Temecula California and the Endurance Mountain Bike Race
Temecula is located in southeastern California. This moderately-sized city is home to the 12 and 6 hour Mountain Bike Race, which was held in June, 2012. The race is held at the Vail Lake Resort, a scenic mountain lake area known for its beauty and fun activities.
The Temecula Valley was originally settled by a Spanish mission founded in the late 1700’s. In the mid-1800’s, a stage coach line between St. Louis, Missouri and San Francisco, California stopped in Temecula. Temecula was also home to the second post office in California, the first being in San Francisco. The Vail family started a ranch in the Temecula Valley in the early 1900’s.
The Vail family built a dam in 1948 on the Temecula Creek, and the lake behind the dam became the center of activity in the Temecula Valley. The area also houses many vineyards and is known for its wine growing.
Freestyle motocross (FMX) has taken us residence in the Temecula Valley. It’s warm, desert climate and sunshine make the ideal setting for the sport, and many of the big names in FMX have taken up residence in and around the valley.
Some of the notables in the area include Robbie Maddison, Andrè Villa, Mat Rebeaud, Levi Sherwood, Taka Higashino, Blake Williams, Rob Adelberg, Nate Adams, Jeremy Stenberg, and Cameron Sinclair. Also, many of the manufacturers of equipment and landing ramps have moved into the area.
Nate Adams, winner of the Red Bull X-Fighters Championship said this about the Temecula Valley, “If you’re not here, you want to be here! If you want to be in the mix all of the time then you’ve got to live here.”
Besides the FMX community, ultimate sports are popular with the community. Temecula offers a skate park with a a 60-foot diameter bowl and 10-foot apron. There are competitions for inline skating and ultimate skateboarding. There are 97 miles of bike trails to ride in and around the Temecula Valley. Biking through the wine vineyards is a particularly unique and enjoyable ride.
Temecula also is home to the Balloon and Wine Festival event where hot air balloons fill the skies over the vineyards. The event dates back to the 1980’s when there were only a half-dozen wineries in the valley. Today, thousands gather to attend the event as the hot air balloons sail up to 1,500 feet in the air over the beautiful wine valley.
Temecula is well-suited for extreme sports enthusiasts. It is not a large city, but it has easy access to large population centers nearby. The weather is warm and dry. The area has drawn many big name sports participants. It is a lovely corner of the country which is highly into sports.
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