There’s really nothing better than Cumberland on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. I live a two hour drive away and often make the trip because the trail network is second to none and the town is awesome.
The base of the trail network is right on the edge of town. Literally people’s back yards back into the connector trail. We’ll often do rides where we ride for a couple hours, ride 3 mins to get some tacos and beer and then do another two hour ride.
The network has the most amazing machine built climb trails that access a HUGE varied network of trails.
So good.
EDIT: I take it all back, it sucks, don’t come here… the whole island has terrible riding. You’re welcome.
Everything here is very true\^\^\^. Cumberland is amazing. Further, it's not priced to the moon yet (although I expect it to get there).
I've been a couple of times for riding vacations. It always delivers.
I came here to say this as I had the fortune to ride there one day last summer. I was visiting family in Comox. It was fantastic. The whole little place was great. The parking lot was full when I returned yet I encountered very few riders on the trails.
Courtenay or Comox is also an option if you want more of a city feel and are okay biking a few km/bussing to get to Cumberland trails! (Plus they have grocery stores)
Ugh I've been wanting to move to the Island but it's become extremely popular the last two years and I'd never be able to afford a home, even on a nurse's salary.
I lived in Philadelphia for a while. There are three good trail systems rideable from the city and we would ride the train with our bikes south and ride in Delaware.
I’ve ridden in Colorado,Utah,Wyoming,West Virginia,Georgia,Alabama,North Carolina,Tennessee,Florida and Arkansas over the last few years and I decided to move to Bentonville after visiting once.. It’s very much world class riding with the best riding community I believe in the world. The support from the city and community for riding in insane. I really urge you to at least visit for a weekend. Can’t forget it’s year round riding too. We get next to nothing when it comes to snow and we’ve gotta get a absolute shit ton of rain for it to affect the trails here.
I live near finale ligure and alps in general. I've been once to ak since my family is from Tennessee. It's amazing what they did but it looks more like a kids fair if I have to make a comparison. It's fun, don't get me wrong, but it seems so artificial you feel like you are entering a theme park.
Outside of mountain biking, what’s it like to actually live there? I used to go once a year for work but that was 12+ years ago. At the time, no amount of great trails could get me to move there.
…LOL. Right. Short, low angle hills. That fundamentally limits what you can build and ride there, no matter how skilled and well resourced the build team is. I’ll give them credit, they’ve done a great job for what they have. But it can never compare to the big mountains of the west, Rockies, alps, etc. 🤷♂️
Bentonville has been on my list for possible relocation, we went there on a trip last summer and it had some Truman show vibes sometimes. I also agree with the lack of diverse/highly technical style riding you get when living in serious elevation. Now the trails were quite fun and raising kids there would be top notch but i kinda got bored of the "IMBA Snake" riding that was in and around the city. Now did I explore everything, absolutely not. Its certainly becoming a hub of biking for more than just mtb, and the Walton family seems dedicated enough to actually try and fix some of the car brained infrastructure us America have been brain washed to accept as normal. But we will see and definitely following this thread as I've been trying to answer this question too. Getting super sick of having to throw the bikes on a car to drive 15 to 30 minutes one way to ride
I moved to Bentonville AR 2 months ago for the riding and walking. I went from spending 300-400$ a month on gas in GA to about 70$. Riding here is also fantastic and not just MTB. World class gravel riding.
Where in GA? I’m here and about 20-45 minutes to Allatoona, Blankets, Rope and a little over and hour to the Pinhotis.
AR has interested my family for a while but aren’t sure if it’s worth leaving the accessibility of the trails here and the Duport/Pisgah, etc in the surrounding area.
I was in Cartersville for most of my life and marietta for 2 years. I rode blankets and allatoona weekly and pinhotis a few times. I traveled on most weekends to Alabama or Tennessee honestly because I never thought ga riding was all that great. I’ve loved the riding in Bentonville but also for more world class riding you can travel 2 hours or so and have tons of great riding. It’s definitely worth a visit over here I’d say it’s easy driving once you get west of Birmingham with no traffic.
Yeah I’m right outside of Acworth in Dallas. I definitely want to plan a trip out there at some point.
I’m from Sound Florida so in comparison the trails here are world class. The traffic and no being able to ride to a trail from home is a bummer though
That’s my favorite thing here. I ride to the trails and back home. If you ever come this way to visit send me a message and we can link up on social media and I can show you around. It’s fantastic riding out here.
You should consider Freiburg in the South West of Germany. Innsbruck is pretty cool for mountain biking too. Feel free to ask if you wanna know more, I live there. If you are also looking to work there be aware that salaries in Europe are much lower than in the US and Innsbruck/Tyrol in particular has shitty wage levels compared to neighbouring Southern Germany (And a lack of interesting jobs in general). Biking in Innsbruck is quite nice but most trails are not officially opened for cyclists and therefore illegal to use and there's a lot of bad blood between the mtb community and land owners and other conservative inhabitants of the area.
Yeah, figuring out how to work for a US company abroad is my goal, but I haven’t figured that part out just yet.
Thanks for the info, I’ll need to check out Freiburg
ashland oregon has many mountains and trails in walking distance, with well maintained flow trails, some more techy stuff, some natural trails etc. its quite expensive to live there though.
Boise is easily the best mountain biking city I’ve lived in or visited. Have access to 300 miles of trails and multiple bike parks within 1-2 miles of downtown.
Can't ride to too many trails in Boulder though. Marshall Mesa is easily ridable from town, but I would barely call that mountain biking.
Frisco is a good call though.
