Whiting Ranch, Santaigo Truck Trail and the Luge.

Garnet Peak in the Lagunas. A nice hike. Kinda an interesting ride.

Oh my what a great morning out in the Cuyamaca Mountains. More ramblings of this ride

Lake Hodges has a reputation as a beginner friendly place to ride that can get a little boring as your skills advance. I will not argue that point but there are plenty of miles that over speed and connectivity to other places. This area is part of the Coast to Crest trail and the annual Archipelago Ride. Bernardo Mountain on the north side of the lake offers a stout climb with some technical bits that can spice up your routine out at the lake.

The Caballo and Quail trails out at Daley Ranch are often overlooked or underrated but I think they are worth being the roatation.

The Laguna Mountains is one of my favorite places to ride in the San Diego area. Some of my friends and I like to call our typical loop our here a "Soul Ride" as it is like Chicken Noodle Soup for the MTB Soul.

You have to pay to play with this loop that has you going up Harding Truck Trail and down Joplin and the Luge in the Santa Ana Mountains. 4,711ft of elevation in just under 26 miles will have your legs feeling it on the climbs and your grinning muscles feeling on the descent. You will probably stress some pucker muscles here and there as well.

Great things having been happening out on the Hub Trails of Idyllwild. This video has just a fraction of the goodness out there but featues some of the newer bits out in the area.

The 14th edition of the Archipelago Ride is in the books. My has this ride grown since the first one I was a part of when it was very much an exploration ride. With a capped field of 750 riders this year this is a major fund raiser for the San Diego Mountain Biking Association that helps keeps projects going year round. There was a gaggle of volunteers and supports who made this awesome event happen. If you get a chance you should give it a go at least one.

A Little bit of Big Laguna Trail Playtime with Steve.

I have ridden The Palm Canyon Epic  a bunch over the years and it never gets old. The outing was no different.

Elfin Forest - The Rest of it.

Elfin Forest Going Down The Way Up Trail.

Ready to get your chunk on? Iron Mountain is where you want to go. Be warned! This is NOT a flow trail.

Mount Woodson located in Poway CA is most famously know for the "Potato Chip" rock near the summit. There are several way to get to the summit. On this day I started north east of the mountain (aka the Ramona side) and took the Fry Krogel trail to the Mount Woodson trail and then on to the summit. Being very early on in January the trail was ate up with "New Year New Me" hikers as well as those taking on the 100 Peaks Challenge. Mt Woodson is #5 on the list. I should have known better but the hikers really did not bust up my vibe as Mount Woodson is not known as a "flow trail" in the first place. When I descended I took the "Old" Fry Krogel trail down which I had to myself.

I have been riding Daley Ranch in Escondido CA since about 1999 and it is probably my favorite legal "local" when I just want to go out and see some nice scenery and get in a good workout. There is a lot of old farm roads and a handful of single tracks. Here are some snippets of some of my favorites. Also check out these related posts.

I have been way overdue for a new video on Anderson Truck Trail. The world cup area at the very top was shutdown some number of years ago, but there are still some goods to be played.

Blow Hard Mountain near Brian Head Utah rounds out the big three shuttle run out of Brian Head resort area in Utah. The Blowhard Trail starts at 10,660 feet just south of Cedar Breaks National Monument at drops 3,700 feet over the course 7.7 miles. The upper portion is the steepest and most technical with grades upwards of 22% in spots. It is much steeper than it looks in the video. Below that the trail mellows out some and even has a some short bits of climbing. Those short sections aside, throughout this trails is speed is easily gained and much more difficult to restrain. This is a fantastic trail.

The Virgin River Rim Trail is a 32 mile long trail along the edge of the plateau above the Virgin River watershed. This video is from the eastern 10 miles of the trail between Strawberry Point and the Cascade Falls Trailhead. This is also known as the Pink Cliffs section. This is a amazingly beautiful section of trail that was tough in many spots. It is definitely an XC trail but the the elevation, undulating grade mostly in the 9,000 feet range and trail thread all conspire to tax lungs and legs. For me it is worth the price of admission for the experience, but if your value of "reward" is mostly based on fun, you may come to a different conclusion.

