Author Archives: Jack Rawlins

Jesus Maria Road

Distance: 31 miles one way
Elevation gain: 3370 ft

(A Best of the Best ride)

Update 2018: a fire swept through this area in recent years, and almost all of Jesus Maria Road burned. What was lush woods is now often charred sticks with new green underbrush returning (see photo below). It’s still a great road, but with a very different feeling. jr

Update 1/2021: Great news: Jesus Maria Rd has just been widened and repaved along its entire length and is now smooth. This thanks to local cycling organizations and the state of California, who spent $200K for the repaving. If someone spends $200K to prep a ride for you, you owe it to them to go do it. For details on this and other aspects of California’s $14-million commitment to improving bicycling infrastructure in the Gold Country, see the CalBike website and Bestrides’s introduction to the Gold Country in the By Regions section. Greenery is returning to the region as well, so there is no reason to delay doing this ride any longer. jr

This and the Cream of the Sierra Century are the two best rides in the Gold Country. It’s a tougher climb than our other Gold Country roads (lots of 8-11%). I amassed 2450 ft of gain in the 14+ miles between Mokelumne Hill and Railroad Flat Road, which is a lot. Jesus Maria itself is a narrow, serpentining crawl up through a canyon, and it used to be deserted but like everywhere else in California the occasional vacation homes with their $30,000 gates are beginning to appear, and you’ll see perhaps a vehicle per mile. Thanks to the burn, the scenery varies from stark to lovely, and Jesus Maria itself offers some fine panoramic vistas, which are a rarity in the typically wooded Gold Country. Like the Clinton Road ride, it’s a U-shaped course leaving you with an unpleasant stretch of Hwy 49 to close the loop.

Ride east out of Mokelumne (“muh KELL uh mee”) Hill on Hwy 26 and in 2 miles turn R on Jesus Maria Rd. (clearly marked). Immediately you’re into a steep little climb that will strain your still-cold legs, but fear not—it’s short. At the top you encounter the last thing you’d expect heading east from Hwy 49—a challenging descent. It’s almost 2 miles long, and it’s an absolute hoot. Every curve is a little technical puzzle to solve. No two corners are alike, and no corner is a simple arc. The road pitches up and down, cambers left and right. It’s asking a lot, but while you’re trying to find good lines, try to notice how lovely the scenery around you is becoming, riparian trees largely undamaged by fire.

At the bottom of the descent you ride levelly along a pretty riparian woodland, then have to gain back all that lost elevation and then some. You climb, quite steeply for 2 miles (8-11%), then more moderate stuff, until you’re 9 miles into the ride, after which the road rolls up and down, sometimes steeply, to mile 14. The climbing work is never really over until Railroad Flat Road. The road contour is constantly changing, and the scenery is varied—lush creekside woods, meadows, open grassy hillsides, conifer forests, stands of dead tree skeletons (see photos at the end of this post).

When you dead-end on Railroad Flat Rd., you have a big decision to make: go on, or turn around. Both options are really good. If you turn around, you won’t be saving a lot in the way of miles or effort—there is 1230 ft of climbing on the 13-mile return “descent,” which qualifies it as a moderately difficult climb. But it’s a very good ride, with better descending than you’ll get doing the loop, though the brand-new road surface is a trifle chattery. Save some energy for the last mile of JMR, which is an 8-11% pitch.

Assuming we’re following my loop route, go R on Railroad Flat Rd. This new road is the antithesis of Jesus Maria—wide two-lane mountain main artery, with noticeable traffic and no shoulder. Ride into and through the community of Mountain Ranch, one of those real Gold Country towns that’s never seen a tourist and doesn’t want to. There’s a big grocery store there, as far as I know the only place to reprovision on the route.

Just past Mountain Ranch, Michel Rd. takes off to the L and you have a choice. If you liked the last few miles and want more just like them, stay on the main road, which has changed its name to Mountain Ranch Rd., all the way down the hill to San Andreas. If you want to see more back country, go L onto Michel Rd. We’re going L. Don’t let the wide smooth surface fool you—it won’t last. You’re soon back on a one-lane, patchy road through nice woods. Watch for Old Gulch Rd. taking off to the L. Take it if you want more adventure. If you’ve had enough, stay on Michel, which soon runs back into Mountain Ranch Rd., which in turn will run you into San Andreas. But we’re taking Old Gulch, because it’s some of the best riding and prettiest scenery on the entire ride. It’s more remote than Michel, it’s calendar pretty, and the road contour is constantly invigorating. It’s almost all down, and it dead-ends on Calaveritas Rd., another polished two-lane roller, but with much less traffic than Railroad Flat Rd., that you take to the R into San Andreas.

Old Gulch Road

Now our route ends, because the good riding ends, and we have to do what we usually have to do in the Gold Country, unless we can thumb a ride: suffer Hwy 49 back to the car—9 miles this time, of grinding up and down on the shoulder and ignoring whizzing traffic.

