california

Words by Kurt Gensheimer, photos by James Adamson  California is home to nearly 40 million people. With constant urban and suburban sprawl, it’s a state where change and “progress” is inevitable. But there is a corner of California called the Lost Sierra that hasn’t changed much since the 1849 Gold Rush. Plumas and Sierra counties ...

Access4Bikes and Specialized are giving away a 2017 S-Works Stumpjumper to support trail access in the birthplace of mountain biking, Marin County, California. A $10 donation gets you a chance to win a top-of-the-line Stumpjumper in your choice of 29” or 27.5” wheels, valued at $8500. The S-Works build comes with a Sram Eagle drivetrain ...

Words by Jeffrey Stern, photos courtesy of Eroica California Passing over rolling hill after rolling hill, surrounded by lush vineyards and old barns with signing birds, wispy clouds and blue skies you’d think you were in the famed Tuscan region of Italy. But no, you’re actually right here in the lower 48, the Central Coast ...

Words and photos by Jeffrey Stern. The concept was simple really – traverse three mountain ranges, tip-toe around two wilderness areas all while crossing the entire southern portion of Los Padres National Forest, a nearly 2 million-acre section of seldom-visited forest in northern Santa Barbara county. Logistics were the ultimate challenge in completing such an ...

Photos and information from MTBProject.com  Skyline is a 15-mile (one-way) singletrack trail in southern California’s Big Bear and San Bernadino National Forest—a cross country ride on a high mountain ridge with few sustained up or downhill grades. The trail is relatively flat but hangs out between 7,500 and 8,000 feet, so bring your lungs! The ...

This mountain-bike-specific trail system in the Paradise Ridge area of the King Range National Conservation Area is the result of a partnership between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA), along with the Redwood Coast Mountain Bike Association. The 11.6-mile Paradise Royale Loop is a great introduction to the ...

Only 30 miles north of legendary Downieville, California, sits an oasis of empty, deserted old mining trails ready for plundering. The Trail Ninja (Dan Milner) joined Cannondale riders Mark Weir and Ben Cruz for a two-day romp around the Lakes Basin area, pulling mile upon mile of flowy turns and endless rocky staircases out of ...

Editor’s Note: Readers Write is an occasional feature of reader-submitted stories. Do you have a story you’d like to share? Send it to [email protected]. [wonderplugin_gallery id=”46″] By James Murren Halcyon is a kingfisher. It is also a fabled bird that had supernatural powers to calm the sea and turn the sky blue so that it ...

Courtesy of Scott Sports. Film by Cinemargot. Photos by J. Haar. Nino Schurter’s fifth chapter of his #huntforglory webisode is all about a journey to the roots of Mountain biking. The three-time mountain bike world champion meets one of the Godfathers of mountain biking, Tom Ritchey, at his home place in Skyline, California. Tom Ritchey is the ...

I had been in the town of Quincy, California, for no longer than an hour before I was perched atop Mount Hough, beer in hand, peering down at the deep-blue waters of Crystal Lake alongside Mason Werner and Garen Becker. Werner, a resident, and Becker, a native of Santa Cruz, were here to guide me ...

Light and Motion brings us a video to get you motivated to pack up the bike and head out into the wild. Join a crew from Santa Cruz as they ring in the New Year properly on two wheels. Enjoy “Sand and Snow”

A few years back a good friend and I took a trip down Highway 1. Our trip started in the Bay Area, and we beelined it for the coast on our first proper morning of the journey. With our backpacks and camping gear stuffed in the back of a cherry red Chevy Cruze (RIP) we ...

The hills beyond the Laguna Seca Raceway are continually calling your attention during the Sea Otter Classic. On the drive in, the morning fog settles into the valleys allowing the lush green peaks to push through into the bright morning sun. The greens of the hills were deeper and greener than I have ever seen ...

The current issue of Dirt Rag, #210, contains my review of the Liv Intrigue Advanced 1, a mountain bike I quickly fell in love with for how it seemed to disappear under me. When I saw Liv was hosting a group ride, I was excited to join on: bikes, women and sunshine? Literally sign me ...

Words & Photos by Josh Woodward Situated in a small suburban neighborhood, behind a high school in the heart of Silicon Valley’s sprawl of tech giants and venture capitalists, lies a patch of dirt so steep the property developer who bought it couldn’t get permission to build anything of value. So it sat. For years. ...

Words and photos by Erik Mathy It was Sunday morning and I was running late, as usual. We’d had a last minute change in plans and family had stayed at our place overnight, nixing my ability to figure out what bags would fit where on the new Rawland Ravn. My original plan had been to ...

By Kurt Gensheimer  What started in 2007 as a dream to construct a 9-mile multi-use singletrack trail with 3,000 vertical feet of elevation came to its full realization on January 16, 2018, when the final 1.7 miles of singletrack on Mills Peak Trail in Graeagle, California was completed. The final build bypassed an unpopular jeep road ...

This coming February, the East Bay area of California is about to get its first public bike park. Called Dirt World, this 2.1-acre area will host a pump track, BMX track, jumps and other obstacles. The park will also include a garden, gathering areas and storage for bikes and equipment that will be used for ...