IMBA to Design New Trails in Mammoth

Good news for Mammoth!
This is from the IMBA website:

"Trails Solutions Selected to Design Trails at Mammoth Resort"
IMBA's Trail Solutions has been selected as the consultant for natural-surface trails at Mammoth resort. Professionals on the Trail Solutions team will work closely with ALTA Planning and Design, who is providing planning services for paved pathways and road systems. According to IMBA's Cimarron Chacon, Mammoth has plans to become a "premier year-round resort community." The planning includes a multi-jurisdictional partnership with the town of Mammoth Lakes and the US Forest Service. Additional partners include Mammoth Mountain resort and the MLTPA, a local non-profit."

IMBA Trail Solutions Services

MLTPA Action Plan They want to "establish a vision for a comprehensive system of trails and public
access for Mammoth Lakes and the surrounding region."

Survey Here's a Trail-Use survey for the Town of Mammoth Lakes. You can tell them that you like to mountain bike and want more singletrack opened up!


The photos above are from the Mammoth Mountain Bike Park website here.

New Fresno Freeride Mountain Bike Park!

The FresnoBee reports that Woodward Park in Fresno, CA is developing into a world class mountain bike park. The article states that the 57 acre bike jump park, bmx track, and mountain bike park will certainly be the most progressive in the state of california. The BMX track is nearly complete, and the freeride jump park is on its way!

One excerpt from the article says, "Highlights of the L-shaped park, which overlooks Highway 41 and the San Joaquin River, include a downhill jumping course, multiple cross-country trails and an elevated section where riders will have to balance themselves while riding over logs and narrow lumber."

Sweeeeeeet!

South Lake Tahoe Bike Trails

Below is a blog post featured on Sierra Sojourner blog. See original here.

Most people have heard of the great mountain biking available in South Lake Tahoe. Toads, Christmas Valley, and The Flume are "must-do" trails for most visiting bikers. (Toads is our favorite! ...and CV rules too! Ah but the Flume trail is unrivaled in beauty!) Anyways, on our last trip up there, we decided expand our horizons and check out 2 new trails (new to us, that is).



One day we rode one section of the Tahoe Rim Trail is called 'The Bench', a great out & back ride on the southeastern side of the lake. The Google Earth view of the ride is shown above (you are looking southwest.)

This trail had a little of everything fun in mountain biking; some smooth fast sections, plenty of technical challenges, a great view of the lake at the end.... I think it was about 12 miles long with around 1200 feet of cumulative climbing. Although, it seemed a bit longer than that. Maybe because we went with our local friends that have superhuman lungs and technical skills. No time to sit and enjoy the scenery - we were jamming!!

Later we stumbled upon a trail called Corral Creek near the bottom of Toads. We didn't expect too much since its an OHV trail, but we believe in serendipity. This trail rocked! Lots of back to back banked turns with little natural hits all over the place gave this trail great rhythm. Even our dog looked like he was carving turns as he sprinted the entire way down. It was way too short though, less than 3 miles, but there were many offshoots that we didn't have time to explore. We'll be back.....

Here's another views of the ride looking southeast over Heavenly ski resort. We made a loop by riding up a parallel dirt road. It appears that many people do shuttle runs on the singletrack section though.

Mammoth Opens 2 New Freeride Trails!

2 of the long awaited freeride trails are now open at Mammoth Mountain Bike Park! Techno Rock and Richter add to the 90 miles of singletrack on the mountain. Here's what the MammothMountain.com has to say:

"Our long anticipated two new trails now open! Techno Rock has a setup similar to popular dual slalom and mountain cross courses, and it starts out with four intense drops that range from four to 15 feet. The trail then plunges in and out of a dirt ditch that is Mammoth's Olympic Size halfpipe in the winter. Richter is for intermediate riders and it rides like a rollercoaster through a tunnel of trees. Wooden features and natural berms round out the trail's assortment of obstacles."

Also, the mountain will be running Chair 2/Stump Alley Express on weekends through labor day.

Mountain Biking Yosemite

While mountain biking inside of Yosemite National Parks is not allowed, there are some great options just outside the park boundary. Trails on the Eastern Sierra side, near the Tuolumne Meadows entrance, offer the best scenery and singletrack. Two great biking options are Bennettville Trail and Saddlebag Lake Trail.


Bennettville Trail follows a section of the historic Great Sierra Wagon Road and scenically weaves past the infamous mine, the Great Sierra Tunnel, on its way to the ghost town of Bennettville.

Nearby, the Saddlebag Lake Trail is a mountain bike blessing. Absolutely amazing high sierra scenery surrounds this loop, which is nestled between Hoover Wilderness and Yosemite.

Another ride in the area, Lake Canyon Trail, requires a bit more aerobic exertion. Details and maps of the ride are depicted in Mountain Biking Mammoth. Enjoy!

XC Ride in the Southern Sierras

The Kern Canyon Trail is a preeminent cross country bike ride in the Southern Sierras. Its located in the trail epicenter of Kern River Valley, close to Lake Isabella and about 15 minutes south of Kernville.

This scenic trail is fast, flowy, smooth, fun......and certainly gets the heart pounding. With plenty of mountain views and an occasional glimpses of the river, you'll pass some small creeks, meadows and oak groves along the way.

The ride is great all year long, but can be very hot in the summer. It is simply amazing in the spring, as the wildflowers are in bloom and everything is green.

Although there's several variations of the ride, the most popular version starts from Keyesville and roughly contours the rolling oak-covered mountains above the lower Kern River to Delonegha Bridge.

GPX file of our ride here.

The ride begins starts on a section of the Keyesville Classic cross country race course and then contours the mountains and scenic look-outs for the next 21 miles. Most of the ride is smooth singletrack with lots of ups and downs, and ends with a great rolling descent. If you shuttle (the popular option) you'll climb 2800 feet up and drop 3400. Have fun!