Windy Hill Ride Report
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I noticed that Windy Hill is one of the few ridable MROSD preserves that I hadn't ridden, so I had to address that problem. I picked a nice spring day hoping to see wildflowers.
Windy Hill has basically one trail that is open for biking: Spring Ridge Trail. I started at the junction of Alpine Road and Willowbrook Drive, entering the WH06 gate. This was a wide single track that quickly zigzags its way up the hill through oaks and grass. This was pleasant enough and I did spot a good size turkey just off the trail. This quickly links into Spring Ridge. I think you can go downhill a short ways to another entrance, but you should turn left and head up the hill. The route turns into well used fire road for the entire ride up. The ride seemed to be steep parts with very steep parts interspersed. After the ride, I calculated that average grade to be 11% after the ride, with several short sections in the high 20's. Spring Ridge is the first 2.7 miles of the elevation profile above. Spring Ridge gets you to the top pretty quickly, but you pay for it. I think that if you paused and turned around there would be some nice views but I didn't do this. At the top, take a left right at the fence for a short dirt section that leads to a small parking lot and picnic area and throws you out onto Highway 35. There are lots of other trails here, but they are closed to bikes. Now you have seen all there is to legally see in Windy Hill.
While the climb was taxing, this wasn't really enough for a "real ride", so I had to do more. I rode southeast on Highway 35 (Skyline) for about 2.3 miles to Rapley Ranch Road. This leads to northern end of Russian Ridge. My route consisted of Ridge, Hawk, Mindego, Ancient Oaks, up to Borel Hill, and north on Ridge to the RR01 gate and Highway 35. I then entered Coal Creak OSP on Clounds Rest onto Meadow Trail and returned to my car on Alpine Road.
Windy Hill was pretty disappointing. The only challenge is the climbing. It didn't seem worthwhile to ride down. I came across several hikers, many of whom couldn't be bothered with a "Hello" as they walked down even though I managed an enthusiastic "Hi" while climbing. They seemed to be a bit snooty. If fairness, there where several friendly ones as well. The better part of the ride was in Russian Ridge and Alpine Road.