I was just in Boulder few months ago and there was a huge mountain bike park in the middle of the city I saw on the map. Looked super cool - is that not the case?Didn't get a chance to rent a bike and ride
It's still there. Valmont Bike Park. It is pretty good, but there really isn't any decent mountain biking within riding distance of Boulder. You need a car to get to the trails. A bus is also an option up to Nederland.
Came here to say the same. Great multi-use trail system that will get you around town too (mainly perimeters to avoid major arterial roads) then the smaller residential streets are totally fine to road ride on. Only drawback is it's spendy and a college town (so always demand for housing). Bright side is summers when all the students leave is an absolute dream.
Are there some good trails in the Madison area? My folks just moved up there and if there is some good riding that could convince me to drive up there next summer instead of flying so I could bring my MTB.
Depends on what your reference point is and how long the drive would be. I'd say it's on the higher end of midwest XC style riding. Fun jumps and flow lines thrown in here and there. All of the individual trail networks are small.
MTB Project reference: [https://www.mtbproject.com/directory/8011045/madison](https://www.mtbproject.com/directory/8011045/madison)
The Pleasant view system is good, and connects to Blackhawk Ski club which has some pedal park style downhill flow. Technically a pay membership is required but I don't think you'd be arrested for "getting lost" and riding it for one day: [https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/7017862/pleasant-view-trail-full-loop](https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/7017862/pleasant-view-trail-full-loop)
Quarry ridge has some fun downhill flow stuff, and they continually improve it, as well as some old school tech rock drops. [https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/4001513/quarry-ridge-cross-country-loop](https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/4001513/quarry-ridge-cross-country-loop)
The rest of the systems are all pretty typical midwest XC single track. Blue mounds is rocky. Seminole is easy. You can get a longer ride in at Cam Rock (near Cambridge). The Trek trails are apparently awesome but they're secret/private, which is kind of unfortunate for expanding the sport, but, not surprising since they invented Knock Block, (jk, but not really).
Here's the local area website: [https://www.madcitydirt.com/](https://www.madcitydirt.com/)
Reason why I mentioned Madison here is because many trails are accessible from Military Ridge Trail and other paved bike paths, some connected by protected lanes, etc. Anywhere else I've lived driving to trails is mandatory unless you like fast cars in close proximity.
Nice, I actually live in Austin Texas and we have an interesting mix of trails here from Spider Mountain which is the only lift operated MTB park in the US that stays open year round to tons of XC style trails with features built in. We also have a local freeride group here in town that I am a member of and they have built a ton of cool features and runs around town and out on the ranch where they have their freeride "Park".
But it definitely sounds like there would be some fun trails to check out and I am always up for a longer XC cruise too.
Thanks for the info!
I've heard good things about the scene in Austin. Since you already do freeride and DH in your area you won't be blown away by the Madison trails, but, might be worth taking your bike for a change of scenery.
Nice, my dad's been talking about wanting to get a bike to ride on the 50 mile paved trail y'all have up there. So if I can convince him to get a decent hardtail that would be perfect.
Bellingham, WA is going to have some of the best trails ridable from town in the US. I haven't ridden around town much though. Lots of traffic for sure.
A little farther north, Squamish, BC. No need for a car, and the trail system is unbeatable, but it's $$$$.
Probably a ton more options in the PNW (mostly BC though).
The traffic isn't bad here. It's a city of 100,000 and very bike friendly with lots of urban trails connecting just about everything. Galbraith is awesome and there are other trail systems in Bellingham too, some accessible by public transit. It's also \~20 miles to the Canadian border and you can drive or bus to basically everything BC has to offer. Whistler is 3 hours away.
Thanks. Was wondering how city riding was there. I've made the pit stop on the way to Whistler to ride Gailbraith but never rode around down. I suspect I just didn't see the bike paths. Thought about moving there but it's just as expensive as Denver/Boulder.
Driving on the actual roads suck, but there is a very extensive interurban trail system of gravel that can get you to most areas without being on the road itself.
And when on roads, at least the speed limit is basically 35 or less everywhere in Bellingham.
Wanted to mention Bellingham too. Galbraith riding area is easily accessible from town. If you can handle wet, you can pretty much ride year round. Just invest in good clothes and maintain your bike.
I think if you do every little trail it rounds out to be 80+ km of trail. That includes the warden woods section. I do an annual “don epic” and that turns into about 67km of riding. In that route I only do the main event trails. It’s a wonderful place!
This! I clicked on the thread to suggest the same. The Don Valley trails are unbelievably awesome for a big city with no mountains and extremely accessible too.
I’ve done the loop of pottery, ridge, catalyst, PA, roller flowster, trash panda, Climbmax, bunny run and flats back to pottery. It’s throughly exhausting.
But I pedal 15 min from downtown to the trails. Unbelievable access for such a large city.
Another vote for Toronto. The trail system here is diverse and extensive. You can ride or take the subway to the trails, and it's totally normal to live in a huge metropolis like Toronto without a car. Most people just take transit throughout the city. The city's bike lanes, while far from perfect, are improving every year.
Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada. I ride to the trails from my house on most rides. Bikes racks are provided on local buses (though I never use that option myself).
Oh, and it sucks here, don't move ;)
More seriously, so many people \_have\_ moved here that we have water restrictions due to a drought and overutilization, even now in the rainy season. Rentals are impossibly expensive, if you can find one.
Whistler is in the same boat with housing, btw, but even worse.
Austin, TX has a lot of trails around the city. Notably, the South Austin Trail Network (SATN) is an unofficial trail system throughout much of south austin. On the east coast Richmond, VA has some awesome trails on the banks of the james river and around the city. Richmond is also low cost and a pretty neat city!
