Training Ride 6/28 Redwood & Joaquin Miller Parks

John and I joined John's friend Chris for a mountain bike ride in Redwood Regional and Joaquin Miller parks in Oakland. We started out on the West Ridge trail and then dropped into Joaquin Miller near the Chabot Science Center.  After going down the Cinderella trail, one I find challenging, Chris some how got a moderate size branch by the side of the road caught up in this rear spokes, which then caused a flat.

The tubeless tire wasn't holding air (likely too little goo inside the tire), but he eventually resolved it by putting a tube in.  It worked for the remainder of the ride.

There were quite a lot of trail users out.  Our path crossed a group of what appeared to be cyclo-cross* riders.

I had my best performance on Big Trees trail ever.  I have never been able to get over all the obstacles without multiple tries on at least some of them, until today.

Unfortunately, my leg injury had been nagging me since the Bearclaw ride, and it was starting to flare up when we returned to Redwood, so instead of a loop around there (with a lot of climbing), we decided to call it a day and return to the car.

Stats (from Chris's Garmin, since I forgot mine):
9.17 miles
1,438 feet of elevation gain

*What is cyclo-cross?  Definitions usually focus on the racing aspect of the sport (such as what follows from Wikipedia), but like all forms of cycling, it can be done in a recreational manner. "Cyclo-cross has some obvious parallels with mountain bike racing, cross-country cycling and criterium racing. Cyclo-cross bicycles are similar to road racing bicycles: lightweight, with narrow tires and drop handlebars. They are typically differentiated by their greater tyre clearances, lower gearing, stronger frames, cantilever brakes and more upright riding position. They also share characteristics with mountain bicycles in that they utilize knobby tread tires for traction and, increasingly, disc brakes. They have to be lightweight because competitors need to carry their bicycle to overcome barriers or slopes too steep to climb in the saddle."