Review Date
October 20, 2007

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 3 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Reviewed by: surfnskian ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
Mammoth is, for lack of a better word, fun. I've only been there once, but its way better than what I usually ride. Decent cross country, great downhill, and a great escape for those tired of LA and San Diego. Also, Mammoth's far less crowded during the summer than in the winter. There's only two downsides: 1) The altitude and 2) the turns. The turns are near always too soft.
Some recommendations:
1) Wear armor. If you're not so talented (or just fall a lot). I'd suggest armor. I bought some knee pads before I went and I'm glad I had em.
2) Bring a bandana and/or sweatshirt. Though it's summer, it occasionally gets windy at the top. When I was there on August 19, it was 50 degrees with 40mph wind at the summit. My lips were windburnt, and stung for a couple of days.

Recommended Route:
Take the standard route to Mammoth. 395 to 203 to Minaret Road.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Don't know much else up near mammoth. Hopefully I'll be there next summer. My usual rides are in San Diego

Review Date
September 20, 2007

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 2 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 0 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Reviewed by: nagatahawk ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
I wanted to get out of town during the week before labor day.
I have recently lost contact with all my xc riding buddies. They have gone to golf, paint ball etc. and my knees were bothering me. so I went up to Mammoth for 3 1/2 days to go down. I didn't like the first day. it was sandy, pumice and my body was still not acclimated. Also my tires ballooned up too high. second day it rained. i was skidding and bouncing around and tense. The second day it rained, I lowerd my seat, tire and fork pressure. The wet trails were so much fun. and I even learned to navigate the sandy rutted bouldered 180 dropp off into sand pit turns. I stay on the green trails and had a blast. My lungs acclimated by the second day and I rode a lot more relaxed. Also during the week I was the only one on the trails, it was so much fun. and after going downtown, I took the shuttle back to the gondola lift and started all over again.

Next time I will have 6" bike, I plan to go back next spring. with my new bike and of course some body armor.

Recommended Route:
for beginners start by going to the halfway station and go right bakc to the lodge then take downtown. it was fast and fun.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
I a noob here. but will be back with a better bike and some body armor.

Review Date
November 9, 2006

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 2 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 4 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Reviewed by: aword4you ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
Mammoth is a good place to ride, especially if you're looking for something different and don't want to climb a lot. Hubby and I went for Labor Day and had a blast, will definitely return next year. The pumice is really deep in a lot of areas, but it just makes the riding that much more interesting! Fun trails, amazing scenery, and you can get a lot of miles in, with a lot of descending, all in one day.

I wore a full face and arm/leg protection when doing the black diamonds, but it probably isn't necessary. I liked having the protection, and since I wasn't climbing it wasn't a hinderance. I have a 5" travel bike. It was sufficient on Skid Marks, Flow (not the drop, obviously), Shotgun (didn't do the log ride), and more. More travel wouldn't have been bad, but I did just fine with my bike.

*aerobic difficuly is a 2 because of elevation - I live at 1000 ft and the Main Lodge is around 9000ft.

Recommended Route:
Ride everything you can possibly fit in. If you're not sure where to start, ride Downtown. If that's way too easy take the gondola up to Off the Top and take that down all the way back to the bike park. If that was too easy, ride Skid Marks and do the black diamonds. Loved Off the Top to Beach Cruiser, Skid Marks to Seven Bridges, Flow and Shotgun were fun also. Downtown is nice and easy, some fun stuff to play on and can carry speed.

Review Date
September 25, 2006

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 5 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a year

Reviewed by: sjdiesel ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
First off, most of the good stuff is not recomended riding for your average "weekend warrior" who is looking to "get his girlfriend into the sport." Those types (if you really must go) should follow the color coding on the pretty little map and stay the hell off anything sounding fast, i.e. "bullet," "velocity," "shotgun," etc...On the other hand, if you find yourself craving more than your local trails can offer and don't mind paying for a couple of days of real riding...go to Mammoth and challeng yourself, you won't be disappointed. Yes the Kamikaze is fun and fast and everyone should try it but the real jewls lie on the other side of the mountain. Flow to Shotgun is an excellent place to start and if your feeling confident after that dont't be afraid to hit the stars of the mountain, Bullet and Velocity. For the record I do not consider myself a "downhiller" (I don't even own a shingards) which did make all the downhill gear and equipment I saw at the bottom of the mountain a little bit intimidating. Don't be fooled, if you have been on a bike for a while and feel you posses the adquet bike handling skills (drops, hops, etc...) you will be good to go. One piece of equipment that really is a must, however, is full suspension and the more the better. My ML8 seemed perfect but I did find myself craving something a little bigger. My girlfriend (don't laugh, she cleared 95% of Bullet) rode a mid suspension bike and was perfectly happy both days. So go to Mammoth and see for yourself what a good gravity park has to offer.

Recommended Route:
Start at the top and then go down.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
If you have some time to spend...Downieville/Tahoe, and Moab is only eight short hours of driving away...don't get me started on Porcupine.

Review Date
September 10, 2006

Overall Rating
 1 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 1 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a week

Reviewed by: robertmammoth ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
I must kindly disagree with most of the reviews here. I LIVE in Mammoth, I have a season pass, I have worked for many years in Bike Shops, I have led MANY group rides, and generally been a part of teh cycing community for years. Please believe me when I tell you that Mammoth is NOT mounting biking paridise. In fact most of the trails are on the awful end of the spectrum. I am a cross country ride most of the time. The trails are generally flat, sandy and in a word - BORING. If you are a technical cross country rider, you WILL be bored to tears. If you are a DH nutball, sure you can have fun, but the rest of us will generally feel cheated.

One way to gauge how sharp a corner on any trail is, is to look at how deep the potholes are entering the corner. As disk brakes become the norm, and as people who don't know how to brake properly have become the norm, the trails suffer here. The sand (which is ALL there is here) gets divoted in the corners, making for miserable trail conditions. The DH stuff is OK, but gets real sandy and loose. All the moderate freeride trails are terrible for cross country bikes.

Folks, this is a beginner (XC) or a DH-only area. I have ridden exensivly in FLagstaff, Sedona, Utah, Phoenix, Tuscon, SoCal, Norcal and Boulder. The biggest problem with Mammoth is ITS ALL SAND! There are so very few technical rocky balancey dicey sections that the trails all seem the same and get boring real quick. If you come here, consider yourself informed.

Recommended Route:
For XC rider, go up Uptown to Beachcruiser. Climb Beachcruiser, do the loop back to the main lodge. From the main lodge hit Downtown breifly and turn right on Paper route. Go accross the mountain to Juniper. Turn left onto juniper and ride down to eagle lodge. from eagle go down meridian, left on mineret and back to the Village, where you started.
Thats about the best XC route. Don't bother buying a pass, no one checks you is you are pedaling on the XC trails.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Rock Creek is the only good trail in the Owens Valley.