Thunder Mountain is considered a marquee/classic/bucket list type trail in many publications. I have to say it lives up to hype. This video is from Day 15 of the Summer MTB vacation which was our second crack at this trail. We got rained out for this ride on Day 13. We managed to catch a good weather window and for the most part we were rewarded some near hero dirt. But be warned, even if you "shuttle" it you will be spending plenty of time cranking the pedals. It is well worth every bit of grunting you have to do. This will not be my last time on this trail!

The third segment of the my August 2021 vacation had basecamp setup near Navajo Lake in Utah with easy access to lots of MTB goodness within a hour.  This included the Dark Hollow shuttle out of Brian Head Utah is pretty awesome. 13 miles and nearly 5,000 feet of elevation drop. Long vistas, chunky bits, swooping flow and some killer bits of forest that were spared from a 2017 wildfire.   

We did a northbound ride on the Arizona Trail between Telephone Hill and Jacob Lake on the Kaibab Plateau (Passage 41). We got on the edge of thunderstorm rolling through an had a handful of sporty minutes. This was my first time on the this segment of the Arizona Trail and my four trip to the Kaibab Plateau and the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It will not be my last trip out here.

The North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  I have ridden the Rainbow Rim Trail on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon a handful of times.  It never gets old. Here are some of my adventures there: 2006 Part  1, 2006 Part 2, 2010, 2015  

When my wife joined me in Arizona I decided to cut her sea level legs some slack with a nice down hill cruise through the Fort Valley Trail System.

I started off my August 2021 MTB Vacation with a drive out to Flagstaff AZ and the first outing included Schultz Creek. Schultz Creek is a drainage on the west side of Mount Elden which has a bunch of trails. If you do any of the classic trails up on Elden, there is a good chance a run down Schultz Creek is going to be part of route. For this trip, I was focused on hitting new to me trails so I went up a series of the Fort Valley trails that included Chimney, Lower Moto, The Arizona Trail (AZT) and Secret trail to get up to the top of the Schultz Creek. The video starts at the top of Schultz Creek.

Offically known as the Olamana Trail system, the main trail in this system is the Ohana Trail. Colloquially, the locals refer to the entire network of trails as the "Ohana Trails". If you enjoy swooping flowy goodness, this is the place for you. Located on the windward side of the Oahu in Kialua this is such a fun system.

Located in the northeast area of the Oahu island, Hau'ula is the little gateway town for a couple of Ridge loop trails. The Ma'akua Ridge and the Hau'ula loop will certainly not be everyone's cup of tea. You should plan to hike a bike some bits and be frustrated by some other bits. What is in between those spots is a pretty cool experience of both terrain and flora that will certainly challenge your ground game and most likely red-line your cardio.

Oahu's North Shore has more that world famous surfing. The Pupukea trail system has seemingly endless maze of twisting and undulating trails that will put a smile on your face some burn in your legs

Out chasing locals in the Mililani area. There is not much chit chat in this video as the local boys know how to press a pace. I was run near the limiter pretty much after about 20 mins. A great group of folks to chase and there were tasty beverages and grub to be had afterwards.

This is a big ride with big views on the northwest corner of Hawaii. This route will make you pay for the amazing views but the price of admission is work it.

I took my mountain bike with me on work trip to Hawaii in April of 2021  This was the first outing on the island of that trip. This was a super pretty XC outing right along the ocean.

The San Diego Flume trail is a nice bit of history that you can ride. From 1898 until 1935 there was a 37 mile long wooden flume that brought water down from Lake Cuyamaca to the La Mesa area and beyond. The nine million board-feet of redwood lumber are long gone, but some of the corridor remains through the El Monte Valley area. There is about six miles of the corridor preserved as a trail that is well checking out. Partiucularly in the winter/spring when its exceptionally green out there. This is a nice little XC gem where you can get in 10 miles or so, a climb or two, a quick a hike-a-bike or two and maybe even find a nice serving of Chicken Noodle Soup for the MTB soul.

I have done the Ranger Palisades loop a few time now and it has yet to disappoint. While there are easier ways to get on top of the of this trail I really enjoy this loop. This video is from my summer of 2019 outing on this trail. The footage languished had been languishing on my hardrive due to the audio having issues. I finally took in the time to clean it up enough to be usable. Check out some my blog posts about the Palisades.