Jesus Maria post-fire—not a black and white photo

Shortening the ride: There is really no easy way to do this, since riding JMR as an out and back is about as hard as completing the loop. Old Gulch Road makes for a short, lovely little out-and-back. I’d ride it uphill (west to east) first, but it’s not a killer climb.

Adding miles: As always in the Gold Country, good riding is in all directions. Read the Adding Miles sections for Cream of the Sierra Century and Clinton Road for details. All the seductive-looking roads you see on the map within the Jesus Maria/Mountain Ranch/Hwy 49 triangle are dirt. Hwy 4 is hell until you get east of Big Trees State Park—big, very busy, and constant big rollers—but then it gets progressively smaller and quieter and finally turns into our Bear Valley to Mosquito Lake ride. San Domingo Rd. is smooth dirt.

A general word of warning about riding in the Southern Southern Gold Country: every back road I’ve ridden south of Jesus Maria Rd. has had stretches of pavement ranging from poor to comically horrible. That includes every Bestrides ride in the area—Ward’s Ferry, Old Ward’s Ferry, not so much Priest-Coulterville—and others like Dogtown Rd. If poor pavement bothers you, ride somewhere else.

San Andreas is the terminus of a west-of-Hwy-49 road of particular charm, Pool Station Road. Like all roads west of 49, it’s rollers through grassy hills, but it’s shadier and flatter and thus more pleasant than most. It rolls for c. 12 mi, then ends at Hwy 4, making for an easy out-and-back. If you want to keep riding, ride down Hwy 4 to Copperopolis and continue on O’Byrne’s Ferry Rd., which is much like Pool Station Rd. but a step drier and less charming. The general warning about road surfaces in the area applies here—the last time I rode PSR the lousy tread seriously disturbed my wa.

Still plenty of evidence of fire damage on Jesus Maria

Yosemite Tour

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(A Best of the Best ride)

(Note 2022: Yosemite, Mariposa, and the surrounding region have been hit hard by forest fires in the last 2 years. The Mariposa area was on fire in the summer of 2022. I don’t know how severely the riding has been impacted, but the effect of the fires must have been significant.)

I was introduced to this four-day tour by the Sacramento Bike Hikers, who used to do it every year. The loop has enormous scenic variety and an iconic destination that amps up the drama from the first pedal stroke. Not every mile is rewarding. There’s some boring flat straight stuff in the beginning, there’s some traffic dodging on the Yosemite roads, there are two stretches of rough road surface, and there are way too many people in the Park. Yet it remains a grand, bucket-list experience. Just say it with me: “riding my bike to Yosemite.” You’re down for it, I know.

It’s not at all daunting. The climbing is mostly quite mellow, and there’s only one longish day, and that’s almost all downhill. For that and other reasons, I don’t recommend trying to shorten the ride. This is one of those rides you want to keep epic. Try to talk a friend into driving a sag wagon. But I’m a realist, so after we walk through the tour we’ll talk about ways to shorten it.

If you have a National Park pass of some sort, remember to pack it and your ID before setting forth. It does no good to remember it on Day 3 as you approach the Park entrance.

Time of year matters on this ride, because it affects the scenery and the crowdedness of the Park. I always do it in the spring, when the grass in the foothills is green, the wildflowers are out along the Merced, and the waterfalls are flush with run-off. But the full waterfalls bring crowds. In Summer the crowdedness of the Valley is much worse. In winter there is deep snow. I bet fall before snow season would be nice.

Day 1: Merced to Mariposa

Distance: 49 miles one way
Elevation gain: 2630 ft

Begin in Merced. You can take yourself and your bike there via Amtrak, or you can park on the street across from the Amtrak train station. Ride due north out of town on G St., which becomes Snelling Rd. (I’ll let you work out the details, but it’s a pretty straight shot). Snelling dead-ends at Hwy 59. Go R and ride into the town of Snelling, a tiny town with a standard country grocery store on the main street. All the riding so far is dead boring—laser straight, and either flat or long very gradual rollers through nondescript grazing land, sometimes into a headwind, so in keeping with our principles You could start the ride in Snelling, but how would you get back to your car? I promise, the ride will never be this unrewarding again until the final miles.

The rolling hills past Hornitos

Go through Snelling, onto Merced Falls Rd. and make a R turn onto Rd. 16 to Hornitos, which is almost a ghost town but usually has water at the tiny municipal park (not always). Our route takes a R turn just before town and becomes Hornitos Rd, but if you want to stop to use the picnic tables or find water you need to go L into town, then come back to Hornitos Rd. We’re talking all of 100 yds here—it’s easy to see when you’re there. Check out the historically significant remains of the “little ovens”—that’s what “hornitos” means in Spanish.

From Hornitos, the riding turns magical if you’re there in the Spring when the grass is still green. You’re in huge, smooth rollers through endless meadow. There is nothing but you, the road, and the grass. Don’t just get this leg over with—stop often to breathe in the spirit of the fields. Remember that scene in the original “Superman” movie when Clark Kent stands in the middle of an Iowa cornfield and the camera crane pulls back and up and you can see corn for what seems like miles? This has that feel.

