Palm Springs/Desert, Temecula…road or mountain?

[Applesauce]

My wife and I are flying in Palm Springs in about two weeks just to hang out for a bit and ride bikes. We haven’t gotten accommodation yet, or settled on road or mountain bikes…yeah, non-vacation life is busy. 🤪

I got to looking though, and Temecula Valley looks like is might be better for both road and mountain. Question is, what should we do? We’re mostly mountain bikers these days, but that’s because the road riding in our area sucks and the mountain biking doesn’t. We love riding road bikes where it’s good. We’re only taking one bike each, either road or mountain. (We don’t own gravel bikes. We’re excellent mountain bikers, not concerned at all with trail difficulty etc.) I would really appreciate some local knowledge or experience!

[ceya]

I would say mountain but bring another set of tires aka smooth road type to change over to ride on the road.


Last time out there they just making the airport bigger in 2001

[mhespenheide]

I have not lived in the area since 2008. But throughout the time I was there, I would not have said that Palm Desert / Palm Springs were standouts for either road biking or mountain biking. You have options for hiking in the Indian Canyons, and at the top of the tram. There used to be one great mountain bike ride that was the descent from Pinyon down into Palm Springs. But, on the whole, the area was largely set up for cars and golf courses and not for any kind of endurance athletics.

I don't really know about Temecula, but a quick look at google maps says there are way more options for riding over on that side. But I don't know what the attitude of the locals is towards road cyclists.

[deluz]

If you like hills, check out La Cresta and DeLuz west of Temecula.
Amazing scenery and some super steep hills.
Los Gatos Rd is infamously the steepest road in San Diego county.
There is also a fire road starting in La Cresta finishing on Ortega Hwy that is broken asphalt you could ride either road or mountain bikes on.
Temecula is pretty flat if that is what you prefer.

[jimcav]

if you are coming form the Canadian rockies?

it's more like high desert terrain. Look for youtube videos for Vail Lake and Greer Ranch. Temecula is way more built up than it used to be, and I'm not familiar with if they improved road shoulders/bike lanes and the population swelled. There used to be deserted roads for miles between Temecula and Idyllwild, and the last time I went a few years ago (Idyllwild), it was like a monopoly board of back to back housing and strip malls--but I failed to think about road riding infrastructure b/c I'd taken a complete break from it then.

There are also nice forested MTB trails up at Idyllwild CA and just south of there at Hurkey Creek Park. These are easy day trips from Palm Springs. It's been over 20-years since I was in Palm Springs, so I'm of no use on road riding conditions there. I think there is a point to point IMBA epic ride in Palm Springs, but for some reason have the impression it is more something to enjoy the suffering/completion more than being an actually awesome ride.

Check local area casinos in case a rock act you didn't even know was still touring is performing!