Located near Escondido the Mule Hill and San Pasqual Valley Trails goes between Lake Hodges to the west and along the agriculture fields to the east in San Pasqual Valley. The high point along this route is Raptor Ridge. There is a little something for most XC style riders as beginners can enjoy non-technical relatively flat terrain on either side of the Raptor Ridge and work their way into climbing the ridge. This footage is from an outing where the trail conditions are pretty much perfect. AKA Hero Dirt!

Futzing around at La Costa. November 2020. I got a screaming deal on a pair of GoPro Hero 8s so I retired the 5s and replaced my failed gimbal. While the hypersmooth feature on the Hero 8 is nearly a gimbal killer, I think there is still some benefit using a gimbal. This ride was mostly about figuring out the settings of the new toys.

Mount St Helens, 2019. If could only use one word to describe riding Ape Canyon and the Plains of Abraham on the slopes of Mount St Helens it would be WOW! This is an amazing place that will make you seems small it in the grand scheme of things as you get to see what happens when Mother Nature decides to "shake its hair out". Destruction, ugliness, beauty, rebirth, all of this can be seen while riding in this area. I rode here in both 2018 and 2019. Here are some blog post regarding Mt St Helens.

The McKenzie River Trail in Oregon in 2018. After riding this trail it is easy to see why this trail was once rated as the best Mountain Bike trail in America. The footage sit on my hard drive for a couple of years as my gimbal was starting to fail in that it was getting noisy and the camera picked up a high pitched tone from it. Additionally I had the GoPro Hero5 setup wrong and it created some color issues. I finally invested the time to clean that stuff up. Here is my blog post from that ride.

In August of 2016, I spent a few days with some friends at Mammoth Mountain. While there we got in some non-lift assist mountain biking on Lower Rock Creek.

The Rainbow Rim Trail on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, Summer 2015. This video has some clips that could use some image stablization in post, but I don't think I'm going to go back in put in the effort.

In April of 2009 while working the Seattle Washington area I went up to Bellingham and got in a couple of rides on Galbraith Mountain. This is one really awesome place to ride with stuff from XC to north shore style free ride stunts. You may find the music a little aggro but both of these tunes popped into my head while riding these trails.

Check out some of the playtime in the rocks in Alpine. This footage is bits gathered from about a year and a half of messing around out in this area. There are always lots of stuff to work your way up to out at this place. This video is hosted on Vimeo due to the copyrighed music issues that youtube has with it.

In January of 2009, I made a quite weekend trip to Sedona to catch a ride or two. This video of from day two when we rode "Hangover". This was a somewhat new trail that has recently came on the radar, but was still not an offical trail yet. It is now a fully legit trail!

This is the final video from the May 2008, roadtrip through Utah and Colorado. Fisher Mesa was the ride on Day Five of the adventure. This was what I consider some killer XC mesa riding that had great views along with some wonderfully flowing singletrack that was just a freaking joy to ride. Right-click on the image to download the video that is 6 minute and 35 second video that is 87MB in size.

This is the third video installment from the May 2008, roadtrip through Utah and Colorado. The Poison Spider Mesa and the infamous Portal Trail was our day four adventure. The exposed sections of the Portal Trail are by far the scariest bits of exposure I have ever seen. We were quite cautious in how we rode this trail and we walked a plenty. However when editing this video, I saw a couple of spots that I would not ride again.

In May 2008, I took a roadtrip through Utah and Colorado which included a few days in Moab. This video is from the Porcupine Rim from the third day of the trip. This is considered a must-do ride for many people when in Moab and I would not disagree with them. A good chunk of the footage here is from the Upper Porcupine Single which starts well above the traditional listed route. The trail status may change in the future so check with the shops in town before checking it out. Right-click on the image to download the video that is 8 minute that is 109MB in size.

In May 2008, I took a roadtrip through Utah and Colorado which included a few days in Moab. This video is from Amasa Back from our second day of the trip. We had driven from St George earlier in the day and had just enough time to do the traditional out-and-back route. I'm looking forward to getting back there to further explore this place.

In March of 2008, I took a little weekend getaway to Phoenix for a little fun in the rocks. Here is a video from the first couple of days playing on Phoenix's famed South Mountain.

