Ridge Route Rd loop Mtn Bike 2010/10/19
Posted: Thu Oct 21, 2010 4:29 am
http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=856600
This trip follows a portion of the Old Ridge Route Rd the first route to Bakersfield through the Ridge Basin opened in 1914. Then paved in 1919.
The road was closed to through traffic after January 2005 due to storm damage?
Most of this is on paved or partially paved road so it maybe not for some but.. Hey! it's not at work!
It was kinda windy so strong head winds slowed me and my Mtn Bike isn't a road bike. I was surprised at the amount of traffic on Templin Highway but I guessing I hit it just after a shift change at the power plant down the road at Casatic Lake.
I did note a new locked gate on the road past the houses about 1½ miles past Templin Highway. This was newly paved and the road was new concrete paving for about 1 mile past the gate.
The rain earlier in the day had left many puddles and lots of mud. As i turned off the Ridge Route Rd it became dirt. Curiously the mud clung to my tires like burrs slowing me to a standstill.
I had to walk the bike through several areas and continually clear it from the brakes and fork.
Good thing I marked the turn to the road down or I would have mistaken it for one of the many pipeline roads that criss cross the area.
I knew about the gat down at the highway maintenance station. From here you ttake a tunnel under I-5 and continue over to Golden State Highway and Whitaker Summit on old Highway 99.
Past here I was reaching speed approaching 40mph.
There was a nice big / deep puddle at my truck so I washed the mud off my bike
It is a keeper but I'll wait for the roads to dry the next time
This trip follows a portion of the Old Ridge Route Rd the first route to Bakersfield through the Ridge Basin opened in 1914. Then paved in 1919.
The road was closed to through traffic after January 2005 due to storm damage?
Most of this is on paved or partially paved road so it maybe not for some but.. Hey! it's not at work!
It was kinda windy so strong head winds slowed me and my Mtn Bike isn't a road bike. I was surprised at the amount of traffic on Templin Highway but I guessing I hit it just after a shift change at the power plant down the road at Casatic Lake.
I did note a new locked gate on the road past the houses about 1½ miles past Templin Highway. This was newly paved and the road was new concrete paving for about 1 mile past the gate.
The rain earlier in the day had left many puddles and lots of mud. As i turned off the Ridge Route Rd it became dirt. Curiously the mud clung to my tires like burrs slowing me to a standstill.
I had to walk the bike through several areas and continually clear it from the brakes and fork.
Good thing I marked the turn to the road down or I would have mistaken it for one of the many pipeline roads that criss cross the area.
I knew about the gat down at the highway maintenance station. From here you ttake a tunnel under I-5 and continue over to Golden State Highway and Whitaker Summit on old Highway 99.
Past here I was reaching speed approaching 40mph.
There was a nice big / deep puddle at my truck so I washed the mud off my bike
It is a keeper but I'll wait for the roads to dry the next time