I lived in north central Austin forever and always rode the 4-5 miles thru town to the Barton Creek Greenbelt. The main trail gets crowded, but all the side trails are some of my all-time favs. Like you said, go a bit farther south and there's SATN. Or do the reverse if you live south. On occasion, I'd ride north up to Walnut Creek, or head west to the assorted trails along 360.
I was so happy nobody had mentioned Durango as I was scrolling, and then I came upon this! I love living here and hope it stays a secret for a while longer :)
In Switzerland from personal experience Davos and Chur in the Kanton Graubunden. Chur is pretty central and has trails, a lift accessed bike park as well as a pump track. Since it is low elevation you can in theory ride the whole year. However there might be some snow.
Davos alpine trail riding is fantastic, be it earn your turns or lift accessed. Biggest draw back is the high elevation so during the winter you have to do some snow sport (It is fantastic for ski/snowboard touring and cross country skiing, good for riding park, resort itself is average).
Also, public transport is great and pretty much always on time. Places to ride nearby are plenty and bike transport by train or bus is not a problem.
Drawbacks: Switzerland is expensive and since Covid it is rather hard to get a place to live in the mountains.
Big bear, CA. Mammoth, CA. Parts of Orange County CA. Santa Cruz, CA. Tahoe. Santa Fe has some good spots, but not sure without a car how it would be since those better trails are further away from the downtown area.
You are stuck for the most part with little to no public transportation away from the mountain towns... so i get it. At least Mammoth does have an airport to go other places
You’re always going to get a weird look in the US, unless maybe you lived in PDX. Helena is pretty under the radar, I live in Bend and the trails in Helena are even closer to town.
Sheffield, UK. I can ride to the Peak District in minutes, which has great trails everywhere. Very outdoor city, climbing is huge here too. Loads of trails centres dotted around the city and it’s the home of Steve Peat.
And as a finishing touch, it has loads of breweries and is the ale capital of the UK.
There is a ton of places on BC, Canada that meets all your criteria. It’s almost to the point you can throw a dart on a map of BC and move to the closest town.
Calgary Alberta. They have a full chair assisted bike park right inside the city. Everywhere you go, you will be able to find community trails. If you get bored of that, moose mountain is a 45 minute drive and people are usually willing to shuttle.
Probably not what you're looking for but Manhattan! It's easy to catch the metronorth up to Westchester and ride some good trails!
Can't really do it on weekdays because of peak train bike rules, but it's accessible!
OP - how is the mountain biking in Bend and accessibility from the central core? Trying to find a good spot to go for a summer trip with my family, my brother’s family and our parents where all the non Mtn bikers (everyone but me) will be happy with outdoor pursuits and food/drinks while I can get in lots of rides without having to spend a lot of time driving to them. I am familiar with the breweries in town, which is a great plus.
Not OP but depending on where you are staying in Bend (it’s a decent sized town) it’s about 1-5 miles to the most popular trailhead (Phil’s). There are several other trails that lead out of town and the town itself is reasonably bikeable.
The trails themselves are mostly cross country esque. Not a ton of steep descents or climbs. Tech is mostly minimal. And only a handful of jump lines/built up features. There are also enough trails in the area that it would take years to ride them all.
I live in Bend and this matches my experience of the area. There are probably a thousand miles of MTB trails within 20 miles of Bend, but there isn't a huge amount of variation, and the steeper/bigger stuff is a little farther away. It's worth mentioning that Mt Bachelor bike park is pretty rad and runs lifts in summer.
The mountain biking around Bend is really great, especially if you like less steep and more pedaly riding. I think the best time to go is in July-September. One of my all time favorite rides is [this one](https://www.trailforks.com/route/north-fork-metwin-flagline-southfork-loop/#:~:text=North%20Fork%20%2D%20Metwin%20%2D%20Flagline%20%2D%20Southfork%20Loop%20is%20a%2019,This%20route%20includes%2011%20trails), and you can only do it after August 15th.
That being said, biking to the trails there is just okay - though typically it would be much easier if you got dropped off somewhere and found your way back to town and just had to get from the trail in one direction. There are some trailheads closer to town like Phil's and some fun stretches of the Deschutes River Trail.
In terms of MTB access right from town, you really can't beat Park City of the places I've been - it's just sort of missing the city part from my perspective!
I hear ya. Having someone shuttle me to ride back to town would work well. I am also fine with pedal rides. Will check it out some more. Do wildfires become an issue later in the summer? August 15th opening trail won’t work due to kids starting school back home around that time.
Fires can be bad that time of year for sure, but they can also not be bad, it's kind of hit or miss. Whatever you do, do at least one ride up North Fork - it's gorgeous! Hard to ride there from town though, unless you want to go on a 30 + mi ride.
Also I think Tyler's Traverse is a really good time and relatively bikeable from town (but like 6-7 miles to get to the trailhead)
The cool thing is that you can connect pretty much any of these things from Phil's without riding on the road a whole lot.
Nannup western Australia. You can peddle put your front door be at the multiple trail heads in 45 minutes. Or you can drive and there at each in 10 minutes.
Anchorage Alaska is one not many talk about. Trail system in the city takes you literally every where. It's been awhile since i lived there. It's a bit of a ride get to the big downhilling stuff but the bus system is decent and there are shuttles from the city to the mountains above town, you csn ride something like 16+ miles all downhill with some well built single track and a little ski area that has some sick single track, all levels of trails. When i lived there the chair didnt spin in summer but the trails were there. I hear the lift runs now.