Downieville, located in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California, has some incredibly awesome trails that will test your riding abilities while amazing you with breath taking scenery. I spent a few days here during my Summer 2007 Norcal trip and barely scratched the surface of all the riding that is available there. I will certainly be back for a day or ten.

In July of 2007, I rode the "Hole In The Ground" trail in Sierra Nevada mountains near Truckee CA. This is an extremely pictureque place with nice singletrack that favors a strong intermediate rider. There was plenty of incredible flowers in bloom while we were there as well as vibrant greens from grass that seem to be happy to be free of snow.

In July of 2007, I rode Wilder Ranch near Santa Cruz for the third time. I really enjoy this place as itis exceptionally beautiful. I love the way you can end your loops with a cruise along the bluffs overloooking the Pacific Ocean. There are lots of fireroads, but there are also some really nice singletracks. Also just to the east UC Santa Cruz where you will find quite a few nice singletracks there as well. Right click the image to download the 4 minute and 29 second video that 61MB.

In July of 2007, I rode Soquel Demostration Forest near Santa Cruz for the second time. This place has a very "North Shore" feel to it. There are quite a few free-ride type trails in the forest. Unfortunately I did don't get to ride them on this trip. This video shows mostly of the Ridge and Sawpit trails. I am going to go back to hit up the Braille and Tractor trail on a later trip. The lighting conditions were extremely harsh on this day making for some less than ideal footage. This 4 minute and 35 second video is 58MB.

I simply love Idyllwild. The awesome people who are putting these trails together really know what they are doing.  This video was mostly shot in the Herkey Creek area but include stuff closer to the town itself. I consider this video to be Idyllwild Volume II as none of the trails in my Idyllwild 2005 video are included in this video.

We spent a day playing in the Cuyamaca and Laguna Mountains on May 19th, 2007.  Our 40 mile adventure, included my Cuyamaca to Noble Route, the Laguna Mount Recreation Area and the upper part of Noble Canyon.  A portion of this route is also part of the "Tour De Noble".  There were plenty of spring time flowers in bloom made this a beautiful day to be out on a mountain bike. 

The Santa Ana River Trail is a SoCal Classic trail.   This video was shot in May 2007.  This is my first video working with a new helmet camera setup.  I am still working the bugs out of the setup. (Like you will see the edge of a filter I was using with the wide angle adapter.  This nearly 11 minute video will set your hard drive back 127MB.

The Rainbow Rim Trail, on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is the only single track that runs along the rim of the Grand Canyon that is open to Mountain Bikes. I took this footage in August of 2006 during Arizona in Summer tour.  But it took me over seven months to figure out who I wanted to do the video.

Broken Mesa near St. George, Utah. This video was shot on April 9th, 2006. I had a difficult time trying to capture the feel of the Upper Ice House trail so I ended up shelving this footage for the better part of a year. I finally decided that going "unplugged" was the best way to show this trail. Right click on the image to the left to download the eight minute video that is 80MB.

The Art Smith Trail near Palm Desert, CA is an eight and a half mile one-way out-and-back ride that offers some great views along with some super nice and gnarly technical features.  There are some partial year voluntary closure schemes in place for this area to help the Big Horn Sheep during lambing season.  I'm holding off on making a page for this trail until I fully understand all of the details and issues. This video was a punch line to a gag done on MTBR.com. It contains some explicit lyrics and some inside jokes.

During my Arizona in Summer tour, we snuck in a quick run from Flagstaff to Sedona for an early morning ride.  This video shot on the Cathedral Loop.  Right click on the image to the left to download the five minute video that is 50MB.

Mount Elden in Flagstaff, Arizona has a really cool and large network of trails that offer some sweeping vistas and rip fest descents. This video was shot in August of 2006 during my Arizona in Summer tour. Right click on the image to the left to download the five minute video that is 50MB.

The Freeman Creek Trail in the Giant Sequoia National Monument, while short in length, is high on quality with mountain bike access through the largest Giant Sequoia grove outside of the Giant Sequoia National Park further to the north.

