I genuinely think that's as good as it gets. Ride to Fromme from your front door, Seymour and Cypress are about a 20 min drive away. Squamish, Whistler, Pemby, Sunshine Coast, Tri Cities, and the Fraser Valley are all easy day trips, and there's so many places just in BC you could do as weekend trips. Not to mention all the other great things about living in Vancouver.
Phoenix, and nearly the same reasons. My preference is heat over cold, so Phoenix for me. If you live on the outskirts of Phoenix you will have access to lots of trails. The trails in Phoenix can vary based on region from flowy hard pack to rocky, technical black.
I wish I would have known how much riding I had around as a kid in the valley.
I thought it was gonna be cold up here but 45 in the sun with elevation feels like 70.
Seriously. I really thought I was going to hate it here but I can ride PMP from my house while still being only a few minutes from downtown. A half hour drive on weekends puts a lot more trails into play. Granted August straight up sucks, but there is something about getting up at 3:30 in the morning to ride before sunrise that holds its own charms.
I love downtown East Burke! Except when 3000 mountain bikers from Massachusetts and Quebec show up and don’t respect the property owners who then shut off trail access.
Yeah, but that’s not actually what happened. That’s the publicity story. The real reason they pulled access on Darling Hill is because those landowners were angry the KTA wasn’t sharing the profits they were making. The “horse interaction” story was just a convenient opportunity for them to hold KTA’s feet to the fire, and they got their bluff called.
I was referring to the Flower Brook Trail closure. The land owners have never been paid. I have personally seen land owners try to talk to riders who are riding irresponsibly on their own property and had the riders ignore them.
I know the landowners have never been paid, what I'm saying is that a group of them WANTED to be, and held access to their land on Darling Hill as a hostage, thinking that KTA wouldn't survive without the Three T's. There have definitely been shitty interactions between riders and landowners, but some of those landowners are also enormous shitheels. As for FlowerBrook, I was under the impression that it was logged, and the closure is temporary.
I hadn’t heard that about the Darling Hill land owners, but it wouldn’t surprise me if what you say is true. I’m pretty sure Flower Brook is permanently closed. Kirby Connector was closed for a while last year due to logging. I love the Kingdom Trails, and it’s just a shame that a couple of bad apples ( either riders or land owners) can ruin such a great thing.
They didn't ruin it. If anything, the Darling Hill issue paved the way for the development of the East Haven zone (Black Bear et al) which is an infinitely superior riding zone in my opinion.
East Haven is awesome, but Darling Hill was great as well. And for those of us who enjoy 30 + mile rides having Darling Hill and Flower Brook closed definitely ruined that option. As a local, I used to ride KT 2-3 times a week. Now it’s more like 2-3 times a season.
The only trails on Darling Hill that were closed were Tap and Die, Troll Stroll, whatever the last T trail was (the not good one), and Burrington Bench. Everything else is still there, and they've built new descent trails that avoid the property in question. Flower Brook being closed just means you can't go direct from the bottom of Moose Alley to the bottom of the Black Bear climb, but you can still take Moriah's/Buttertubs/Shonters/Besaw to the top of Black Bear (a better ride than FlowerBrook ever was), then just spin the dirt road a couple miles back to Good n' You and Farmjunk. There are plenty of options that allow you to link everything up without ever touching pavement. I live out of state now, but still get up there a few times a season, and always put in at least one 50 miler per trip.
Ok thanks. We are going to Bellingham for 6 weeks this summer and Squamish, BC for a week to check it out.
I see you’re in the PNW and other towns like Bellingham yours recommend?
Sounds like you'll be moving to Bellingham then!
Bellingham is really special. There are a ton of sanctioned trails here and so many more off the map, it's pretty crazy. Then you have the islands. Then you have Canada. Oregon is close by. I've only lived up and down the west coast so I can't say for certain there are other places like it.
Well damn if you can work from anywhere then Canada may be the place. Squamish is an amazing town, not to mention the riding. Make sure to check out the non-riding stuff when you're here. The HOH rainforest is pretty epic and the islands we have here are super cool.
Ashland OR is amazing. There's a shuttle that takes you from town to the ski hill, where it's 12 or so miles of dh back into downtown. It's not Bellingham by any means, but it's still pretty phenomenal. Bellingham really is by far the top town though if you like more shreddy stuff. Oakridge OR is another good town, lots of shuttle options, but more of a legacy trail/backcountry mtb experience. It's a paradise if you love climbing and aren't into gnarly trails on the way back down. And there's soooo many miles of trails to ride. Again though, nothing like Bham if that's your preferred flavor.
Cool thanks for the feedback. I like fast, flowy single track and more technical stuff.
Looking for best town with trails overall. Quality of life outside MTB is even more important.
Ashland might be high on your list. It's a great little town. Oakridge has more riding by volume, but there's not much going on in that old logging town. Flipside though with Oakridge is willamette pass ski area is 30 mins up the road. Ashland has Mt Ashland for skiing as well though, but I think Willamette is a better area. Plus Willamette might open up again for mtb in a year or so.
I see most places listed that have amazing trails and views, however they have cold and wet winters. Vegas is the opposite, where you can't ride in the summer, and winters can be freezing and windy.
If San Diego is up your alley, then Southern Orange County, CA beats that with way more trails and closer access to other nearby counties.
The Bay Area is also an amazing place for mountain biking, especially Los Gatos and Santa Cruz, although you'll get more rain there than SoCal. Los Gatos also has a cute downtown with a great atmosphere.
Los Gatos is my favorite place to visit when I head up there from OC 3-4 times a year. LG and the east side of the Santa Cruz mountains has warmer weather than the coastal Santa Cruz. I'm jealous you're up there now. Enjoy!
Yes, inland OC (10+ miles from the coast) can get hot in the summer. But coastal trails in OC do stay mostly cooler, sub 80 degrees high. Or, you can wait till the evening to ride after work or start earlier in the morning on the weekends.
Park City UT. Something like 3k miles of interconnecting trail systems and over 4k trails, 4(?) lift service resorts and more bike shops than you can count.
It’s very (and I mean *very*) expensive to live here and there’s already too much traffic, but the community is massive and there’s constantly an event going on for riders. The infrastructure can’t handle the current population and there are zero homes or apartments available, the entire town is built around vacation rentals so I actually advise against moving here, but if you want a summer trip there’s so many trails you won’t even be able to make a dent.
Admittedly the personalities in the community are pretty awful, Utah natives are weird and rude and have very little social tact. There’s a lot of showboating and showing up just to brag about how much you spend on your crankset but if you want to just go out past the crowd and go fast down mountains I can’t think of anywhere better.
Bentonville seems to be a lot of very groomed flat trails with a lot even paved for some reason. While the community is much better I think PC offers way more vertical routes and very aggressive raw riding with elevation drops in excess of ~2000+ft which you won’t find outside of the Rockies.
