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.

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.