The Cannell Plunge 2006. I finally made it back to Kernville for another run on the Cannell Trail and "The Plunge".   From Sherman Peak at 9,909 feet to the riverside park in Kernville at about 2,300 feet there is no shortage of great descents on this 32.5 mile epic.

The Cowboy Trails, near Las Vegas.  Yeehaah!!  There are plenty of technical goodies to be found on these rocky singletracks that often have expansive views of the mountains to the west or the Vegas strip to the east.   If you are looking a good place to ride in Vegas, this may be the safest bet in town. Right click on the image to the left to download this 7 minute video that is 71MB.

Copper Canyon in Mexico.  This amazing adventure tour was a truly enriching life experience full of culture and untamed ancient trails.  The surreal vistas easily make this one of the most beautiful places on our planet.

Idyllwild, nestled in the San Jacinto Mountains, offers miles of single track that rolls through forest, rock gardens, alpine meadows as well as scrub brush. This video is made from a couple of trips to Hub Trails aka Alvin Meadows in September and October of 2005.

The 2005 Lake Tahoe MTBR.com Gathering, July 7th-11th.  This was great weekend of riding and hanging out with some new folks and seeing some old friends again. This video has been remastered and upscaled to 1080.

Here is the video from Day 7 out at the Kokopelli's Area of Fruita.  It includes portions of Mary's, Rustler's, and Steve's Loop as well as Horsethief Bench. File Size: 52MB.

The Hurricane Cliffs trail system just outside of Hurricane, Utah was the ride for Day 4 of my Spring 2005 MTB Road trip. It comprised mainly of the Goulds Rim, JEM, and Hurricane Rim trails forming a 21.5 miles loop of which 19 miles or so of it is mightly fine and picturesque singletrack. 

Gooseberry Mesa, near Hurricane, Utah, was like nothing I had ever ridden before with some awesome terrain.   Shot on Day 3 of my Spring 2005 MTB Road trip.

Pinyon Flats to Palm Springs New Years Day Epic - 29 miles from 4,000 feet or so up in the Santa Rosa Mountains down into Palm Springs at 500 feet.  This was no downhill bombfest as there was over 2,000 feet climbing involved over some sometimes frustrating terrain.   Files Size: 53MB.

Nothing says "You Care" quite like a bloopers reel.  This a collection of biffs that did not make into any of my other Japan Mountain Biking Videos.  File Size: 21MB

This video shows some of the highlights of a days play on the trails of Fugato Yama (aka Ghost Town) and Takatori located on the Muira Pennisula of Japan. Files Size: 30MB

Here is a little crash footage from Fujimi Panorama from July 4th, 2004

Located a few hours from Tokyo Japan, Fujimi Panorama, is a mountain bike park that you are sure to have some fun on.  This video was shot in June of 2004.

Kamakura is a coastal town in on the Muira peninsula on Sagami Bay, less than one hour south of Tokyo.  Kamakura has pretty nice trails that can be quite daunting to navigate.  There is everything from tame paths to gnarly freeride-hucker stuff.  This video was shot in 2004. Right Click on the image to the left to download a sample of the trails there.  File Size: 84MB

Ashinoko Skyline Trail - Ashinoko (Lake Ashi) is a wonderfully picturesque lake in the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park in Japan.  On clear days you will be see incredible views of Mt Fuji reflecting on the lake surface.  There are plenty of trails in the mountains around the lake and this video shows a mere fraction of them.

Mount Fuji, Japan - One Helluava Hike-A-Bike.  This video was shot on June27th, 2004 just before the hiking season opened.  This video is a little different than most of my videos, somewhat brooding in tone.  There are a few pictures in here taken on my second climb that show the views on clear days.

While on the Philippine Island of Luzon in April 2004, I did some exploring through the Ilanlin Forest near Subic Bay. Most the exploration was was along a forest "fire" road.  We did find a single track off the road which was twisty and tight.  The video includes some of the seemingly endless bombfest down the forest road followed by some footage of us working our way along the Boton Falls trail.

This is a video shot in the Zushi city area in Japan in April 2004. There are plenty of single track in the area if you know how to piece them together.  I was so very forunate to have some locals show many around. This particularly area was referred to as "Duck Pond" by us yanks as the main way we normally got into this area was a hike-a-bike on the back side of a Duck Pond. The mountain at the top of this area is Mt Sengen.