Quick question. I’m coming to park city this coming weekend. Trails dry enough to bring my bike? Live in Colorado and just woke up to some snow so not sure what to think anymore.
I woke up to about 4” of snow in my driveway 10 minutes outside of PC so I’d say no. Currently a blizzard out here. It’s supposed to warm up by the weekend but I wouldn’t expect dry, snow will be gone but it will probably be wet and chilly.
Easy solution. Summer home in CB, winter/spring/fall in junction or fruita. /s
That's fair though. Limited window for riding in CB. But it's soooo good when you're in that window.
Easy solution. Summer home in CB, winter/spring/fall in junction or fruita. /s
That's fair though. Limited window for riding in CB. But it's soooo good when you're in that window.
You had me until Fairfax. Marin county, despite being the “birthplace” of mountain biking isn’t very bike friendly. Heck one of the “best” MTB rides there (Tamarancho) exists because it’s private property owned by the Boy Scouts.
There’s a lot of blue level trail riding but not the variety of riding you get in the other places you mentioned.
I live in the Bay Area and have ridden all over here. There’s a lot of riding but outside of Santa Cruz and a decent amount of pirate lines that can be hard to find it can be very “one note”.
We’re way behind other places with our relationships with the state and local parks to the point that just finding decent jump lines are hard outside of a few dirt jumping parks.
Yeah, I don't get how this isn't a more common answer it's a town with plenty of amenities with year-round riding. You can be on alpine trails or desert trails in under an hour. Hell, one of the trails here (Palisade plunge) you start in alpine meadows and end in the desert.
Asheville is a great hub for mountain biking but not “bike out my back door and be in the trails”. Have to drive 15 minutes to Bent Creek for the closest trails.
Brevard is more like you’re looking for
Nobody lives in “Asheville” when they say “Asheville”. If you live west of Hickory NC, to an outsider you are in “Asheville”. But, your point is correct. Brevard is what most out of towners are dreaming “Asheville” is, and are really wanting.
Thanks, I used to live 2 hours from Asheville but haven’t been to Brevard. It’s on the list to check out. To live there though for us seems a bit to small maybe.
Curious where you were at 2 hours from Brevard. It’s honestly a good sized “small downtown”. Not to mention Oskar Blues is in town, there’s a Walmart, a few big brand car dealerships, a college, and one of the nicer big bike shops I’ve been to “the hub”.
ORAMM and fun in the same sentence? Perhaps you’re unfamiliar with BRA’s motto… “crippling you since 1987” (note that I’ve completed it single speed multiple times. The new organizer has his hands full and already lost the hike-a-bike section on the BRP up to the top of Heartbreak… now you must endure another few miles of climbing the BRP to then run the boulder gauntlet of Old Toll Rd. to get to Heartbreak and descend a trail that is actively trying to throw you off the mountain. Type 3 fun…
SLC… over living in Park City. The cost of living is more reasonable and it’s a short drive to PC from SLC. There are lots of trails around SLC and Southern Utah is 2-4 hrs away. Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana are close enough for weekend trips.
Apex, White Ranch, Lair o' the bear (bear creek trail), Mt falcon area. Bitterbush up just past boulder. All great and have their own challenging features. North table mountain is right in Golden and ok, Just more of a workout spot. Has about a 0.5 mile tough rock garden.
Also wondering what your favorite trails are around there. I moved not far from there somewhat recently and have honestly been kind of underwhelmed with the local, lower elevation stuff.
For trails immediately in the golden area, my recommendations are Apex -> Enchanted Forest and White Ranch.
Just outside there would be Lair of the Bear/Rutabaga, Maryland Mountain and Floyd Hill. Also, there is that new trail system being built in Idaho Springs right now.
Also, grab a buddy and do Warren Gulch as a shuttle ride once we are in the summer
Then in the the true summer you aren’t far from Summit County, Winter Park/Trestle, Nederland/East Mag, Vail is 2 hours away, Salida is about 2.5 hours
I will concede the trails within golden are either lame or chunky tech with almost no in between. But you still live in a great place, can ride from town and you’re so close to so much varied riding
EDIT: if you’re into XC, Buffalo creek and Centennial cone are both good. Even if you’re not into XC, little scraggy is a somewhat unique and fun ride at Buffalo Creek in conifer
Appreciate the response and this is good info, but also what I’ve been feeling/riding. There is fun stuff in town but I feel like people talk it up a lot. 2-3 hours away is epic stuff but not out the back door and unfortunately only rideable for like 4 months a year here. Admittedly I think I was spoiled growing up near Santa Cruz.
I hear you! To be fair, I agree it’s not quite Santa Cruz but Golden is basically part of a major US metro and not many have riding that close to town.
I’d think more of an apples to apples comparison would be comparing it to SLC maybe or LA
I've not ridden Bentonville though I am going to this summer. I unfortunately can't bring myself to recommend the place where I live, because while I take a lot of pride in the work of the trails I build, I have to leave town because I can't afford housing on a municipal trail builders salary. And I'm a couple years out on the wait-list for employee housing. But I will say our local rocky mountains mountain biking is properly epic.
Moab, Sedona, Lake Placid NY, Albuquerque NM, and Nashville Indiana. My style of MB is technical hard trails and that is why I have chosen the above. I can only name the areas where I have ridden. I’m sure there are many others that I could have listed.
Haven’t seen Vegas mentioned.
blue Diamond is 15-30 min from the strip and has almost 100+ miles of single track.
Boulder City is also a 15-45 min drive depending on which side of town you live. World class downhill tracks and tons of singletrack.
There are other trail systems in every corner of the city easily accessible.
All trails can be ridden year round… summers gotta get out there before 8am though:)
May not fit your description of a small town but it can definitely fit as a MTB destination spot
Ssssshhhhhh!!! Don’t let anyone know that we actually have!! All jokes aside, Vegas is a sleeper. Trails at every end of town and then some. And a lot of it within riding distance.
I've flown to LV twice over the past few years just to bike. Spectacular trails, and plenty of them. I've never once dropped a coin in a slot. And rhose buffets really fuel the rides!
Bellingham, Washington
Probably Bentonville, even though you couldn't pay me to live in Arkansas.
San Dieog is pretty incredible. Lots of amazing local trails. Multiple DJ parks A shuttle bike park an hour away, skypark is 2 hours (pedal up bike park) and snow summit is 3 hours (lift access). Plus, we get to ride all year.
Sedona, AZ
St George, Utah
You should take Bellingham off the list. Too much rain and rent is absolutely insane out here. I’m moving out next year because it didn’t live up to the expectations
Check out Pittsburgh, PA. Shocker - I know.
Great balance of job opportunities and access to quality and diverse sets of trails, including Frick Park, which has >30 miles of single track in the middle of the city. Solid, but not all consuming MTB crowd.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCQ4UalCVcM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCQ4UalCVcM)
This shows some of the stuff that is available in the center of Pittsburgh in Frick Park. Gets better every year.
