Passion Trail Bikes, Belmont, CA - specialists in quality bike service and custom-built mountain bikes

Holiday hours

Patty — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:12:00 +0000

Quick note about our holiday hours this week and next:

Tuesday 12/23/08: Open late until 9:00pm
Wednesday 12/24/08: Closing early: 1:00pm
Thursday 12/25/08: Closed
Friday 12/26/08: 10am to 7pm
Saturday 12/27/08: 9am to 6pm
Sunday 12/28/08: 12noon to 5pm
Monday 12/29/08: Closed
Tuesday 12/30/08: 10am to 7pm
Wednesday 12/31/08: Closed for inventory
Thursday 1/1/09: Closed for new years
Friday 1/2/09: resume regular schedule (see right)

Soil types and where to ride in Winter, Part 2

Patty — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 12:19:00 +0000

Here are some tips on choosing a place to ride in winter

Where to go when it’s ACTIVELY RAINING:

We recommend pavement or gravel surfaces, or very sandy or rocky trails.

Option 1: Paved MUPs

Paved off-road multi-use paths are great if you don’t want to share space with cars when their wipers are wiping and visibility is poor. They also tend to be relatively pedestrian-free at these times, which makes biking much more pleasant and conflict-free.
The San Francisco Bay Trail is great, especially from San Mateo to Redwood shores, and from Palo Alto Baylands to Shoreline Park in Mountain View. The Bay Trail is incomplete, so check their website for what sections are finished in your area. Unpaved sections of the Bay Trail tend to be greasy gooey mud, so be aware. Other paved MUPs include…

Sawyer Camp Trail along Crystal Springs reservoir in San Mateo County, the Coastside Trail in Half Moon Bay, Vasona Creek Trail in Los Gatos, Stevens Creek Trail in Mountain View, Coyote Creek Trail from San Jose to Morgan Hill, and the Almaden Creek and Guadalupe River Trails in San Jose. Marin has a number of paved MUPs, as does the East Bay, in particular the Iron Horse Trail between Concord and Dublin.
If you are making one of these multi-use paths a destination, we recommend riding uphill or upwind on the first leg of your ride until you’ve used up about 65% of the time you have, then turning around and riding back to the start, enjoying the faster downhill/downwind ride after you’ve gotten good and warm.

Option 2: Paved Roads

On-road is another option for a great rain ride. There are hundreds of miles of little-driven roads in the Santa Cruz mountains or Marin Headlands that make for incredible joy-inducing rides through rain and wind. Other places to find good roads for cycling include roads like those in Golden Gate Park or the Presidio in San Francisco, or Huddart Park in Woodside, or Big Basin park in the central Santa Cruz Mountains. Road riding in the rain should inspire you to take extra precautions with your bike set up and handling. Put lights and reflectors on your bike. We also suggest a blinkie light for the back of your helmet. Wear a roadie yellow jacket. BE VISIBLE!

Option 3: Gravel or rocked fireroads

There are quite a few roads within various parks and open spaces that are coated with gravel or a crushed rock surface so that motor vehicles won’t get stuck in the mud. These roads usually will have a firm enough surface that you will be able to pedal along on top, rather than sink in. Examples include Gordon Mill Fireroad in ECdM, Hihn’s Mill Road in Soquel Forest, Radio Road on San Bruno Mountain, Old San Pedro Road on Montara Mountain, Black Mountain Road between Palo Alto and Cupertino, and Old Haul Road in Pescadero.

Option 4: Super long loops that combine Options 1, 2, & 3.

Oh, yeah. Let your imagination run wild. Bring a spare pair of dry gloves, and a dew rag to wipe grime from your glasses.

Option 5: Trails on bedrock or sand

Bedrock is amazing in the rain. Water does not sink in, it flows across the surface. We know of one great place to experience this first hand: The Oat Hill Mine Trail in Calistoga. This historic mining trail runs up a south facing mountain on a volcanic rock substrate, and is blazing hot in the summer. In the winter, it’s as hard as a rock, and you can ride right through the water flowing across this old road cut. Bring technical skills because the rock is not smooth and you will have to work it to make your way to the top. Rockville in Fairfield is another option, although there is more soil between the rocks, which can be fairly slickery.
Sand is another super fun surface in the rain. It is actually much firmer in the middle of winter than it is in the middle of summer, because water helps the sand crystals stick together. Fort Ord is basically nothing but a bunch of old sand dunes. This highly erosive surface is so unconsolidated that Mother Nature is constantly blowing it up into the air in little dust storms, or washing it down the drain. There are a number of trails in the Laguna Seca/BLM area that have had the thin top-coat of black greasy grassy muck washed off, leaving only the blonde sand crystals behind. These can make for a great winter riding experience.

