Palm Springs - MTB or Road?

[Matt Brownfield]

Hi folks - anyone out there familiar with the Palm Springs area?  I'm planning to rent a bike and need to decide between MTB, road or gravel/'cross.  Any opinions?  Thanks!

[Nick Wood]

The mountain bike scene is hit or miss, there are some super cool unique trails that are a fun ride that offer great views, but wouldn't say they are particularly interesting and there are not a lot of them, but still fun, I've ridden my cross bike on several of them....but lots of goat heads, so renting a bike with Tubeless is a big help.

Pretty good road scene and several group rides that I've tagged on to in the past.

I'd probably rent a gravel bike, hit some of the easier MTB trails, hit Dunn road (gravel) and tag onto one of the group rides, some fast master guys down there that have some early season fitness:

https://www.cycleclub.com/

On Thu, Apr 15, 2021 at 8:10 AM Matt Brownfield <brown...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi folks - anyone out there familiar with the Palm Springs area?  I'm planning to rent a bike and need to decide between MTB, road or gravel/'cross.  Any opinions?  Thanks!

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[Tom Williamson]

I have ridden road and mtb down there and i prefer mtb.  Not a ton of trails but enough to keep you interested and legit climbing.  Check out the network near La Quinta cove...

Except for the tram road, much of the road riding seems straight, flat and busy with cars.

t

[Josh Ross]

It's been close to 10 years since I rode there but I did road riding and my memory is basically your description. One upside though is that the road surface is the kind you dream about and is essentially non-existent in the Portland area. 

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Josh Ross  |  (626) 817-3123

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[Josh Ross]

I've also spent time riding outside vegas and it's definitely amazing! Red rocks area is incredible.

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On Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 12:24 PM Jed Schneider <jed.sc...@gmail.com> wrote:

Slightly off topic but being new here, it seems there is an interesting Palm Springs / Portland connection in that it seems like a preferable vacation destination compared to other high desert locations like the Vegas valley. I can't speak for the riding in Palm Springs directly, but I can attest to the extensive riding options in Vegas (recently moved from there) so if you're planning a trip and could go one way or another, I can verify that the riding in Vegas is outstanding for a spring break type trip. The past several years has seen a boom in trail building there and I would guess somewhere between 300 and 400 miles of mountain bike trail in the valley. Road riding can also be excellent and there is the opportunity to ride almost fully off-street pavement (with a category 2 climb for good measure) for ~100km on the East side of town. Some of the other road riding can IMO be less safe than Portland, but if 5hr road rides are your thing, you can have your choice of good safe options.

Jed

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[Matt Brownfield]

Thanks all.  I've heard about those desert goat heads or whatever you said those thorns are called.  Will go tubeless for sure.

[Jed Schneider]

Slightly off topic but being new here, it seems there is an interesting Palm Springs / Portland connection in that it seems like a preferable vacation destination compared to other high desert locations like the Vegas valley. I can't speak for the riding in Palm Springs directly, but I can attest to the extensive riding options in Vegas (recently moved from there) so if you're planning a trip and could go one way or another, I can verify that the riding in Vegas is outstanding for a spring break type trip. The past several years has seen a boom in trail building there and I would guess somewhere between 300 and 400 miles of mountain bike trail in the valley. Road riding can also be excellent and there is the opportunity to ride almost fully off-street pavement (with a category 2 climb for good measure) for ~100km on the East side of town. Some of the other road riding can IMO be less safe than Portland, but if 5hr road rides are your thing, you can have your choice of good safe options.

Jed

On Thu, Apr 15, 2021 at 9:44 AM Josh Ross <josh....@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Jonathan Myers]

I've ridden down there for a week in the winter for the last 5 or so years (sadly not during the pandemic).  There are a lot of low traffic roads in the La Quinta area and east of La Quinta.  There are a lot of bike lanes that feel relatively safe.  Box Canyon Road out and back is nice.  Joshua Tree has some good riding if you can do it mid week where there is less traffic.  I've done some mountain biking in the Cove area of La Quinta, the Dunn Road area, and a few others.  The trails are very rocky and sandy.  There is good elevation gain off road but they are not much fun for me.  -Jon

On Thu, Apr 15, 2021 at 8:10 AM Matt Brownfield <brown...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi folks - anyone out there familiar with the Palm Springs area?  I'm planning to rent a bike and need to decide between MTB, road or gravel/'cross.  Any opinions?  Thanks!

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