A few miles past Hornitos, take Old Toll Rd. off to the L. Right off the bat the climbing can seem intimidating and the road surface is poor, but neither lasts long and it’s a very cool little back road to the back road you were just on. Once the initial climb is over, Old Toll Rd. rolls pleasantly and prettily to its dead-end on Hwy 49. Take 49 to the R and ride to Mariposa, a thriving mountain town with good food and good inexpensive motels. Don’t miss “world famous” Happy Burger at the northwest end of town. If you like quirky drive-ins, as I do, it’s a treasure. Spend the night in Mariposa.

Day 2: Mariposa to El Portal

Distance: 24 miles one way (to Cedar Lodge)
Elevation gain: 1880 ft

Descent to the Merced River

Ride out of Mariposa northward and take Hwy 140 to the R at the edge of town. You’ll stay on this road all the way to Yosemite National Park. 140 does a mildly entertaining, fairly straight climb for about 4 miles, rolls a bit, then plummets dramatically down to the Merced River, which you will follow upstream to the Park. Try to ignore the fact that you’re going to have to ride up this descent in two days.

Where you meet the river, there’s a nice little rocky almost-beach on the L, called Briceburg on some maps though there’s nothing there but a small rock kiosk and a picnic table. Stop and dip your feet in the river. Continue on along Hwy 140 to your lodging in the El Portal area. This is classic ride-along-the-river stuff, a gentle climb with the lovely Merced constantly along one side and a wildflower-speckled rock wall on the other. This is a main entrance route to the Park, so you’ll see traffic, but passing is easy so it’s never a problem. Spend the night in the El Portal area.

Where you stay in El Portal matters. You’d think a village at the entrance to Yosemite would be a small place. Yes and no. The “El Portal” address is used to refer not only to the village of El Portal proper, which has a pizza parlor, a market, and other amenities, but also to everything else for miles along the road. So if you stay at the Yosemite Cedar Lodge (where I always stay, because it’s very nice and cheaper), according to the address you’re “in El Portal,” but in fact you’re 6 miles down the road from the village (and thus 6 miles further from Yosemite). This makes the ride from your motel to Yosemite longer and harder (the 6 miles is a gradual climb), and it means you’re further from services. Cedar Lodge has a café and a restaurant, but both are often closed out of season, and they’re your only food options. There are no other services there. If you don’t want to eat at Cedar Lodge or they’re closed, and you don’t have a sag wagon for supplies, you might well find yourself riding a moderately taxing 12 miles (round trip) for dinner or groceries. But it also makes your return ride from the Valley better, because those 6 miles are a mild, dreamy descent in the late afternoon.

This is a short day without hard work, so it would be possible to ride on to Yosemite and stay in the Park, but the ride from El Portal to the Park isn’t easy and you’d transform an easy day into a hard one.

Day 3: El Portal to Yosemite Park and Back

Distance: 28 miles out and back to Valley fork (from Cedar Lodge)
Elevation gain: 2008 ft (to Valley fork)

(Map is one-way only)

Pack walking shoes/sandals and any Park passes, photo ID’s, money you need to get into the park, and a lock. It needn’t be a stout one—you’re just deterring the casual thief—but you’ll definitely want to leave your bike to do some short hikes to falls and walk through the Ansel Adams Gallery, the Miwok village, and other delights, unless you’ve scheduled a second non-biking day in the park.

Climb to the Park: traffic’s not bad if you’re early

Continue on up Hwy 140 and into Yosemite National Park. This leg is like nothing you’ve ever ridden before. It’s a lot of moderately steep climbing along the edge of the Merced River, which is falling and tumbling spectacularly on your immediate right. It’s much more elevation gain than you’re expecting if it’s your first time. The road is narrow two-lane without shoulders, and the traffic is fierce during peak hours, made worse by the tour buses and public buses which ply this route constantly. To make matters worse, there is often a low rock wall on your right shoulder (see photo), about a foot from your right knee. It won’t obstruct your view, but it makes it almost impossible to pull over for traffic. Sounds like a nightmare, but for some reason it doesn’t come off that way—it comes off as an adventure, and I just love it. The traffic never seems hostile. Perhaps everybody understands, We’re ridin’ to Yosemite! The stresses of this leg are cut by about 80% if you hit the road early (like 8 am).

If you’re riding from Cedar Lodge (see Afterthoughts), you can dodge the traffic along half the route by taking the back road on the other (north) side of the river, called Incline Rd. (I don’t think it’s signed). It takes off to the L just before the highway crosses the river, and it parallels the river within sight of it. It goes R and returns you to the highway at an interesting old railroad exhibit. It’s no prettier than the main road but it’s car-free. It returns you to the highway before the steep, crowded, narrow, walled section of road, so you aren’t avoiding the hectic climb.

