It never ceases to amaze me! We have so many great trails to ride where we live. Shane, who lives in Castro Valley, needed to find some good trails near his house. He learned about China Camp and has become very happy with the types of trails there. To try and balance out all the times he has come down here to check out demo, we decided that I would go up to his neck of the woods for once and see what trails he had found. I was glad I did!
China Camp has a network of trails that seem to wrap around a single, good sized hill. It can be found just north of the Richmond Bridge (somewhere, I was lost!). The ride starts out with a gradual climb that winds up some foliage covered single. The trail is very smooth with some mildly rocky sections. Nothing I would consider technical. This climb is challenging to try in the larger gears. In fact, on the second go-round I climbed the whole two miles in my big ring and middle cogs.
Once the climb is over, you start down a six-mile downhill that is essentially all single. It is fast and has a lot of sweeping turns and a series of bridges. It is also completely shaded by thick oak forest.
When the downhill is over you can pedal back around to the beginning on a long, undulating trail that is also very fast. If you have the strength, which WE did, can go around the whole thing again and again.
I could tell right when we started up the trail that this would be a fun place to ride at night. The singletrack is perfect, there are no stunts, and the trails are all kept up very nicely. The only downside to the place was the number of hikers. There were lots of families in the lower trails, which made it a little nerve wracking when coming around a blind corner.
Thanks Shane for the day on this new trail! And in spite of your broken crank arm dangling from your shoe, and the fact that you had to finish the last couple of miles pedaling with one foot, I had a great time and got an excellent work out.
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