Riders Up!

Sea Otter Classic, April 6-9, 2006, Monterey, California
Billed as the largest cycling event on the West Coast, this four-day festival includes road races; cross-country, downhill, and short-track mountain bike races; and gravity events (think big air). If you want to get the feel of the races without the competitive stress, you can bring your bike and test ride the mountain bike courses for free or participate in one of the non-competitive recreational rides. If you've never raced or never been to the races, be sure to check out the Sea Otter.

The Napa Valley Dirt Classic, April 23, 2006, Angwin, Calif.
One of the smaller, yet better organized of the annual local mountain bike races, this race features an amazing course located on the private property of Pacific Union College. It's worth the price of admission just to ride this private course, which features hard-packed doubletrack, serpentine singletrack, and a punishing, endless uphill grind at the end--save your energy for this last hill, you're going to need it. With the beginner and sport classes making up the majority of the 400 entries, this is a great race for the rest of us.

The Lemurian, April 29, 2006, Whiskeytown Lake National Recreation Area, (near Redding) Calif.
This event is for the diehards and the Old Schoolers. It is a tribal feast, a town meeting, a mountain man rendezvous, pulling hardcore riders from their remote forest training camps and bringing them together for an epic annual gathering. If you want to get a real taste of what grass-roots mountain biking is like in California, on a course that will kick your ass, this is your event.

24 Hours of Laguna Seca, May 13-14, 2006, Monterey, Calif.
This is the perfect entry-level 24-hour event. The course is fast and straightforward, and because of the ample camping opportunities, good schwag, and enthusiastic atmosphere, there is always a big turnout for this event. Whether you’re looking down on the lights of Salinas from the top of Hurl Hill or winding up The Grind at 2:30 AM with your lights off under the full moon, it's a great experience.

12 Hours of Humboldt, July 15, 2006, Arcata, Calif.
Get ready to pedal your ass off under the stinky green of Humboldt's finest. We consider ourselves strong climbers, but the steep, relentless singletrack of the Arcata Community Forest gave us everything we could handle and more when we did this race two years ago. We agree with Tinker Juarez that this is one of the best courses and coolest events going.

US National MTB Championships, July 20-23, Mammoth Mountain, Calif.
To qualify for the nationals, you must finish in the top 10 in your age group in a NORBA-sanctioned race. Because NORBA races are few and far between for Bay Area riders, it’s hard to qualify for these races, but it’s pretty cool when you do. Even if you don’t qualify, there are a couple of long-distance mountain bike races that you can enter, or you can just hang out and rub shoulders with the pros.

The Downieville Classic Mountain Bike Festival, July 29-30, 2006, Downieville, Calif.
Here you go fat tire freaks, this is the mother of all shit-eating grinners. A punishing, grueling, endless uphill known as the Trail of Tears climbs 3,000 feet at the beginning of the race and thins out the field before everybody gets to the tour-de-force of California mountain bike racing: a long, plunging 17-mile, 5,500 singletrack descent to the finish line. For pure riding exhilaration, if you're only going to race one event this year, this is the one.

Other interesting fat-tire events within a day’s drive include the following:

TBF Racing Series, Jan. 28 through March 1, 2006, Folsom Lake Recreation Area (east of Sacto), Calif.

CCCX Mountain-Bike Race Series, every other Sunday from Feb. 12 to May 6, 2006, Fort Ord (north of Monterey), Calif.

Iron Angels Mountain Bike Race, March 5, 2006, Angels Camp, Calif.

The Cool Mountain Bike Race, March 12, 2006, Cool, Calif.

Sagebrush Safari, April 2, 2006, Lake Morena (east of San Diego), Calif.

Prarie City Race Series, every Wednesday evening from April 5 to June 28, 2006, Prairie City Off Road Vehicle Park, south of Folsom, Calif.

Glory Hole MTB Race, April 23, 2006, Angels Camp, Calif.

Firestone Walker AMBC Classic, April 28-30, 2006, Los Olivos (just north of Santa Barbara), Calif.

12 Hours of Weaverville, May 29, 2006, Weaverville (north of Arcata), Calif.

Bigfoot Classic, June 30-July 2, 2006, Bald Mountain (north of Arcata), Calif.

The Cougar Mountain Classic, July 14-16, 2006, Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, Calif.

The Howell Mountain Challenge, Aug. 13, 2006, Angwin, Calif.

Northstar-at-Tahoe cross country/downhill race, September 9-10, 2006, Northstar Resort, Lake Tahoe, Calif.

Whiskeytown Nine to Five, October 7, 2006, Whiskeytown Lake National Recreation Area, (near Redding) Calif.

Lagrange Fall Classic, Oct. 20-22, 2006, Weaverville, Calif.

Billy Cross Racing also schedules several races throughout the year from April through October at locations like Boggs Mountain and Lake Sonoma.