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Some of Your Favorite Ride/Trails?

Tom K.

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I thought I'd start a thread about favorite trails and areas, in hopes of sharing, and giving each other ideas for future rides/vacations/whatever.

Hood River, Oregon: Home base for me. Post Canyon is a bit over-used, but it is astounding to have such a huge network of trails located a 6 minute ride from my house. A good combination of old-school single track, newer "flow" style, and rugged moto/ATV trails. Our soil doesn't tolerate rain very well, and we get a lot, but otherwise, heaven.

Bend, Oregon: I don't know, maybe 200 miles of trails located just west of town, as well as several satellite areas within 15 or 20 minutes? A good combination of generally easy, but very fun trails, as a result of mostly being built with a focus on biking. Corners for fun, not just because something needs to be navigated around. I've never ridden anywhere else with such a high average speed, and lack of sufferingly steep climbs.

Moab, Utah: What hasn't already been said and written about this place? Great weather and great riding. I was kind of over this place about 10 years ago, and then they went on a trail building binge that, for me, transformed the place. Lots of rugged, ground-level technical riding, which suits me, since I've definitely hit the age where leaping off things no longer holds the allure it once did. If you've never ridden the Slickrock Trail, do it. It is unique. The closest thing I know of to "bike surfing".

So, what are your favorites?
 

Josh Matta

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well my favorite ever right now are my local trails.

Cady Falls Nursery CFN for those on the Strava pugski.com group.



Its the softest dirt, best flow, and best gravity fed around. Tires seems to hook up better there and the trails are twisty and pumpy and a rarity in this part of the world their are no guide stones.

Basically its a 700 vertical foot hilll with dozens of downhill esque trails with moderate climb to get back up with. I love the fact that the trails are built not to go anywhere but to be as fun as possible. Most trails are beyond IMBA spec in pitch which is a good thing, everytime I go else where the trails going down feel as if I have to pedal much more. The downsides are the fact that the trails never get raked or leaf blown they can be really hard to follow late fall early spring. The upside to that is the trails stay soft and grippy all the other time assuming you run big knobs. Anytime I go anywhere else the dirt feel slick like a groomer where as CFN feels like wind buffed powder all the time. Also since there is almost no trail marking and million trails and basically trail anarchy it means that you can get lost if you do not know it. not a bad thing, means a ton of people who can not memorizes trail systems will never get to enjoy it.

90 percent of this was filmed at Cady Falls Nursery

http://www.pinkbike.com/news/Through-the-Fall-V2-video-2013.html
 
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Tom K.

Tom K.

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well my favorite ever right now are my local trails.

Cady Falls Nursery CFN for those on the Strava pugski.com group.

Sounds great. The endurance racer/fun hog that I am LOVES the idea of a "training ride" that involves multiple 700 foot climbs followed by fun downhills.

Where in VT is that located?

Here's mine.


Too much fun!

Details?
 

Josh Matta

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Morrisville Vermont not far from Epic's trail, and hopefully some day connected to each other. I would not bring an XC bike you will be out gunned by the trails.
 

ErikL

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I'm a homer for the local trails on Peavine Mountain. The peak is about 4000 feet above the valley, with most of the fun trails around 5-6000 feet of elevation. It's a five-minute ride from my place and there's a good variety of every type of riding, from techy chunk to jumps to fun, fast singletrack. It's all public land and there's one (great) trail-maintenance group so they're usually cutting new trails or repairing storm damage on the easier trails. More difficult trails just get ridden as they are. The only downside is the dirt. It's clay so we usually need to give it a day to dry out after storms, and the elevation means that it isn't too rideable during the winter. Either the trails are covered in snow, or it's melting and the snowmelt is soaking into the clay.
 

Brian Likes Pow

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Back east the recent stuff up at sugarloaf is maybe my personal favorite around here.

I usually spend a good chunk of time in the grand junction/fruita/moab area in the shoulders. It goes without saying this stuff is meant for weeks of riding...theres so much. Lots and lots of newer xc stuff in moab to go along with tech. Klondike is maybe my favorite.

