A surprising interpretation of mountain biking is found in hidden, forested pockets around Atlanta, GA.
As IMBA celebrates 30 years, we take a short look back at the history of mountain bike advocacy.
The Whyte S-150 S is an aggressive, aluminum trail bike built to withstand extreme conditions with a smart, affordable build spec to boot.
Pivot updates the long-travel Firebird with 29er wheels. With 162mm of rear travel, the Pivot Firebird 29 is designed to enduro.
Before upgrading your mountain bike with a longer fork, consider how increased travel will affect handling, geometry, and frame durability.
Whistler's Creekside just opened for the season with 5 new trails that are part of a multi-year trail expansion at the bike park.
We share our tips for becoming a better mountain bike climber including equipment selection, technique, and mental hacks for getting to the top of the hill faster.
Ten more affordable mountain bike upgrades for under $100 including dropper post remotes, stash tools, tire inserts, and drivetrain updates.
Fathers can and do teach their children a lot through mountain biking. A Father's Day tribute to rad mountain bike dads.
This trail bike buyer's guide helps mountain bikers understand frame geometry, suspension travel, tire sizes, and more. Read this before you buy your next trail bike.
The Canyon Neuron is a light duty aluminum trail bike that sits between XC and trail bike territory.
The SRAM NX Eagle drivetrain offers 12 gears at an affordable pricepoint. The new cassette is compatible with standard, 8-, 9-, and 10-speed splined driver bodies.
Sea Otter Europe, held in Girona, Spain, features mountain bike racing, hundreds of exhibitors, and demo bikes. Tens of thousands of cyclists attended this free festival in 2018.
Ben Weaver is bikepacking the 2,700-mile Great Divide Mountain Bike route with his instruments so he can play 15 concerts along the way.
The new Jamis Portal trail bike and Hardline enduro bike will utilize a unique mountain bike suspension platform known as 3VO.
Trek recently settled a lawsuit brought by the estate of comedian Chris Farley over the name of the Farley fat bike.
XC mountain bike race courses are becoming more technical in a bid to become more spectator-friendly and also to keep up with bike design and suspension technology.
This is the third installment in the Outlaw Diaries series that follows mountain biker Patrick "Bengel" Rasche as he seeks out rad adventures in Germany, British Columbia, and now Russia.
Jefferson County, Colorado is testing mountain bike only trails within the popular park system.
Matt Miller is a journalism graduate and enduro mountain biker based in Golden, CO.
The 10 mountain bike descents on the East Coast are among the best downhill trails to shred.
The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest features excellent mountain bike trails to explore, including the CAMBA system.
The Prestacycle TorqRatchet is a compact, packable torque wrench for trailside mountain bike repairs.
Ten of the best kids' mountain bikes of 2018, including lightweight hardtails and even full-suspension bikes. Recommendations range from 12-inch wheels up to 24-inch wheels.
The UCI Mountain Bike Eliminator World Cup brings fast-paced, XC competition to the streets complete with ramps, wall rides, and dirt rollers.
Another mountain biker falls victim to a trail trip, this time barbed wire in Ontario, Canada.
Roam Bike Fests are designed for women to have fun on mountain bikes. Riders won't find skills clinics, competitions, or men here.
The Fox Factory Tune program allows mountain bikers to get a custom suspension tune and/or to upgrade to the latest tech for a reasonable price.
The All in Multitool fits inside a mountain bike crank spindle, and includes a chain breaker plus hex and Torx bits.
These aggressive hardtail mountain bikes are designed for trail riding and beyond, and each offers at least 120mm of front suspension travel.
Guidebook author Stephen Hlawaty talks about his favorite MTB trails in Colorado, and why he's still a fan of paper books in the digital age.
The National Recreation Trails class of 2018 includes notable mountain bike trails like Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park in Florida and the Climax Trail in New Mexico.
The BLM in Idaho is testing a new travel management plan that would allow Class 1 electric mountain bikes on previously non-motorized, multi-use trails.
The BLM approved an additional 22.5 miles of singletrack mountain bike trails at Phil's World and has begun construction, despite minor opposition.
Summer mountain bike camps for young riders are popping up all across the USA this year. Campers can learn new skills and get ready for NICA race season.
The second annual Epic 17K mountain bike race claims to be the world's highest, and is set to take place in India's Sikkim state June 26 - 29.
Youth conservation corps programs offer paid trail building programs this summer. Participants gain useful skills, while mountain bikers get new and improved trails.
This kid's hardtail mountain bike build was tricked out with electronic shifting, 4-piston brakes, and color-coordinated hardware.
