I went to Downieville and didn't ride any of the "other" trails besides the classic Butcher Ranch to 3rd Divide route. In my defense all of the "other" trails like Big Boulder and Pauley Creek were all covered in snow and the main trail is just so freaking fun.This trip all began with my neighbor Matt Bettino, whose friend Kurt from highschool works for Rocky Mountain bikes. Kurt goes up to Downieville every June to demo some new bikes and ride the insanely fun downhill run that resides in this part of the Sierras. I tagged along with his crew last year and this year I brought a few of my buddies with me: BLC, Colin, and Johnson. We charged up there in Johnson's dope Subaru Outback XT and we somehow loaded 4 bikes, all our camping gear, all our bike gear, and 4 stinky dudes comfortably for the 550 mile drive up to Downieville.
Leaving OC at 4:30 on a Thursday equals getting trapped in stupid traffic in LA. I hate LA! After a nice, long, straight drive up the 5, we finally arrived in Downieville at 3 AM, set up a tent in about 2 minutes in the dark and passed the F out. Woke up at 7 AM to pounding rain, which wouldn't have been a problem if we didn't leave our bags laying outside and the Skybox wide open during the night. 
It was supposed to be clear and 85 degrees but you never know what you are gonna get in the Sierras. Which is beautiful by the way: pine trees everywhere on endless mountains, a huge flowing river, and still lakes that look like mirrors when the afternoon winds die down. 
Lets not forget the mountain biking. 15 miles of flowing, tree covered, bermy, rocky, rolly perfection. And we were booking, I think Johnson hit mach 1 while flying down the buffest single track on earth, the 3rd divide trail. The trails were still pretty wet from all the stream crossing, snow melt, and light rains from Friday. Just epic, and the whole crew loved it. We got 4 sick runs in with no crashes,
charged a nice hike to upper Sardine Lake, we got to watch the US lose to Ghana at the only bar in town full of salty locals, and we attended a very entertaining mountain biker raffle give away stocked with strong beers and crazy characters having beer chugging and tire pumping till it pops competitions. We saw a dude with a chin beard that was about a foot long. We also ate 2.5 fire cooked bratwursts a piece that wreaked havoc in our tent later that night. Like I said, 4 stinky dudes.Another quick weekend come and gone but a lot of fun was had. Can't wait to go again next year. Oh yeah, and Flat Stanley was there too...