At the Park entrance you’ll need to pay or show your pass with photo ID. If you have a pass, some rangers let you bring in anyone in your cycling group on it. Some rangers don’t charge cyclists at all. But I heard a story about a ranger at a National Park entrance who charged each half of a tandem separately. Whatever—life is too short to quibble. After you pay, you still have some substantial riding before you reach the valley floor. I’ll let you explore the Valley on your own, with these few suggestions:

1. Don’t not do it just because you’re too cool to ride in National Parks with a bunch of tourists on rental bikes for their one ride of the year. It’s Yosemite. It’s wonderful. Get in the spirit.

2. As you approach the valley, the road forks and you’re forced to go R because the traffic in the valley is always counterclockwise. Immediately after that fork, on the R, is a little spring, called Fern Spring, a round puddle of water you could almost jump across. It’s not on most maps, but it’s easy to see if you’re watching for it, and there’s a little sign. Do not ride by this without stopping. It’s a sacred Indian spring, and you can and must fill your water bottles here. The water is incomparable, the setting is quietly spiritual, and most tourists drive right by in search of waterfalls, so you may have the place to yourself—no small thing in Yosemite. If this all sounds incredible, ask the Ranger when you enter the Park and he’ll confirm it.

3. The road system in the valley is fairly complicated for a National Park, but there is no secret back road that will lose the crowds, so don’t look for one. The nearest thing to out-of-the-way is the road to Mirror Lake at the east end, which most rental-bike tourists don’t ride because it’s too steep for them.

El Capitan

4. The best “secret” falls in the park is behind the Ahwahnee Hotel. Ride to the hotel, park, and walk due north to the rock wall that’s 100 ft off the road. Falling and sliding down this rock wall is the Royal Arch Cascade (unless it’s late in the year). It’s way under the tourist radar, but it’s swell. You can look up the rock face and see the water come down, you can stand right by the water as it lands, you can stand in it if you want to, and you’ll probably be alone as you do these things.

5. Have lunch on the terrace of the Ahwahnee Hotel. It isn’t expensive. If you need me to tell you why you should do this, I can’t talk to you.

Tunnel View

6. Ride up to Tunnel View, for the view. It’s only a 1.5-mile climb up from the Valley and one of the world’s most famous vista points. You’ve seen it all your life, in photos. It’s even better in real life. It used to be called Inspiration Point, but some bureaucrat decided that name was too apt and decided to change it to something lame. Don’t let him fool you.

7. If you want to ride your bike to the Valley but not in the Valley, you can lock up your bike anywhere and take the free, efficient, and pleasant bus shuttle service to any prominent spot around the oval. You can even ride a bus from your El Portal motel, though I’m unclear on why you’re doing this tour if you do.

Ride back to your El Portal motel. This return ride is pure joy—all downhill, at first steeply so, then just delightful and effortless, on good surface through some very nice curves. The sun setting behind your destination (assuming it’s nearing the end of the day) lends a special beauty to the river, the rock walls, and the lush woods. The traffic out of the Park never seems as bad as the traffic in (where do the cars go?). If you can catch slack traffic, there is no better ride.

Day 4: El Portal to Merced via Old Highway

Distance: 70 miles one way
Elevation gain: 2516 ft

You might consider adding a lay day here. If you have the time, it’s nice to take a day and go for one of the rides above the valley (see Adding Miles) or just get off the bike, bus into the valley, and become a walking, shuttle-busing tourist.

If not, we’re going to ride all the way to Merced in a day, which is a fair number of miles but except for the big climb out of the Merced canyon at Briceburg it’s all downhill. Ride back the way you came to Mariposa. The climb up from the river to Mariposa is long, moderately steep, and largely monotonous but never daunting, and the vistas are good. From Mariposa, you could ride back the way you came, and feel free to if you want to see it again, but there’s a good alternative we’re taking. Ride down the main street, which is still our old Hwy 140, to the obvious fork at the southeast edge of town. Take the L fork onto 49. Soon Old Highway goes off to the R (it’s signed). Take it all the way until it dead-ends back on our old pal Highway 140. Old Highway has some lengthy stretches of poor road surface, but it’s a small, car-free wanderer through back country hills with great views and a nice spirit of adventure.

Old Highway: it’s an adventure

The good riding is now over. Go L onto Highway 140, which is now big, open, and straight with a big shoulder. Cars regularly whiz by at 70 mph, and it can be windy, and you have 9.3 miles of it. Then, to escape the traffic, take N. Cunningham Rd. to the right. Cunningham (which is dead flat straight and even more of a drag than the highway but quieter) soon turns L and becomes Bear Creek Rd. (or, on some maps, the delightfully named East South Bear Creek Drive). The worst is over (unless the headwind persists). Bear Creek is a fairly pleasant, fairly interesting flat roll through richer and richer farm country, then city outskirts, then Merced proper. Work your way back to the train station. There is even an East North Bear Creek Drive a stone’s throw to the north of ESBCD you can ride if you prefer.

Shortening the 4-day route: The great miles along the route are along the river before El Portal, from El Portal to the park, around the park floor, and up to Tunnel View. If you only have a day, you can bag most of that thusly:

Medium day: ride from El Portal into and around the Park and ride back. Include the short side trip to Tunnel View.