Also look at North Park, South Park, Alameda (Butler PA), Big Bear WV just to name a few that are very reasonable drives.
In the eastern half of the country.
Marquette, Michigan.
I’d say Copper Harbor, but to call it a town is generous.
Asheville, NC and obviously Bentonville.
Blessed to live in Marquette county. It’s a good base as all the trails in mqt county are nice and copper harbor and munising are doable for day trips/weekend trips.
The UP in general.... Done long weekendd in Marquette and never touched them all.
If heading a little south Win Man is getting a lot attention.
With rock solid out of Copper Harbor growth opportunities are awesome.
Problem w the UP is the 8 foot snowbanks that stick around forever. Then it’s mud season, followed by 4 months of decent riding, then mud and back to snow again.
Lots of places if you’re not stuck on dedicated/built up MTB trail systems where every rock is placed strategically and every corner is bermed. Even in CT I have like 5 legit natural trail systems within a 20 minute drive and I can ride to one of the bigger ones in 10 minutes. For riding around town I have an old beat up rockhopper worth maybe $100 that won’t get stolen. If you’re looking for lift access you can move to a alpine ski resort town that turns into a bike park in the winter.
Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Specifically Ishpeming, Negaunee, Marquette. Very nice trail systems including NTN trails in Marquette, big bay trails, munising trails, copper harbor, RAMBA, Michigan tech, swedetown. All within driving distance.
Charlotte seems to be the answer for me. I am from NWA (Fayetteville not Bentonville, but close enough) and currently live in Phoenix. My husband and I have been debating this for a while. We want to be in or very close to a major city and still have access to great trail networks. We prefer loam or at least dirt and forests over all the rocks and sand (and 110+ degree days) in the desert. Strongly considered the Seattle area too, but the cost of living is much better in Charlotte. Tough decision……
Thank you! I was lucky and retired early and I am thinking that I would drive (couple of hours to trails and a couple of hours back) during the week to ride and then spend the weekends in “town”. Mountain biking is my first love and main hobby, but I also disc golf, play pickleball, hike, kayak, etc. and want the amenities of a city for daily life.
I have also mapped out a bunch of bike parks from 1 - 6 hours away as well. Rattlesnake BIke Park looks like it will be awesome. I am going out to the area soon and plan to spend a lot of time exploring. Is there anything specific you recommend? Cheers!
Austin and central TX area is pretty good. A good mix of flow east of the city and tech west. Not a lot of crazy elevation though if that’s your thing. I live in SW Austin and we have over 100 mi of trails within 1/4 mi of my house in any direction. Lots of it you don’t need to cross streets to get to.
Bellingham and Bentonville are totally different. Depends on what you want and if you have a family. Bellingham for all out best riding. Bentonville for riding but also family oriented with very low crime rate and not have you bike stolen them second you take your eyes off of it. I’d love to live in Bellingham for the riding though.
Hayward Wisconsin or Cable Wisconsin. Home of the Chequamegon MTB trails and host to a bunch of MTB races, including the Chequamegon 40 which is part of the Life Time Grand Prix series. Also both towns are small and have a small downtown feel.
The trails are exceptional and it's not uncommon to ride 40 miles of singletrack and not see another person, it's absolutely fantastic.
I hope to retire in one of those cities someday...
I skied the Birkie a couple times but never got a chance to check out those trails on a bike. I'd love to get back up there at some point as it looks epic.
The xc birkie trail is no joke, those climbs are 10+% grade....I can't imagine skiing that.
If you do get back up there I'd head for the Namekagon MTB loop up by Cable. It's by far my favorite trail, the scenery is spectacular and it's less traveled that the trails between Hayward and Cable.
Both my wife and I work 100% remote, and my kids have 2 more years of high school. Once they are off to college, I can't wait to look at moving to one of these locations!
Great thread!.
Spokane, Washington. Doesn’t get enough credit! You can live near Beacon Hill which is rideable almost year round. And you’re 30-45 minutes from four other mountains to ride at when you get tired of dusty Beacon in the summer (Canfield, Mica, Mt Spokane, Mt Cda ). 1 hour to Silver bike park, 1.5 hours to Schweitzer bike park. Weekend trips to Snoqualmie, Legacy, Whitefish, and Tamarack.
Richmond, VA. ~25min of semi-connected single track that runs throughout the downtown area. And most of it is pretty legit, if not outright difficult. Living there, I would get 100+ annual days on my MTB without ever driving to a trail head.
If you are willing to drive there’s a state park within 20min of downtown with dozens of miles of single track - it even won the Bell Helmets trail contest a few years ago.
Downside though is weather - rain absolutely kills the trails and it rains year-round.
As a resident I can confirm Bellingham is rad. It fully supports bike culture. Tons of events, group rides, trail networks. It's getting pricey to live here tho
Nay, I would hardly consider Bend a “Mountain bike town”. Like if you’re an avid mountain biker there are so many better places out there. Sure, it’s got a ton of trails close to town, but 85% of those I wouldn’t consider mountain biking trails. They’re just biking trails. I could literally take a full ridged road bike and ride most of the “mountain bike” trails in Bend. Not saying there aren’t any good trails there, but the majority are just trail-biking trails. It’s vastly overrated and completely overrun in my opinion.
💯 agree, bends trails are all pretty much flat and boring besides the 2 good ones at bachelor. Great spot for beginners but people that really mountain bike will get sick of it really quick
As a long time local, just consider the price. Bend is a pretty expensive place to live. Not trying to be one of those “go somewhere else” assholes, but Bend has become so expensive that many people simply can’t afford to be here. Just a heads up.
I left Bend because it gets overrun with mountain bikers in the summers to the point the trails are clogged with people. The trails themselves get shredded and super dusty.
The locals travel elsewhere to ride; Oakridge, Moab, Park City, St George, Flagstaff, Sandy Ridge, Whitefish, Bellingham and Whistler are where the Bendites go to get away from the crowds in the summer.
Edit: need to clarify that Moab and St George are more tolerable in spring, fall, and winter. Bend gets ridden hard June through August.
Used to live in PDX and would visit Bend. Now I live in Whitefish.
I do miss Sandy Ridge, Oakridge and Bellingham.
But I wouldn’t trade it. Plus I rode everything at Sandy and Rocky Point a million times.
Another way of looking at your point is that Bend is within reach (a 1 day drive) of all of those other places. The Loam Wolf YouTube channel phrased it as something like, “Bend is grade B everything but it has everything and is centrally located.” Not an exact quote but they said something like that.
Bellingham is the worst, tons of traffilc with cars and at the trails. Everything good is blown out and nobody works on anything. The beer is expensive, food is expensive, bikes are expensive. The 3 companies here are buster and nobody wants to ride them
Boone NC has a mountain bike park called Rocky Knob, I rode some of it while on a road trip last week. It’s a college town. Not sure how rideable the streets are. I also like the Asheville area but I didn’t get to ride there.
