Mammoth summer fun in the mountains

Trade the skis for a bike and ride the slopes in a new way.

Published online on Monday, Aug. 17, 2009

MAMMOTH LAKES -- Thin air, spectacular views, fat tires and soft dirt.

Just another summer afternoon cruising at Mammoth Mountain. After the snows melt (well, except for a few patches), the Eastern Sierra ski resort becomes home to some of California's sweetest mountain biking.

Take the gondola up to 11,053 feet, where a panorama of peaks, ridges and canyons that drain into the San Joaquin River conspires with the altitude to take your breath away. Good thing it's all downhill from here. Check the brakes one last time, click the helmet and go.

There are some 70 miles of trails from which to choose. Some are delightfully smooth romps through forests. Others take dramatically steep plunges straight down the mountain.

"We have such a unique park because it has both incredibly fast and technical downhills along with fun, mellow singletrack," said Mark Hendrickson, Mammoth's mountain bike park manager. "There's literally something for everyone."

But first, a caveat: Mountain biking at Mammoth is unlike riding at other places, and it all starts with the dirt.

Simply put, it's not really dirt. Most of the terrain is covered with decomposed pumice, a kind of porous rock formed by rapidly cooled lava after being ejected from a volcano. (Mammoth Mountain itself was formed by a series of volcanic eruptions, the last one occurring some 57,000 years ago.)

Because pumice is softer and more crumbly than typical dirt, it can take a couple of runs to get used to.

"It's just a different dirt composition than you find in other places," Hendrickson said. "I call it the home of the two-wheel drift because you're just sliding everywhere."

Mammoth veterans combat the slippery terrain by riding on the widest possible tires (at least 2.1 inches) with deep knobbies. They also typically use platform pedals and flat-soled shoes instead of "clip ins."

In keeping with the downhill theme, many riders wear moto-cross-style helmets that offer full face protection along with shin, knee and elbow pads.

"A lot of people have been putting on more plastic and more protection, and I think it's helped the growth of the sport," Hendrickson said. "It's not much fun to lose skin and stick to the sheets at night when you're lying in bed."

Not only was Mammoth the first U.S. ski resort to offer lift-service mountain biking in the summer, it also played a significant role in the origins of downhill riding.

Mammoth opened the Kamikaze run in 1985, which at the time was a pretty radical idea. The summer access road, which drops some 3,100 feet in 31/2 miles from the summit to the base area, was home to the nation's first downhill race.

Two decades later, the venerable Kamikaze still is as bumpy as ever but has been surpassed in steepness and pure difficulty by expert runs with names like Velocity, Bullet and The Deep End, which features a 50-foot-tall concave wall ride.

"The downhill segment of mountain biking has just exploded in the last half-dozen years," said Dan Hansen, Mammoth's marketing manager.

Those who don't produce adrenaline by the gallon have their choice of numerous beginner and intermediate cross-country runs, which substitute steepness for fun and flow.

Just don't forget the hydration pack, sunglasses and sun screen -- and be sure to pace yourself on the mountain.

Did we mention the air was thin up here?