Long day: Ride from Mariposa to and around the Park and ride back. Including the spur to Tunnel View, it would be a 90-mile day with a significant total vert.

Adding miles: Once in Yosemite you can ride either of three iconic roads above the Valley floor: the ride to Wawona, the ride to Tioga Pass, and the ride to Glacier Point. Each is a substantial effort.

To ride to Wawona, pack a light (for the tunnel). Take the Wawona road going R from the Valley loop road right after the first fork after you enter the Park. Stop to take in the Tunnel View vista (see photo above). A few feet beyond Tunnel View you ride through the Wawona Tunnel, which is pure hell. It’s long, dark, trafficky, wet, and slimy. Unless you have great lights, it’s hard to see and be seen. It’s worse coming back, by the way, since it’s slightly downhill and you’re braking on the slime. Once past the tunnel, thank St. Christopher and begin a long, moderately dull climb through classic Sierra forest. Once I saw a hawk circling above a huge pine tree just off the road, and the hawk was at eye level.

After the obvious summit, enjoy the long, ripping, relatively straight descent to Wawona. Wawona is the quiet, off-the-beaten-path symbol of Yosemite before it became an outdoor Disneyland, a grand old resort with picket fences, big verandas, Adirondack chairs on the lawn, and a few quiet, tasteful guests. It’s a perfect place to buy lunch or eat the one you brought, nap in a lawn chair, and reflect on how good it was in the old days. Ride back the way you came all the way to your starting point. You can continue on, but if you do there is no way back to El Portal that doesn’t pass through Mariposa and commit you to a 100-mile day.

The Glacier Point road takes off eastward halfway up the Wawona climb. It’s a long steady moderate climb I haven’t done. The view at road’s end is peerless.

To ride to (or toward) Tioga Pass, before you enter the Valley loop go L on Big Oak Flat Rd., then R. on Tioga Rd. and ride as far as you like. It’s a long road with many good turn-around points, the most prominent being Tenaya Lake (tuh NIGH uh), Tuolomne Meadows (TWAH-luh-mee), Tioga Pass (tie OH guh), and Lee Vining (LEE VYE ning) for the famous fish tacos at the Whoa Nellie Deli. It’s not a very bike-friendly road (traffic, poor shoulder), but in many years there is a day or two in the spring when the road is open for bicycles but still closed to cars, and that might be the perfect time to ride it.

Lincoln Hills

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Distance: 27-mile lollipop
Elevation gain: 1500 ft

If you look at a good map of the area east of Lincoln, north of Newcastle, and west of Hwy 49, you’ll see a little patch of squiggly lines. If you drive past the area on any of the highways (193, 80, or 49) you’d never guess there was any good riding there, but this is one of my favorite places to ride. It’s not a single road or route—it’s a cozy little network of crooked roads working their way through pretty, moderately hilly hobby farm country. The area is small enough that you can ride all the good stuff in an outing, and every road is fine. Just go explore. The joy is that the scale is so small—the riding is always changing, you’re constantly turning onto a new road, none of the climbs last too long, etc. You’ll see on the map that the roads to your west, just east of Lincoln, straighten out and scribe rectangles, which tells you the land has turned into flat, conventional ranch country. If you like flat and grassy, these roads are perfectly pleasant. But that’s not what brings me to the area, so I don’t go there.

Here’s a route that covers most of the good stuff: Start at the intersection of Virginiatown Rd. and Fowler Rd. Just park on any wide spot of shoulder. Riding counterclockwise, ride east on Virginiatown (pause to read the plaque on the Virginiatown historical monument), R. on Gold Hill, L. on Ridge, continue on Ridge until it ends at Taylor (no sign), L onto Taylor for 100 ft, L onto Ophir (signed), L on Lozanos (at the fueling station), R when Lozanos T’s, an immediate L onto Bald Hill, L. on Mt. Vernon, L. on Baxter Grade, continue onto Wise, then a hard R on Chili Hill Rd., which turns into Virginiatown and your car.

There are only two significant climbs in this area, Bald Hill Rd. and Baxter Grade, both uphill heading north. If you don’t feel like working, plan a route that avoids them. The other side of the coin is, Baxter Grade is the one whoop-and-holler descent in the area, so if you’re looking for that thrill, plan a route that takes you to the top of it, as my route does.

I was introduced to the Lincoln Hills by the Tour de Lincoln, a friendly, enjoyable metric century put on annually by the locals. But the century only spends about 1/3 of its time on our prime roads, and the other 2/3 riding through other, less-good roads. So you miss half the good stuff and spend a lot of time on the OK stuff. Which is the typical downfall of centuries, and which is why I don’t do many centuries.

Shortening the route: Skip the Virginiatown Road lollipop stick. Crater Hill Road, which isn’t on our route, is a short connector that lets you ride either the top half or the bottom half of our figure-eight as a loop. I see no reason to recommend one loop over the other.