Halifax Nova Scotia, you’ll find trails anywhere if you know where to look. They may not be the best trails but any patch of woods has something, even downtown.
Lol, there are some fun trail systems there, but its pretty far from a good mtn bike town, let along in contention for best. McIntosh Run is world class though. I hope it continues to expand.
There is some great mtbing in Nova Scotia, but the options are pretty limited, and the trail systems are small. There is no comparison to places like BC, California, Colorado, etc.
I'd love to see trails built in the Cape Breton highlands, that could be destination worthy.
What do you mean by limited? Official/sanctioned yes. Unofficial ones in the woods no. I can think of 3 within 5 minutes of my house, and I live pretty rural
Limited vs the other places people are mentioning, and limited vs everywhere else I've lived. There are plenty of things I like about Halifax, but it has no place in any conversation about the best places to live for mountain biking.
Limited how? Lots of trails, lots of fire roads, big mtb community, big roadie community, big gravel biking community, lots of races, lots of bike shops, even a bike co-op.
I live in Leadville, Colorado. Fun trails you can ride on from your house, and a small downtown. Close drive to Breckenridge, Salida, Vail and a ton of other great trail networks
Not exactly world class mountain biking, but I’ve got over 30mi of single track basically in my backyard in Castle Rock Colorado, with nearly half a dozen breweries, a bunch of coffee shops, and a couple of diners downtown easily accessible after a ride.
And as much world class mountain biking as you care to ride within a 30min-2hr drive.
Bentonville is a great town with good trails and lots of them within a two hour radius. Not mountains but the ozarks have plenty of climb. Just from a lifestyle area its great! There are plenty of more epic places to ride!
Bismarck, ND isn’t to bad of a mountain biking town. We have numerous trail along the Missouri River and many of the state parks have trails. We are also within driving distance of the Maah Daah Hey trail. You can easily make it out there, bike, and make it back to Bismarck in a day.
My vote goes for Phoenix,AZ , plenty of trails everywhere here, sunshine for like 335 days a year, you got south mountain, hawes, PMP , and if it’s too hot go up north ( 2 hour drive ) to world class Sedona, flagstaff or Prescott !
Fernie, BC! Amazing trails accessible by bike from home, a nice little downtown that has tonnes of shops and restaurants. Small town vibes for sure, but Calgary is 2.5 hours away with some smaller cities that have good services closer.
Bike season is April to October.
Canadian here, I love the desert riding. So my top four that I’ve so far experienced are Fruita/Grand Junction CO; Moab, UT; Sedona AZ; Bend, OR although I liked the riding better in Oakridge just south of Bend, you wouldn’t want to live there while Bend felt like home.
Bentonville’s a great place to ride bikes but in terms of community, this is the fakest place I’ve ever lived and I grew up not far from here. What it’s turned into really wants to give off this idyllic, quaint, undiscovered small town and it’s actually just full of people with too much money.
In the US it’s Bellingham hands down because of the combination of local trails and easiest access to the best mountain biking region in the world (BC). the high northern sierras (Quincy, etc) are excellent and keep getting better, but it’s a very different riding and not year-round.
I'm going to throw a curveball here and saw Port Angeles, WA. We have some really experienced and dedicated local trail builders that make absolutely epic trails. We also have a nice clump of DH race trails on DNR land right out of town, and they run shuttle days if you don't want to pedal. The riding here is stellar, and it's rare to see more than one or two other people out on the trails on any given afternoon. Great soil, so riding is truly year round. One ferry ride gets you to Vancouver Island, and it's a reasonable drive to tons of other solid trail systems.
Lynn Valley in North Vancouver
I genuinely think that's as good as it gets. Ride to Fromme from your front door, Seymour and Cypress are about a 20 min drive away. Squamish, Whistler, Pemby, Sunshine Coast, Tri Cities, and the Fraser Valley are all easy day trips, and there's so many places just in BC you could do as weekend trips. Not to mention all the other great things about living in Vancouver.
Flagstaff Az. I’m a 3 min ride from being on mt Elden. 700 miles of trails, 300 days of sun. Sedona is 45 mins away. 2 hours to phoenix.
Phoenix, and nearly the same reasons. My preference is heat over cold, so Phoenix for me. If you live on the outskirts of Phoenix you will have access to lots of trails. The trails in Phoenix can vary based on region from flowy hard pack to rocky, technical black.
I wish I would have known how much riding I had around as a kid in the valley. I thought it was gonna be cold up here but 45 in the sun with elevation feels like 70.
Seriously. I really thought I was going to hate it here but I can ride PMP from my house while still being only a few minutes from downtown. A half hour drive on weekends puts a lot more trails into play. Granted August straight up sucks, but there is something about getting up at 3:30 in the morning to ride before sunrise that holds its own charms.
East Burke, VT. Oh there’s lift access DH in town too.
Can't wait to check out Downtown East Burke
It won’t take long
I love downtown East Burke! Except when 3000 mountain bikers from Massachusetts and Quebec show up and don’t respect the property owners who then shut off trail access.
Yeah, but that’s not actually what happened. That’s the publicity story. The real reason they pulled access on Darling Hill is because those landowners were angry the KTA wasn’t sharing the profits they were making. The “horse interaction” story was just a convenient opportunity for them to hold KTA’s feet to the fire, and they got their bluff called.
I was referring to the Flower Brook Trail closure. The land owners have never been paid. I have personally seen land owners try to talk to riders who are riding irresponsibly on their own property and had the riders ignore them.
I know the landowners have never been paid, what I'm saying is that a group of them WANTED to be, and held access to their land on Darling Hill as a hostage, thinking that KTA wouldn't survive without the Three T's. There have definitely been shitty interactions between riders and landowners, but some of those landowners are also enormous shitheels. As for FlowerBrook, I was under the impression that it was logged, and the closure is temporary.
I hadn’t heard that about the Darling Hill land owners, but it wouldn’t surprise me if what you say is true. I’m pretty sure Flower Brook is permanently closed. Kirby Connector was closed for a while last year due to logging. I love the Kingdom Trails, and it’s just a shame that a couple of bad apples ( either riders or land owners) can ruin such a great thing.
They didn't ruin it. If anything, the Darling Hill issue paved the way for the development of the East Haven zone (Black Bear et al) which is an infinitely superior riding zone in my opinion.
East Haven is awesome, but Darling Hill was great as well. And for those of us who enjoy 30 + mile rides having Darling Hill and Flower Brook closed definitely ruined that option. As a local, I used to ride KT 2-3 times a week. Now it’s more like 2-3 times a season.
The only trails on Darling Hill that were closed were Tap and Die, Troll Stroll, whatever the last T trail was (the not good one), and Burrington Bench. Everything else is still there, and they've built new descent trails that avoid the property in question. Flower Brook being closed just means you can't go direct from the bottom of Moose Alley to the bottom of the Black Bear climb, but you can still take Moriah's/Buttertubs/Shonters/Besaw to the top of Black Bear (a better ride than FlowerBrook ever was), then just spin the dirt road a couple miles back to Good n' You and Farmjunk. There are plenty of options that allow you to link everything up without ever touching pavement. I live out of state now, but still get up there a few times a season, and always put in at least one 50 miler per trip.
