Utah/Colorado/California/Oregon must do rides

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ok it looks like i might be adding utah and colorado to my trip.

obviously moab and fruita are places to check out, but i'm wondering about weather.
i couold be in colorado the week of oct 1-6 and am wondering if snow/cold will be a big issue. if i hit moab on the following week, oct 7-12, am i going to run into issues there?

right now a potential intinerary looks like:

Wed, Sep 26 South Lake Tahoe
Thu, Sep 27 South Lake Tahoe
Fri, Sep 28 Downieville
Sat, Sep 29 Downieville
Sun, Sep 30 Travel
Mon, Oct 1 Moab
Tue, Oct 2 Moab
Wed, Oct 3 Travel
Thu, Oct 4 Fruita
Fri, Oct 5 Fruita
Sat, Oct 6 Fruita

just wondering if i should skip moab on the way to colorado and hit it on the way back instead so ill have more time.

thoughts?

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i'm going to be in california in about a month and wanted to get some info on riding down there.

where's the place to go for some quality am riding? looking at anywhere between LA and the can/usa border andI will have a minimum of 4 and up to 10 days (not necessarily consecutive) available to ride.

what are the best best for cali/oregon/wash?

i'm going to be in california in about a month and wanted to get some info on riding down there.

where's the place to go for some quality am riding? looking at anywhere between LA and the can/usa border andI will have a minimum of 4 and up to 10 days (not necessarily consecutive) available to ride.

what are the best best for cali/oregon/wash?

If you are in the Santa Barbara area you must ride Tunnel. The exposure is both amazing and terrifying. Minimum 8 mile descent, rocky dusty and steep in areas. Priceless views. Drop by a shop and ask to purchase a map of the front side trails. It's a classic trail, but has been at the centre of hiker/biker battles for years. Try to link up for a shuttle, unless you like a 13 mile switchback road climb. Mind you that is amazing in its own right. I climbed up early in the Am thankfully;-) not all of California is buff. San Luis Obispo has a pretty gnarly Tower trail as well. There is a big SLO thread on Pbike, I'm sure guys could lead you up to that one. Amazing views again, very gnarly

seatlle is good i think its exit 27 its a fire road climb then a pretty rad descent on the little bikes. then i would also recommend sandy ridge near mt hood in oregon. awesome riding spot and also the site of one of the oregon enduro races.

If you are in the Santa Barbara area you must ride Tunnel. The exposure is both amazing and terrifying. Minimum 8 mile descent, rocky dusty and steep in areas. Priceless views. Drop by a shop and ask to purchase a map of the front side trails. It's a classic trail, but has been on the centre of hiker/biker battles for years. Try to link up for a shuttle, unless you like a 13 mile switchback road climb. Mind that is amazing in its own right. I climbed up early in the Am thankfully;-)

thanks!

i'll have my motorcycle with me so that sounds like it couold be a great self shuttle.

I think Vuke on this board is from SLO? Maybe he can chime in. The city itself is worth the time.

Drive to the little town of Downieville (Pop: 282) tucked in the Sierra Nevadas of northern California. Find a place to stay, park your vehicle and let the good folks at Yuba Expeditions shuttle you to ride some fine, fine trails that will knock your all-mountain needs senseless: http://www.yubaexpeditions.com/pages/trailconditions.html

A lot of the trails start at 7,000ft and descend for miles (think 20+) but there is always some climbing, techy, rocky stuff, creek crossings (all the stuff I remember) to keep you on your toes.

And if you have an extra day or two, Lake Tahoe is only a 2 hour drive east of Downieville ;)

http://bb.nsmb.com/showthread.php?t=120756[HTML_REMOVED]highlight=nsmb

I agree on Santa Barbera, but not Tunnel. Hit up San Ysidro and Romero Canyon (see post 30 and 31). Tunnel is DH gnar, the other two are sweet singletrack.

Then go to San Diego and ride San Juan trail (post 38 ). Ride starts at Upper campground and goes down to the "You are here", although you could also pedal up and back.

how the hell does one self shuttle on a motorbike?

Ashland,Ore. is worth a stop.

Like InaCycle said, Downieville is amazing AM riding. That's the one must do trail in Northern California. Also check out:

• Toad's Wild ride in South Lake Tahoe
• Flume trail in North Lake Tahoe (ok trail but amazing views of the Lake)
• Bass Lake near Yosemite (007 trail is popular)
• Corte Madera aka Skeggs (south of San Francisco on Skyline Blvd. Skyline is also a favorite among motorcyclists. As well as Tunitas Creek Road and Hwy 84 west of Skyline.)
• Tamarancho in Marin County
• Santa Cruz

Mt St Helens on the way. Unlike anything else… except for other huge volcanos that have exploded relatively recently.

The Tahoe recommendations are good. I'm surprised no one mentioned the Mckenzie river trail yet (OR). Big Sur and Santa Cruz has some nice riding, Santa Barbara too.

Don't forget the new Surrey bike park on the way. Epic.

how the hell does one self shuttle on a motorbike?

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/These-Are-The-Days-Dylan-Dunkerton-video-2012.html

retrieval looks pretty fun

ok it looks like i might be adding utah and colorado to my trip.

obviously moab and fruita are places to check out, but i'm wondering about weather.
i couold be in colorado the week of oct 1-6 and am wondering if snow/cold will be a big issue. if i hit moab on the following week, oct 7-12, am i going to run into issues there?

right now a potential intinerary looks like:

Wed, Sep 26 Tahoe
Thu, Sep 27 Tahoe
Fri, Sep 28 Downieville
Sat, Sep 29 Downieville
Sun, Sep 30 Travel
Mon, Oct 1 Moab
Tue, Oct 2 Moab
Wed, Oct 3 Moab/travel
Thu, Oct 4 Fruita
Fri, Oct 5 Fruita
Sat, Oct 6 Fruita

just wondering if i should skip moab on the way to colorado and hit it on the way back instead so ill have more time.

thoughts?

with all of this it looks like i may have to scrub any time in oregon.

it take an hour to drive from moab to fruita…

Ride another day in moab.

Check out our website, you can pretty much fill in your rides from there.

1st two weeks of oct should be fine. In fact you'd get stellar fall colours in Park City at that time…

it take an hour to drive from moab to fruita…

Ride another day in moab.

Check out our website, you can pretty much fill in your rides from there.

1st two weeks of oct should be fine. In fact you'd get stellar fall colours in Park City at that time…

thanks sharon. i've been going over your site.

the drive from SLT to moab/fruita is not going to be fun, but i'll potentially be meeting a friend who'll be in colorado springs for business the week of oct 1-6th and is bringing his bike. i'm just trying to figure out if i should spend a whole week riding in colorado and hit moab on the way back or split it up like i've done.

hmmm, so maybe:
tahoe
park city
fruita
and then moab on the way back???

the nice thing is i have the time.