Adding miles: From the Lincoln Loop you can easily and pleasantly ride to the Dog Bar Road ride and the Iowa Hills ride. Just ride north and east via the small roads of your choice, working your way to Placer Hills Road, which will take you to both rides. Dog Bar connects to our Lower Colfax/Rollins Lake Loop ride. By car you’re about 25 miles from the Mosquito Ridge Road ride. See Doug’s thoughts in the Comments section about adding the Indian Hill area just to the south of our routes.

Afterthoughts: For some reason a lot of paper maps don’t show some of the Lincoln Hills roads. Even Mapmyride pretends some of them don’t exist. Trust me, they’re all there, they’re standard two-lane country size, and all the road surfaces are good. The AAA map of the Gold Country shows the area well (as well as all the other Gold Country rides in our list).

There are no services in the network proper, but you’re a short ride from two tiny towns worth visiting, Newcastle and Penryn. Newcastle is a small spot of upscale charm where you least expect it: a nice deli and other amenities prettily ensconced in some restored old buildings. Penryn used to be regionally famous wth cyclists for Trailhead Coffee and Cycling Lounge, but it’s now closed—Yelp says Red Barn Roasting has moved in, but I can find no trace of them.

Dog Bar Road

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Distance: 45 miles out and back
Elevation gain: 4290 ft

This ride, like all the riding in the Grass Valley/Nevada City area, has very little “wow” factor—no grand vistas, no towering monoliths. But it is an exceedingly pleasant bucolic stroll, gradually ascending through foothill woods, meadows, and horse farms, with lots of variety to the contour. The landscape is quite handsome, and particularly so in the spring when things are green. The level of traffic is more than I would wish, even on weekdays, but it’s hardly a deal-breaker. And you turn around in Grass Valley, a community I’m very fond of.

It’s 22 miles of almost uninterrupted up, but it’s all mellow—less than 100 ft per mile—and I don’t think of this ride as a lot of work. The descent coming back down Rattlesnake Road has wonderful, whoop-inducing moments and is almost good enough to make the Best of the Best list.

There are four Bestrides rides in the Grass Valley/Nevada City area—Dog Bar, Red Dog/Pasquale, Willow Valley, and Lower Colfax. They are all pleasant up-and-down strolls through nice woods. Dog Bar has the best descent (on Rattlesnake), but it’s also the most built up. Dog Bar goes to Grass Valley, which is a plus. Both Willow Valley and Red Dog/Pasquale begin and end in Nevada City, which is a plus, and both go through the prettiest woods. Of the four, Willow Valley is the best and I’d ride it first, then any of the others.

(5/17 update: I rerode the route on a Sunday, and was disappointed by the level of traffic.)

From Clipper Gap, CA, take Placer Hills Rd. north. This leg of the ride is more domesticated than Dog Bar—wider, busier, smoother (recently repaved)—but lovely, and, depending on your tastes, possibly your favorite part of the ride. Take Dog Bar Rd. when it takes off to the L. Almost immediately you will plummet for a mile down to a small bridge across the Bear River, the nearest thing to high drama on the ride. At the far end of the bridge is a small dirt turn-out, and from there a footpath goes upriver to a spectacular stretch of river strewn with big boulders, perfect for swimming in the summer—all of which is a strong argument for starting the ride here, so you can switch to hiking boots and hit the river after the ride.

Nothing fancy—just a really nice road

From the bridge Dog Bar climbs pretty steadily to the end, but not one foot of it is steep, and there are plenty of rollers to give the legs some respite. In fact, this may be the only ride in Bestrides.org where I feel like Mapmyride’s elevation gain total overestimates the work load (RWGPS says 3920 ft).

There are three options for the last miles into Grass Valley. If you’re keen to get to Grass Valley as soon as possible, stay on Dog Bar, which runs into La Barr Meadows Rd., which runs straight into downtown. But there are two better alternatives. The first: Two-thirds of the way up Dog Bar, Rattlesnake Rd. takes off to the R (clearly signed). Rattlesnake is much the better ride: smaller, windier, steeper, a bit less built up, and less trafficked. When Rattlesnake dead-ends at Hwy 174, take 174 to the L and into Grass Valley. That’s how I’ve mapped it. The second: If you want easy and charming, where Dog Bar runs into/turns into La Barr Meadows Road, take LMMR to the (hard) L and follow it over to Allison Ranch Rd. Take ARR north to Grass Valley.

For lunch in Grass Valley, you have lots of good choices, thanks to the town’s recent modest gentrification. If you want old school, have a pasty (pronounced PASS tee), the traditional lunch of the Cornish miners who dug the gold out of the nearby hills.

Turn around and ride home. Of our three route choices, Rattlesnake is by far the best, a really fine slaloming descent, so go back this way however you went out. If you like loops, ride to Grass Valley via Allison Ranch Rd and back on Rattlesnake. The ride back is almost entirely downhill and a piece of cake except for the mile of climbing on the far side of the Bear River. After the ride, drive back to that bridge on Dog Bar and go swimming.

