The San Juan and Candy Store Mountain Bike Trail
February 18, 2009 by Mike Solesbee
Filed under Uncategorized
It’s amazing the things that were around me, that I never realized were there, that is until the whole mountain biking bug got me.
The San Juan Trail, and the Candy Store Trail are just about 35 minutes from my house, and I never even knew they existed 3 months ago. But they have become two of my favorite trails. Now I am not a hard core XC rider, that said, we shuttle these two trails, they do have some pedaling mixed in with the downhill and it’s a pretty good workout (for me). Usually we go in a group and park one car at the bottom to bring the driver of the other car back to the top to get his truck. You need a forest Adventure pass to park there; the rangers do patrol the area periodically to check for them. A year pass is only 35 bucks, well worth it.
I ride with my 2 sons mostly and some of their friends, yeah, I know, my two sons! Yep, well I am 50, and have been doing the 2 wheel thing since I was old enough to push a pedal or twist a throttle. My 2 rides on the San Juan Trail, and 2 on the Candy Store section, have been in the best conditions, winter, cool temperature and 3 of the rides were after rain or during, making the sandstone like trails the perfect texture for some great riding.
This is single track riding, mostly between bushes and manzanita. That Manzanita will rip you right off your bike, shred your jersey, poke your arm, maybe draw a little blood, and then not even look like you touched it. There are some awesome switchbacks, fast narrow sections and some sections that weave under a canopy of trees, it is almost too beautiful of a scene to just bomb past.
I ride with a helmet cam, let me clarify that, I ride with a mini dv camcorder attached to the side of my helmet, I have gotten some awesome video of both of my sons doing some great riding, over some really cool obstacles, AND, I have gotten some great crash footage of them.
Over the bars, riding off the trail into the bushes, some high speed cross rutted crashes that look pretty spectacular, Oh yeah, and I have gotten some first hand views of myself going down on several occasions, funny thing about the ones where I crash. They just don’t look as bad from the cameras view, as it seemed from my view.
Both of the trails are similar BUT! The Candy Store cut off has some sections with a lot of rock drops; these are really a blast if you’re up to it. We did a ride with a group of 13 riders, when we came to one of the sections with a set of three rocky sections in a row to navigate over; only 3 of us did it, the rest walked down it. Lenny bombed it first on his Foes, then Anthony my son made it look easy on his Intense, finally, and a bit nervously, I did it on my trusty Kona, and it was awesome! Have done it twice now!
A lot of fun downhill after those sections, some narrow mountain side traversing ducking under branches, and some perfect placed rocks to either ride up and over, or around, and since it was the winter when I was there, there was even some water crossings. Make sure you check your bike out before you ride here, and have tubes, patches, pump, multi tool, and a camelback.
My son’s derailleur came apart on a downhill section last time we went. By the time we stopped he had no idea where it came apart at. We still had too far to go to just give up and coast and push back. So we walked back up the trail, looking for small screws, the little geared cog and bushing and washers, believe it or not, we found all five pieces, spread across about a 25 foot section, Yahoo! Lucky for us.
About a half mile climb is at the end of the ride that gets you back to the parking lot across the street from the Candy Store (hence the name Candy Store trail) and its only 4 miles to the turn off that takes you back to the top, heck, you could do it a couple times is one day if you wanted.
Maybe next time I am there, I will see you there, I will be the old guy, behind you, and that you can’t seem to pull away from. Happy Riding,
Mike Solesbee
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you Related Posts
This post was written by:
Mike Solesbee - who has written 1 posts on Mountain bike product reviews, bike builds, trail reviews, forum, and tips – MTOBikes.com.
Great article mike! everything you said is true. these trails are fun and if you have the right bike they are very, very fast. Just another thing to add to anyone else who has read this article and feels the need to ride these trails. once you are done, check yourself for ticks. 2 weeks ago when i rode this trail with Anthony(mikes son) i felt my ankle was really itching. it was a nasty little tick. they are not fun to get out. i tried the old burn the butt with the match trick and it just didn’t work. i ended up having to slice the section of skin he was suckin on. whenever your done riding where ever you are it is always a good idea to check your ankles, backs of your knees, armpits and even privates for ticks. see you out there on the trail! ill be the one behing mike trying to keep up!!!
Good advice Nathan, those ticks can be nasty little buggers, and who wants lyme disease or rocky mountain spotted fever, I know I dont. My Grandfather got rocky mountain spotted fever once on a trip to mexico, I remember my Grandma telling us how she could feel the whole truck shakeing from my Grandfather in the back of the camper while she was driving to a hospital, so yes, by all means, check yourself for those ticks! I have not had any, yet. Happy Riding.