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© 2025 Quartknee Wake Family
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The Downieville Classic Race Day Bike
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Explore Downieville with us
2025 August - Downieville
Stay at Downieville with us
Indian Valley Campground
We actually got luck this year with a spot!
My husband sends me a screenshot of a story from a person he follows on instagram. This person is selling their camping spots & race entry for both days. I don't even hesitate and tell him "LET'S GO". We can figure out the rest later. So he does it and we got to spend the most amazing week just a short drive down the mountain from Downieville.
Indian Valley Campground was clean and the camp (Cash & Steve) hosts were so friendly. They even lent us their umbrella for the river! They take pride in hosting and they did it with a smile on their faces the whole time. It was awesome.
They showed us the paths down to different parts of the river that had great access for our kiddos. The first was right behind the spot we were camping in (spot 12). This river spot showcased a bit of a short but steep walk down to the water but when you got there is was a pool of water that was deep enough to swim in, but had shallow waters for the boys to wade in.
The second was right by the entrance to the campground. There is a green gate there that you walk around and it leads you right to a spot of land that has a beach of little pools of water that are very shallow for the littles to find lots of wild life in. This is the area they found small fish, crawdads, frogs, tadpoles, and amazing rocks! There was even a guy doing actual gold mining out of the river. Which was so interesting!
Check in was at 2:00 PM Check out was at Noon
Quiet time was from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM
There are bathrooms & water faucets arounds
But this is Dry camping!
Play at Downieville
The kids are calling this the best weekend ever! I think it has to do with the unlimited amount of time they spend in the river, the cool animals they chased through the land, and the quality bike time with dad!
We spent Thursday in the river as soon as we got to town. Kevin signed up for a run down the mtn. with Yuba Expeditions. The took him on the downhill route. He was gone for about 2 hours. So we just played in the river. Following that we spent the rest of the day at camp. This was also the perfect day to get our Downieville gear. We each got a shirt & stickers. Whoever designed the clothes did a great job, I wanted all of it.
Friday we spent the day just letting the boys play in the water and the twins got to build their new provelo bikes. They were stoked! Finally got them on then and couldn't get them off. Full suspension mountain bikes for the littles was a great choice for this location
Saturday was race day for Kevin. We got the boys up early and got Kevin dropped off about 15 minutes past town for the ride down the hill. We packed snacks and fruit for the full day in the river in Downieville. The boys loved it. This was also the day that the bike jump into the river happened . It started about 4:00 PM. After that the kiddos were drained we had hotdogs not he way to the van and every was beat by the time we made it back to camp.
Sunday was the downhill race. We drove up the hill about 10:30 for Kevins 12:30 race and that was too late. The ride up there takes about 1 hour. The mtn is steep! I think we will look into having him get dropped off up there earlier next year. Because we want to watch from the mtn. somewhere. I met up with a few other wives that reccomened a few viewing locations.The community in the mtb scene is the best. everyone is looking out for everyone. I love it!
Monday we stayed at our campground. Waylon and Kevin rode down the river for a bit. The kids all found a million animals in the water. There was a man mining for gold on the property. and we were in the priest place ever! Such a great day!
Eat at Downieville
I found amazing coffee and breakfast and ice cream and they were all at the same location. Sounds amazing right? It was, photos don't do it any justice. The cutest little corner restaurant offered all those goodies!
We ate the Mexican food but for San Deigns it was just not flavorful like it is at home.
The riverside hotdogs were a total win for the boys after a whole day floating and playing int he river. It came with a drink and chips too for $10.
The liquor store was the only place that sold gallons of water but the owner there was kind of rude. I would have purchased any of those items from any other store if it was available.
The food that they gave the riders looked amazing! They did a really great job feeling the riders. So grateful for that! I do wish they offered a purchase option for the family and friends of riders. Even if we have to buy it in advance. The would have been amazing! Plus the cafeteria was air conditioned.
Other than that we made all our meals at the campground. The boys loved cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the fire!
Race at Downieville
Race day...
You have to get your rider to the race start early and it is not close to the town. So make sure you account for that! We cut it close there the second day! Next year I will make sure to get him up there much earlier! As for the race, we couldn't see much because we didn't walk into the hills to watch. The boys wanted to stay near the water which I was okay with because it was about 95 degrees out. We did get to watch Kevin finish both races which was the best ever! The first race was Saturday , that was the XC. The second race was Sunday for the downhill. They give you a start time, which I recommend you check Saturday before leaving town & wifi because then you know your start time for Sunday. Kevin's time was 12:30. We dropped him off around 11:20 am. We then drove down the hill back to town, we got lucky with parking as someone was leaving. Then the boys and I roamed the town and got breakfast and such. It was awesome. After we finished it was about the time to see Kevin cross the line at the finish so we walked down there. Within 20 minutes he was there crossing with a smile on his face and a flat back tire. He said he tried to fix the flat about 4 miles before the end but the rim was broken, there was no way to fix it on the go, so he just sent it.
Downieville may be my new favorite race...
-Courtney
Festival
The festival was right in the middle Main Street in Downieville, CA. There were all types of vendors that filled the street. Our favorite was a lady that sold teas and such. They were so good. I hope she's there next year! The cycling booths were giving away goodies too! Muc-off gave the boys little goodie bags with their product & hats! Sierra Nevada was selling non-alcoholic drinks & had misters which we totally took advantage of during the hottest part of the day! So thankful for them. The race announcer even had a mister fan that he let the boys enjoy while we were waiting for Kevin to make it down the mountain. This place is amazing and the teams
Race Info
The Downieville Classic was awesome.
Location
Downieville, CA
Hot tips
- There is no cell service at the campsites which was awesome
- Hot weather, cool river
- Wear a bathing suit everywhere, you'll want to jump in all the water
- Bug spray is a must
- The ice cream shop is delish!