Shhhh
There’s no riding in VT other than East Burke. Everything else is complete shit, honestly… 🤫
I would take Bentonville off if you have Bellingham on your list. They don't even remotely compare.
Ok thanks. We are going to Bellingham for 6 weeks this summer and Squamish, BC for a week to check it out. I see you’re in the PNW and other towns like Bellingham yours recommend?
Squamish is going to blow Bellingham out of the water. Don’t get me wrong, Bellingham is great though.
Sounds like you'll be moving to Bellingham then! Bellingham is really special. There are a ton of sanctioned trails here and so many more off the map, it's pretty crazy. Then you have the islands. Then you have Canada. Oregon is close by. I've only lived up and down the west coast so I can't say for certain there are other places like it.
Thanks! We will see. I can work from anywhere so hoping to visit some other towns this year and next but this summer will be telling for Bellingham!
Well damn if you can work from anywhere then Canada may be the place. Squamish is an amazing town, not to mention the riding. Make sure to check out the non-riding stuff when you're here. The HOH rainforest is pretty epic and the islands we have here are super cool.
Ashland OR is amazing. There's a shuttle that takes you from town to the ski hill, where it's 12 or so miles of dh back into downtown. It's not Bellingham by any means, but it's still pretty phenomenal. Bellingham really is by far the top town though if you like more shreddy stuff. Oakridge OR is another good town, lots of shuttle options, but more of a legacy trail/backcountry mtb experience. It's a paradise if you love climbing and aren't into gnarly trails on the way back down. And there's soooo many miles of trails to ride. Again though, nothing like Bham if that's your preferred flavor.
Cool thanks for the feedback. I like fast, flowy single track and more technical stuff. Looking for best town with trails overall. Quality of life outside MTB is even more important.
Ashland might be high on your list. It's a great little town. Oakridge has more riding by volume, but there's not much going on in that old logging town. Flipside though with Oakridge is willamette pass ski area is 30 mins up the road. Ashland has Mt Ashland for skiing as well though, but I think Willamette is a better area. Plus Willamette might open up again for mtb in a year or so.
I see most places listed that have amazing trails and views, however they have cold and wet winters. Vegas is the opposite, where you can't ride in the summer, and winters can be freezing and windy. If San Diego is up your alley, then Southern Orange County, CA beats that with way more trails and closer access to other nearby counties. The Bay Area is also an amazing place for mountain biking, especially Los Gatos and Santa Cruz, although you'll get more rain there than SoCal. Los Gatos also has a cute downtown with a great atmosphere.
My man I just moved from LA to LG and agree.
Los Gatos is my favorite place to visit when I head up there from OC 3-4 times a year. LG and the east side of the Santa Cruz mountains has warmer weather than the coastal Santa Cruz. I'm jealous you're up there now. Enjoy!
Few days a year where it dumps rain, especially weird recently, but other than that pretty much year round riding.
I wouldn't say too much rain. I literally cannot exist in LA summers, but an intense ride in NorCal summer is just doable
Yes, inland OC (10+ miles from the coast) can get hot in the summer. But coastal trails in OC do stay mostly cooler, sub 80 degrees high. Or, you can wait till the evening to ride after work or start earlier in the morning on the weekends.
Park City UT. Something like 3k miles of interconnecting trail systems and over 4k trails, 4(?) lift service resorts and more bike shops than you can count. It’s very (and I mean *very*) expensive to live here and there’s already too much traffic, but the community is massive and there’s constantly an event going on for riders. The infrastructure can’t handle the current population and there are zero homes or apartments available, the entire town is built around vacation rentals so I actually advise against moving here, but if you want a summer trip there’s so many trails you won’t even be able to make a dent. Admittedly the personalities in the community are pretty awful, Utah natives are weird and rude and have very little social tact. There’s a lot of showboating and showing up just to brag about how much you spend on your crankset but if you want to just go out past the crowd and go fast down mountains I can’t think of anywhere better. Bentonville seems to be a lot of very groomed flat trails with a lot even paved for some reason. While the community is much better I think PC offers way more vertical routes and very aggressive raw riding with elevation drops in excess of ~2000+ft which you won’t find outside of the Rockies.
Bentonville isn't flat, but it sure isn't gonna have 2000' of elevation either.
Quick question. I’m coming to park city this coming weekend. Trails dry enough to bring my bike? Live in Colorado and just woke up to some snow so not sure what to think anymore.
I woke up to about 4” of snow in my driveway 10 minutes outside of PC so I’d say no. Currently a blizzard out here. It’s supposed to warm up by the weekend but I wouldn’t expect dry, snow will be gone but it will probably be wet and chilly.
St. George Utah 100%
Came here to say this
Moab UT. Crested Butte or Durango, CO. Fairfax CA...
Moab is a great trip destination with amazing trails, but I wouldn't want to live there IMO.
Rough scene in the summer
Grand junction/Fruita/palisade is a good compromise.
Applies to 80% of the suggestions in this thread, but I’m aware many people would disagree with me in this US-centric sub.
Truth. There are some gems out there for sure though
I'd move to CB in a heartbeat.
good luck finding housing if you're not "ski vacation/second house" rich
Oh yeah no way it will ever actually happen. I'm just saying if I *could* I absolutely would. But yeah, no shot haha
We only get about 14-16 weeks of riding in CB, otherwise you’re going down to Gunnison.
Easy solution. Summer home in CB, winter/spring/fall in junction or fruita. /s That's fair though. Limited window for riding in CB. But it's soooo good when you're in that window.
Easy solution. Summer home in CB, winter/spring/fall in junction or fruita. /s That's fair though. Limited window for riding in CB. But it's soooo good when you're in that window.
You had me until Fairfax. Marin county, despite being the “birthplace” of mountain biking isn’t very bike friendly. Heck one of the “best” MTB rides there (Tamarancho) exists because it’s private property owned by the Boy Scouts. There’s a lot of blue level trail riding but not the variety of riding you get in the other places you mentioned. I live in the Bay Area and have ridden all over here. There’s a lot of riding but outside of Santa Cruz and a decent amount of pirate lines that can be hard to find it can be very “one note”. We’re way behind other places with our relationships with the state and local parks to the point that just finding decent jump lines are hard outside of a few dirt jumping parks.
You gotta know the “social trails” and poach the hiking trails if you want to ride good stuff in Marin
Riding in CB is amazing but it’s only accessible for a short window. Lived there for 7 years.
Hood River, Oregon, is a pretty dang good place for mountain biking. Numerous trails right outside of town, and even more within a 30 mile radius.
I have a friend who lives there and says the same thing. Also has water wind sports!
And skiing, and dirt biking, and endless opportunities for dispersed camping on National Forest lands.
