Downtown San Jose to Alum Rock Park

I always have enjoyed starting my mountain bike rides from home. It makes it more of an adventure adding some urban riding to the mix. Sometimes you find little curbs to jump off of. This is the part where some people say... Grow up! But I say no way! This is how I attempt to retain my youth. When I was a kid I used to go over most bumps or curbs and try to jump. Some times things never change.

After summer was over last year I figured out that I could ride my bike to Alum Rock park after work. Unfortunately there was not enough sunlight to make it happen. You only have 30 minutes after Sunset to get out of park in these neck of the woods!

A few weeks ago we had some nice sunshine on a Saturday so it was time to hit some dirt! I decided to ride my bike to Alum Rock Park from Downtown San Jose. It's 8.6 miles according to Google maps. http://maps.google.com/maps

I just had one issue to fix. Multiple thorns in my tires from a previous bike ride. These thorns I call "goat heads". I'm not sure if that's the real name or a nick name.

Goat heads are the worst!

The picture only show three out of the eight thorns I removed. That was just one of the tires! I've never gotten so many goat heads in one ride! Anyways... I kinda started the process of getting my bike ready too late. When I did start my ride it was already at sunset. I decided to do the ride to Alum Rock Park even though I wouldn't be able to do any Mountain biking in the park.

I pass this park entrance on my way to work. It's getting an upgrade but will take longer now; according to the sign. The sign says the soil is contaminated. I know they had a huge dog park here before but jeez, how many dogs does it take to contaminate the soil?

Watson Park

After turning the corner onto Mabury Road I take the "huge" pedestrian/bike lane over 101. It looks like it was the old bridge for cars. Still has the lane line down the middle! The bad part is it's only on one side of the street so you have to cross over traffic on the way back to get to the entrance. I'd feel safer having bike lanes that go over the overpass on both sides of the street. Previous years the AMGEN Tour of California www.amgentourofcalifornia.com has gone down Mabury St.. But I don't think they had to cross over triffic to take the bike specific bridge! This 2011 year the tour is coming to San Jose on Wednesday, May 18th.

Mabury/101 overpass

The best part of the ride was riding Penitencia Creek Trail. I finally found some dirt to bike on. The creek trail ends and begins at street crossings. In order to continue you have to cross at stop lights. Eventually I got close to Alum Rock Park and deciding to take it to the streets. One obstacle though; I had to cross the creek to get to the road. I didn't really want to back track to find the bridge or road crossing. The creek looked doable so I attempted to keep my shoes dry! They both got a little wet but not drenched. I made it to the park entrance and keep going! I got about two miles into the park and decided to turn around. The Park ranger was driving out on the main road and I'm sure he saw me with my bike lights turned on. I don't need a talk with an park ranger or a ticket - So peace out!

Biking home I took a little brake on Mabury Ped/Bike overpass and ate a snack. I was close to home but out of gas! The ride turned out to be lots of fun. Now I know what I'm in for when I do the ride again.

A few days ago I check my tires on the Surly Instigator and found a flat front tire. I'm wondering if I missed a thorn! I don't hate many things in this world but Goat Heads are definitely on the hate list!