Shortening the route: If you want tranquil, ride Dog Bar Rd. to Rattlesnake and return. If you want exciting, ride Rattlesnake out and back. If you want short, easy, and charming, ride Allison Ranch Rd. by itself.

Dog Bar Road

Adding miles: There is a lot of good riding around you on this ride. Our route takes you within a stone’s throw of the Iowa Hill Road ride. From Clipper Gap it’s a pleasant ride on side roads paralleling Hwy 80 heading south to the Lincoln Hills ride. From Grass Valley you’re only 3.5 miles from Nevada City, site of our Red Dog/Pasquale ride and everything in the Adding Miles section under it. To get to Nevada City, ride NE on Main St, which turns into Nevada City Hwy, which turns into Zion. It’s not a 3.5 miles I enjoy.

A mile or so past the Bear River bridge on our outbound route, Magnolia Rd. takes off to the L (clearly marked). It’s a manicured, picture-perfect road well worth riding until you near Lake of the Pines, when all sense of tranquility and isolation ends and you should turn around.

Where Rattlesnake Rd meets Lower Colfax Rd. you’re at the start of the Lower Colfax Rd/Rollins Lake Loop ride. You can follow it until it starts back north, and instead take 174 south to Colfax, then take Tokayana to Placer Hills Rd. and PHR back to Clipper Gap and your car. Of course you’d be giving up the lovely Rattlesnake Rd. descent. If this route sounds attractive but a bit much, drop the Rollins Lake loop, which will save you about 9 miles and 1000 ft of gain.

A shorter version of the Dog Bar/Rattlesnake/Lower Colfax/Rollins Lake loop goes up Dog Bar to Mt. Olive Rd. and takes MOR over to 174. But there are two downsides to this route: 1) it gives up the leg from the top of Lower Colfax to 174, which is one of the best stretches of road in the area; and 2) the western half of Mt. Olive is frankly a bitch—steep, loose, rutted, rocky dirt.

Iowa Hill Road

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Distance: 43 miles out and back
Elevation gain: 6670 ft

This ride is hard work. It’s notorious for a 2.1-mile stretch of 12-16% that’s as hard as it sounds, and there is significant climbing after. The route is never flat, and much of the other climbing is 6% or more. But the road contour has great variety and character, and the woodland scenery is top-notch. See Shortening the Ride for a way to cut the climbing in half and keep most of the fun. Perks include one large river crossing and one classic mountain store, but mostly this ride is about being in the woods.

Iowa Hill Rd. takes off from a small road called Canyon Way running along the eastern lip of Hwy 80 in Colfax. Because the big climb comes in this ride when you’ve barely turned a pedal, I like to warm up by riding around the Colfax area before heading down Iowa Hill Rd. I typically park a few miles down Placer Hills Rd. and ride to Iowa Hill Rd.

On Iowa Hill Rd. proper, you’ll ride through 1/4 mile of buildings, then drop dramatically down for 3 miles to a crossing over the North Fork of the American River. The scenery is already grand, there will probably be a car or two, and a few of the curves are truly dangerous. Take the “5 mph” postings seriously. There’s a campground on the river with decent bathrooms, but no public water—something to remember on the way back when you might be thirsty. Across the bridge the 12-16% climb begins. The summit of the climb is obvious. From then on the road rolls upward, 75% up and 25% down, through lovely, lush woods.

Even the 15% stuff is pretty

Iowa Hill is actually a town of sorts, consisting of a few small buildings, a school (!), and an odd little store/bar that has soft drinks and water but no ice (and apparently no lights). Immediately beyond the store the road forks, with a sign pointing L and reading “Foresthill.” Follow it. Much later, at an intersection the road changes its name to Sugar Pine Rd., but just stay on the main road until it dead-ends on Foresthill Rd. Turn around and ride back.

They’re not kidding

The ride back from Foresthill to the big drop is a delightful romp. Descending the drop itself isn’t. It’s so steep you dare not allow yourself to get up any speed, because unless you’ve got disc brakes you’ll never scrub the speed necessary to make the turns, so you (or at least I) have to do the whole thing clamping down on the brakes. Disappointing. I do it at 11 mph, pausing to cool my rims. The climb back up out of the canyon from the river is 3 miles of 6-8%, a lovely climb in other circumstances but a grind if you’re as tired as I am at this point.

Shortening the ride: You could just drive from Colfax to the top of the big climb, but it’s laborious even in a car and there’s an easier way: just drive up Foresthill Road, which is a wide 60-mph road, to the intersection of Foresthill and Sugar Pine Rd and ride Sugar Pine/Iowa Hill to the top of the big drop (you’ll know it when you see it), then turn around. This will leave you with a ride of about 32 miles and 3000 ft of climbing through the prettiest part of the route.

Adding miles: The Dog Bar Road ride is just a stone’s throw to the west on the other side of Colfax. You can work your way south from Dog Bar by small roads paralleling Hwy 80 and after some nice riding reach the Lincoln Hills ride.

