Saratoga Gap Park, Saratoga, California
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The Saratoga Gap trail system is actually a collection of trail systems that connect a handful of Open Space parks. It's not the best trail system in the area by a long shot, but it is the most singlespeed-friendly singletrack available within a one hour radius. The loop I ride is about 12 miles long and is basically three sections:out a rolling mostly downhill switchback singletrack for about 3 miles, 2 miles of big rolling exposed-to-the-Sun God doubletrack that'll blow up your knees if you're not keeping your speed up, and a 3-5(two loop options) mile switchbacked down/up singletrack loop that brings you back to the middle section. You then get to run the big rollers in reverse and the mostly downhill front singletrack in up-the-switchbacks mode. It's a great ride for those times when you've only got a couple of hours to ride and you want the singlespeed burn.
Saratoga is also really scenic, if you're into that sort of thing. Of course, like everything else, there's always an upside and downside to it. The upside is that every once in while I actually pay attention to the view and it's really pretty spectacular. So much so that it made this year's BIKE magazine photo annual. The downside is that it also attracts a lot of Banana Republic clad extreme bird watching aficionados, or whatever the hell they are. There are one thing for sure: in the way...They're also oblivious to the fact that that walking three or four abreast across the trail just might get their dumb asses run over, destroying hundreds of dollars worth of quick-dry, ripstop, moisture-wicking-membrane AdventureWear in the process.