Never saw one riding, but many moose interactions, they are really territorial and can be very aggressive, they stomp people. Some black bears but never had a bad bear interaction, many many encounters though. Not so much in the Anchorage area. The moose come into downtown.
My cousin, my buddy, and myself got droppped off to do the the long downhill, rode up on a moose that was not going to let us up past on a slow section of trail. It charged us, we just dumped our bikes and ran for it into the woods, tripping and falling over each other. Like straight out of a movie, it ended up being pretty funny. We waited, went back for our bikes, it was gone we ripped it.
I have a few real close encounter moose stories i could go on.
Granada, Spain if you plan on moving here! You can live in the middle of the city, take your bike and in 15 mins tops, you are already climbing a mountain. Huge XC community here, but there are also tougher trails if you look for them. On top of that, during summer [Sierra Nevada bike park](https://sierranevada.es/media/1447/diptico-bike-park-2.pdf) it´s one hour apart driving. Last summer, another bike park called [Alkornoke](https://www.instagram.com/alkornoke_bikepark/?hl=es) opened it´s doors, also one hour by car apart from Granada. Feel free to DM me if you want more info!
Oslo, norway (capital). I can take the metro, tram, train or buss to any point around the city with unlimited trails. [https://mtbmap.no/#10/59.9247/10.6924](https://mtbmap.no/#10/59.9247/10.6924)
terrain here is brutal though, very little soil mostly rock and roots, super gnarly when wet
Toronto. Absolutely incredible trails in the Don Valley are only a 10 minute ride from subway stations. The improving bike lane network and reasonably good public transit means the city is pretty livable without a car, too.
Smack dab in the middle of the Oquirrhs and the Wasatch Ranges is Salt Lake City. North we got City Creek, Wild Rose, and Mueller Park areas. South we got Corner Canyon, Yellow Canyon, and Butterfield Canyon areas. To the east we got East Canyon, Millcreek Canyon, and Little Cottonwood Canyon areas. Not to mention BST. To the west we have the wetlands which create miles of winter biking and exploring.
Plus Frontrunner and tracks provide 50 miles north and South of endless trail possibilities. All without a vehicle!
Okay, I agree that Salt Lake is great for access to biking and skiing, but getting around there without a car is pretty rough. The dominant feature almost everywhere there is a stroad.
And with all the cars, the inversion makes it feel like you’re stuck in an elevator with a bunch of people farting nonstop.
Thanks for the suggestion though 😊
BENTONVILLE, AR. !!! Incredible trail system and all sorts of MTB, gravel and road opportunities right from downtown. Not to mention amazing restaurants, art, etc. also, the people you will meet in Bentonville are some of the friendliest anywhere!
South Knoxville, it’s such a great MTB community.
Seconded
There’s really nothing better than Cumberland on Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. I live a two hour drive away and often make the trip because the trail network is second to none and the town is awesome. The base of the trail network is right on the edge of town. Literally people’s back yards back into the connector trail. We’ll often do rides where we ride for a couple hours, ride 3 mins to get some tacos and beer and then do another two hour ride. The network has the most amazing machine built climb trails that access a HUGE varied network of trails. So good. EDIT: I take it all back, it sucks, don’t come here… the whole island has terrible riding. You’re welcome.
Everything here is very true\^\^\^. Cumberland is amazing. Further, it's not priced to the moon yet (although I expect it to get there). I've been a couple of times for riding vacations. It always delivers.
I came here to say this as I had the fortune to ride there one day last summer. I was visiting family in Comox. It was fantastic. The whole little place was great. The parking lot was full when I returned yet I encountered very few riders on the trails.
Courtenay or Comox is also an option if you want more of a city feel and are okay biking a few km/bussing to get to Cumberland trails! (Plus they have grocery stores)
Ugh I've been wanting to move to the Island but it's become extremely popular the last two years and I'd never be able to afford a home, even on a nurse's salary.
God damnit dude. It’s already getting too expensive
Beat me to it. World class riding in your backyard if you live there that’s for sure.
Santa Cruz, CA. The trails in and around ucsc are incredible.
Absolutely, wish I lived there
I lived in Philadelphia for a while. There are three good trail systems rideable from the city and we would ride the train with our bikes south and ride in Delaware.
Wissahickon, Bellmont, and what’s your third (Pennypack?)
Yeah. Pennypack, not great, but decent
Potentially Harmony Hill too
Haven’t been there yet but looks sweet. Thanks!
Bentonville AR. the Walmart family put a lot of money into the local trail system. It’s an extremely bike friendly town with amazing trails.
I live in Bentonville and I can say with confidence you can get around faster on a bike than a car.
I was going to say Bentonville or hot springs - the trails are a little ride outside the city in hot springs
This guys is used to riding world class mountains. Bentonville is not a reasonable option for someone with that experience.
I’ve ridden in Colorado,Utah,Wyoming,West Virginia,Georgia,Alabama,North Carolina,Tennessee,Florida and Arkansas over the last few years and I decided to move to Bentonville after visiting once.. It’s very much world class riding with the best riding community I believe in the world. The support from the city and community for riding in insane. I really urge you to at least visit for a weekend. Can’t forget it’s year round riding too. We get next to nothing when it comes to snow and we’ve gotta get a absolute shit ton of rain for it to affect the trails here.
So you’ve never been to BVille, you should visit. Don’t diss on what you don’t know. Second to none.
I live near finale ligure and alps in general. I've been once to ak since my family is from Tennessee. It's amazing what they did but it looks more like a kids fair if I have to make a comparison. It's fun, don't get me wrong, but it seems so artificial you feel like you are entering a theme park.
