Best mountain biking near Palm Springs | Palm Canyon Epic XC Ride

This ride had been on the hit list for a while since Josh (@jstootell) told me about it. I'm glad I've finally been able to tackle it with him this year. We had to wait for a good time when the weather wasn't scorching hot because it's in the desert after all. It's normally a shuttle ride that takes about 3 hours to complete, but we climbed it because why not. The whole loop took us just over 6 hours for 74 km and 2341 m of climbing. As the sun rose higher on our way up, we were sweating profusely, but at altitude, the temperature also got cooler which was just a perfect balance. All the single track on the way down was absolutely amazing.
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Palm Springs, CA, USA
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I post long uncut pov videos at 60 fps
#xcmtb #lasucksforcycling #xc

[@jyvestheone]

Perfect weather, perfect trail. More than a year and a half we have seen dry ground here in Belgium. Tanks to share😀

[@bengoyette]

Oh wow, we should trade. You guys send us mud, we send you dry desert dirt 🙃

[@JoshuaTootell]

I'll keep the desert @@bengoyette 🤪

[@torito113]

About to do this tomorrow! Thanks for the video!

[@bengoyette]

How was it? It's the best time of the year to ride it. I hope it was good!

[@wogi1987]

awesome video, Thanks. Same wet weather in germany like in Belgium

[@bengoyette]

Keep on keeping on, summer is almost here

[@reginaldoluiz8995]

Top !!! Circuito muito bom !!! Good 👽✌👊🦾

[@singletrackmania1]

awesome ride!

[@GippaTV1]

Hey Dude - nice video - i see around 1.08 you were looking for water - then the video states Trail Alt Route Black? is that a different route to the normal EPC? I am riding it next week - hope we dont get lost !

[@bengoyette]

It is a slight deviation from the normal route, but it merges back in shortly before the wash. Can't really get lost, it's well marked. The alt route drops down to the river, then on the other side there's a more technical downhill which is fun. The normal route is easier.

[@NoBrakes23]

I was watching the first part of this wondering how I didn't recognize any sections of it. (I rode Pinyon to Buena Vista and bailed out down Dunn road in March 2021.) I checked Strava, and saw plenty of segments that matched my ride. Thankfully @27:13 Josh pointed out that you guys were doing a gnarly alt route. 😮

[@kastilius1]

First 3 mins I think you going with you girlfriend 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 but .....😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@JoshuaTootell]

Ben and I are close, but not THAT close 🤣

[@bengoyette]

Hahahaha 😆

[@RadioReprised]

Did this same route today....so amazing and way steeper than the camera captures in spots! Came out to 28 miles exactly, 8am to 12. Drank 40 oz of water and two Oatmeal cookies!

[@bengoyette]

Well done 👍

[@ToddNZMTB]

I'm just wondering how much water you carried and how you managed it, 6 hours in a desert...

[@JoshuaTootell]

I can't remember how much Ben carried (a lot). I carried one bottle and a one liter pack, and a water filter. Usually there are a couple tiny streams you can filter out of but this time only one with stagnant water, and that's all I had 🤦‍♀️

[@ToddNZMTB]

@@JoshuaTootell I'm amazed you don't carry more water. I went through 3 litres of water and a 600ml of orange juice the other day on a 5 hour ride [raining and humid, maybe that's why] filtering wild water sounds a bit dodgy!

[@bengoyette]

I had a 3L pack and a 750ml bottle. I’d say I had 500ml left at the end. So about 500ml per hour. That’s reasonable in normal weather

[@ToddNZMTB]

@@bengoyette ok I see! Maybe I need a more efficient drinking technique ha ha

[@mtb246]

Love how your ride stats are shown in the vid. What are you using to show get the stats?

[@bengoyette]

Thanks. I use the software Garmin VIRB Edit to add the stats overlay on the right.

[@tigrank]

@@bengoyette where does the data for the overlay come from?

[@OVER-bENGINEERED]

It sounds like a Wahoo bike computer recording all of the ride telemetry from sensors.

[@jesusrodrigues2471]

Is the trail relatively easy to navigate? Going on Saturday, first time for my group.

[@bengoyette]

It's a bit difficult at times. A gps map helps a lot. How was it? We had a lot a rain so the creek must have been flowing.

[@jesusrodrigues2471]

@@bengoyette it was pretty easy actually since we were worried about finding the right route home we studied maps and watched tons of videos. Only wrong turn we made was at the very end after descending from the tractor we ended up going an extra few miles only to end up right back at the tractor fire road. Creek was definitely flowing, we tried bracing against our bikes to walk access boulders but as soon as I took some pressure off my bike the current took my balance and I fell in. Epic day though.

[@bikevlogadventure3263]

Nice😊😊😊

[@davidknell8831]

Stay safe 🤦‍♂️ god

[@MrTloster]

A tough course: quite long in itself and the altitude gain is impressive!

[@bengoyette]

And we don’t really recover on the descent. It’s physical

[@SimDongMin-k7c]

I love this video

[@singletrackmania1]

What's the BIG GOAL this year?

[@bengoyette]

Just Fontana and Rim Nordic for me this year. Maybe the Grizzly 100 as a big finale.

[@jeffmcculloch9113]

Been mostly seeing your xc race vids. What bike you on for this epic outings? Thanks in advance

[@JoshuaTootell]

Scott Spark

[@bengoyette]

Yep, like Josh said, it's the Scott Spark RC 900 SL