Where to ride shortly AFTER HEAVY RAINS HAVE PASSED:

Consider any of the rain ride options above. But if you are jonesin’ for real trail riding, what you are looking for after heavy rains is roads and trails that drain well and firm up quickly as the water percolates through. You want to be able to pedal and not have the mud build up on your tires, or have your tires sink in and leave tracks behind. You also want to be able to stay upright and control your speed, so a surface that provides some traction is good. Generally speaking you are looking for sandstone or granite underneath, with minimal clay topcoating. You absolutely need to avoid trails with a lot of adhesive clay, or greasy leaf coated organic surfaces. Also avoid trails that cross a lot of seep zones, or have fords through rushing creeks.

Good places to look for fine riding conditions after fronts pass through are mostly on the west side of the San Andreas Fault and include Pacifica’s Montara Mountain which is granite based, Purisima Open Space (note that the singletrack Whittemore Gulch Trail is closed when wet), El Corte de Madera Open Space, and Soquel Demonstration State Forest, which are all sandstone based. Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz also has a nice long climb up under the redwoods which holds up well. Keep in mind that you still want to let the trails firm up with a little sunshine before you start laying down tracks. The dirt jumping area near Carlmont High School is pretty nice after a rain, since there is no organic matter and a lot of rock in this old quarry area. One special place to consider is the Berry Creek Trail from Waddell Beach, in Big Basin State Park. This mostly flat fireroad leads to a very pretty set of waterfalls and is a great place to take kids. There is a one-mile hike at the end to get to the waterfalls.

Where to ride AFTER A WEEK OF DRY WEATHER:

Here you can consider a number of parks that are just too much of a mess right after a rain. These include places east of the San Andreas Fault that are underlaid by much older and finer sandstones, places with a lot of north facing slopes, and places with more clay content. Nice options include Waterdog Park in Belmont, Russian Ridge Open Space preserve, Skyline Open Space Preserve, and Monte Bello Open Space Preserve up on Skyline above Palo Alto, and Saratoga Gap above Saratoga. Try to avoid trails in the deep shaded canyons, as these will firm up last, and be aware of a few trails that are closed seasonally.

Where you need to wait until after SEVERAL WEEKS OF DRY WEATHER:

Other than the first few rains in Autumn and Winter, when the ground is still absorbing water, many preserves will stay gooey and largely unridable most of the winter due to heavy clay content, springs, and deeply shaded north facing woodlands. These parks include any of the dirt sections of the Bay Trail, like shells in Foster City or the Baylands in Palo Alto, Arastradeo Preserve and Windy Hill in Palo Alto/Portola Valley, Long Ridge Preserve on Skyline, and Fremont Older Preserve in Saratoga, and the Canyon Trail in Monte Bello Open Space.

Soil types and where to ride in Winter, Part 1

Patty — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:58:00 +0000

We get a lot of questions about where it is good to ride when the weather turns wet. We could just tell you where it’s good today, but that’s sort of like telling you which way to turn your rebound knob in the middle of the Braille Trail. Recommendations like these are transient, valid one-time only, and depend on current conditions.

Short of going out and actually sampling the trails ourselves, or perhaps having a cadre of trail samplers who would reliably report conditions to us, we instead use local knowledge of geology, topography, microclimates, and past experience to make predictions on local trail conditions.

Soquel Forest rain ride after effects: not so good for your drive train

For a detailed discussion of our weather, soil types, and winter trail conditions, click below to read on.

If you are new to California, you may not be familiar with our weather patterns. Our seasons are uneven. We have a 5-month long dry summer, short spring and fall, and a compact 3-month wet winter. Winter is the one time of year we are challenged by weather curtailing our riding. Also, Autum feels like Spring sometimes because that is when our new grass starts growing, even as the leaves start dropping from the trees.

Historical rainfall levels for the Los Gatos mountains

Seasons
Spring: March and April. Usually the rains taper off and storm fronts come less frequently with longer clear spells including a heat wave or two. We get about 22% of our rain in the spring. By May, our grasses are usually starting to turn brown as summer arrives.

Summer: May through September. Generally, it is either sunny or foggy in the summer and it doesn’t usually rain at all. Historically, on average we get only 5% of our annual rainfall during these five months.

