San Diego's Mt Laguna: New Singletrack

There's some great biking east of San Diego, in the Alpine and Laguna Mountains. Noble Canyon is an IMBA Epic and the Big Laguna Trail is another favorite.

The exciting news is this:

The San Diego Mountain Biking Association is teaming up with IMBA to open up 10 miles of singletrack that were previously closed to mountain bikes! Last weekend members of these groups practiced state of the art trailbuilding techniques in the Chico Ravine/Big Laguna Trail System at Mt. Laguna. Information about the event is here.

Soon, thanks to volunteers, there will be world class biking options just outside of San Diego.

Photo from IMBA website here.

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.

Spandex vs Baggies

Guest writer, posted by mtndjd;
This post is purely Satirical and not intended to offend fans of Spandex. Its still ok for women.

If no one else is going to speak out, then the MudBlog is here to set some things straight;

There seems to be a grey area when it comes to the appropriateness of biking attire. Somewhere in our rough, gun slinging, cowboy, western cultural history; an embarrassing rift has occurred. The rift is sometimes as jolting and horrifying as scenes from a bad European beach movie where male stars run around in speedos, thongs, and G-strings (aka. marble bags). A naive observer might be inclined to ask, 'whats in your pocket?' the obvious problem being, there is no pocket. John Wayne will continue to turn in his grave until men in Spandex are outlawed in public.





The fashion trends among bikers have undoubtedly become commonplace due to road riding heroes such as Lance Armstrong, and Greg LeMond. These guys did it for the money, not because they liked publicly exhibiting their packs. Repetitious motion to the extent experienced during the Tour De France and the likes, gives some credence to the uniform. Unfortunately for early mountain bikers, like a Canadian without a mullet, if you weren't sporting tight spandex and shaved legs, you just weren't a serious biker. Luckily, the times have changed....but unfortunately, confusion still exists.

A shift to the more rugged, traditional American 'manly' style of attire has influenced mountain bikers of late. Durable 'baggie' shorts with crash padding and less revealing styling have brought the much needed coolness factor back to biking. The baggies incorporate spandex, or other non-chafing technologies, all without compromising the manliness factor. Since this change in styling has occurred mountain biking has exploded in America. One can only speculate that this is not a coincidence. Men everywhere are now proudly riding their bikes without having to leave their masculinity in the garage.



We would love to get some comments from all of you out there that still wear spandex in public.
1. How often do you wear Spandex in public?
2. Do you ever wear Spandex when not biking?
3. Do you ever notice people staring at you/yours when in public?
4. If you are a man, do you shave your legs?
5. Would you be comfortable wearing a speedo on the beach in America?
6. Do you realize that 'show-through' is accentuated when viewed from the side?

Post contributed by mtndjd.

Gooseberry Mesa & Little Creek

While imagery of Moab pops into mind when talking about Utah bike trails, Gooseberry Mesa is another amazing gem in the Utah mountain biking world. The surrounding area, near St. George in southwestern Utah, is filled with singletrack and slickrock trails. With Zion National Park as the backdrop, high quality trails weave along the mesa cliffs of both Gooseberry Mesa or Little Creek Mesa at about 5,000 feet above sea level.

Much of the riding is technical and challenging - more so on Gooseberry - but, there are several different loop options for all levels of riding. From 20+ mile loops to short slickrock practice loops, most riders will find something they love. Also, the nearby JEM Trail, which starts below Gooseberry and drops down to the town of Hurricane, can be shuttled or ridden as an out and back.



In the above picture, Gooseberry Mesa is on the left, Little Creek in the rear right, and the top of JEM trail in the lower right.

For GPS users, here's a GPX File (right click to save) that includes Gooseberry Mesa Trails, a shorter 10 mile version of Little Creek, and the beggining of JEM Trail. For more information and guided tours, check out Rim Tours.

Mountain Bike Guide Books at less than 1/2 price!

Extremeline Productions is now selling "damaged" books for less than half of the cover price. These books might have blemishes, dents, dings, folds, marks, and/or be tweaked in some way. Nothing major! Just some surface damage - which happens the second you toss the book into your dirty camelbak anyway.

These slightly damaged copies of Mountain Biking Santa Cruz are $6.95; and Mountain Biking Mammoth are $7.65. Happy Trails!

Rare Faceplant found in Idaho

This rare faceplant was found on the Payette Lake Trail during a well timed photoshoot. This species of faceplant can be found by 60-year-old-women bikers attempting to pose for the stressful self-timed camera shot. Even tough guys in camo are astonished at such a rare sighting!

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!

Mountain Biking on Mount St. Helens

The bike ride on Mount St. Helens was one ride i will never forget! An out 'n' back up Ape Canyon Trail onto the Plains of Abraham provides so much diversity and beauty that you don't even realize you just pedalled 24 miles.

Much of the initial climb is in lush forest with periodic views of the surrounding Northwest Volcanoes. As you climb higher, the open fields of pumice and forests of destruction open up to views of St. Helens. There's something mind-blowing about see the smoke come out of the crater - and knowing that 57 people were killed in 1980 when 1300 feet of the mountaintop exploded.

After exiting the the forest, the trail climbs up to the "Plains of Abraham," and cruises along the flank of the mountain.
Filled with pumice and volcanic rock, this area is a testament to its recent violent history. Yet, in the midst of it all, we saw small creeks and amazing displays of wildflowers. A herd of elk seemed to be enjoying the views from a ridge nearby.

After this amazing nature experience, we still had miles of excellent singletrack carve down! What a ride!

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!

Coast Dairies - new epic singletrack?

The coastal Coast Dairies land and Sand Hill Bluffs in Santa Cruz is now officially public land and managed under California State Parks. This includes 13 miles of incredible scenic northern Santa Cruz coastline!

According to the Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz website:

* State Parks will receive the approximately 400 acres coastside of Highway One and the historic Laguna Inn that may one day be the site of a visitors' center. State Parks will oversee the public's use of the popular beaches and will manage agricultural leases on the coastal side.

*The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) will receive approximately 6,000 acres on the upland portion of the property, including the grasslands, redwood forests, and lands leased for grazing and the cement quarry.

*The local non-profit group, Agri-Culture, will acquire the agricultural land inland of Highway One that was in agricultural production when the Trust for Public Land acquired Coast Dairies & Land Co. (CDLC) and its property in 1998 (approximately 550 acres).

This is all exciting news and a great victory for public land, but has anyone heard if there has been any progress in allowing bikes on trails?