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4/1/2017
Location
Jacksonville, FL
US
hey all, my son and I have been getting into mountain biking a bit after a bunch of years of MX. I'm getting a bit older and would like to take my son on a bucket list type week while I still can have some fun myself. We're in JAX Fl, so everything is pretty flat, we would love to hit a bike park we see in the videos, Colorado, Utah, Canada?
So where do you recommend that has trails for a novice and intermediate type riders? and why do recommend the place.
I've googled more then a few and looking for some input from experience.
thanks!
So where do you recommend that has trails for a novice and intermediate type riders? and why do recommend the place.
I've googled more then a few and looking for some input from experience.
thanks!
if you want to drive, there are some pretty cool bike parks on the east coast. google maps says snowshoe west virginia is 700 miles from jacksonville, so a long day drive each way could get you there and bringing your own bikes/gear would be a lot easier than flying. https://www.snowshoemtn.com/things-to-do/activities/snowshoe-bike-park or
https://www.snowshoemtn.com/-/media/snowshoe/maps/pdf/snowshoebikeparkm…
north carolina has some bike park options too, but i've never been.
If you want trails to pedal up AND down, the Lost Lake [a.k.a. Zappa] trails are fun, but it's easy to do the whole network in an afternoon. There aren't many novice/beginner trails in the area other than those. Squamish [about 1 hr drive to the south] has more easy trails, but lots of climbing.
If you have time and are renting a car, consider heading to Vernon, BC. after Whistler. It's a bit of a drive but is great for beginner to intermediate riders. Kalamalka Lake trails are mostly blues and greens, and range from mellow to gnar. Vernon is also the home to Silver Star, sort of a mini-Whistler. It's pretty mellow compared to Whistler, but that's not always a bad thing.
If this is a multi-week trip, you could fly into Vancouver, hit Whistler for a week, and then work your way East through BC to Calgary and fly home from there. I would do Whistler, Silver Star, Revelstoke, Golden, Canmore in that order. That's a lot, but you'll talk about the trip for the rest of your life. Good luck!
Have a great weekend.
Def hit up Bailey Mountain in NC, Windrock in TN, SnowShoe like Spomer said. From there ? Mt Creek in NJ or Blue Mt in PA. Can't miss out on Plattekill in NY. From there Thunder Mountain is about 3 hours away in Mass. and HIghland is about 3 hours away in NH. That would be an epic road trip if the weather cooperates!
• Whistler, Canada
• Rotorua, New Zealand (hope this year's trip pushes through)
• Corral, Chile
• Finale Ligure, Italy
• Mustang and Solukhumbu, Nepal
Hi folks,
for those of you who want to come to Finale Ligure/Italy! We now also offer complete holiday packages.
So you can book the bikeshuttle, guide, accommodation, food and airport transfer directly with us.
One week, two weeks or only 4 days - no problem. We can also arrange trips from Finale Ligure to Molini, San Bartolomeo, Varazze or San Remo.
From 2023 we also have in our accommodation a small bike store and various rental bikes.
Have a look here www.enduro-rides.com
You can also book only the bikeshuttle in Finale Ligure with us. https://www.enduro-rides.com/bike-shuttle
Feel free to contact us via your preferred channel!
Enduro Rides
See you guys - Ride on
Michi
I realize this started out as a North American continent related question, but any bucket list should have Madeira on it. It's a unique location with incredible trails and views that I have yet to encounter anywhere else. It's not a bike park, but there are lots of trails and the local shuttle outfits do an awesome job of making sure you ride the best ones. This dirt is out of this world and they know how to build fun stuff to ride. Local food is great too (but you don't get the "bro-vibes" of staying in a place like Whistler, so don't come here if you're looking for a party every night haha).
What about Friday night? Gotta go ham sometime if I’m going international.
I mean you can always get wasted on cheap drinks and SEND IT. Get a few in ya and you'll think you're at Burning Man haha.