Autumn: October and November. Occasional rain fronts pass through, spitting light rain. Temperatures can be quite warm between fronts. We will get about 23% of our annual rainfall in the Autumn.

Winter: December through February. This is when it rains a lot. Some people call it our “monsoon season”. We get a mix of light rain, windy storms with heavy rainfall, clouds and sunshine as storms develop over the Pacific Ocean and flow east in waves of wet weather typically lasting 3 to 5 days per front, with periods of clear skies lasting a few days or several weeks between storms. Fronts will drop anywhere from 1/2 to 2 or as much as 6 inches of rain. Sometimes fronts come back to back and we can get weeks of continuously rainy weather with flooding, mudslides and other hazards with only periodic calms between storms. Usually we get about 50% of our annual precipitation in these three months.

Ok, having gotten the weather discussion out of the way, here are some of the things we consider before guessing on trail conditions:

Slope, aspect and elevation
Slope is how steep the hillside is. Aspect is what direction it faces on the compass.

Water drains off of steep slopes quickly, but tends to slow down and pool on flatter ground. So trails on hillsides tend to try faster than the flatlands.

Trails on south facing slopes will also usually dry faster than ones on north facing slopes if the underlying soil is the same, because the south facing slope gets more sun whereas the north facing slope spends more time in the shade. East facing slopes are usually slightly wetter than west facing slopes during dry periods, because the morning sun is cooler than the afternoon sun and doesn’t evaporate as much water.

Russian Ridge viewed from Mendigo Hill to the south shows wooded north facing canyons and warm south facing grassy hilltops. Trees appreciate the runoff, but trails under the trees can be wet much longer after a rain

High elevation slopes tend to feature quick draining, coarse rocky soils because the fine sediments wash off, whereas lowlands tend to feature fine, heavy soils that hold water. Our mountains have interesting elevation-related microclimates. As storm fronts come in off the ocean they are pushed up by the ridgeline. The summit gets way more rain than either the coast or the bayside cities. The storms usually drop more rain on the slopes that face the ocean, but the rainfall also spills over the top and gets the high slopes just east of the summit. These high elevation areas above 1500 feet tend to really get dumped on and be much wetter during storms. They also can be moist in the summer when fog sits on the ridgeline.

Underlying geology.
In the Bay Area we have several distinctive geologic blocks and soil types so if you know a little bit about geology that can help you understand why the dirt is the texture it is. In the lowlands, most of the soil has been deposited there after washing off the hills above and is high in clay. Clay is made up of microscopic flakes. The space between each flake acts like a sponge, sucking water up. The tension water creates between those flakes makes clay sticky. The particles don’t want to separate from each other. This is not good. Once you get a fine layer of clay on your tires, if you keep riding the clay will build up, making your tires fatter and fatter until they are rolling donuts that are too big to fit through your fork stanchions or chainstays. Clay can also be found up in the hills where erosion has deposited it in silty flats.

In the hills, the nature of topsoil is usually dominated by the underlying rock. Granite or other old metamorphic rock, and younger “Graywacke” or Sandstone are the most common rocks around here, although we also have many areas of Serpentine, which is usually bluish in color. Volcanic rock is uncommon in our nearby area. Old hard granitic rock makes for good winter trails, because the crystal structure of the rock tends to have square edges which create a rough surface that provides good traction. Also coarse sandstone is good because it drains well and is tacky when moist, although finer grades of graywacke tend towards mudstone or siltstone and the soils produced can have a lot of clay and be not so tire-friendly.

Serpentine is a strange stone that is formed in deep fault zones. It fractures in curves, like glass, and consequently the small rock fragments tend to slip and slide around against each other instead of bind. It is almost impossible to build a stable rock wall out of serpentine. Road cuts that go through serpentine are prone to wavy slumping of the road, and mudslides. If you drive on Edgewood Road near 280, or 280 north of there, you can see the blue rock and mudslides in the area. Trails that go through serpentine to have stability problems too, and the soils derived from serpentine tend to be covered by grass, and thus are usually gooey when wet.

Serpentine rocks are formed in the sliding zone of faults

Vegetation.
Grass is pretty in the sunny springtime, but in the winter it should raise a great big red flag warning you of black clay. Grass decays slowly and the organic matter tends to be greasy. Clay dries very slowly and even after several sunny days in the wintertime it can still be a gooey saturated mess. If grass is growing from brown colored wet dirt instead of black, the clay content is probably lower and it may make for good trail conditions.