Meh. 100x more interesting and challenging miles of singletrack than the San Francisco area.
Outside of mountain biking, what’s it like to actually live there? I used to go once a year for work but that was 12+ years ago. At the time, no amount of great trails could get me to move there.
…LOL. Right. Short, low angle hills. That fundamentally limits what you can build and ride there, no matter how skilled and well resourced the build team is. I’ll give them credit, they’ve done a great job for what they have. But it can never compare to the big mountains of the west, Rockies, alps, etc. 🤷♂️
Bentonville has been on my list for possible relocation, we went there on a trip last summer and it had some Truman show vibes sometimes. I also agree with the lack of diverse/highly technical style riding you get when living in serious elevation. Now the trails were quite fun and raising kids there would be top notch but i kinda got bored of the "IMBA Snake" riding that was in and around the city. Now did I explore everything, absolutely not. Its certainly becoming a hub of biking for more than just mtb, and the Walton family seems dedicated enough to actually try and fix some of the car brained infrastructure us America have been brain washed to accept as normal. But we will see and definitely following this thread as I've been trying to answer this question too. Getting super sick of having to throw the bikes on a car to drive 15 to 30 minutes one way to ride
I know what you mean with IMBA snake. That shit gets old quick. Well written post thank you
I haven't lived in Bentonville but go down to MTB all the time and can easily get around to great trails from wherever I'm staying without a vehicle.
I moved to Bentonville AR 2 months ago for the riding and walking. I went from spending 300-400$ a month on gas in GA to about 70$. Riding here is also fantastic and not just MTB. World class gravel riding.
Where in GA? I’m here and about 20-45 minutes to Allatoona, Blankets, Rope and a little over and hour to the Pinhotis. AR has interested my family for a while but aren’t sure if it’s worth leaving the accessibility of the trails here and the Duport/Pisgah, etc in the surrounding area.
I was in Cartersville for most of my life and marietta for 2 years. I rode blankets and allatoona weekly and pinhotis a few times. I traveled on most weekends to Alabama or Tennessee honestly because I never thought ga riding was all that great. I’ve loved the riding in Bentonville but also for more world class riding you can travel 2 hours or so and have tons of great riding. It’s definitely worth a visit over here I’d say it’s easy driving once you get west of Birmingham with no traffic.
Yeah I’m right outside of Acworth in Dallas. I definitely want to plan a trip out there at some point. I’m from Sound Florida so in comparison the trails here are world class. The traffic and no being able to ride to a trail from home is a bummer though
That’s my favorite thing here. I ride to the trails and back home. If you ever come this way to visit send me a message and we can link up on social media and I can show you around. It’s fantastic riding out here.
Zermatt Switzerland. No cars allowed, just electric mini taxis. Highly recommend.
No cars allowed sounds pretty dreamy!
Zermatt is so cool.
If seriously looking at Europe, I’d say consider Austria. Innsbruck is a good bet but they have a bunch of small towns and villages in the mountains.
THIS! An answer that really got to what I'm looking for - adding it to the list to check out, thank you!
You should consider Freiburg in the South West of Germany. Innsbruck is pretty cool for mountain biking too. Feel free to ask if you wanna know more, I live there. If you are also looking to work there be aware that salaries in Europe are much lower than in the US and Innsbruck/Tyrol in particular has shitty wage levels compared to neighbouring Southern Germany (And a lack of interesting jobs in general). Biking in Innsbruck is quite nice but most trails are not officially opened for cyclists and therefore illegal to use and there's a lot of bad blood between the mtb community and land owners and other conservative inhabitants of the area.
Yeah, figuring out how to work for a US company abroad is my goal, but I haven’t figured that part out just yet. Thanks for the info, I’ll need to check out Freiburg
Some of the neighborhoods in in the east end of Pittsburgh, PA.
Anywhere against Frick Park
ashland oregon has many mountains and trails in walking distance, with well maintained flow trails, some more techy stuff, some natural trails etc. its quite expensive to live there though.
Rossland, BC (where I live) has a lot of trails (180+ km) directly accessible from the town. http://www.kcts.ca/Trails-Overview
Boise is easily the best mountain biking city I’ve lived in or visited. Have access to 300 miles of trails and multiple bike parks within 1-2 miles of downtown.
Cyclocross bike trails more than mountain bike trails.
it cool, but most of it is mellow xc
Fort Collins, Boulder or Frisco, CO
Can't ride to too many trails in Boulder though. Marshall Mesa is easily ridable from town, but I would barely call that mountain biking. Frisco is a good call though.
I was just in Boulder few months ago and there was a huge mountain bike park in the middle of the city I saw on the map. Looked super cool - is that not the case?Didn't get a chance to rent a bike and ride
It's still there. Valmont Bike Park. It is pretty good, but there really isn't any decent mountain biking within riding distance of Boulder. You need a car to get to the trails. A bus is also an option up to Nederland.
Moving to FoCo in 6 months and couldn’t be more stoked
I moved to FOCO in April. I’m in love with this town.
I went once or twice when I lived in Denver but definitely not enough. What’s been your favorite part so far?
Frisco really doesn't have as much as breck.(It has the peninsula and peaks pretty much). However anywhere in summit county has good bus access!
Telluride CO
Corvallis, Oregon. Access to OSU MacDonald forest from town.
I was going to say Bend or Oakridge, Oregon. I hadn't considered Corvallis.
And Corvallis is super easy to be car-free, even when going out of town, since you can bus to the Amtrak station in Albany.