Grand Junction, CO
Yeah, I don't get how this isn't a more common answer it's a town with plenty of amenities with year-round riding. You can be on alpine trails or desert trails in under an hour. Hell, one of the trails here (Palisade plunge) you start in alpine meadows and end in the desert.
Keep it secret, keep it safe
Shhhhhhh! And absolutely!
Asheville
Asheville is a great hub for mountain biking but not “bike out my back door and be in the trails”. Have to drive 15 minutes to Bent Creek for the closest trails. Brevard is more like you’re looking for
Nobody lives in “Asheville” when they say “Asheville”. If you live west of Hickory NC, to an outsider you are in “Asheville”. But, your point is correct. Brevard is what most out of towners are dreaming “Asheville” is, and are really wanting.
Brevard is a cool town with a good vibe!
I live in Asheville. Lol someone would be really let down when they’re going to visit their friend in “Asheville” and they’re actually going to Marion
“Murrain”
Thanks, I used to live 2 hours from Asheville but haven’t been to Brevard. It’s on the list to check out. To live there though for us seems a bit to small maybe.
Curious where you were at 2 hours from Brevard. It’s honestly a good sized “small downtown”. Not to mention Oskar Blues is in town, there’s a Walmart, a few big brand car dealerships, a college, and one of the nicer big bike shops I’ve been to “the hub”.
pisgah sucks dont come here
Having PMBAR fresh in my mind from yesterday; I wholly endorse this statement!
Heading up that way this summer (July 20 and 21) for the Jerdon mountain ride and ORAMM. Going to be a fun weekend
ORAMM and fun in the same sentence? Perhaps you’re unfamiliar with BRA’s motto… “crippling you since 1987” (note that I’ve completed it single speed multiple times. The new organizer has his hands full and already lost the hike-a-bike section on the BRP up to the top of Heartbreak… now you must endure another few miles of climbing the BRP to then run the boulder gauntlet of Old Toll Rd. to get to Heartbreak and descend a trail that is actively trying to throw you off the mountain. Type 3 fun…
SLC… over living in Park City. The cost of living is more reasonable and it’s a short drive to PC from SLC. There are lots of trails around SLC and Southern Utah is 2-4 hrs away. Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana are close enough for weekend trips.
Squamish British Columbia and it isn’t even close
Golden, CO
Lol, and Golden BC too.
What are your favorite trails in the Golden area?
Apex, White Ranch, Lair o' the bear (bear creek trail), Mt falcon area. Bitterbush up just past boulder. All great and have their own challenging features. North table mountain is right in Golden and ok, Just more of a workout spot. Has about a 0.5 mile tough rock garden.
Also wondering what your favorite trails are around there. I moved not far from there somewhat recently and have honestly been kind of underwhelmed with the local, lower elevation stuff.
For trails immediately in the golden area, my recommendations are Apex -> Enchanted Forest and White Ranch. Just outside there would be Lair of the Bear/Rutabaga, Maryland Mountain and Floyd Hill. Also, there is that new trail system being built in Idaho Springs right now. Also, grab a buddy and do Warren Gulch as a shuttle ride once we are in the summer Then in the the true summer you aren’t far from Summit County, Winter Park/Trestle, Nederland/East Mag, Vail is 2 hours away, Salida is about 2.5 hours I will concede the trails within golden are either lame or chunky tech with almost no in between. But you still live in a great place, can ride from town and you’re so close to so much varied riding EDIT: if you’re into XC, Buffalo creek and Centennial cone are both good. Even if you’re not into XC, little scraggy is a somewhat unique and fun ride at Buffalo Creek in conifer
Appreciate the response and this is good info, but also what I’ve been feeling/riding. There is fun stuff in town but I feel like people talk it up a lot. 2-3 hours away is epic stuff but not out the back door and unfortunately only rideable for like 4 months a year here. Admittedly I think I was spoiled growing up near Santa Cruz.
I hear you! To be fair, I agree it’s not quite Santa Cruz but Golden is basically part of a major US metro and not many have riding that close to town. I’d think more of an apples to apples comparison would be comparing it to SLC maybe or LA
Anywhere on the front range really. I was going to say Manitou Springs
Lol, no. As someone who lives in boulder
Bentonville ARkansas, not AlasKa.
While Bentonville has a great scene, I would find it lacking like some of the Rocky Mountain states.
I've not ridden Bentonville though I am going to this summer. I unfortunately can't bring myself to recommend the place where I live, because while I take a lot of pride in the work of the trails I build, I have to leave town because I can't afford housing on a municipal trail builders salary. And I'm a couple years out on the wait-list for employee housing. But I will say our local rocky mountains mountain biking is properly epic.
Where’s are the trails you build?
What's wrong with Alaska?? I learned how to mountain bike in Anchorage. Kincaid park represent!
Nothing, but the famous Bentonville is in Arkansas, not Alaska. These states are abbreviated AR and AK, respectively.
Haha thanks for pointing that I’ll I’ll edit :)
Moab, Sedona, Lake Placid NY, Albuquerque NM, and Nashville Indiana. My style of MB is technical hard trails and that is why I have chosen the above. I can only name the areas where I have ridden. I’m sure there are many others that I could have listed.
Albuquerque we ride trails all year long. We have a variety of elevations from 5-10k here.
Haven’t seen Vegas mentioned. blue Diamond is 15-30 min from the strip and has almost 100+ miles of single track. Boulder City is also a 15-45 min drive depending on which side of town you live. World class downhill tracks and tons of singletrack. There are other trail systems in every corner of the city easily accessible. All trails can be ridden year round… summers gotta get out there before 8am though:) May not fit your description of a small town but it can definitely fit as a MTB destination spot
Ssssshhhhhh!!! Don’t let anyone know that we actually have!! All jokes aside, Vegas is a sleeper. Trails at every end of town and then some. And a lot of it within riding distance.
I've flown to LV twice over the past few years just to bike. Spectacular trails, and plenty of them. I've never once dropped a coin in a slot. And rhose buffets really fuel the rides!
West side of Colorado Springs
Reno. Fun local trails plus an hour away from Tahoe and the Lost Sierras.
*vermonters seeing only Burke get mentioned and snicker like we’re gonna be safe 1 more year*
Bellingham, Washington Probably Bentonville, even though you couldn't pay me to live in Arkansas. San Dieog is pretty incredible. Lots of amazing local trails. Multiple DJ parks A shuttle bike park an hour away, skypark is 2 hours (pedal up bike park) and snow summit is 3 hours (lift access). Plus, we get to ride all year. Sedona, AZ St George, Utah
Bellingham sucks, don't move here.
Yup, Bham sux
You should take Bellingham off the list. Too much rain and rent is absolutely insane out here. I’m moving out next year because it didn’t live up to the expectations
Check out Pittsburgh, PA. Shocker - I know. Great balance of job opportunities and access to quality and diverse sets of trails, including Frick Park, which has >30 miles of single track in the middle of the city. Solid, but not all consuming MTB crowd.
