Mammoth Mountain: Sierra Nevada
Top Ten California Singletrack
 |
| Right in the middle of a 14-mile downhill! (Will Hagen) |
Mammoth Mountain Bike Park is just a few miles off Route 395 and two hours from Yosemite. It sports over 50 miles of bike-specific singletrack.
This massive mountain biking park never gets too crowded and you can always find a quiet trail to enjoy the spectacular volcanic Sierra vistas. During race weekends, the lifts tend to open up free for the last part of Sunday afternoon, but the all-day lift tickets are fairly reasonable and allow you to downhill endlessly—something that's fun to do once in awhile.
The upper trails, including the Kamikaze Downhill, are mostly of decomposed pyroclastic base and take some getting used to, but they're a blast to ride when you've mastered the front wheel stabilization techniques. Try not to miss the famous 14-mile downhill—I don't know how they pulled that one off, but it's true! Other prime singletrack can be found at Lower Rock Creek, Sand Canyon, and Inyo Craters—all masterpieces of bike trail engineering.