Chaparral is usually found on south or west facing slopes where the sun bakes the earth in the summer. Usually there is not much topsoil under chaparral, so the earth you roll across is usually very close to bedrock with little to no organic matter. Suitability for riding depends on whether that bedrock is sandstone, granite, or serpentine.

Oak and mixed broadleaf woodland soils tend to be wetter than chaparral. Usually these woodlands are on shady north-facing slopes. Oaks and other hardwoods produce a lot of leafy litter, which decays into a greasy black topsoil. So the heavy topsoil and short period of winter sunshine under Oaks and Bays can make for wet and gooey trails.

Redwood and Douglas Fir forests feature amazing towers of timber that hold thick canopies way up in the sky. These canopies shade the dirt underneath, but the root systems of these huge trees are incredible. When the sun comes out, these trees become giant water-sucking devices that will pull water out of the ground rapidly. The organic litter under redwoods tends to be thick, airy, and twiggy, and usually is less greasy than under oaks, and in our area, these trees tend to grow on sandstone, which drains well.

Hours of daylight.
December 21 has 9.5 hours of daylight on the solstice, January 21 has 10, February 21 has 11 and March 21 has 12 hours of daylight on the equinox. The soil has a tendency to stay cold during winter because it spends more time chillin’ in the dark than it does warming in the sun. However, as the days get longer, the sun also rises higher above the horizon so the warmth provided by the sun in February is considerably greater than in December. So December to February the cold dark dirt tends to stay wet unless we have a whole lot of sunny days. The lengthening days and heightening sun combine magically in February in California to bring forth amazing wildflowers and periods of joyous spring-time feelings. Be ready for them.

Weather patterns and the days of the week.
If it’s been raining for a week, one day of sunshine isn’t going to do much to dry out the trails. Likewise, if it rains for a week straight in January, and then we have a week of cold cloudy weather, the sun won’t have had much of a chance to do its work. If we have several weeks of rain, the ground is going to get saturated and soft. If it’s sunny for 10 days, chances are good there is good riding to be found. So what does that have to do with the days of the week you ask? Well, if it rains on the weekend, few people are going to go out and ride while the wet stuff is falling and the trails are really wet, and if the sun comes out during the week, few people are going to be able to split from work and enjoy the trails when they firm up. Lack of use on wet trails keeps them in better shape. The hard compacted surface stays firm if you don’t squish it around.

But if it rains during the week and the sun comes out on Saturday, people’s desire to get out doesn’t coincide with the timing needed for the sun to dry things out. If you can’t resist and you ride on wet trails leaving tracks behind, the movement of the wet dirt softens it, and knobby tire tracks can collect and channel water in the next downpour. Squishing dirt and turning it into mud drives water into the microscopic cracks and pops the air pockets, and leaves a layer of silt floating on the top which is the slowest-drying component of the soil. When EVERYONE does this the trail surface will turn into a slurry, which will take a lot longer to dry and be a nuisance to all while its wet. Look for multiple days of sunshine to provide a firm surface to ride on.

I will post more on specific parks and trails and why they make for good or bad winter riding in the next article. —Patty

BC videos

PeterD — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:10:00 +0000

Here is something to keep you going while the cold and rain is outside…

A group of our customers were up in BC this past summer. One of them (Brian) edited up some videos of their trip. Here are two videos for your viewing pleasure…

Mt. Fromme

Mt. Seymour

What form!?!

PeterD — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:34:00 +0000

Berry has an interesting method for doing some stream crossings, though I am not sure how to describe it. This shot was from Thursday’s Appetite Seminar ride in Marin.

How would you describe it?

build up your appetite for turkey?

PeterD — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:57:00 +0000

No surprise – the shop will be closed on Thursday.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t build up your appetite by going for a ride. And if you want company, there are annual rides, including Los Gatos’ Turkey Day Ride and Fairfax’s Appetite Seminar.

There are not official rides, as there isn’t a ride leader, official departure time, or anything like that. Just mass gatherings where people go to a designated start area and ride a designated route. Routes are pretty easy to find – just follow the mass of people.

There is a bull pen in the town of Fairfax where a few kegs of donated beer are available for your enjoyment after the ride (though it often runs out early, so plan to be there before 11 or so to make sure you get some). And Los Gatos’ tradition has come to include a picnic at the top (so watch for people towing roasted pigs, kegs, etc.) to the top.

