By Steve Clark
In the past few weeks, or maybe days, after the winter rains and in plenty of time for the upcoming fire season, Albertson Fireroad has been graded to a wide, smooth and slightly loose surface. Albertson Fireroad is a popular trail that starts at the east end of Lang Ranch Parkway in Thousand Oaks and continues generally eastward through the southern reaches of Simi Valley, connecting to China Flat along the way.
Today we rode from the bottom to the top, about 2.3 miles beyond China Flat. We found that a grader has been through recently, making the trail soft across more than 90% of it. This softness greatly increased our workout on the way up, but we had to be really careful not to wash out on the way down even on some very gentle curves. The surface has the consistancy of sand in some places.
There were only a very few bike tracks on the road once we were east of China Flat, suggesting that the work is very recent. From the top, we could see that the grading continued down Montgomery Fireroad into Simi Valley. It looked like Albertson Fireroad east of the fork with Montgomery (heading towards Rocketdyne) was not graded, but that could change if the grading really took place in the last few days; it might be ongoing.
The road will be packed down through use soon enough and will then be broad, smooth and very fast. Until then, take its softer condition into account when planning your biking route.
