As I was watching the Delta ad on my flight to California, I had to admit this was perfectly targeted for me. The theme of the ad was "Good things come to those that go" and I was definitely chasing the "good things" on my trip to Downieville.
This trip was organized by a fellow YouTuber, B1ker, or Robert as I know him. I've been a fan of his channel for over a year now and have been planning this trip since it was announced in March. The plan was to book some campgrounds near Downieville, CA and book two shuttles to ride the Downieville Classic mountain bike trail. This trail is 16 miles long with a total vertical descent of 4,000 feet. For the day we would descend 8,000 feet over 32 miles for one incredibly epic day.
This would be the second bike trip I've taken since I started mountain biking. The other trip was to St. George, Utah which provided a very different experience to this one. The St. George trip was four days of slow technical desert riding while staying in a four star condo with catered meals. On this trip I would be riding in the high alpine on some of the most technically demanding trails I've ever ridden before while sleeping under the stars.
The B1ker camping trip for me was all about getting to meet and ride with Robert and his YouTube subscribers. We pretty much took over the campsite outside Downieville. I think I traveled the furthest as most people were from California but there were YouTubers from Canada and Colorado on the trip.
My plan was to arrive Friday afternoon and drive from San Fransisco to Downieville. What I didn't account for was the California traffic on a Friday afternoon. By the time I landed and rented a car, Google was telling me my 3.5 hour drive to Downieville would actually be closer to 5 hours! That would put me at the campsite around 9:30pm and I still needed to get dinner and some essential camping supplies (beer and snacks).
Thankfully Google Maps downloaded my route and once I left the Bay area traffic was fast. I was still not going to make it to the campsite before dark. I checked a bag on the trip so I brought a tent, sleeping bag and sleeping mat in my bag. I'm not an avid camper so I wasn't excited about the idea of pitching a tent in the dark.
As I started to approach the mountains, the sun was fading fast. The drive though the mountains in the dark was probably a good practice run for the mountain biking. This drive required full attention as the road wound through the mountain and provided very little line of sight around the corners.
As I rolled into the campsite I could hear them before I saw them. The party was in full force and I was the last to arrive. Robert was kind enough to have setup a tent for me so I was saved from having to pitch my tent in the dark. After only interacting with Robert online for the past year, it was great to finally meet him in person.
Mountain bikers tend to be friendly people. We are all looking to have a good time and hang out with people that enjoy the sport. I'm no social butterfly but it was really easy to talk to the other campers and build some rep-ore.
After traveling for 12 hours I was surprisingly unable to sleep that first night. The sky was clear, the moon was bright and the anticipation for riding a famous trail was high. I might have gotten five hours of sleep that night. We had to get up early for our shuttle and I needed to pickup my rental bike.
The town of Downieville is a relatively small quiet mountain town with a main street that reminds you of Disneyland. Very few shops are open this early in the morning and most of the people are on bikes. The way shuttles in the morning work is once everyone for your shuttle has arrived, they take you away. Our 9am shuttle left closer to 8:30 and drove us 45 minutes up to the trail head.
I had the pleasure of sitting next to James from the MTB Savant YouTube channel on both of my shuttle rides. The shuttle ride up was filled with anticipation and light banter. The ride up is fairly long so it's a good opportunity to meet your fellow riders.
Once at the top the typical post shuttle activities occur. People are gearing up and getting their action cameras ready. Some are starting their vlogs, getting the video intros recorded. Others have already started their ride down the trail. The fast guys want to get going before they get stuck behind some slower riders. I typically don't do group rides so the pace is something I typically never have to worry about.
I won't get into too much detail here about the different trails we rode here. My previous Downieville post has a detailed description of the trails. The most popular question asked to me by the other riders was how I liked the trail. By far it was the best trail I've ever ridden. The trail had just about everything I enjoy about a trail. Speed, tech and views.
Since this post has gotten a tad bit long, I'm going to end here and publish part 1 of my Downieville trip. I'll follow up with part 2 in a couple weeks.
Link to Shuttle #1 Ride: https://youtu.be/La6GFDUcIk4
Link To Delta Ad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD2b8YbSUOI
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