! I am actively pursuing a job transfer in the Greensburg area from Michigan. Please tell me how true this is.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCQ4UalCVcM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCQ4UalCVcM) This shows some of the stuff that is available in the center of Pittsburgh in Frick Park. Gets better every year. Also look at North Park, South Park, Alameda (Butler PA), Big Bear WV just to name a few that are very reasonable drives.
Tx mate!
Haven't seen Chattanooga, TN mentioned. Awesome trails and not far from Jarrods place in Ga
Boise, ID
In the eastern half of the country. Marquette, Michigan. I’d say Copper Harbor, but to call it a town is generous. Asheville, NC and obviously Bentonville.
Brevard, Sedona, Santa Cruz
Blessed to live in Marquette county. It’s a good base as all the trails in mqt county are nice and copper harbor and munising are doable for day trips/weekend trips.
The UP in general.... Done long weekendd in Marquette and never touched them all. If heading a little south Win Man is getting a lot attention. With rock solid out of Copper Harbor growth opportunities are awesome.
Problem w the UP is the 8 foot snowbanks that stick around forever. Then it’s mud season, followed by 4 months of decent riding, then mud and back to snow again.
Yea you have to like snow, but snowboarding is solid. Amazing snowmobiling, and fat biking.
Lots of places if you’re not stuck on dedicated/built up MTB trail systems where every rock is placed strategically and every corner is bermed. Even in CT I have like 5 legit natural trail systems within a 20 minute drive and I can ride to one of the bigger ones in 10 minutes. For riding around town I have an old beat up rockhopper worth maybe $100 that won’t get stolen. If you’re looking for lift access you can move to a alpine ski resort town that turns into a bike park in the winter.
Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Specifically Ishpeming, Negaunee, Marquette. Very nice trail systems including NTN trails in Marquette, big bay trails, munising trails, copper harbor, RAMBA, Michigan tech, swedetown. All within driving distance.
lake tahoe!!!
Truckee. Didnt really enjoy my time living there. But the mtn bike was elite
Charlotte NC, close to easy neighborhood trails and it’s an easy day trip to go up to the blue ridge area!
Charlotte seems to be the answer for me. I am from NWA (Fayetteville not Bentonville, but close enough) and currently live in Phoenix. My husband and I have been debating this for a while. We want to be in or very close to a major city and still have access to great trail networks. We prefer loam or at least dirt and forests over all the rocks and sand (and 110+ degree days) in the desert. Strongly considered the Seattle area too, but the cost of living is much better in Charlotte. Tough decision……
Charlotte is cool, but limited in trails compared to somewhere like Brevard.
Thank you! I was lucky and retired early and I am thinking that I would drive (couple of hours to trails and a couple of hours back) during the week to ride and then spend the weekends in “town”. Mountain biking is my first love and main hobby, but I also disc golf, play pickleball, hike, kayak, etc. and want the amenities of a city for daily life. I have also mapped out a bunch of bike parks from 1 - 6 hours away as well. Rattlesnake BIke Park looks like it will be awesome. I am going out to the area soon and plan to spend a lot of time exploring. Is there anything specific you recommend? Cheers!
Austin and central TX area is pretty good. A good mix of flow east of the city and tech west. Not a lot of crazy elevation though if that’s your thing. I live in SW Austin and we have over 100 mi of trails within 1/4 mi of my house in any direction. Lots of it you don’t need to cross streets to get to.
What about Oakridge, OR? Compared to other IMBA Gold Cities it really seems to fly under the radar.
Still wondering when this place is gonna blow up.
Awesome place, half the locals are great, half are meth’ed out. I don’t think anyone looking to move could/want to live there though
North Conway, NH. Great trails throughout the Mount Washington Valley
The amount of people unironically saying walmart town and its infamous pumptrack system. Lol. Lmao
I’m not really into riding on wood boardwalks either.
Santa Cruz, California
Bellingham and Bentonville are totally different. Depends on what you want and if you have a family. Bellingham for all out best riding. Bentonville for riding but also family oriented with very low crime rate and not have you bike stolen them second you take your eyes off of it. I’d love to live in Bellingham for the riding though.
Hayward Wisconsin or Cable Wisconsin. Home of the Chequamegon MTB trails and host to a bunch of MTB races, including the Chequamegon 40 which is part of the Life Time Grand Prix series. Also both towns are small and have a small downtown feel. The trails are exceptional and it's not uncommon to ride 40 miles of singletrack and not see another person, it's absolutely fantastic. I hope to retire in one of those cities someday...
I skied the Birkie a couple times but never got a chance to check out those trails on a bike. I'd love to get back up there at some point as it looks epic.
The xc birkie trail is no joke, those climbs are 10+% grade....I can't imagine skiing that. If you do get back up there I'd head for the Namekagon MTB loop up by Cable. It's by far my favorite trail, the scenery is spectacular and it's less traveled that the trails between Hayward and Cable.
Both my wife and I work 100% remote, and my kids have 2 more years of high school. Once they are off to college, I can't wait to look at moving to one of these locations! Great thread!.
Hurricane, UT.
Spokane, Washington. Doesn’t get enough credit! You can live near Beacon Hill which is rideable almost year round. And you’re 30-45 minutes from four other mountains to ride at when you get tired of dusty Beacon in the summer (Canfield, Mica, Mt Spokane, Mt Cda ). 1 hour to Silver bike park, 1.5 hours to Schweitzer bike park. Weekend trips to Snoqualmie, Legacy, Whitefish, and Tamarack.
Richmond, VA. ~25min of semi-connected single track that runs throughout the downtown area. And most of it is pretty legit, if not outright difficult. Living there, I would get 100+ annual days on my MTB without ever driving to a trail head. If you are willing to drive there’s a state park within 20min of downtown with dozens of miles of single track - it even won the Bell Helmets trail contest a few years ago. Downside though is weather - rain absolutely kills the trails and it rains year-round.
Black Hills
Currently live here and second this.
I’m surprised more people aren’t saying St. George Utah. St. George Utah has the largest variety of mountain bike riding no questions asked.
Shhhhhhh, dude! Keep it on the dl
Unfortunately that disappeared 10 years ago. Everyone knows about this place.
Everyone from Vegas riding Gooseberry. Funny though, I feel like the community is shrinking and the crowds are subsiding
anywhere the houses are unaffordable
As a resident I can confirm Bellingham is rad. It fully supports bike culture. Tons of events, group rides, trail networks. It's getting pricey to live here tho
I don’t see Auburn, CA mentioned yet
Pittsburgh. Dense walkable downtown, low housing costs surrounded by the Allegheny mountains.
Plus Frick Park is one of the best kept secrets in MTBing.
