 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Planning a 3 week road trip around California next July and just wondering if anyone has anywhere they'd particularly recommend to go or avoid? Hoping to get some biking in at maybe Mammoth Lakes, Lake Utah, Downieville. Will it be too hot in Moab in July (for a pasty northener)?
Will it be too hot in Moab in July
Yes regardless of where youre from. Clue is in it being a desert 😀 My kid brother was daft enough to do some riding out there that time of year, the guides wouldnt let them on the trail with less than SIX litres of water, and they started riding at 5am. Can't speak for cali but Utah would be madness.
Ive ridden colorado in july (which has the benefit of being several thousand feet up and slightly cooler) and it was typically mid 30's C.
Moab is a bit of a hike from the West Coast and - as above - it'll be too hot
I thought it'd be too hot in the desert but thanks for confirming it.
Went there a few years ago in July. Awesome trip and great places to see. Ended up hiring a mustang and drivnig from san fran to las vegas
Took a trip to mammoth lakes, death valley and lake tahoe on the way
[img] 
[/img]
[img] 
[/img]
[img] 
[/img]
If you really mean West Coast (rather than South West), there is excellent stuff around Bend (OR), and the rainforest-like bits of WA make for some ace riding too. I never went as far South as CA.
Moab is 15hrs drive from California. I know - I used to live there!
Plenty of excellent riding around California and yes it'll me mega-hot, but not as hot on the Pacific coast as it will be in the inland deserts like Moab. Plenty of great stuff in Moab, but it is bitching hot in the summer. The ideal thing to do would be to ride very early and then again late afternoon/early evening, to avoid the worst of the heat.
In California there's plenty - both North, South and everywhere else! Lake Tahoe is excellent - gotta ride the Flume trail once in your life.
I lived in Silicon Valley and there was loads around there - Skeggs Point on Skyline Blvd (30 mins south of San Francisco.
Bi Basin near Santa Cruz, in fact all over the Santa Cruz mountains was great.
The best place was Soquel Demonstration State Forest near Los Gatos, but I heard there used to be some trail access issues.. worth checking out.
If nearer Los Angeles then the San Gabriels are awesome - epically awesome trails there. There's Laguna Beach too, where much of the 'action' shots by rad dudes in MBA magazine are shot.
Tahoe, downieville, flume and Boy Scout all come to mind. Great rides.
wot they ^ said
Can only speak for orange county area (and inland from there) really:
more than about 25 miles inland and it gets bastard hot, then hotter still as you go further. "Barstow" actually translates from the native american as "****in' awful place to die of heatstroke, in an outlet village" and further in than that is just evil
on teh coastal bits of orange county (laguna etc) it's prob low 70s to low 80s on average, so "too hot" but survivable. Long climbs aren't nice. I've not been in early July, mind - they do tsalk about the June Gloom, so might be cooler in 1st half of July
big bear lake is south of mammoth, and lower, and is in the low 70s I'd guess during July (IIRR)
Thanks for all replies - looks like it'll be best to stay in the mountains and move from Mammoth Lakes up past Tahoe to Downieville. Three excellent biking spots - all with uplifts 🙂
Got a few days in Yosemite for tourist stuff. Also booked a few days in Santa Cruz for r&r before we fly back.
Will leave the desert stuff for another time!