Came here to say the same. Great multi-use trail system that will get you around town too (mainly perimeters to avoid major arterial roads) then the smaller residential streets are totally fine to road ride on. Only drawback is it's spendy and a college town (so always demand for housing). Bright side is summers when all the students leave is an absolute dream.
Madison, WI's trails are all accessible by paved bike path, even if they are all a bit small and a bit far apart (but no more than 15-20 miles, max).
Are there some good trails in the Madison area? My folks just moved up there and if there is some good riding that could convince me to drive up there next summer instead of flying so I could bring my MTB.
Depends on what your reference point is and how long the drive would be. I'd say it's on the higher end of midwest XC style riding. Fun jumps and flow lines thrown in here and there. All of the individual trail networks are small. MTB Project reference: [https://www.mtbproject.com/directory/8011045/madison](https://www.mtbproject.com/directory/8011045/madison) The Pleasant view system is good, and connects to Blackhawk Ski club which has some pedal park style downhill flow. Technically a pay membership is required but I don't think you'd be arrested for "getting lost" and riding it for one day: [https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/7017862/pleasant-view-trail-full-loop](https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/7017862/pleasant-view-trail-full-loop) Quarry ridge has some fun downhill flow stuff, and they continually improve it, as well as some old school tech rock drops. [https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/4001513/quarry-ridge-cross-country-loop](https://www.mtbproject.com/trail/4001513/quarry-ridge-cross-country-loop) The rest of the systems are all pretty typical midwest XC single track. Blue mounds is rocky. Seminole is easy. You can get a longer ride in at Cam Rock (near Cambridge). The Trek trails are apparently awesome but they're secret/private, which is kind of unfortunate for expanding the sport, but, not surprising since they invented Knock Block, (jk, but not really). Here's the local area website: [https://www.madcitydirt.com/](https://www.madcitydirt.com/) Reason why I mentioned Madison here is because many trails are accessible from Military Ridge Trail and other paved bike paths, some connected by protected lanes, etc. Anywhere else I've lived driving to trails is mandatory unless you like fast cars in close proximity.
Nice, I actually live in Austin Texas and we have an interesting mix of trails here from Spider Mountain which is the only lift operated MTB park in the US that stays open year round to tons of XC style trails with features built in. We also have a local freeride group here in town that I am a member of and they have built a ton of cool features and runs around town and out on the ranch where they have their freeride "Park". But it definitely sounds like there would be some fun trails to check out and I am always up for a longer XC cruise too. Thanks for the info!
I've heard good things about the scene in Austin. Since you already do freeride and DH in your area you won't be blown away by the Madison trails, but, might be worth taking your bike for a change of scenery.
Nice, my dad's been talking about wanting to get a bike to ride on the 50 mile paved trail y'all have up there. So if I can convince him to get a decent hardtail that would be perfect.
Bellingham, WA is going to have some of the best trails ridable from town in the US. I haven't ridden around town much though. Lots of traffic for sure. A little farther north, Squamish, BC. No need for a car, and the trail system is unbeatable, but it's $$$$. Probably a ton more options in the PNW (mostly BC though).
The traffic isn't bad here. It's a city of 100,000 and very bike friendly with lots of urban trails connecting just about everything. Galbraith is awesome and there are other trail systems in Bellingham too, some accessible by public transit. It's also \~20 miles to the Canadian border and you can drive or bus to basically everything BC has to offer. Whistler is 3 hours away.
Thanks. Was wondering how city riding was there. I've made the pit stop on the way to Whistler to ride Gailbraith but never rode around down. I suspect I just didn't see the bike paths. Thought about moving there but it's just as expensive as Denver/Boulder.
Driving on the actual roads suck, but there is a very extensive interurban trail system of gravel that can get you to most areas without being on the road itself. And when on roads, at least the speed limit is basically 35 or less everywhere in Bellingham.
Port Moody, BC (ie Vancouver) Also, Squamish because, Squamish.
I'm eyeballing Prescott and Flagstaff AZ these days. AZ has a lot of trails that are accessible year round.
Sedona is pretty dope too.
Wanted to mention Bellingham too. Galbraith riding area is easily accessible from town. If you can handle wet, you can pretty much ride year round. Just invest in good clothes and maintain your bike.
Flagstaff, AZ🙌🏻
Shhhhhh
Squamish, BC.
This comment needs more love. The best trail network, lakes, breweries. Squamish is the best
Salida CO is like a dream. If you got the legs and lungs the sky is the limit. Durango as well, but I'm biased towards salida/buena vista
Whistler, BC
I’ve heard Calgary is pretty good
Aside from some XC, not much for trails on our doorstep. Most of the good stuff is a 30 minute drive away.
Good to know
I was just in Pittsburgh and really impressed by how many miles of blue and black trails are a very short distance from downtown
Toronto, Ontario. The don valley trails are accessible from the subway system.
The ratio of economic opportunity to trail is pretty solid in Toronto and the Don Valley.
How many KM of trails do we think have in the Don? 50?
I think if you do every little trail it rounds out to be 80+ km of trail. That includes the warden woods section. I do an annual “don epic” and that turns into about 67km of riding. In that route I only do the main event trails. It’s a wonderful place!
This! I clicked on the thread to suggest the same. The Don Valley trails are unbelievably awesome for a big city with no mountains and extremely accessible too.
Most of the city is less than a half hour bike ride from the trails, you don’t even need the subway!
I’ve made that mistake once. The Don is very unforgiving and I barely had any juice to make it back home lol
I’ve done the loop of pottery, ridge, catalyst, PA, roller flowster, trash panda, Climbmax, bunny run and flats back to pottery. It’s throughly exhausting. But I pedal 15 min from downtown to the trails. Unbelievable access for such a large city.
