Ponderosa Way

Built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930’s Depression, Ponderosa Way was a continuous fuelbreak that that extended 800 miles along the length of the Sierra Nevada Mountains from Bakersfield to Mt. Shasta. The purpose of this project was to create a defensible fire-line between lower elevation foothills and higher elevation National Forest. It’s said that during WWII the US Army planned to use the firebreak as an alternate route for tanks, were the Japanese to invade the West Coast. Some of the route now acts as dirt access roads and social trails, while others have been converted to residential streets or abandoned altogether. There are cyclists linking the rideable sections together as a tour. I’m not sure how much of the entire route still exists today, but the section in my area has become a popular gravel route linking together big climbs, descents, and old bridges over the American River in the Foothills above Auburn.

After college my first cabin in the mountains was on a Ponderosa Way so I already have a connection to the name. But it wasn’t until 2012 when I moved to a small town called Foresthill and started exploring the roads that drop into the American River canyons. It was there I stumbled upon another Ponderosa Way and heard about the old CCC project. Many of the roads off the Foresthill Divide accessed mining towns like Yankee Jim, Iowa Hill, and Michigan Bluff. I was surprised these roads were still maintained even though they seemed hardly used by cars. When i moved to Foresthill in 2012, i was riding my 10th frame and fork – a rattlecan pumpkin orange monstercross with 29×2.1’s seen below by the bridge. Ponderosa Way drops off the north side of the Divide losing 1,500ft of elevation in 3 miles. The old bridge at the bottom is one of the highlights and during the summer heat the river is a great place to cool off. The climb up the other side of the canyon is longer gaining about 1,800ft in 5 miles and is much hotter being on the sunnier aspect. My favorite way back home was up Yankee Jim’s, crossing another old bridge and passing waterfalls before topping out in town.

I made myself a new “gravel” (cross) frame that would fit the biggest tires at the time (700×40’s) and made my friend Isaac his take on a gravel bike. The photos below were taken by Wil Matthews in February of 2016 on Ponderosa Way. Isaac and I weren’t the best ambassadors for the scene since we were already avoiding things like disc brakes and tapered steerer carbon forks, and as you can see Isaac preferred downtube shifters.

Lots of development and changes since then with roads like these inspiring new designs. Sure, you can ride these roads on most any type of bike, but some are just going to be more comfortable and ride more confidently. I designed the new Meriwether Ponderosa with inspiration from all Ponderosa Way’s still out there. There are roads like this everywhere. I love bikes like this because they’re everything and anywhere bikes. With slicks you can cruise fast and comfy, or with knobby 2.2’s you can mix it up throwing in some singletrack. The dirtdrop, allrounder, monstercross, and gravel bike more or less do the same thing, it’s your intention more than the name of the genre, am I right? The Ponderosa is just the Meriwether way of getting there.

So really, what is it? It’s a direct descendant of the OGATB seen below, but with some changes.

The Ponderosa is a stock-sized US made steel dirtdrop that won’t take a year to build and will be cheaper than full custom. It’s built to use a wide range 1x gravel group, optimized for 700×50-56mm tires. You can use it with smaller tires, but you may just hit your pedals more. The Ponderosa isn’t just a gravel bike that fits big tires, it’s designed for them by increasing the bottom bracket drop to ensure the BB height doesn’t get too high. That means an increase in stability and that feel of being “in” the bike vs. on top of it, especially when loaded up with gear. The frame has a ton of bosses to carry stuff including seatstay water bottle bosses to use when you have a full framebag. It also comes with a portage handle to help lift the bike with a framebag (but you’re welcome to order it without). Available as a frameset or complete, you’ll be able to get a Columbus steel unicrown fork with your choice of attachment points, or a Wilde Wayfinder carbon fork to shave some weight. There will be a few build packages to choose from starting off with Shimano GRX 610 or 820 and a buffet of parts to complete the build. Below is the first prototype and there are a couple of others being tested as well. There’s no official release date but sometime later this summer. I wanted to get this basic info out so you can choose whether this sounds like something you’re interested in.

Ordering for the Ponderosa will begin November 1st. Check back on the SHOP page if you’re interested for geometry and more photos!