MAMMOTH TUFF

Having been in California seventeen years and being a cyclist and skier, you’d think I’d have made it to Mammoth by now. While it’s always been out there on my radar, Mammoth has been elusive. Hanging slightly out of range for a two-day weekend adventure but when time permitted, passed up in favor of out of state adventures. Time to change all that. I’ve been on the Tuff mailing list since the event had its false start in 2020 and again in 2021 thanks to Covid. When it finally got off the ground in 2022 everyone that hit it wouldn’t shut up. Just like Sam’s Cobbler, this event gets consistent praise for the quality, quantity, and agony it dishes out. So, when Dave Malwitz from Gravelstoke said he was assembling a squad to convene at a Chateau resembling something out of a Roger Moore James Bond movie I jumped on. It was clear from the get-go that this would be more of a well-rounded Mammoth experience, vs. your standard show up, race, and eject out. Perfect!... Like I said, it's a bit of effort to get there. The plan was to leave early Thursday morning, arriving in time for a nice afternoon shakeout. Hit two different pre-rides Friday and then hit the main event Saturday, with intentions of keeping things #partypace.
GETTING THERE AND ACCLIMATING
Dave and I set out early Thursday from SD, swooped Danny in OC, and pushed on to put the smoke of the San Gabriel fires behind us. Once we cleared Palmdale the drive got interesting. Not that I had any reason to doubt the eastern Sierras stature, but I always like it when things surpass expectations. This was immense, proper… jagged mountains stretching well into the alpine as far as you could see and sweeping ice age formed glacial valleys below it an amazing array of geological color. On Danny’s recommendation we stopped for jerky provisions at Mahogany Meats and then rolled into our palatial accommodations (thanks Danny again). All told, five more like-minded curly bar dirt bags were inbound but for now it was the three of us, and there was still lots of daylight to explore the local singletrack. We hit the road up to the Village and then jumped on Uptown and rode sinuous single track through the lodgepole pines and dirt… that had genuine organic material in it-always a treat for us San Diegans. Being a sea-level San Diegan, I knew riding at 8000 feet was going to hit me in the face. It did. I felt dizzy and scrambled the first three quarters of the climb. Once we passed “the Mill” base area my brain and body functions seemed to come back online. We topped out at the Main Lodge area, snapped some photos with the iconic Mammoth statue and then jumped on “Downtown”. The rest of that ride was full gas on flowy sweeping singletrack meant to be under-biked on a drop bar bike. All in all, it was a great 15-mile sampling of the higher elevation diet that was in store. Dinner followed at Mammoth Brewing where the rest of our party arrived; fellow Gravelstokers: Jeff (yep that made two of us now) and Ethan, and the Thank Gravel It’s Friday crew: Jace, Dom, and Anton. Also present were Zach and Vic from Gravel Bike California and many other familiar faces up for the festivities.
DOUBLE PRE-RIDES
The next morning was a double pre-ride. Starting with GBC’s second helping of single track. Again, we climbed Minaret Road from our condo, but this time stayed off the single track so as to expedite the climb to the top of Minaret Vista. After snapping photos, we dropped Mountain View Trail, my favorite trail segment of the whole trip. It’s very rare when you can find a downhill singletrack that you can ride full gas on a gravel bike that doesn’t have you thinking in the back of your mind, “this would be even better on a mountain bike”. This trail was underbiking at its very best. Big thanks to Zach and Vic for such a good ride and company. We finished our lap on the lower half of Downtown to complete the ride. We then hightailed it back to the condo to ditch a layer and headed straight back out to our second and “official” pre-ride, hosted by our roommates from Thank Gravel it’s Friday. Dom, Jace, and Anton’s ride was a mini version that mirrored the beginning and end of what we would ride on the main event. Attendance was solid and a testament to what this club has built on its two fronts in OC and Boulder, CO. I would guestimate we rolled about 60-80 riders deep. We rode Sawmill Cut off, a dirt road down to the highway and then climbed back up Sawmill Road where I got my first taste of Mammoth sand. I had been warned and I knew there would be a lot more in store tomorrow, with most of the course happening at lower/dryer elevations.
All told between the two pre-rides and rolling to/from the condo, we clocked about 40 miles and 3800 feet of climbing, a bit beyond your standard “shakeout”, which forced a decision on me. I had reg’d for the “Tuffer” 70 mile helping. Given the volume going into race day, the impact of elevation, and the vibe of this being more of a long weekend experience than a race, I opted to downgrade to the short course to roll with friends and make it a more social and again #partypace experience vs rolling solo on the 70. Upon declaring this at packet pickup I received some justified light-hearted heckling from Joey at TBG. We spent the rest of the day at the expo hanging out and shooting the shit with friends. Gravelstoke had a merch table which among other things had some sweet limited run Topo Designs top tube bags for sale. Dave and Christine Turner were next door and it was great to check out some of their new 3D printed ti parts and frame updates. We also took in the Mammoth Buff – a one mile, beer run consisting of 3 laps, each commencing with the disappearing of a Coors Light. Zach from GBC looked to be in top form going into the race, but to our disappointment did not deliver a top performance.