Tips for dealing with knee, back, neck, and arm pain associated with mountain biking through exercise, stretching, bike fit, and recovery.
The updated Shimano XTR mountain bike line includes a 12-speed drivetrain and new 4-piston enduro brakes.
On May 17, 2018 a revised bill to possibly give bikes access to trails in federally-designated Wilderness areas was introduced to the US Senate.
The ShockStop from Redshift is a mountain bike suspension stem designed to lend some squish to rigid bikes without adding a lot of weight.
If your mountain bike isn't in top condition, it's often be a good idea to call off the ride. A lack of confidence in equipment can result in injury.
Rock Bar storage bags can be mounted to bars, top and down tubes, and even mountain bike fork legs.
Squeeze another season or two out of your mountain bike with these essential upgrades.
A mountain lion attacked two mountain bikers in Washington, killing one and injuring the other.
Get up to speed on the latest changes and trail conditions at the Whistler Bike Park from opening weekend.
The Singletracks community shares their best (and worst) mountain bike crash stories.
3
![[feature]
[caption id="attachment_242134" align="alignnone" width="1170"]<img class="size-large wp-image-242134" src="https://images.singletracks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_6355-1170x780.jpg" alt="" width="1170" height="780"> photo: Jeff Barber[/caption]
[/feature]
As soon as I stepped out of the airport terminal in Atlanta I was sweating into my hat. I had spent some time in the south when I was in the military, but went right back to the West after training. After a while, you forget what the humidity feels like.
This time I was back for a different kind of training. Jeff and Leah, who founded Singletracks, hired me as their new staff writer in May, and it was time to dive into Singletracks history, and find out what makes this website so special.
They sent me an itinerary for the week that included training along with two mountain bike rides. One, a night ride with a group of Atlanta locals that Jeff does every Tuesday, and <a href="https://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/coldwater-mt.html">another ride in Alabama</a> the day after. I was stoked for every part of the trip. Even though it was for work, I’d get to ride some new trails in a location that I wouldn’t have sought out on my own. And, I’d get to show my new bosses that hired me to write about mountain biking full-time that I <em>did in fact</em> know how to mountain bike, and I hadn’t catfished them into the position.
[caption id="attachment_242131" align="alignnone" width="1170"]<img class="size-large wp-image-242131" src="https://images.singletracks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/VIRB0045-1170x836.jpg" alt="" width="1170" height="836"> photo: Jeff Barber[/caption]
“It’s usually 15 – 20 miles,” Jeff said about the Tuesday night ride. “There’s a bunch of urban trails that we link together around the city, and then we get pizza and beer after.”
“Sounds good to me," I replied.
I wasn’t worried about keeping up. I come from elevation and most of my rides take place somewhere between 5,500 and 7,500 feet above sea level. Plus, I’m versed in riding technical trails, or at least the type of technical trails that are popular in Colorado.
Tuesday after work I rode back to my AirBnB, charged my bike lights, set up the mounts, put a snack in my pocket, and filled up a water bottle. Jeff showed up around 6:30. I grabbed my gear and we went to get some food before we met up with the group.
Outside of <a href="http://www.flyingbiscuit.com/locations-2/candler-park/">a biscuit shop</a>, in a shady, well-treed, in-town Atlanta neighborhood, we waited for the Tuesday night crew. There were seven or eight of us total. Once we were sure no one else was coming, we pedaled out onto the streets and headed toward the first trail.
“Watch out for poison ivy,” said Paul as he rode by my side. “You’re going to come into contact with it at some point in the ride, so just be aware and try not to veer off the trail.”
We hopped up a curb and rode up a grassy bank toward the first set of trails. Hell yeah. I filed into the back of the group, so I could follow the others’ lines.
The woods were dense. Diggers had carved their trails through these urban sections of forest and the forest fought back. Vines draped down from the canopy, leafy branches smacked you in the face, and thumb-width roots on the ground made sure that your tires slipped away from their intended path.
[caption id="attachment_242130" align="alignnone" width="1170"]<img class="size-large wp-image-242130" src="https://images.singletracks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_0460-1170x878.jpg" alt="" width="1170" height="878"> photo: Jeff Barber[/caption]
If a drone flew above us, the trails would resemble a spilled bowl of noodles. It was turn after turn after turn. Just as I figured out how to counter-balance on the rooty switchbacks, it started sprinkling. Then it rained. Then it poured. And, then it got really slippery. I had no idea how to ride any of it. On a descent, I depend on momentum to get me over stuff. Since these trails were pretty flat, it was a type of technical that I’d never dealt with.
