Distance: 69 miles out and back
Elevation gain: 5018 ft

This ride goes through some of the prettiest scenery in the Sierra hill country.  It’s 31 miles of climbing, but I promise it’s doable, typically 1-4% and only momentarily over 5%. If that’s still daunting, it’s an easy route to edit—see Shortening the Ride below.

One caveat up front: I strongly recommend you do this ride in October, for two reasons: 1. the leaves of the maples and aspens are changing, which jacks up the gorgeousness level about ten-fold. In spring and summer the forest is just, well, green. In winter you’ll hit snow. 2. Hwy 49 can be busy, and, while the road isn’t narrow so passing is possible, I find the traffic (fast, aggressive) noisome. Downieville is a zoo in the summer, thanks to its excellent mountain biking, and Indian Valley is a string of popular campgrounds. October, almost no one is up there. In October, this ride is A-level; any other time, I don’t think I’d do it at all.

Our route begins with some nice fir/pine forest, does a very sweet 3-mile descent, follows the north fork of the great Yuba River for 10 miles, sees some good rock, climbs easily to the charming mountain community of Downieville, then does 12 miles of easy-to-moderate climbing to the equally charming but less touristy town of Sierra City. The road is consistently shoulderless but wide two-lane, roomy enough to allow safe passing, with a good road surface, and varying from fairly straight to fairly curvy. The riding is never exhilarating—even the descending is mellow—but it’s continuously charming and gorgeous (in October).

Despite its whopping elevation total, this route has something that’s very rare among Sierra mountain rides: flatness.  For 10 miles along the river (20 miles round-trip), there isn’t a single significant pitch.  For most of those 10 miles the climbing is imperceptible, and the occasional short rise is never worse than 2-3%.  If you keep finding mountain rides in Bestrides that sound delicious but have off-putting elevation gains, that ten-mile stretch is for you.

Park at the intersection of Hwy 49 and Marysville Rd.  Parking is a little easier at the Camptonville mini-mart, 1 mile up the road, but there is some nice scenery in that first mile.  Ride to Sierra City on Hwy 49, then ride back.

One mile in you pass the turn-off to Camptonville, which isn’t actually on the highway.  Take the short detour if you want to see what authentic Sierra mountain communities are like (which is, not terribly interesting).   The first 6 miles of Hwy 49 are through nice fir/pine forest—nice green wall riding. The scenery will get better, and if you want to skip these first miles you have my permission.

At 6 miles in, you begin a very sweet, not-to-be-missed 3-mile descent to the North Yuba River.  It’s a smooth, lazy serpentine that’s just steep enough to make it fast without forcing you hard onto your brakes. 

The descent ends at the North Yuba River bridge.  Here begin the flat 10 miles.  You’re along the river the entire way to Downieville, sometimes on the very banks and sometimes up the sidehill among the riparian trees.  The Yuba is a pretty, rocky stream with great swimming holes if you ignored my advice and are riding on a summer afternoon.  Take in the river views on the ride out, because on the return ride you’re on the wrong side of the road and can see nothing much.  There are lovely rock cuts on the high side of the road for much of the 10 miles.

The price you pay for the flatness is that the road doesn’t have much in the way of interesting contour.  There are at least 7 campgrounds in the first few flat miles, with bathrooms in season, and one resort, Indian Valley Outpost, which as of 10/25 is apparently permanently closed (thanks, Katherine).

About 2 miles from Downieville the road contour gets more interesting, but you have to earn it—it’s a moderate but noticeable climb the rest of the way.  Just outside of town there’s an overlook with a nice view of the village, two interesting info boards, and a real cannon (it’s easy to miss—facing the town it’s on the mound on your R).

Downieville is a charming gold-rush town with many of its 1880’s buildings intact despite three major fires in its history.  These buildings are now occupied by antique stores, above-average restaurants, and mountain bike rental shops, but the place is still not nearly as touristy as Murphys or Sutter Creek.

You could certainly turn around at Downieville, but I encourage you to continue—the 12 miles from Downieville to Sierra City are my favorite miles in the ride, all easy ascending through gorgeous scenery (in October) with most of it right along the river, which, because the terrain is more up and down, has more fall and thus more drama than before. You’re more within the forest canopy now, and the road has a bit more back-and-forth contour.

Sierra City is more undiscovered than Downieville, which means it’s less hectic and has fewer services, but there is food and the inevitable mountain mercantile.  Before you leave town, be sure to fill your water bottles at the spring located appropriately at the intersection of Main and Spring Sts—Stephen (below) says it’s great.

The return ride is, excepting the 3.5-mile climb west of the bridge, all gentle downhill. Even the descent from Sierra City to Downieville isn’t electrifying—much of it is downhill pedaling, in fact—but it’s charming and delightful in a relaxed sort of way. The 3.5-mile climb averages around 5%, just between easy and hard.

Shortening the route: This ride is a cinch to shorten. At the most extreme, if you start riding at the bridge across the Yuba and turn around two miles before Downieville, you can do a 20-mile out-and-back with all the beauty of Sierra riding and only climb a paltry 1000 ft.  If you’re looking for an easy climb, ride from Downieville to Sierra City. If you’re in the mood for a rollicking, whoop-inspiring descent, do the 3.5-mile climb and descent west of the North Yuba River bridge.

Adding Miles: Hwy 49 goes south from our starting point to Nevada City, and people ride it all the time, but I find it a grueling, unrewarding slog with two long, featureless climbs. 

You can certainly ride on from Sierra City to Yuba Pass, about another 12 miles of easy ascending, but I don’t recommend it. Beyond Sierra City all the merits of the road are gone. The road is straighter, the pitches are longer and unvaried, most of the road is away from the river (though the river is still there), the landscape is flatter so you lose the rock cuts alongside the road, and the forest seems off to the side instead of around you. It’s all perfectly OK, if you want miles, but I found it tedious. The return descent is too straight to be of much interest. The one thing I can say in favor of Yuba Pass is that it’s got to be the easiest pass to ride to in the Sierra, so if you want to bag a Sierra pass but have always found the climbing intimidating, this is your pass. At Bassets you can turn off to the Gold Lake area, which many cyclists like a lot.