Pinkbike Poll: Are Your Local Trails Challenging Enough?
“Stop dumbing down the trails!” It's a common refrain, and one that pops up every time a tricky root disappears, or a chunky flat corner turns into a smooth berm. Trail maintenance is a balancing act, and sometimes an overzealous builder or trail organization takes things too far, resulting in a sterile highway instead of an engaging bit of singletrack.
In an ideal world, your local riding area would have trails for everyone, from beginners to pros: Smoother, easily navigated trails without a ton of elevation change for those just getting their feet wet, more difficult but still very manageable options that appeal to almost everyone, as well as a range of even more challenging options for advanced riders. It can be a tricky blend to achieve – expert riders feel left out if they only see new flow trails being built, just like beginners can feel excluded if there aren't any options for safe progression. Topography plays a part too - if you're surrounded by pancake flat terrain it's unlikely your local trails are going to offer as many challenging options as somewhere like Whistler or Champéry.
If you are lucky enough to live somewhere that meets all of your dream trail requirements, don't forget to support your local trail builders - they're the ones toiling away in the pouring rain and freezing cold so you can feast on freshly crafted dirt masterpieces. If you're unhappy with the current situation in your zone, it may be time to pick up a shovel, or at the very least get involved with your local trail organization to see what opportunities there are for improvement.
It can be hard to find locations that have a really well-rounded selection of trails, everything from relatively flat singletrack squiggles to steep, scary lines that are only doable by a select few, which brings us to this week's poll questions.
What features do you wish you could see added to your local trail network's descending trails?
Select all that apply
Author Info:
Must Read This Week
Sign Up for the Pinkbike Newsletter - All the Biggest, Most Interesting Stories in your Inbox
PB Newsletter Signup
Would like to see a push for more XC/intermediate and beginner trails. Maybe add on to Circuit 8 as I would think that building a shallow sloped trail on Fromme etc... may be to difficult.
If you'd like to venture further out, Bert Flinn Park in Port Moody has lots of easy trails with small features to try. Always see parents with kids there.
also try High School League, and Richard Juryn? There's also a bunch of trails across Lilloett Road from RJ.
We are missing technical climbing trails. Lot of climbing trails but very few that require significant technical skills.
Towing not an issue, he is a mountain goat and a great technical climber for his age/size/bike. We did 4 laps in a row of bobsled non stop the other day. He is the energizer bunny.
There have been a bunch of great suggestions and we now have a few ideas where to try.
The Okanagan has amazing trails for people just starting out. I agree with tho with there not being much around our area. If you get the chance to bring your kid out of town you’ll have a blast
A great area to learn some mild tec on, with flowy sections to keep the fun factor high with out the pucker factor.
Usually after a trip in BC, you return home and you feel depressed for a while.
And I'm living in the south east of France, definitely not the worst region to ride in the world.
Usually the depression fades away when winter is here, when it's still sunny and amazing to ride at home and you know it's cold and so wet in BC.
Scheming for a way to get back there or somewhere else in BC to live and ride.
In the morning we can kayak in the rain, then in the afternoon we can mountain bike in the rain, and in the evening we can ski in the rain : )
Who nailed flat turns with great skill
The berms go away
To learn how to slay
Foot out, flat out and pray *
*ok so it's not a true Limerick but Eddy Lear was a nutter anyway so I'm sure he'd approve.
I wouldn't recommend you ride Fir Trail at Corte De Madera, UCSC to highway 9, or Ridge Trail/ Brail at Soquel Demo Forest aggressively, on anything less than a enduro bike.
Even on an "easy" descent like Wilder Ranch, I feel like I'm faster on a bigger bike where I never reach the bike's limits and feel squirrelly.
There's a trail at N* that's pretty damn hard. I think it was in EWS 2? years ago. Can't remember the name, but the drop, followed by the rock garden that leaves no room for error, is a bit terrifying.
Don't get me wrong, I'm actually looking for an XC bike for all the easy trails around here. I'll probably never do any 'downcountry' riding on it though. I have too much mechanical sympathy to pull that off. I tend to plow through technical sections, and overjump stuff to flat which is probably why I feel the need for extra travel
I go to Canada every year for something different.. missing traveling right now...
Still, I am thankful to live in an area where there are so many open spaces and options. Still have yet to explore the whole Front Range!
Even in places like Moab, trails end up in court, which tie things up for years and cost thousands of dollars. The "Big Burrito" trail (now called Falcon Flow) took like 5 years to get sorted out and 6 months to build. Luckily, they persevered and I heard its awesome!
moabtimes.com/2016/04/14/27155213-suwa-appeal-halts-plans-for-big-burrito-non-motorized-trail-in-sand-flats-area
But there are super fun trails if you explore a little bit.
If you're from Utah and you want to see better trails in Park City. Reach out to Mountain trail foundation and tell them you're sick of seeing machine-cut flow trails be put in every year.
While you're at it, ask them about the $5k the spent on food expenses in 2018, $12K in travel, $22K in office expenses, $22k in rent, and how they only got three lame trials with over $850K donated to them in 2018.
projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/870514223/01_2020_prefixes_84-90%2F870514223_201812_990_2020012117046267
I think it's trail organizations' risk management and appealing to the beginners and masses. Steep technical trails are seen as unsustainable (which they sometimes are, but not always) and dangerous (which I think is bogus, way more likely to break something or hit another user ripping berms at 20mph than hopping around working your way through techy stuff).
Hopefully the pendulum will swing back, otherwise all the trails will be the same anywhere you go.
