Green hills in Briones Park - Dreamy California ATB riding

Briones is a regional park tucked right between the Oakland hills and Mount Diablo. It is a spot some bay area locals have not ever heard of, but in my short time here has provided some of my favorite riding by far. The steep rolling hills feature dramatic ridge lines that are especially highlighted in the spring when the grass is bright green and contrasts with the light dirt. This past weekend my friends Eric and Jenny celebrated their birthdays by organizing a ride through Briones and it did not disappoint.

After meeting up at the Lafayette BART station we started off with a pretty brutal climb. Straight on up to Lafayette ridge. Did I mention this route had almost 5,000ft of climbing in less than 20 miles? Once you are up there, well, it doesn't get much easier. Up and down punchy climbs and descents. This was perfect PBJ country. Mountain bike gearing is a must and a rigid bike with 2.6" tires really was the ticket to have a blast down the mostly smooth and occasionally chunky trails. Depending on the year some of these fire roads can be pretty cow'd out so big tires were nice for that too.

Two and a half hours and 8 miles in we were treated to a water stop and another big climb. I was getting so bonky that I had to break into my emergency snickers bar, which by the way, I can't recommend enough always carrying one of those things in your fanny pack or frame bag. They have gotten me out of some dark places. Feeling a little bit better we were treated to a wide open ridge climb. The whole hillside carpeted in fresh, neon-green grass and the wind a non-stop 10mph or so. Everyone was walking their bike. It was here that I realized I miss a little adverse weather. It is so nice in California all the time it had been a while since I put myself anywhere uncomfortable and it was so nice to feel that again, even if it was a balmy 55 degrees. A proper adventure.

Once up the ridge we popped off the fire road onto a windy single track and straight down a pretty spicy descent. It was fun to watch everyone give the cruz a try. Only one bike was ditched and ghost-ridden down the hill. Oops. Once again I was glad to have the PBJ. It was real spicy but I cleared it. From there we climbed back up again to Lafayette ridge. Jordan and I had biked by this road (see the insanely pretty squiggly ridge top road photo) on a different route last spring and I had been wanting to go down since. It was just as fun as it looked. Big roller coaster drops into steep ups. You could carry just enough momentum to get up the other side.

Once we reached the bottom we were treated to some flowy and surprisingly fun neighborhood singletrack as we headed in to Walnut Creek where we stopped by to say hi to our pals at Rivendell Bike Works before we got onto the train and headed back to the city.

I love a challenging day on the bike and this was one of those. A real heroes journey with a bonk and some wind and so much beauty. If you are in the bay I would highly recommend checking out this zone while things are still green.

Here is a link to Eric's Route

Happy trails,
Adam