I think you may find Charles in Los Gatos, and Berry up in Fairfax…

2 years ago, Charles wrote up a bit about the history of the Appetite Seminar and his experience on the ride and posted it here.

Stuck at your computer?

PeterD — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:47:00 +0000

For those looking to waste some time when stuck in front of your computer, here are a pair of good time wasters.

	Turkey Shoot This one is quite seasonal. Shoot the turkeys before they shoot you. Try increasing the sherry meter to make things a bit harder for you.
	SPAMALOT Ok, not quite as seasonal, but a great way to waste some time. Catapault cows, chicken, and goats at various enemy knights.

Of course, neither of these games is nearly as addictive as this game.

Road to Soquel Forest repairs nearly done

Patty — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:54:15 +0000

We got word today from the Soquel Demonstration State Forest Managers that repairs to the slide on Highland Way are nearly done. The contractor reported that the paving is done and they will finish ahead of schedule. We don’t know if the K-rails blocking the road have been removed yet, but if not they should be soon.

No Plans

Charles — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:44:00 +0000

Guided by dubious forecasts and a lack of faith in the ability of any tool at my fingertips to be able to predict the weather, combined with friends that are either out of town or unusually tied to their desks, I approach this Monday with no ride plan. One thing that keeps me sane and reasonably healthy while working the schedule I do, on the diet of food and drink that I do, is my Monday ride. I have had the support, encouragement, companionship, and abuse of a semi regular cast of characters over these last three years to get out on this day of the week for what I hope is a calorie deficit social event, and to not have that on this day is unusual, and significant, but not unheard of.

This also happened in the middle of last June and while I don’t recall the circumstances, I do remember I had no group to ride with. The result had me reaching for an unfamiliar bike the night before, in this case my partner’s singlespeed Chameleon. In my chosen occupation, I am encouraged to a certain extent, as well as naturally inclined, to keep current with gear and technology by playing with it, caressing it, and yes, taking it out on my Monday rides. I want to have a relevant answer to a set up question, an opinion about tubeless tires, experience with suspension tuning, and a grasp of the nuances of differences in several high quality suspension design and applications found a few feet from where I type this. I have at my disposal an array of bikes optimized for different terrain, distance, surface and humidity, bikes that I own, or that the shop owns, or are here with the intention to be loaned out, and then there are the bikes that need an extended test ride, the ones with a noise, shift malady, or other malfunction that might only show up an hour into a long ride, and then under duress. I walked past a row of bikes, and then more bikes, and chose this one, partially because it was close to the door, but mostly because it already had pedals on it that fit shoes I wanted to ride in the next day. Not my normal criteria, but a standard that fit what I was trying accomplish, or avoid, the following day.

With no plan from the beginning, and no agenda, I meandered through breakfast and the newspaper, then my dresser and out to the truck. This simple bike, with no rear suspension, a worn out rear tire, and solitary gear choice didn’t beg for any attention. I didn’t measure the Chameleon’s seat height, check the shock pressure, or lube the chain, and I don’t think I had a destination worked out by the time I was rolling out of the driveway, but I did end up at an old familiar haunt, the scene of many a Monday ride. The ride aspect of my day, and prep for the day, turned out to be pretty mindless, and wonderfully so. I was rewarded with clear blue skies, wonderful temps for getting a good work out, and seized the opportunity to sit on Jim Owen’s bench and just look out, to look at the slide in Nisene Marks and imagine the hawks that ride the thermals there, enjoy the haze over Monterey Bay and the way the Peninsula just sort of vaporizes into it near the beach. I listened to sounds of bugs and wind and my own breathing, and thought about being in this place and time, and having the ability to do just this. Its too frequently lost on me how fortunate I am, and in the constant din of work and play, conversations and situations, in set up and tear down, prep and repair, I take too few breaks to remind myself. My investment in this day was minimal, and the return was just spectacular. I’ll try to do it again tomorrow, and hopefully without trying too hard.

Day of the Dead Saturday, November 1, 6:30PM candle light party

Patty — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:06:00 +0000

Friday night is the night for little kids. This year Saturday night is for big kids! Plan on joining us for a super fun candlelit evening of socializing and scaring each other with our alter-egos. Party starts at 6:30pm and runs until the candles burn down. Healthy finger food to dilute all that candy you ate, intoxicating conversation, boiling beverages, what more could you want? Oh, costumes. Wear one! Bring leftover bags of funsize candy to donate to the Second Harvest Food Bank.