Tahoe stuff maybe takes the cake. Long long loops and big climbs with georgeous views and a lots of places for proper post ride beers. The sand can be an issue
 
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Tom K.

Tom K.

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Lots and lots of newer xc stuff in moab to go along with tech. Klondike is maybe my favorite.

There is so much to choose from in Moab, but I think my favorite by a nose is the Mag 7 trail network, especially with the relatively new upper Getaway extension, which offers a surprising amount of smooth flow in an area known for rock. Captain Ahab is the bomb, too, but has gotten beaten up enough since construction that I find many of the up and down "ramps" to be sketchier than I prefer.
 

Brian Likes Pow

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Ok i need to get back to the mag 7 area in the fall haha. I cant keep up with all the recent stuff. Just discovered the navajo rocks area and was really liking that alot.
 

pete

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Old thread but nearest I found for story fit on BBC.

The Great American Rail-Trail which looks to have been finalized for route and not planned for completion intil 2040 ..... maybe I'll make it to read it complete.

I know I'll never ride the whole trail but figured parts may be neat and in populous areas already done. I've ridden some (Iowa City/Waterloo Ia) of it already and thought of some of the other parts of the route (Hennepin Canal in Il) would be a nice ride, maybe talk my brother into it as he rides .... me, not too much.



nice story, found it funny and not surprising Wy is only 2% done given cost for the number of folks around.
 

cantunamunch

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The Great American Rail-Trail which looks to have been finalized for route and not planned for completion intil 2040 ..... maybe I'll make it to read it complete.

The Montana-into-Idaho sections look pretty fun on a roadie - except I know I'll want something with far longer front center than the crit bikes I have now.

Did you look at the detailed map of the trail? There's a giant chunks missing from the 'plannned route' between Casper and Missoula. Not sure what to make of that.
 

pete

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The Montana-into-Idaho sections look pretty fun on a roadie - except I know I'll want something with far longer front center than the crit bikes I have now.

Did you look at the detailed map of the trail? There's a giant chunks missing from the 'plannned route' between Casper and Missoula. Not sure what to make of that.

Yes, I noted gaps .. found it funny as the site says the routes are determined but I figure they're "mostly done" ... there's a big box just south of me in Iowa that crosses HWY 80 but I'm not to greatly worried. There is so much I will never ride and hope to simply find some nice areas that cater nicely to overnighters. The site notes the goal to get the path near campgrounds or state/national parks.

My brother is the rider in the family, guy knows his hardware and bikes, and while not riding near as much as he likes, I hope to coax him out especially into Wisconsin where there are a lot of trails. I think Wi was one of the founders of Rails to Trails.
 

martyg

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Anything out my door. 300 miles of dedicated single track. Combine that with FS roads, and ORV trails, and the riding is endless. And in a talent pool that is one if the deepest in the US, and it us difficult to justify riding elsewhere.
 

chris_the_wrench

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I don’t want to burn some of my favorites, but heres a couple

Mtb:
Mckenzie river trail east of Eugene OR about an hour. Best to shuttle it but I've looped it riding the uphill on road. Amazing diversity of forest you drop down through.

Gravel:
Michelson trail in black hills of South Dakota. Just over 100 miles of old railroad bed. One of my favorites. I return almost every year to ride parts of it.
 
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Tom K.

Tom K.

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Mtb:
Mckenzie river trail east of Eugene OR about an hour. Best to shuttle it but I've looped it riding the uphill on road. Amazing diversity of forest you drop down through.

Gravel:
Michelson trail in black hills of South Dakota. Just over 100 miles of old railroad bed. One of my favorites. I return almost every year to ride parts of it.

MRT is super-fun, with a solid dose of lava tech thrown!

Black Hills sound cool. Never been. Lots closer, now!
 

AtleB

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This fall we had the privilege of having pro freerider Brage Vestavik help design and build a new trail at our lokal trail centre. This particular trail is not for me, but the trail centre has something for all skill levels.
 

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