RACE DAY
Saturday morning came and the 5 of us (Dave, Danny, Jeff, Ethan, and I) rolled up to the village to kick off the race. Temps were cool, but thanks to the lack of humidity and no wind I was quite comfortable in my GS gravel tee and Ornot bibs. No teeth were gritted on our warmup climb. We jumped into the shoot with Vic, Zach and his wife, Barb who was doing her first gravel event. Well, #partypace lasted for about 3 miles up the first climb before we all broke up. Danny and Vic launched without me even noticing. Dave and I stuck mostly together. Ethan and Jeff rode their own ride as did Zach and his wife. Was it the group ride I had in my mind when I downgraded, no, but it rarely is when you are in a race setting. Regardless of this I have no regrets taking it a bit easier. The short course had plenty to offer. After the climb up Mammoth Scenic loop we dropped dusty fire road and double track of Dry Creek Rd Spur. Intermittent light through the trees, the dusty haze, coupled with lines that would vanish into sand pits, and hand injury had me taking it easy. We get sand in SD but not this volume and certainly not on again off for long enough to switch lines only to realize you were better off on the other side of the trail. It’s worth noting that there was very little marking on the course at all. Despite having the route on my GPS, I missed two turns and both times had to chase after Dave, who seemed to be getting better course directions from his Wahoo. Be sure you have the route on your device, and maybe zoom in a click or two and kick your backlight up a few notches so you can read it in the trees. We jumped out onto the 395 briefly where I was able to make up some time with Dave before jumped back into the dirt, er… sand and decaying potholed asphalt and sand section of Lookout Mountain Speedway. This was a checkerboard of firm and soft. Despite the sand filled pothole land mines, it was a lot easier to see and trust your line choice through this second dirt section. Not sure if the sun was just higher in the trees, less shade, or the race had broken up enough that we weren’t in a constant haze of dust. We popped out for what was supposed to be a very brief moment on Owens River Road before ducking back into the woods. It was quite picturesque as the tree coverage gave way to a beautiful outstretched glacial valley. I was so enamored with the view that I rode a quarter mile before realizing I’d blown my third turn that took us back into a wooded single track before dumping back out onto Owens. Once again, Dave made it, and I had to play catch up. In hindsight I shouldn’t have been too excited to get onto Owens the first time. What came next was 8 miles on lumpy, not quite full washboard gravel, in full exposed sunlight. Dave and I worked together with a few other riders exchanging pulls in the hot dry sun. Eventually Owens turned south, and the views got more interesting. We finally climbed up to our one and only aid station at around mile 32, saw Vic pulling out right as we entered and fueled up. Now solidly 3/4ths of the way through the ride we had the remaining ride on Owens to the freeway to get past the airport followed by a return to the Sawmill climb we’d experienced yesterday. Dave and I rode together until the climb and then I put on my go to playlist and sunk my teeth into the climb. Not sure if it was the time of day, the volume of traffic that had already been through by then or just my amazing taste in music, but the climb went smoothly and quickly to the baseball field as did the remaining road climb. I felt great and made up a few spots only to be held up for what seemed like an eternity at the last traffic light outside the venue. I crossed the line with gas in the tank, but hey, the ride was done, and I also wasn’t wrecked, which would not have been the case on the 70. We hung out for the rest of the afternoon and cheered the rest of our friends back in and then grabbed a group lunch at Shelter Distilling with the GBC crew. Afterwards we hit an undisclosed location for a warm soak and that’s all I’m going to say about that. We finished our evening out on the patio of Distant Brewing trading stories from the day's adventure with the TGIF crew, all of which had done the 70. It had been a solid day in good company.

WINDING DOWN
Sunday morning was windy, and it dashed any talk there’d been of an early ride. We rolled up to the podium and raffle “closing ceremonies” and cheered on the accomplishments of our community friends on the podium and those that plundered the raffle. Huge shout out to Amanda and Dave for putting this event together. Now in its third consecutive year, Mammoth is scenically the biggest gravel event I have done in California and certainly the highest elevation. Incidentally the name Tuff isn’t what you think it is:
Tuff (tŭf) is a general term for all consolidated pyroclastic, volcanic rocks.
The name, Mammoth TUFF, is a nod to the Long Valley Caldera and the volcanic stone that defines ‘gravel’ in the area. The caldera was formed about 760,000 years ago in a volcanic eruption from which the magma still underlies it, heating underground water and fueling hot springs the event will ride by. The short course will circle the famous caldera. The medium and long courses travel through the Volcanic Tableland formed by the Long Valley Caldera. Prepare to be transported back in time.
But if we are talking about “tough”, well my bike and wheels performed flawlessly. I was on a fresh chain, cassette, and pedals and I don’t think this bike has rolled smoother or quieter. The GXX set on this bike are now almost two years old and are running as strong as ever. For tires I ran 47mm Tracer Pros at 28 PSI out back and 27 in front. Given the volume of sand I personally would NOT recommend anything narrower, though most got by just fine with less width. I will say that it would have been fun to play with some slightly lower pressures in the sand though. Beyond that, the only thing I would change about my setup is zooming and brightening my Garmin screen to keep me on course. I loved the course and the 70 is a must next time and get a fuller day’s helping. Even more than that though, I am hoping for an opportunity to come back to Mammoth before the Tuff to explore more of the trails and terrain that weren’t on the race menu that Gravelstoke, Thank Gravel It’s Friday, and Gravel Bike California served up going into it.
