This post includes 2026 dates for Twilight Cycling (aka Twilight Rides). Some history of this popular event is also included below, as well as tips on what to bring, parking, children participating, and more.
When are the Twilight Cycling dates?
Dates and times listed below remained current as of March 17, 2025. Kindly note, as always, that dates and times are subject to change. Wondering about the possibility of a sudden cancellation due to inclement weather or other circumstances? Contact the raceway: https://weathertechraceway.com/pages/contacts
2026 dates:
(5:30 p.m. – 7 p.m. for all dates below)
- March 11
- April 1
- May 13
- June 10
- July 22
- October 14
Raceway’s related web page (scroll down it):
https://weathertechraceway.com/pages/community-events
What to bring
(Still current as of 5/28/26)
Bring a $10 participation fee, your helmet, and a bicycle. Also note:
- Class 1 and 2 e-bikes continue to be allowed; Class 3 e-bikes (top assisted speed of 28 mph) are not.
- Helmets are required for all riders on the raceway track, regardless of age.
- Track will be open to riders as soon as the renter is off track.
“Are fixed gear bikes allowed?” someone asked WeatherTech Raceway on Instagram July 17, 2023. The answer from WeatherTech Raceway: “Fixed gear are allowed as long as both front and rear brakes are installed.”
* * *
Most of the info below–including about hosts, rentals, loaner lights, and more–has not been updated for 2025.
The Twilight Rides are a safe and relaxed atmosphere for families to get out and enjoy a ride together. The venue is also famous for its challenging 11-turn 2.238 mile course for competitive cyclists. Something for all ages and stages of biking! The circuit has flat areas, 300 feet of elevation change for climbing, and the legendary Corkscrew turns, which drop the equivalent of nearly six stories in a breathtakingly short length of track.
About the hosts of Twilight Rides
Among those who serve as host, or otherwise support the Twilight Rides: Doug Chandler / DC-10,Tatum’s Garden Foundation, Gears4Good, Monterey Off Road Cycling Association (MORCA), NPS Cycling Club, Velo Club Monterey, Salinas High School Cowboys Racing, Monterey Bay Lightfighters Composite Mountain Bike Team, Ghost Tree, Monterey Bay Racing, California Custom Sheds Cycling Team, Little Bellas, Work Horse Bicycles, Light & Motion, and Bicycling Monterey.
Among those who serve as host, or otherwise support the Twilight Rides: Checking the raceway’s Twilight Ride webpage for any changes about who’s hosting the current rides. Press releases about a particular month’s Twilight Ride host are also sometimes provided by the raceway and published on their website. And the Master Calendar for Bicycling Monterey County occasionally includes additional details about a host’s plans for that month.
In addition to each month’s special host from the bike community, Work Horse Bicycles and Light and Motion also co-host.
Activities
Ride hosts are diverse, and so are each ride’s activities! On-track activities may include time trials, criteriums, and coasting competitions. Off-track activities range from barbecue suppers to costume contests and giveaways or raffle prizes.
Bicycle rentals
Work Horse Bicycles is typically present to rent bikes and helmets, as of 2020 (check with Workhorse for later updates). Note that helmets are required for Twilight Cycling riders of all ages.
Contact Work Horse Bicycles to be assured of rental availability for any specific Twilight Ride date, or to request a reservation for a specific sort of bike rental.
Bicycle rentals are also available elsewhere, e.g., within ten miles of Laguna Seca. Click here for the rentals section of the Tips for Bicycling Monterey County guide. Rentals typically include a helmet.
Bicycle lights
Light and Motion team members are typically on hand renting their LED bicycle lights. (Contact L&M for updates and details.) Light & Motion is known for pioneering state-of-the-art portable lighting systems. In 2008, they launched a line of LED bicycle lights that were designed and built on the Monterey Peninsula. (I’ve purchased two of their lights myself. See “Night Ride Home.”)
History of the Twilight Rides
The year 2020 was the 12th consecutive year for Twilight Rides at the Laguna Seca raceway. The Twilight Rides are a partnership between the raceway’s operators and community cycling groups to create a safe, fun place to bike for people of all ages and skills.
