Mountain Biking in San Diego

Local mountain biking enthusiast, Chip Mutza, was kind enough to let us post the videos he made over the past two weekends documenting the mountain biking scene here in San Diego. Here is what he had to say about it,

“This past weekend a few friends and I took a short drive out to beautiful Mount Laguna for some mountain biking. We arrived at the Penny Pines trail head to somewhat gusty winds and low 40-degree temps, but without a cloud in the sky it promised to warm up quickly. We geared up, threw on a few extra layers and hit the trail. Pedaling at 6,000 ft elevation takes a bit more effort, but thankfully the beginning part of this ride is a rather gentle climb out to the Big Laguna Meadow. The ride around the meadow and Big Laguna Lake is a flowy ribbon of single track trail with the occasional rocky section to keep you on your toes.

Once we reached the far side of the meadow we began the climb up the Agua Dulce ravine. The climb up the ravine starts off as a rather mellow grade that steepens significantly towards the end. We were very happy to find that all of the snow had melted away, as our last ride here just a month prior included a lot of pushing heavy bikes uphill through 18 inches of the white stuff. The melting snow had created a few more water crossings than usual, some deep enough that we ended up with wet feet. Once at the top the real fun begins, as we descend down the Los Gatos spur trail. The SDMBA (San Diego Mountain Biking Association) has put a lot of time and effort into building log features from fallen trees. There are log rides of all shapes and sizes and a few small jumps and rock rolls. Los Gatos is full of fast sweeping singletrack with the occasional alternate line thrown in with optional log features. Once we’re back at the meadow the ride back to Penny Pines seems to be mostly downhill, with a particularly fun section of twists and turns right before arriving back at out cars. It wasn’t a very long ride, only about 12 miles, but between the elevation and sessioning a few of the log features we were all more than ready to devour breakfast at Major’s Diner down the road in Pine Valley. I can’t wait for the next one! “

Big Laguna Trail and Los Gatos MTB from Chip M. on Vimeo.

Cowles Mountain with the boys from Chip M. on Vimeo.