Originally posted Posted May 26, 2004 — Back when we raced gravity events at Big Bear (and I had time to do massive posts like this one. Tons of photos!).

Oh, Big Bear. El Oso Grande. The Jewel of SoCal Mountains. Womb of the SoCal downhill scene. One of the oldest, best-run venues in mountainbikingdom. Great things have a way of happening here, and this year was right on target.

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Hey Lee…..Just wondering if you know of any pump/jump spots in San Luis Obispo area of California. I am traveling there a week from today and I would like to hit some spots. I know of some great areas to MTB around but I am looking for the “other” kind of riding. : ) Trying to figure out what bike to bring.
Thanks - Ray, OKC

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Sea Otter ho! Yesterday/today Zach Griffith and I drove straight from Boulder to Marin (it took 20 hours with heavy snow), and today we tasted the goodness in a big way.
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Super cool! The Corral Center Mountain Bike Park at Lory State Park near Fort Collins, CO, is built and ready to ride. Session this Saturday …
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After my clinic with the InCycle guys last week, I took myself for a little spin. Southridge Park is in the middle of the Fontana, CA suburbs, but the trails are sweet!
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While I was in Norcal this month, you KNOW I rode in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The woods are deep, and the trails are super flowy. It was too dark for my little point-and-shoot camera, but still:
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Last Sunday, Mark Weir had a massive pump party at his house in Novato, CA. Reasons: 1. his one-year wedding anniversary, 2. Chevy’s birthday and 3. the pump — oh, the pump.
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Hey, I was looking over your site and saw the story about legalized dirt jump parks, and then saw there was one in Pleasanton, California. I was wondering if you had the address of that place, because I looked online and couldn’t find it. Thanks!
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When Jim and I landed in Santa Barbara we dialed ourselves in at Motel 6 then mosied downtown to buy a trail map. The whole shopping scene was very shi-shi…with rich, beautiful women everywhere and a bakery for dogs.

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When you think of the greatest places to ride in California, southern Orange County usually doesn’t come to mind. I mean you’ve got your Downieville, your Lake Tahoe, your Mammoth and your, uh, San Juan Capistrano? Unless you’re a swallow, that just ain’t the place to visit.

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I found Day 4’s route in the trail reviews section of www.mtbr.com. There are almost 6,000 reviews in there, a few of which are actually literate. From what I could tell, we were in store for nine miles of pure single track, with a drop of 2,000 feet through a variety of terrain.

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After hitting Mr. Toad’s in South Lake Tahoe, my buddy Jim Norman and I headed south toward Mammoth. The weather was perfect and since it was the week after Labor Day, the roads were empty. We cruised The Panzer along the eastern Sierra on Highway 395, past countless mountains and valleys, and made an excellent side trip up to Sonora Pass, down which I rode my bike.

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My buddy Jim Norman and I recently took the DH and XC bikes on an adventure around California. After enjoying some sweet single track on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride in South Lake Tahoe, we headed south toward Mammoth. This was the week after Labor Day, and there was zero traffic. The sky was perfectly clear, and the mountains were awesome. On a whim, we decided to hang a right on Highway 108 and check out Sonora Pass, a Sierra crossing near Yosemite.

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