So much WOW! One of the prettiest rides I’ve done in a while (since the last pretty ones 😜) Thanks to those that could join and too bad to those that couldn’t make it. WOW! I've been wanting to check Del Valle out for a while now and wanted to go before the hills turned brown. They're already starting to even with the two showers we had this past week. I've been seeing people's ride pictures and it still exceeded my expectations. It's just one big reservoir but somehow I'd come around the corner and it felt like a different one. It felt like there were five reservoirs. I brought my Epic EVO, partly to see if I could keep up on a gravel ride and partly because I thought it would be more fun on the MTB. I was the only one on MTB for the ride. At the start, I joked, "Oh, didn't I mention this was a MTB ride?" :) Well with all our wrong turns, we did end up on some trails that were definitely MTB. I unintentionally brought the right bike. There's lots of fun singletrack. Most of the time we weren't sure where it would go but it seemed like most of the trails would eventually reconnect with where we wanted to go. A few times we did head down the wrong trail and have to back track. But it was all part of the fun of the adventure. There were some nasty climbs to rival the beauty. Just as I was saying how much I loved the park, we saw a wall in front of us, around mile 11.5. The segment is called, "Del Valle - The Widow Maker". It averages 15.6% over 0.28 miles. It maxed out at over 29% and went on for way longer than I hoped but I climbed the whole thing. The payoff was a beautiful overlook (where I posted my Instagram story). Sycamore Grove was very different. Not nearly as pretty. In between the parks were some nice trails and the bike path back to the car was very pleasant. A great ride overall. Way back when I first planned to go, I had made a route that looped inside of Del Valle. I think next time that's what I would do.