On the other end of the ride, you can make a large loop by turning R on Foresthill Rd and riding it all the way to Auburn, then working your way back to Colfax by those same small roads along 80. Foresthill is a bigger, straighter, busier road that’s popular with riders who like it open and fast. The scenery remains good throughout. Don’t be tempted to shorten the loop by taking the cut-off on Yankee Jim’s Rd.—a lot of it is dirt, despite what the maps say.

Iowa Hill mega-mart

Afterthoughts: Even with a refill at the Iowa Hill store, water is a problem on this ride. On a hot day you’ll need more water than you can carry in two water bottles. You can bum water from a camper at the American River campground, but to be safe I carry a third full bottle down to the river and cache it along the road for the last climb. A camelbak is another solution.

Some maps show Iowa Hill Rd. as dirt. It isn’t.

Red Dog/Pasquale Loop

Distance: 16-mile loop
Elevation gain: 1524 ft

There are four Bestrides rides in the Grass Valley/Nevada City area—Dog Bar, Red Dog/Pasquale, Willow Valley Road, and Lower Colfax. They are all pleasant up-and-down strolls through nice woods—no grand vistas, no awe-inspiring crags, no waterfalls, nothing of the sort. Dog Bar has the best descent (on Rattlesnake), but it’s also the most built up. Dog Bar goes to Grass Valley. Red Dog/Pasquale and Willow Valley begin and end in Nevada City, and both go through the prettiest woods. But overall the best of the four is Willow Valley, and I’d do it first, in part because it duplicates the best half of this ride—then I’d ride any of the others.

I learned this route from the good folks at the Outside Inn, a dedicated cycling, mountain-biking, and kayaking mecca of a motel, lovingly restored from a rundown old motorcourt and now sporting rooms with outdoor themes like the Singletrack Room. By all means, stay there when you’re in the area, if you can. They used to have a free stash of xeroxed road and trail routes, but I think they’ve stopped doing that—sad.

Navigation is a little tricky on this one. From Broad Street, downtown Nevada City’s main drag, ride south out of town on Pine St., which turns into Zion. Continue on Zion past the SPD Market (named after the pedals, no doubt) straight through a busy four-way intersection that clearly marks the end of town. You’re now paralleling Hwy 49/20. The next road on your L is Banner Lava Cap Rd. Take it and immediately cross Hwy 49/20 on a high overpass/bridge. Continue up Banner Lava Cap, a steady moderate climb of 6 miles through pleasant inhabited woods. Take the time to appreciate the houses you’re riding past—they’re all different, all tasteful, all interesting, and all out of your price range. Idaho-Maryland Rd. merges from 5:00 o’clock on your R. The product of the merger is still called Banner Lava Cap. Stay on it until it ends at a stop sign and a T. At this point the climbing for the route is all over. By then the road has changed its name to Banner Quaker Hill Rd. The road sign at the T reads “Banner Quaker Hill Rd.” to the R and “Quaker Hill Rd.” to the L. Turn R. Now hold on—you’re about to go down a short, steep pitch with an obvious road sign reading “31%.” The run-out at the bottom is good, so you can let ‘er go if you want to, but there is cross traffic on this road. You won’t come back this way, so you don’t have to ride it back up.

Pasquale Road

Soon after the drop, you meet Pasquale Rd. on your L and take it. If it doesn’t show up soon, you’re lost. Pasquale is the real reason you’ve come, a beautiful, mostly level meander on a tiny road with good surface through pristine woods that look like Columbus never happened. Every time I ride it, my heart yearns to build a cabin in these woods.

Pasquale Road

Pasquale ends at Red Dog Rd. Take Red Dog to the R and it’s a fun, ripping descent with traffic through built-up neighborhoods straight into Nevada City and your car.

Shortening the route: Since there are no cut-off roads, this is a hard loop to shorten. If you’re determined not to do it all, I can only suggest driving to Pasquale Rd. and riding it from end to end as an out-and-back.

Adding miles: In Nevada City you’re surrounded by good riding in all directions. Our Bitney Springs Rd. ride is 3 miles away in Nevada City. Here’s a nice loop to the west of town.

Red Dog and Pasquale are also in our Willow Valley Road loop. Doing the two loops back to back, as a sort of pancake-shaped figure eight, would give you c. 30 miles.

Afterthoughts: Nevada City is a charming place, and you should definitely explore it at least once, but it’s become thoroughly tourist-ified and the food and housing have become accordingly expensive and precious. Cheaper and more down-to-earth is Grass Valley 3 miles away, which used to be a sleepy, working-class, charmless burg but has become quite a pleasant spot, with real stores, interesting, unpretentious eateries, and one of the finest small theatres I know of. Be sure to find out who’s performing there when you’re in town.

Nevada City has lots of good places to eat. I like Fudenjuce, a health-food mecca with great wraps and smoothies. The health food store, California Organics, has a good deli with an extensive menu.

Jay's Essential Bike Rides

The very best road rides in California and Oregon

Author Archives: Jack Rawlins

Jesus Maria Road

Yosemite Tour

Lincoln Hills

Dog Bar Road

Iowa Hill Road

Red Dog/Pasquale Loop