Amy Jurries

A Californian recently transplanted to the northeast of England, reflects on her time exploring the endless gravel trails of her home state. 

California. The land of sun, surf and mountains. And thousands of miles of gravel. Over 57 percent of California’s 33 million acres of forest are controlled by the federal government - this means copious amounts of publicly accessible forest service roads ripe for exploration on a gravel bike. 

California might be the original home of mountain biking and a magnet for road cyclists, but more recently it has evolved into a gravel biking playground. In the past few years, the gravel bike itself has evolved from an obscure offering to the flagship bike for many American brands—the Specialized Diverge now outsells the Tarmac. You could even argue that the gravel bikes of today, with their wide tyre clearance, combo of higher trail fork and bottom brackets, and longer wheelbases are beginning to look like the original clunker bikes with their balloon tyres of the Larkspur Cayonites in the 70s, albeit with better and lighter components. 

The irony now is that in Marin County, the birthplace of mountain biking, the amount of singletrack legally open to cyclists is relatively slim, while the forest road riding opportunities are endless. This is perfect gravel bike country. These days you are more inclined to see people #underbiking up Old Railroad Grade on a skinny-tyred road bike than you are on a full suspension mountain bike. 

For over 10 years, I lived in Marin’s Mill Valley, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. This is the home of the legendary Velo Club Tamalpais, whose members included Gary Fisher, Marc Vendetti, Charlie Kelly, and Otis Guy. Mount Tamalpais State Park (“Tam” or “The Mountain” as it is known to locals) was my backyard playground. I could roll out of my front door on my Diamondback Haanjo with 40mm Schwalbe G-Ones and almost immediately have access to mile after mile of redwood forests, open grasslands, oak woodlands and cliff-lined ocean views. There are several hundred miles of trails crisscrossing the state park and adjacent areas such as the Marin Municipal Water District. The ride options are endless. 

The entire state, not just the Bay Area, is primed for gravel riding. When Santa Cruz launched its first gravel bike, the company didn’t hold a big international press event, but instead invited everyone to their own backyard just south of San Francisco to ride some of the best gravel in the state. We climbed up along the spine of the Santa Cruz mountains and their chunky gravel roads and explored the redwoods of Henry Cowell Park before dropping down to the coast for fish tacos and micheladas - a refreshing post-ride drink of spicy tomato juice, lime and beer. Head further east and you’ll hit the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which runs the length of California with its endless network of forest roads. This is the setting for Grinduro California, first held in Quincy near Lake Tahoe back in 2014, with the gravel party set to take off again further north near Mount Shasta this September.  

So, if you are looking for a place in the US to get your gravel on, head to California. As us locals like to say, “West Coast, Best Coast.”