Now, I was drenched. The fresh rain pushed the dried sweat on my forehead into my eyes and they started to burn. Right as I was about to wipe my eyes, I remembered Paul's warning about the poison ivy, and how many leaves and branches came across my gloves. I put my hands back on the grips and kept pedaling.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J7df5EyCjA[/embed]
I’d fallen all the way to the back of the group. I navigated using my best guesses, and finally popped out onto concrete. Up ahead, the group was gathered under the awning of a darkened elementary school. I checked my iPhone and made sure the rain hadn’t fried it yet. The others discussed the plan for the ride.
“Is it time for a beer yet?” someone asked.
“Nah, let’s keep going!” someone else said.
Just like that, we rode into the next set of trails, denser and more jungle-like than the last ones. My eyes weren’t burning as bad, so at least I could see better. But I still slipped over roots, and had to put my feet out over corners and steeps like I was on a Strider bike, so I didn’t fall into a bush of who-knows-what.
I looked around with disorientation, not knowing where the trail went, and saw clusters of the other riders’ lights moving up and down and around the trails. Steam formed above the hot lights as the rain hit them. I picked up my bike and pulled it over a downed tree, the same one I had to climb over on the way in, which meant we were on the way back out.
[caption id="attachment_242129" align="alignnone" width="1170"]<img class="size-large wp-image-242129" src="https://images.singletracks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/VIRB0469-1170x878.jpg" alt="" width="1170" height="878"> photo: Jeff Barber[/caption]
Now back onto the city streets we pedaled toward the pizza place. We stacked our bikes up against each other on the wall of the restaurant. Inside, we sat at the table and water came off of our shoes and shorts and made puddles underneath.
“Well, that was different,” I said.
“That’s different than most of the riding around here,” said Jeff. “It’s a pretty unique ride. I’ve actually written some stories about it on Singletracks.”
Then he told me about two different times they were in the proximity of gunfire on the Tuesday night ride.
[see_also id='55983']
The only danger I was in that night was slipping off the trail into a wet bush or getting poison ivy in my eyes.
Recently, I interviewed cross-country racing legend Geoff Kabush for <a href="https://www.singletracks.com/blog/mtb-news/xc-mountain-bike-racing-technical-televisable-ever/">an article about World Cup courses around the world</a>.
“Every place in the world has a different interpretation of what mountain biking is,” he told me.
Going on the Tuesday night <a href="http://www.fastermustache.org/rides/dirtymustacheride/">Faster Mustache ride</a> in Atlanta exposed me to an interpretation I’d never seen before, and widened my perspective of what mountain biking could be. Not surprisingly, I didn’t speak the language and the skills I brought from Colorado didn’t hold up as well as I thought they would. I brought some new skills home, though.
And, also a poison ivy rash on my arms and legs.](https://images.singletracks.com/graphics/no_photo_750x500.png)
![[feature]
[caption id="attachment_242134" align="alignnone" width="1170"]<img class="size-large wp-image-242134" src="https://images.singletracks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_6355-1170x780.jpg" alt="" width="1170" height="780"> photo: Jeff Barber[/caption]
[/feature]
As soon as I stepped out of the airport terminal in Atlanta I was sweating into my hat. I had spent some time in the south when I was in the military, but went right back to the West after training. After a while, you forget what the humidity feels like.
This time I was back for a different kind of training. Jeff and Leah, who founded Singletracks, hired me as their new staff writer in May, and it was time to dive into Singletracks history, and find out what makes this website so special.
They sent me an itinerary for the week that included training along with two mountain bike rides. One, a night ride with a group of Atlanta locals that Jeff does every Tuesday, and <a href="https://www.singletracks.com/bike-trails/coldwater-mt.html">another ride in Alabama</a> the day after. I was stoked for every part of the trip. Even though it was for work, I’d get to ride some new trails in a location that I wouldn’t have sought out on my own. And, I’d get to show my new bosses that hired me to write about mountain biking full-time that I <em>did in fact</em> know how to mountain bike, and I hadn’t catfished them into the position.
[caption id="attachment_242131" align="alignnone" width="1170"]<img class="size-large wp-image-242131" src="https://images.singletracks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/VIRB0045-1170x836.jpg" alt="" width="1170" height="836"> photo: Jeff Barber[/caption]
“It’s usually 15 – 20 miles,” Jeff said about the Tuesday night ride. “There’s a bunch of urban trails that we link together around the city, and then we get pizza and beer after.”
“Sounds good to me," I replied.
I wasn’t worried about keeping up. I come from elevation and most of my rides take place somewhere between 5,500 and 7,500 feet above sea level. Plus, I’m versed in riding technical trails, or at least the type of technical trails that are popular in Colorado.
