Halloween on Happy Face & Woodsplitter
Before eating way too much candy and watching an improbable Dodgers win in Game 6 of the World Series, I snuck in a quick Halloween ride on Happy Face and Woodsplitter in the Sawtooth Trailhead zone in Truckee, CA. It was a perfect fall day and the dirt was great.
The Sawtooth zone is my second go-to in Truckee after Jackass. It has a bit of everything: flow, jumps, and some longer cross-country and enduro-style rides. You can link up to my home zone around Painted Rock and into the Nordic Center/Tahoe City area. It’s also a great place to bring the kids. They have a skills loop that’s great for progression. These days we’re even climbing up Happy Face to do Woodsplitter and then lower Happy Face back to the car, with the nine- and seven-year-olds pedaling themselves and the four-year-old riding on my bike with the Kids Ride Shotgun seat setup. I also use the tow rope when they get tired or start whining about the climb.
Upper Happy Face is a fun, fast, flowy intermediate trail with some roller jumps and berms. It’s a one-way trail with separate uphill and downhill routes, so you don’t have to worry about flying around a corner and running into someone climbing. It’s mixed-use for both mountain bikes and motos, so occasionally you have to deal with that. It’s a local favorite because of the flow and the quick, easy climb. You can knock out a full Happy Face lap in about 45 minutes. I usually climb up Happy Face, ride the upper section, then duck out to hit the Woodsplitter jump trail before finishing the lower section of Happy Face. Sometimes I’ll do another unsanctioned trail nearby with a few big doubles on it (we call it Sad Face), but that one takes you a bit off the main loop.
After the upper Happy Face section, I generally cut over to the Woodsplitter jump trail. It’s a great intermediate machine-built line with tables, berms, and a couple mellow drops (my nine-year-old does them). You can roll everything, and take some things relatively big if you want, so it’s a great place to progress.
The dirt was great on both trails. I’d been sick and not riding for about a week before this, otherwise I probably would’ve done a couple Woodsplitter laps. It was a perfect little session: enough to get the heart rate up without suffering, and a good way to get back into the swing of things.