The entire Backbone Trail in one day by mountain bike

67.9 miles  –  11,352 vertical feet climb  –  12 hours 37 minutes

Stuff used on this trip:

• 2003 Kona Dawg Delux
• GoPro HD
• Camelbak 30
• Clif Protein Bar

An epic ride, the Backbone trail runs from Pt. Mugu right through the entire Santa Monica mountains with spectacular views of the ocean on one side and the valley on the other to the Pacific Palisades. It’s mostly single track and accessible to mountain bikes. Being in the backyard of Los Angeles, it’s surprising how few people are back there. Wildlife is abundant and you’ll often surprise a coyote or a deer or maybe even a bobcat as you come around a corner.

We started at Sycamore cove at 6am. There’s plenty of parking on PCH, or you can park by the Point Mugu State Park campgrounds for $5. The ride started with a pleasant 6 mile warm-up on a flat dirt road, but then soon turned into a fairly tough singletrack continuous 3,100 vertical-feet climb to the highest point in the Santa Monica mountains.

We finally arrived back in civilization just as the sun was setting. We had taken it pretty easy and look forward to next time when we’ll push harder for setting a good time. I think sub-10 hours is very doable. We celebrated that evening at Nobu in Malibu.

Overall recommended expertise level (rookie/intermediate/expert): Expert

Overall experience: