EL CORTE DE MADERA CREEK OPEN SPACE PRESERVE

It had been almost a year since Gingerman had been on any TA rides or had any teh halia with his TA teammates.  And somehow, word made it from California to Singapore that he had a mountain bike ("Old Bike") that, like Gingerman, spent most of its life on the road.  Macho Man was dispatched to California to make up for all of this in a week and a half by taking Gingerman on as many mountain bike rides as possible and supplying ginger tea to ensure his continued proper recovery nutrition.

Macho Man's favorite place to go mountain biking is Skeggs Point, formally known as the El Corte de Madera Creek Open Space Preserve.  It is coincidentally, the closest mountain biking to Gingerman's place.

It is hard to have an epic ride that involves getting lost if you stick to your favorite places, so they also rode at Saratoga Gap, which is really too many separate parks to list here, explaining why the map ends at a critical juncture.  The park's maps are really very nice and even include topo lines.  Unfortunately, Gingerman thought they were spaced 100 feet apart, and not 200 feet apart, making the "600 foot climb" out a bit more gruelling than the guys expected.  Also, there was plenty of stream-crossing action, a flying squirrel, and a coyote.  Unlike the monkeys at Bukit Timah, the animals did not demand junk food before allowing passage, but the coyote had a creepy stare.  [Note;  Macho Man is the last person to see Gingerman's Old Bike in one piece. Terrorized by the novel experience of being ridden on an actual trail, Old Bike's frame cracks two minutes into the ride. Poor thing - webmaster]

Macho Man is a very brave photographer!	With no caps on the barends, he'd  better not fall in the creek	Gingerman by Macho Man
Vice Versa (see above caption)	Don't be fooled. The water is freezing. Brrr!	Gingerman taking a short cut...oops. wrong turn
Last picture of Gingermans' Old Bike	Second try. Macho Man & Gingerman on borrowed vintage MTBs	Gingerman and the trail had a fight. The trail won.
Macho Man is a brave photographer.	It's a more impressive-looking  photo without the post.	TA rules in northern Cal..
Macho Man trying to stop his bike from  going on the trail for another round.	Gingerman rolling as fast as he can on the trail	Bigfoot photographed...finally..