Bucket List Spots:
Whistler BC
killington VT
thunder mountain MA
closer spots to FL:
rock Creek, NC or Spider Mountain, TX
I'm in the middle of booking a trip there for this April. Can't friggen wait! Got any tips for while I'm there? Food/beer/swimming/cool spots. I've got the riding part situated thanks to Freeride Madeira.
I had the good fortune of being hosted while I was there, so the logistics were all laid out. We didn’t eat in any particularly special places. Local speciality is “espeta”, I had it in several restaurants it was good everywhere (meat on a skewer, to eat with fries). Of course load up on “pastel de nata”, crazy tasty local pastry. And they make a local soft drink, “Brisa”, the passion fruit version is killer. I had at least 20 each trip haha.
Try Seth's Berm Park accommodations in NC or the trail system in Bentonville, AR. Those are "someday" destinations for me .
Of course, if we're talking true Bucket list of bucket lists, I'm all about Zermatt, Switzerland. Finale Ligure, as mentioned above, would also be unreal.
Having lived in whistler for a 6 years, I would rent a RV or truck and do a tour round BC. Whistler is good but it's the most expensive by far. There are plenty of other great bike parks around BC like Big White, Silver Star, Kicking Horse, The Ranch in Kamloops and the list goes on.
Add in Queenstown, New Zealand to your lists.
I spoke to a wide range of people in the gondola at skyline, a few from UK, USA and Canada and the common theme was ZQN was the best place they have ever ridden.
I could have spent months there, so much to do and ride. Beautiful town.
What months are the bike parks open?
Southern hemisphere summer.
Start date: Tuesday 13th September 2022
End date: Saturday 22nd April 2023
+1
Queenstown and the surrounding regions are probably some of the most beautiful scenery you will ever see. It's not surprising that most of this was used as a backdrop for the Lord of the Rings films. Get a window seat if it's your first time flying there. As you walk on the runway on the runway, you will immediately get a good view of the Remarkables.
The bike park (Skyline) is really really good but don't limit yourself to it, the trails in and around Queenstown are great to ride, too (and picturesque, too). If you like doing dirt jumps, Gorge Road is a must-see.
It's not cheap, though, I found the prices not that far off from what you can expect in Switzerland. Not sure what's it like during the pandemic, though.
yep definately not cheap, the Aussie dollar is a little bit better than the NZD and I came back a broke boy, I took my wife and Daughter and stayed in a really nice place just a short stroll from the centre of town and skyline but damn my wallet had smoke coming off it by the end of the trip! Everything is massively marked up. I don't regret it, Queenstown and Tokyo both the best places I've ever been.
As for the riding, you have Rude Rock/Zoots, 7 Mile, Wynyard DH/Jumps, Gorge Road, Coronet Peak, Glendhu, Wanaka & Skyline all within a short distance of town. I think I was there for 2 weeks and needed another 6 to ride everything I wanted too!
Something that will stick with me forever is getting gondola to top of Skyline, then riding the climb/traverse trail all the way to McGazza's lookout which is one of the sickest views I've ever seen. To top it off you drop into "salmon run" which is pure joy/fear for what seems like an endless downhill. If you fall off on some places they will never find your body! I think that's what made that trail so epic, the remoteness, the exposure and the view.
Best trails I had the chance to ride where in the French alps, the natural trails at tignes/val d'isere are amongst the most fun stuff I've ridden in my entire life. We're talking 45 minutes + downhills in high alpine terrain and there's a shuttle waiting to pick you up at the bottom of the valley! Zermatt was similar too albeit way more expensive.
I think a lot of people underestimate the east coast. There's a couple decent bike parks and places to ride popping up around here in the last couple of years. I went for a riding weekend in the Mont Sainte-Anne (might want to wait 'til they sort out their chairlift problems...) and le Massif which offered a good mix of easy trails mixed with some way gnarlier ones. For sure, it's not as "developed" as whistler yet but I'm pretty sure it'll be relatively similar in the next couple of years. Sugarloaf bike park where they had the EWS last year looks like fun too!
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