The intent was to do a short pleasure ride on Saturday at Foresthill Divide and then a longer more intense ride at the Rubicon River. Things didn't quite work out that way. For some crazy reason on Saturday I suggested that we ride a double loop - the Clementine Loop, the Foresthill Divide Loop, and the 3-4 mile ride each direction between the loops for a total of a little over 25 miles. On top of that our group had swelled from the 3 that I had originally planned to ride with to 8 people.

Most of us started at the bottom of the Clementine Loop at about 1:00 PM. The first climb is about 3 miles long with over 1000' of climbing. All of us made it up the climb without a break (a first for me). The climb is fairly tame with little technical challenge.

Kevin met us about 1 mile from the top and finished the climb with us. Todd and Nick met us at the parking lot at the top of the Clementine Loop. We did take a short break at the top to strategize and perform brief introductions. We were looking for the connector trail to Foresthill Divide but noone knew where the trailhead was. After a couple of false starts we gave up on looking for the connector trail and just rode the 3 miles between trails on Foresthill Road (Turns out we had found the connector trail but it isn't open to bikes yet).

We made quick work of the road between the trails and were soon on the Foresthill Divide trail itself. There is a short trail which leads to the main loop. We generally take the loop in the counter-clockwise direction because it puts the most of the climbing at the beginning of the ride. The bulk of this trail is made up of rolling singletrack similar to this. This section of trail is right after a medium sized uphill about 1 1/2 miles from the Foresthill Divide trailhead. Right around the corner is a fun downhill.

One of the great things about this trail is that about 80% of it is shaded by trees and high shrubs which surround the trail. This makes the trail an excellent choice for the summer time when trails such as Salmon Falls and the Cool Loop are hot houses. The surrounding trees also add a sense of speed and an element of danger as you are zipping downhill.

After climbing fairly consistently for a couple of miles you are treated to some really fun downhills. Most of them are singletrack, but some sections such as the one pictured above are fireroad. The biggest danger on these sections is riding beyond your ability and flying off into the trees.