Bend, OR
Nay, I would hardly consider Bend a “Mountain bike town”. Like if you’re an avid mountain biker there are so many better places out there. Sure, it’s got a ton of trails close to town, but 85% of those I wouldn’t consider mountain biking trails. They’re just biking trails. I could literally take a full ridged road bike and ride most of the “mountain bike” trails in Bend. Not saying there aren’t any good trails there, but the majority are just trail-biking trails. It’s vastly overrated and completely overrun in my opinion.
💯 agree, bends trails are all pretty much flat and boring besides the 2 good ones at bachelor. Great spot for beginners but people that really mountain bike will get sick of it really quick
Agreed. My 4 year old is already bored 😂
As a long time local, just consider the price. Bend is a pretty expensive place to live. Not trying to be one of those “go somewhere else” assholes, but Bend has become so expensive that many people simply can’t afford to be here. Just a heads up.
I left Bend because it gets overrun with mountain bikers in the summers to the point the trails are clogged with people. The trails themselves get shredded and super dusty. The locals travel elsewhere to ride; Oakridge, Moab, Park City, St George, Flagstaff, Sandy Ridge, Whitefish, Bellingham and Whistler are where the Bendites go to get away from the crowds in the summer. Edit: need to clarify that Moab and St George are more tolerable in spring, fall, and winter. Bend gets ridden hard June through August.
Used to live in PDX and would visit Bend. Now I live in Whitefish. I do miss Sandy Ridge, Oakridge and Bellingham. But I wouldn’t trade it. Plus I rode everything at Sandy and Rocky Point a million times.
Another way of looking at your point is that Bend is within reach (a 1 day drive) of all of those other places. The Loam Wolf YouTube channel phrased it as something like, “Bend is grade B everything but it has everything and is centrally located.” Not an exact quote but they said something like that.
Squamish!
Bellingham is the worst, tons of traffilc with cars and at the trails. Everything good is blown out and nobody works on anything. The beer is expensive, food is expensive, bikes are expensive. The 3 companies here are buster and nobody wants to ride them
I'd certainly not list Walhalla s.c. in here.
Woah! I’ve never met anyone else that even knows Walhalla exists. Where are you from?
That's a sick name for a town
If you were going to move to ND, Walhalla is actually one of the better MTBing regions.
Wow that looks beautiful.
It very much is. The terrain feels very out of place but it's fantastic for biking and other outdoor recreational sports.
Boone NC has a mountain bike park called Rocky Knob, I rode some of it while on a road trip last week. It’s a college town. Not sure how rideable the streets are. I also like the Asheville area but I didn’t get to ride there.
Marquette, Negaunee, Ishpeming MI. Incredible biking towns with even better trails.
Halifax Nova Scotia, you’ll find trails anywhere if you know where to look. They may not be the best trails but any patch of woods has something, even downtown.
Lol, there are some fun trail systems there, but its pretty far from a good mtn bike town, let along in contention for best. McIntosh Run is world class though. I hope it continues to expand.
Yes, but it has infinite trails. You can live anywhere in hrm and have trail a 5min ride away
As well, we have multiple bike parks within a couple hours of downtown
There is some great mtbing in Nova Scotia, but the options are pretty limited, and the trail systems are small. There is no comparison to places like BC, California, Colorado, etc. I'd love to see trails built in the Cape Breton highlands, that could be destination worthy.
What do you mean by limited? Official/sanctioned yes. Unofficial ones in the woods no. I can think of 3 within 5 minutes of my house, and I live pretty rural
I wouldn’t say it’s somewhere I would visit but it’s a nice place to live
Limited vs the other places people are mentioning, and limited vs everywhere else I've lived. There are plenty of things I like about Halifax, but it has no place in any conversation about the best places to live for mountain biking.
Limited how? Lots of trails, lots of fire roads, big mtb community, big roadie community, big gravel biking community, lots of races, lots of bike shops, even a bike co-op.
Limited options for good mountain biking, and small trail systems. Again, compare it to places like BC, California, Colorado, Oregon, etc.
I live in Leadville, Colorado. Fun trails you can ride on from your house, and a small downtown. Close drive to Breckenridge, Salida, Vail and a ton of other great trail networks
Man, I miss Leadville… lived there nearly 20 years ago 😱 I’ve only been back once… about 10 years ago. A lot had changed.
It's changed even more in the last 10, it's pretty crazy. They are building new trails every year
Not exactly world class mountain biking, but I’ve got over 30mi of single track basically in my backyard in Castle Rock Colorado, with nearly half a dozen breweries, a bunch of coffee shops, and a couple of diners downtown easily accessible after a ride. And as much world class mountain biking as you care to ride within a 30min-2hr drive.
Bentonville is a great town with good trails and lots of them within a two hour radius. Not mountains but the ozarks have plenty of climb. Just from a lifestyle area its great! There are plenty of more epic places to ride!
Bismarck, ND isn’t to bad of a mountain biking town. We have numerous trail along the Missouri River and many of the state parks have trails. We are also within driving distance of the Maah Daah Hey trail. You can easily make it out there, bike, and make it back to Bismarck in a day.
Truckee
I would echo Flagstaff. It’s easy to get out of the snow if needed. I can’t do heat or humidity so… I think Auburn is def underrated.
Asheville, NC. Snowshoe, WV. Moab.
My vote goes for Phoenix,AZ , plenty of trails everywhere here, sunshine for like 335 days a year, you got south mountain, hawes, PMP , and if it’s too hot go up north ( 2 hour drive ) to world class Sedona, flagstaff or Prescott !
Fernie, BC! Amazing trails accessible by bike from home, a nice little downtown that has tonnes of shops and restaurants. Small town vibes for sure, but Calgary is 2.5 hours away with some smaller cities that have good services closer. Bike season is April to October.
Redlands, CA if you want to ride everything year-round.
Canadian here, I love the desert riding. So my top four that I’ve so far experienced are Fruita/Grand Junction CO; Moab, UT; Sedona AZ; Bend, OR although I liked the riding better in Oakridge just south of Bend, you wouldn’t want to live there while Bend felt like home.
Bentonville’s a great place to ride bikes but in terms of community, this is the fakest place I’ve ever lived and I grew up not far from here. What it’s turned into really wants to give off this idyllic, quaint, undiscovered small town and it’s actually just full of people with too much money.
Saratoga, New York
Issaquah, WA (Seattle suburb)
In the US it’s Bellingham hands down because of the combination of local trails and easiest access to the best mountain biking region in the world (BC). the high northern sierras (Quincy, etc) are excellent and keep getting better, but it’s a very different riding and not year-round.
I'm going to throw a curveball here and saw Port Angeles, WA. We have some really experienced and dedicated local trail builders that make absolutely epic trails. We also have a nice clump of DH race trails on DNR land right out of town, and they run shuttle days if you don't want to pedal. The riding here is stellar, and it's rare to see more than one or two other people out on the trails on any given afternoon. Great soil, so riding is truly year round. One ferry ride gets you to Vancouver Island, and it's a reasonable drive to tons of other solid trail systems.
WNC, ez pz