Activities
Mountain biking in Southern California
Guide in progress — riding notes and Carter’s own account to follow.
Three ranges, three seasons
Southern California rides year-round, but not everywhere at once. The coastal ranges are winter and spring; the high country above 7,000 ft is summer and autumn. Chasing the season between them is the whole skill.
The areas
- San Gabriel Mountains — the range directly above Los Angeles. Long fire-road climbs to genuinely technical singletrack descents, with trailheads inside an hour of the city.
- Santa Monica Mountains — coastal, low, and rideable all winter. Fast, loose and exposed, with ocean on one side for most of it.
- Big Bear and the San Bernardinos — the high country. Summer alpine riding at 7,000 to 8,500 ft, and the coolest air in the region when the basin is unrideable.
Conditions
Fire closures are the constant. Burn scars reopen on their own schedule and some trails stay shut for years, so check the current forest order before committing to a shuttle.
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