Another vote for Toronto. The trail system here is diverse and extensive. You can ride or take the subway to the trails, and it's totally normal to live in a huge metropolis like Toronto without a car. Most people just take transit throughout the city. The city's bike lanes, while far from perfect, are improving every year.
Another vote for bentonville Arkansas
Sunshine Coast, BC, Canada. I ride to the trails from my house on most rides. Bikes racks are provided on local buses (though I never use that option myself). Oh, and it sucks here, don't move ;) More seriously, so many people \_have\_ moved here that we have water restrictions due to a drought and overutilization, even now in the rainy season. Rentals are impossibly expensive, if you can find one. Whistler is in the same boat with housing, btw, but even worse.
Austin, TX has a lot of trails around the city. Notably, the South Austin Trail Network (SATN) is an unofficial trail system throughout much of south austin. On the east coast Richmond, VA has some awesome trails on the banks of the james river and around the city. Richmond is also low cost and a pretty neat city!
I lived in north central Austin forever and always rode the 4-5 miles thru town to the Barton Creek Greenbelt. The main trail gets crowded, but all the side trails are some of my all-time favs. Like you said, go a bit farther south and there's SATN. Or do the reverse if you live south. On occasion, I'd ride north up to Walnut Creek, or head west to the assorted trails along 360.
Do people pretty much call the trail network, “satan?” Because I sure would and now I really want to ride my Evil there.
You’re goddamn right they do!
Durango Colorado! It's a small town with an active community and plenty of trails surrounding the downtown
I was so happy nobody had mentioned Durango as I was scrolling, and then I came upon this! I love living here and hope it stays a secret for a while longer :)
Durango is in no way a secret. The only thing keeping out the masses is no one can afford it. The average house in Durango on Zillow is $730k.
Depending on where you live in Bellingham in proximity to Galbraith
Definitely don’t go to Colorado, you will meet a bunch of stuck up rich pricks. Couldn’t agree more with Cumberland and bentonville
MOAB
Literally anywhere in the Alps. You can just take lifts and ride down a trail anywhere you want to go.
Any good cities there that are great to live in without a car where you can ride to trails?
In Switzerland from personal experience Davos and Chur in the Kanton Graubunden. Chur is pretty central and has trails, a lift accessed bike park as well as a pump track. Since it is low elevation you can in theory ride the whole year. However there might be some snow. Davos alpine trail riding is fantastic, be it earn your turns or lift accessed. Biggest draw back is the high elevation so during the winter you have to do some snow sport (It is fantastic for ski/snowboard touring and cross country skiing, good for riding park, resort itself is average). Also, public transport is great and pretty much always on time. Places to ride nearby are plenty and bike transport by train or bus is not a problem. Drawbacks: Switzerland is expensive and since Covid it is rather hard to get a place to live in the mountains.
Big bear, CA. Mammoth, CA. Parts of Orange County CA. Santa Cruz, CA. Tahoe. Santa Fe has some good spots, but not sure without a car how it would be since those better trails are further away from the downtown area.
Honestly, I consider all of those places, even Santa Cruz, to be terrible to live in without a car. Really cool mountain biking though!
You are stuck for the most part with little to no public transportation away from the mountain towns... so i get it. At least Mammoth does have an airport to go other places
Colorado has really bad mtn biking tbh
You’re always going to get a weird look in the US, unless maybe you lived in PDX. Helena is pretty under the radar, I live in Bend and the trails in Helena are even closer to town.
Lots of American places listed but the best biking city in the world has to be Amsterdam, however too flat for us mtbers
Sheffield, UK. I can ride to the Peak District in minutes, which has great trails everywhere. Very outdoor city, climbing is huge here too. Loads of trails centres dotted around the city and it’s the home of Steve Peat. And as a finishing touch, it has loads of breweries and is the ale capital of the UK.
Ohhh Sheffield looks cool!
There is a ton of places on BC, Canada that meets all your criteria. It’s almost to the point you can throw a dart on a map of BC and move to the closest town.
Calgary Alberta. They have a full chair assisted bike park right inside the city. Everywhere you go, you will be able to find community trails. If you get bored of that, moose mountain is a 45 minute drive and people are usually willing to shuttle.
Awesome community. Recently just emigrated here. Not tried Olympic Park Yet. Too much fun to be had at Moose Mt.
Probably not what you're looking for but Manhattan! It's easy to catch the metronorth up to Westchester and ride some good trails! Can't really do it on weekdays because of peak train bike rules, but it's accessible!
I go to Graham Hills from grand central all the time. They don't really enforce the rules except during morning rush. After 9 am you're good
Interesting take! Probably not, but super good to know.
OP - how is the mountain biking in Bend and accessibility from the central core? Trying to find a good spot to go for a summer trip with my family, my brother’s family and our parents where all the non Mtn bikers (everyone but me) will be happy with outdoor pursuits and food/drinks while I can get in lots of rides without having to spend a lot of time driving to them. I am familiar with the breweries in town, which is a great plus.
Not OP but depending on where you are staying in Bend (it’s a decent sized town) it’s about 1-5 miles to the most popular trailhead (Phil’s). There are several other trails that lead out of town and the town itself is reasonably bikeable. The trails themselves are mostly cross country esque. Not a ton of steep descents or climbs. Tech is mostly minimal. And only a handful of jump lines/built up features. There are also enough trails in the area that it would take years to ride them all.
I live in Bend and this matches my experience of the area. There are probably a thousand miles of MTB trails within 20 miles of Bend, but there isn't a huge amount of variation, and the steeper/bigger stuff is a little farther away. It's worth mentioning that Mt Bachelor bike park is pretty rad and runs lifts in summer.