Many of the participants have been involved with Twilight Rides since they started, as The Californian reported 6/21/18.
About the venue
The raceway at Laguna Seca was established in 1957. From its inception through the end of 2019, it was operated by the Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula (SCRAMP), a not-for-profit 501c(4) corporation.
Beginning January 1, 2020, track operations are now managed by A&D Narigi Consulting, LLC.
In April 2018, the track was renamed WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca; click here to learn more, including about other bicycling events there.
Contact the raceway with questions about the track and its facilities, or about Twilight Rides. For ride questions, as of 2020, you’re also welcome to phone Robert Willoughby, Project Manager, at 831-242-8212.
Where to park if you don’t bike to the event?
[Parking info has not been updated, with this exception: For the Thursday, July 25, 2024 Twilight Cycling, entry will be held at the Turn 5 gate, so motor vehicle parking will be at the Lakebed. For any other parking updates, contact WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, or follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weathertechraceway/]
Some people are up for tackling the hill to reach the track. Others carpool with friends. You won’t feel like a wimp if you don’t ride your bike to the track; most Twilight Ride participants don’t. (Example: See a photo of young Miles below, alongside the bike rack of his dad’s truck.)
An illustration that points the way to the usual motor vehicle parking area, the Paddock, is included in an early (May 2011) flier below. Note that on rare occasions, vehicles cannot be parked in the Paddock. Those occasions are when Twilight Rides fall on one of the track’s main event dates, as the Paddock will already be full with team transporters.
For such dates, here are two alternate parking suggestions: park right outside the Paddock in the lot known as Blue 2 (it is a hill, and it is dirt). Or, park in the lot known as Red 9 (which is flat and paved), and then ride your bike over the Start/Finish Bridge. Download a PDF of the raceway map, to locate these parking areas and landmarks: 2015 Facility Map
Questions? Contact the raceway for parking updates or with any other questions about parking or other facilities.
The flier below—provided by that month’s ride host, the Naval Postgraduate School Foundation Cycling Club—has a handy illustration that points the way to the usual Paddock parking area. It also shows the alternate parking areas, 2 and 9. Click on image to enlarge.
Click on above image to enlarge it.
* * * * *
Below, children participating with one of the Twilight Rides
hosts, Naval Postgraduate School Foundation Cycling Club.
To learn more about the Naval Postgraduate School Foundation’s Cycling Club, click here.
Above are Devin, Tyler, Avalin, and Dena Donnell at the March 2012 ride. (Photo provided courtesy of the Donnell family.)
Baby Avalin, of course, was still a bystander at the racetrack. But what about Devin and other children old enough to ride a bike? Are the Twilight Rides really a fun experience for them? Watch a video of one local girl, Juliette, via a Monterey County Weekly 9-11-15 story, “One local girl’s wild Laguna Seca ride….” And you bet: kids who prefer a slower pace have fun at the track too!
Below, Devin, Tyler, and Dena Donnell are at the May 2011 ride, when Dena was pregnant with Avalin. (To see Dena “Biking through Pregnancy,” click here.)
Above, with this parents: Devin Donnell, age 11. At age 10, he had also completed a fifty-mile Gran Fondo bicycle ride in Monterey!
Miles Hooper (pictured in the two photos below), has also rounded the racetrack at Twilight Rides hosted by the NPS Foundation Cycling Club.
Miles was not only riding but learning about bike equipment too—i.e., how to make use of the bike rack on his dad’s truck.
Few people bicycle to the Twilight Rides. Most, like Miles and his dad, Seth Hooper, use the bike-and-ride option of a personal vehicle to reach the track. Reduce carbon emissions; don’t drive there solo if you can avoid it—instead, carpool with others. Besides, it’s more fun to come to Twilight Rides if you bring family members or friends. The more the merrier!
Twilight Ride aka Twilight Cycling tips were first published on the Bicycling Monterey site in spring 2010. This post was first published on 12 June 2012, with numerous subsequent updates. It was extensively updated on 16 February 2020.
It was republished on March 17, 2025 with 2025 event dates only; it has not been further updated.
Leave a Reply