ride together soon. He seemed like a very nice person.

I had to stop three times on the way home to pump up my rear tire, and by the time I hit my driveway it was pretty much completely flat. Could not have been good for my rims.

My legs were also a mess by the end of the ride. They were full of spiny pokers from the weeds, and I was bleeding and had hives all over the place. Fortunately there was no poison oak or poodle dog bush out there, or I would have been completely hosed.



I was still picking needles out of my legs later that night, even after a shower.



So as it stands, I'll never be able to do my local ride again. I may try to investigate some different versions of my usual route, but as it is now, my regular local ride is no more. Which is too bad.

(Where you see dirt roads/trails on the map below, do not be fooled. They are no longer roads. At all.)

Here are the stats:
Total Distance: 5.72 miles
Total Time: 57:13
Ascent: 720 feet
Average Speed: 6.0 mph
Top Speed: 23.9 mph
Bike: Specialized FSR XC Pro
Map:

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