My new local loop is the Foresthill Divide Loop. If i just do the Loop itself, it’s 10 miles. I did 1 lap in an hour (I am NOT fit and I was not trying to go fast, it’s just a fast trail). Then I turned around and rode it the other way. It’s one of those frequent ‘grade-change’ multi-use trails where you’re either pedalling or coasting without sustaining either for very long. The longest climb is less than a couple minutes, if that. It’s a bit like an east-coast ride that way. A great singlespeed loop. The closest thing to this I had in Colorado was Betasso. It’s a bit faster than Betasso being pretty smooth and un-technical, but open every day of the week and no directional restrictions (like Betasso). Everybody was really nice and smiling (saw 10 people) which helped the welcome feeling for me – not knowing if i was going to run into any ‘tude in my new homeland. I’m sure it’ll be pretty busy on the warmer weekends as it’s a true singletrack loop that’s open most of the year and close (by California standards) to bigger cities of Sacramento and Auburn.
Even after somewhere around 10″ of rain in the last week (isn’t that kinda nuts? My house got almost 20″), there were only a few puddles and the rest of the trail was just tacky! The wet oak leaves grip better than you’d think but the red soil doesn’t. I had a couple of 2-wheel drifts that luckily didn’t shoot me on the ground or off the trail. It’s weird how the red soil, that looks a lot like the dirt in Fruita or Moab, doesn’t become absolutely unrideable when wet (like in Moab). It just gets a light top coat of slickyness but seems to have a larger clay content so sluffs off the water much better instead of absorbing it. This place is adapted to rain obviously. Anyways, all in all, a great loop that’s 15 minutes from my house that I can ride year round. It can be linked into the “Confluence” trails (where the middle and north forks of the American River combine) to add more tech and length with the Culvert, Stonewall, Clementine trails and more. A thanks to FATRAC who does a bunch of trailwork in the Auburn State Rec Area and seems to have made this trail a reality. They also have GPS files and maps of all the local trails on their website which is awesome. I will be becoming a member very soon.
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