The Aiea Loop Trail loop trail in Oahu Hawaii is a short but sweet ride in Central Oahu.  This video was shot on March 13th, 2004. In 2012 this trail was closed to bikes, with user conflict being the cited reason.

Here is a video shot while at the 24 hrs in the Old Pueblo race in Tucson AZ February 14th and 15th, 2004.  I was on the  SCUMBAGS SS four man single speed team.  We had a really great time and managed to finish in 4th place.   Click here for more details. Right Click on the image to the left to download the video.

Here is a video of a ride down Noble Canyon on January 17th, 2004.  While the upper 3 miles of was closed due to fire damage it was still a really great ride.  Right Here is a Noble Canyon Public Service Announcement.

Here is the video of our Carrizo Gorge ride we did on New Year's Day 2004.  Right Click on the image to the left to download the video.
One on my riding buddies suffered a horrific crash during this ride.  Check out the Miles Todd Crash Video

Thomas Mountain and the Ramona Trail. If I had to describe the Ramona trail in one word, it would be CHANGE.  This trail starts off in the open pine meadows above 6,000 feet and descends into Garner Valley taking you through meadows then pines followed by chaparral, all while the trail goes from smooth and buff to loose and rocky.

December 6th, 2003: Orange County has a lot to offer the Mountain Biker. Wither you are into the lung busting climbs of the Santa Ana Mountains or bits of technical singletrack along the Laguna Coast, it is worth your while to check it out.

Cannell Plunge in the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountain this ride is definitely an epic ride.  The primary descent is "The Plunge" where this wonderful single track drops 5,000 feet in just 8 miles. Take the Plunge and you will not be disappointed!

In June of 2003, I managed to end up in Vancouver for a couple of days so I went over to the North Shore to check out some of the trails there.  This video is of some of the trails at Grouse/Fromme and Seymour Mountains.
Here is a more narrative video titled "13 Things You Might Say on the North Shore

"Flightline" is an area where Oceanside, Vista and Carlsbad CA all meet near the Palomar Airport. The planes typically are lining up on their landing approach over the trail system, hence the name "Flightline".  With over 95 percent of the trails single track you are sure to find something you like.  This video was shot in May of 2003.

SoCal Desert Ride on New Years Day 2003.

The Holy Jim Trail - Sometimes known as The Holy SHIT! Trail for first time riders, this is a really fun Orange County ride that will test your bike handling skills. This video was shot in November of 2002.

Matzalan, Mexico - September 15th, 2002:Peoria Blanca (Ranch) in the small town of Mazagua just outside of Matzalan was the site of one the 1999 World Cup races.

San Juan Trail - One of my favorite rides here in Southern California.  This video was taken on a blistering hot day in August of 2002.

For my birthday, I did an epic that took us through a portion of the Cuyamacas, Indian Creek Trail, the upper portion of Noble Canyon, the Pine Mountain Mail trail and back again.  31 miles with 4,500 feet of climbing with the high temp of the ride being in the low 90s.  See more about the trail here.

Wilder Ranch in Santa Cruz CA - June 23rd, 2002:  This is a nice place to go just have fun on the bike. While the ranch is mostly fire roads the single track that is there is really fun. Wilder Ranch is absolutely beautiful with ocean views through meadows, single track trough fern covered forests.

Oat Hill Road in Calistoga CA - June 21st, 2002: This old miners road is a real treat. It is a five mile climb up into the Palisade Mountains. The further up you go the more technical the "road" gets with the last mile up being "techno city".

Santa Ana River Trail from South Fork Campground back to Mill Creek  fire road.  Done on June 8th, 2002

A couple of the guys on AMB invited me out for a ride.  Here is the video of some fun riding out in Sycamore Canyon on May 4th 2002

Take a look at us goofing around on Seans Birthday Ride at Aliso-Wood Canyon.

Cuyamaca State Park

Daley Ranch Part I and Part II

An Old School Run down Noble Canyon. Lots of Aggro..music!

Sea Otter 2002 Preride

Soquel Demo Forest in NORCAL 2002

Awesome Wipeout and even better excuse on the Rock It Trail

Silverado Motorway 2002