Tuesday after work I rode back to my AirBnB, charged my bike lights, set up the mounts, put a snack in my pocket, and filled up a water bottle. Jeff showed up around 6:30. I grabbed my gear and we went to get some food before we met up with the group.
Outside of <a href="http://www.flyingbiscuit.com/locations-2/candler-park/">a biscuit shop</a>, in a shady, well-treed, in-town Atlanta neighborhood, we waited for the Tuesday night crew. There were seven or eight of us total. Once we were sure no one else was coming, we pedaled out onto the streets and headed toward the first trail.
“Watch out for poison ivy,” said Paul as he rode by my side. “You’re going to come into contact with it at some point in the ride, so just be aware and try not to veer off the trail.”
We hopped up a curb and rode up a grassy bank toward the first set of trails. Hell yeah. I filed into the back of the group, so I could follow the others’ lines.
The woods were dense. Diggers had carved their trails through these urban sections of forest and the forest fought back. Vines draped down from the canopy, leafy branches smacked you in the face, and thumb-width roots on the ground made sure that your tires slipped away from their intended path.
[caption id="attachment_242130" align="alignnone" width="1170"]<img class="size-large wp-image-242130" src="https://images.singletracks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG_0460-1170x878.jpg" alt="" width="1170" height="878"> photo: Jeff Barber[/caption]
If a drone flew above us, the trails would resemble a spilled bowl of noodles. It was turn after turn after turn. Just as I figured out how to counter-balance on the rooty switchbacks, it started sprinkling. Then it rained. Then it poured. And, then it got really slippery. I had no idea how to ride any of it. On a descent, I depend on momentum to get me over stuff. Since these trails were pretty flat, it was a type of technical that I’d never dealt with.
Now, I was drenched. The fresh rain pushed the dried sweat on my forehead into my eyes and they started to burn. Right as I was about to wipe my eyes, I remembered Paul's warning about the poison ivy, and how many leaves and branches came across my gloves. I put my hands back on the grips and kept pedaling.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J7df5EyCjA[/embed]
I’d fallen all the way to the back of the group. I navigated using my best guesses, and finally popped out onto concrete. Up ahead, the group was gathered under the awning of a darkened elementary school. I checked my iPhone and made sure the rain hadn’t fried it yet. The others discussed the plan for the ride.
“Is it time for a beer yet?” someone asked.
“Nah, let’s keep going!” someone else said.
Just like that, we rode into the next set of trails, denser and more jungle-like than the last ones. My eyes weren’t burning as bad, so at least I could see better. But I still slipped over roots, and had to put my feet out over corners and steeps like I was on a Strider bike, so I didn’t fall into a bush of who-knows-what.
I looked around with disorientation, not knowing where the trail went, and saw clusters of the other riders’ lights moving up and down and around the trails. Steam formed above the hot lights as the rain hit them. I picked up my bike and pulled it over a downed tree, the same one I had to climb over on the way in, which meant we were on the way back out.
[caption id="attachment_242129" align="alignnone" width="1170"]<img class="size-large wp-image-242129" src="https://images.singletracks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/VIRB0469-1170x878.jpg" alt="" width="1170" height="878"> photo: Jeff Barber[/caption]
Now back onto the city streets we pedaled toward the pizza place. We stacked our bikes up against each other on the wall of the restaurant. Inside, we sat at the table and water came off of our shoes and shorts and made puddles underneath.
“Well, that was different,” I said.
“That’s different than most of the riding around here,” said Jeff. “It’s a pretty unique ride. I’ve actually written some stories about it on Singletracks.”
Then he told me about two different times they were in the proximity of gunfire on the Tuesday night ride.
[see_also id='55983']
The only danger I was in that night was slipping off the trail into a wet bush or getting poison ivy in my eyes.
Recently, I interviewed cross-country racing legend Geoff Kabush for <a href="https://www.singletracks.com/blog/mtb-news/xc-mountain-bike-racing-technical-televisable-ever/">an article about World Cup courses around the world</a>.
“Every place in the world has a different interpretation of what mountain biking is,” he told me.
Going on the Tuesday night <a href="http://www.fastermustache.org/rides/dirtymustacheride/">Faster Mustache ride</a> in Atlanta exposed me to an interpretation I’d never seen before, and widened my perspective of what mountain biking could be. Not surprisingly, I didn’t speak the language and the skills I brought from Colorado didn’t hold up as well as I thought they would. I brought some new skills home, though.
And, also a poison ivy rash on my arms and legs.](https://images.singletracks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/GIrls-on-Wheels-group-shot.jpg)