Re: Utah, I tend to think of southern Utah as separate from Northern. Same state but totally different terrain. Moab is cool for sure. St. George, (Virgin, Hurricane, etc. has really cool terrain but not that many good trails.) northern Utah has great terrain to but so many trails are just multi-use hiking trails. It could be so much better.
The trail/bike culture is very different here than it is in North America or even GB.
We have just as many riders, and we have lots of trails. But they're not meant for biking. Yes, they are challenging, go up to every peak with beautiful view and are even taken care of by the state/county and you are (mostly) allowed to ride them. But they have man-made stairs everywhere, thight switchbacks everywhere and both the farmers and hikers don't like seeing you on these trails – even being a very respectful rider.
So, as a more gravity oriented rider, you would love to have some places that you can go fast without scaring/killing hikers, build jumps, berms etc.
Two reasons why this is impossible around here:
– To build these trails, you have to work with the authorities and all different land owners (a whole track can be 5+ farmers). One of the later will always say no. (Thanks to anyone who had the nerves to fight for trails!)
– We have no «no dig no ride» mentality here. Everyone expects the authorities to build trails ("they build hiking trails, therefore should build biking trails as well")
And before anyone says "but you have bikeparks in Switzerland" – yes, but they're just in tourism areas, built by the ski resort (and every city has like one public bike trail). We have no such things as trail networks like in BC – but we do have the mountains for it. We do not have that much space, but that shouldn't be the issue. How can we get there?
also: Please, fellow Swiss/French/Italian/Austrian/German riders, correct me if I‘m wrong. I'm wondering how you see it.
youtu.be/Z4sMratf31k
Then you have easier flow-style trails which are purpose built for biking.
But you don't have the sheer variety of BC or WA for example. I can think of no place (closest I could think of is perhaps Zermatt) with the density of trails of even a medium BC city.
And you are right. It's the building culture. Here in BC we were lucky to have so many building and riding. And through sheer neglect and inaction the authorities let us do that.
I can see why does not happen in CH for example. There are too many people and too many landowners. But at least you are not Austria where there is literally contempt for bikers.
It‘s the long fight with officials. There are lots of examples where people dedicate their free time for three years trying to get permission to build and maintain a 2km trail completely with volunteers, only to have one person changing their mind at the end and cancelling the whole thing for no apparent reason when everything seems to be clear.
That said, I think we are lucky, because landowners are quite tolerant, and often we bikers get thanked by huntsmen and other users for doing trail mainteinance.
1. The trails I've ridden are natural and technical, similar to the more challenging parts of the Lake District. Steep with copious roots and rocks and really exposed in places.
2. I've yet to see much evidence of the trail pixies, trails are not adapted for bikes. Outside bike parks, I've taken a survival over speed approach to descending and I can't see that changing.
3. There's a genuine antipathy between landowners and MTBers that's rooted in the law. I've been warned multiple times by locals about angry farmers, everyone has a story about a run-in.
Considering the legal issues, as I understand them (MTBing is illegal on most trails outside bike parks) it's easy to see why there isn't a building culture here.
There's what, maybe 6 trail networks in Alberta: Crowsnest, Kananaskis/Bragg, Canmore, Jasper, and Edmonton. I have lived in Edmonton, Canmore, Crowsnest, and Bragg, and have ridden all the trail networks...There's only a handful of trails that I really remember as outstanding are the Razor's edge (best trail in Alberta imo) and School of Rock in Crowsnest.
no one is saying the riding in AB is better than BC, would just be nice to get some recognition for the great riding we have over here
What about Nordegg???
Also there are a few but some trails in Banff as well.
Even smaller towns in Northern and Central BC have more trails and more variety than some traditionally touted destinations.
The only explanation I can think of for this is the self_ help culture of the BC bike communities. We get some government help but to be frank, they mostly get in the way ( and yes, sanctioned, inclusive, permission blah blah...). BC biking and more importantly, trailbuilding and trailwork culture is like an insidious addiction. One I've had for decades.
Edit- Moab, Bellingham come closest
Also TrailMix in Moab has been consistently superior
Glad to see some stuff like copper is at least happening out there.
My biggest issue with the area is the mixed-use nature of most of the trails - I love seeing other people out on the trails, but the people that go for walks with headphones in, people with their dogs off-leash, and the sheer number of people out and about during normal waking hours makes it really hard to get a good ride in with some higher speeds or interrupted climbs.
There's a huge elitist mentality around here too. Plenty of people around here seem to have the ability to drop 5 figures on a bike but won't reciprocate a wave or a head nod on trail. For whatever reason, fat bike guys are the best to shoot the shit with. They don't give a damn about what they look like, how fast they're going, or setting PRs - they just wanna ride bikes, which I think a lot of people in this sport seem to have lost the desire to do.
I think more than anything I need to find a good mentor to tow me into places and push me a bit. All in good time though ????????
Slippery Salmon is my new favorite because its gnarly enough that you cant really just roll/case everything and/or let your toddlers just frolic on blind landings.
Edit: I’m dumb. I forgot my local org just built a few jump lines with wooden features in a local park. I saw them with a big front loader doing work on it during quarantine. I’ll have to check that out when it re opens
Also, lots of cultural sites in the Pah Rahs, best to not dig randomly without doing your due diligence first.
Are you talking about the Poeville Fire? We were watching from the balcony yesterday. Huge bummer, looks like most of the Total Recall, Colpo, Mahogany trails burned and some folks unfortunately lost their houses. No bueno.
Also wondering if this poll is really showing what I think it it: that most riders on here are intermediate.
Our local group build a flat-land bike park at a local park and its really popular, but I don't find it all useful for learning big rock rolls and big drops into steeps.
Most of those involve fire Rd climbs though.
It could be worse, bu then I wouldn’t live where the trails suck.