These days there are all sorts of places to ride mountain bikes, which can make it hard to choose just one favorite. Of course equipment, the weather, and our mood can play a role in ride location selection, but we all have our favorites.
Fortunately mountain bikes are designed to be ridden almost anywhere, so we don’t have to commit to just one choice for all of our rides!
Aside from group rides at my local trails I really enjoy riding destination trails (think Singletracks Top 100). When you venture to places you’ve never ridden before it can be such a great and rewarding experience both on and off the trail.
I love my local trails, and they are a very big reason I chose to move to my current location. However, those big destination rides where you truly feel “out there” cannot be understated. You only get to ride a trail for the first time once, but those big back country rides can feel new every time. As Alpine season comes to a close, desert season opens up and it’s a whole new type of trail to discover!
For most of the year I ride my local, well maintained trails that fortunately offer a wide variety (other than downhill stuff) of rides. There are days I just like to get in miles of XC pedaling, days I can practice on wooden features and days of technical challenges.
When I travel, well known destinations are fun, but I throughly enjoy tying together remote backcountry trails. Those are the days that truly stand out.
Technical trails that require a lot of different skills. These are usually pirate/unofficial trails.