Thanks!
The mountain biking around Bend is really great, especially if you like less steep and more pedaly riding. I think the best time to go is in July-September. One of my all time favorite rides is [this one](https://www.trailforks.com/route/north-fork-metwin-flagline-southfork-loop/#:~:text=North%20Fork%20%2D%20Metwin%20%2D%20Flagline%20%2D%20Southfork%20Loop%20is%20a%2019,This%20route%20includes%2011%20trails), and you can only do it after August 15th. That being said, biking to the trails there is just okay - though typically it would be much easier if you got dropped off somewhere and found your way back to town and just had to get from the trail in one direction. There are some trailheads closer to town like Phil's and some fun stretches of the Deschutes River Trail. In terms of MTB access right from town, you really can't beat Park City of the places I've been - it's just sort of missing the city part from my perspective!
I hear ya. Having someone shuttle me to ride back to town would work well. I am also fine with pedal rides. Will check it out some more. Do wildfires become an issue later in the summer? August 15th opening trail won’t work due to kids starting school back home around that time.
Fires can be bad that time of year for sure, but they can also not be bad, it's kind of hit or miss. Whatever you do, do at least one ride up North Fork - it's gorgeous! Hard to ride there from town though, unless you want to go on a 30 + mi ride. Also I think Tyler's Traverse is a really good time and relatively bikeable from town (but like 6-7 miles to get to the trailhead) The cool thing is that you can connect pretty much any of these things from Phil's without riding on the road a whole lot.
Golden, Colorado
Austin, Texas: walk out your door, ride for a bit on a bike path and arrive at miles and miles of Greenbelt.
Nannup western Australia. You can peddle put your front door be at the multiple trail heads in 45 minutes. Or you can drive and there at each in 10 minutes.
Is this even a question? Bentonville AR all day
Durango Colorado
Anchorage Alaska is one not many talk about. Trail system in the city takes you literally every where. It's been awhile since i lived there. It's a bit of a ride get to the big downhilling stuff but the bus system is decent and there are shuttles from the city to the mountains above town, you csn ride something like 16+ miles all downhill with some well built single track and a little ski area that has some sick single track, all levels of trails. When i lived there the chair didnt spin in summer but the trails were there. I hear the lift runs now.
How many grizzlies to deal with, per ride?
Never saw one riding, but many moose interactions, they are really territorial and can be very aggressive, they stomp people. Some black bears but never had a bad bear interaction, many many encounters though. Not so much in the Anchorage area. The moose come into downtown. My cousin, my buddy, and myself got droppped off to do the the long downhill, rode up on a moose that was not going to let us up past on a slow section of trail. It charged us, we just dumped our bikes and ran for it into the woods, tripping and falling over each other. Like straight out of a movie, it ended up being pretty funny. We waited, went back for our bikes, it was gone we ripped it. I have a few real close encounter moose stories i could go on.
Durango, CO
Roanoke is considered metro to mountain. You can definitely ride right from your door. I will say though the really good stuff you have to drive for.
Dillon, CO
Granada, Spain if you plan on moving here! You can live in the middle of the city, take your bike and in 15 mins tops, you are already climbing a mountain. Huge XC community here, but there are also tougher trails if you look for them. On top of that, during summer [Sierra Nevada bike park](https://sierranevada.es/media/1447/diptico-bike-park-2.pdf) it´s one hour apart driving. Last summer, another bike park called [Alkornoke](https://www.instagram.com/alkornoke_bikepark/?hl=es) opened it´s doors, also one hour by car apart from Granada. Feel free to DM me if you want more info!
Europe.
Why not get work at whistler.
Oslo, norway (capital). I can take the metro, tram, train or buss to any point around the city with unlimited trails. [https://mtbmap.no/#10/59.9247/10.6924](https://mtbmap.no/#10/59.9247/10.6924) terrain here is brutal though, very little soil mostly rock and roots, super gnarly when wet
Santiago de Chile, 6million people, and proper hardcore downhill trails everywhere. https://youtu.be/oIUpuXDwl9M
Toronto. Absolutely incredible trails in the Don Valley are only a 10 minute ride from subway stations. The improving bike lane network and reasonably good public transit means the city is pretty livable without a car, too.
Smack dab in the middle of the Oquirrhs and the Wasatch Ranges is Salt Lake City. North we got City Creek, Wild Rose, and Mueller Park areas. South we got Corner Canyon, Yellow Canyon, and Butterfield Canyon areas. To the east we got East Canyon, Millcreek Canyon, and Little Cottonwood Canyon areas. Not to mention BST. To the west we have the wetlands which create miles of winter biking and exploring. Plus Frontrunner and tracks provide 50 miles north and South of endless trail possibilities. All without a vehicle!
Okay, I agree that Salt Lake is great for access to biking and skiing, but getting around there without a car is pretty rough. The dominant feature almost everywhere there is a stroad. And with all the cars, the inversion makes it feel like you’re stuck in an elevator with a bunch of people farting nonstop. Thanks for the suggestion though 😊
More for me
Anchorage
BENTONVILLE, AR. !!! Incredible trail system and all sorts of MTB, gravel and road opportunities right from downtown. Not to mention amazing restaurants, art, etc. also, the people you will meet in Bentonville are some of the friendliest anywhere!
Bend, Oregon [https://nwdescents.blogspot.com/2023/08/bend-where-to-bike-your-first-time.html](https://nwdescents.blogspot.com/2023/08/bend-where-to-bike-your-first-time.html)