The prediction threads have been fun, so since it's the middle of winter in the northern hemisphere for a lot of us still, what is making you more stoked about mountain biking in 2026? Can be local stuff, new trails, new races, bikes, whatever.
I'll start, I'm really hoping to put together a local enduro beer league that meets monthly or so. The area I live in doesn't have a ton of elevation, but does have a lot of fun areas with shorter trails so it would be great to be able rip them more often with more like minded people.
New trails, always an obvious one.
A local promoter is trying an XCO style race. Xc racing has always dominated around here but closer to the marathon discipline than XCO. There are a ton of young shredders that are interested in racing, have the legs for Xc, and want to do a race with some jumps and drops rather than just completely hammering. It's not linked to any points that I'm aware of but providing the locals experience in the discipline would be cool if they pull off a good course.
Driving by a lot of hills with my new commute just asking for some trailwork.
Lots of hands helping out more on the locals.
Cherry-picking my schedule to increase ride time opportunities.
Shooting less motorsports in favor of more time on the bike
More trips this year (Whistler is on the short list!)
Moving up to the expert class in a couple different regional enduro series
Helping coach the local youth MTB team
Helping grow the local park and hopefully push more people into trying mountain biking (if you're in the Midwest, PLEASE come to Griffin Bike Park in Indiana!)
Lot of things to be excited for this year. Here's hoping it's the best one yet!
I'm in the midwest, tell us more about Griffin Bike Park for sure. A former coworker took over the Farside bike park in Galena IL, I've been trying to link up a trip out there so another park to hit on the way would be awesome.
I want to make it out to Farside soon, hopefully they get the land dispute figured out (if it's not already solved, I haven't heard anything in a while).
Griffin Bike Park is in Terre Haute, Indiana, we've got about 32 miles of trails that range from adaptable bike-accessible green trail to double black diamond. We've don't have a ton of elevation (I think about 100 feet total) but the property is a former coal mine: all of our elevation comes from the spillbanks. The downhills are short and fun, but the climbs are equally short. Notably, we've got two guest-built trails: 1) AWOL, which was designed and built by Jeff Lenosky (he has a video going through this trail), and 2) Recon, which was designed by Tyler McCaul (I don't know the details here as much, this was before my time of being involved in the park). Since we're so close to Brown County, we often get compared to them, but while they've got the elevation, Griffin has the features. We have a ton of drops and jumps, both dirt-built and wooden.
Most importantly, Griffin Bike Park is named after Dale Griffin, a fallen soldier from Terre Haute who was killed while serving in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom in 2009. Chances are if you're out at the park, you'll run into any one of his family members either working or riding. There's a strong military-theme around the entire park for obvious reasons, and you'll see several memorials to fallen Indiana soldiers on a handful of our trails.
Most often when we get visitors, we hear them talk about how they barely found out about us and just wanted a place to stop on the way to Bentonville or Knoxville or anything that puts them on I70 or US41. But they almost always love us and make it a point to stop by on their way back through. GBP, while a county park, is almost entirely ran on donations and volunteers. Most of our biggest projects (like our new community building and upcoming paved pump track) are the result of donations and grants. We have a strong Friends of Griffin Bike Park group, and they're most likely the ones you'll run into out there who can point out where the fun stuff is.
I'm partial because it's my local, but this park rules. I'm going to be doing some extra projects this year to help with marketing us to a wider audience, but it's truly the unsung jewel of our area. If any of the Vital crew makes it out and wants a tour, absolutely reach out. If it's not me, I can get any of our Friends group guys out there to take you to our best stuff.
A fresh chamois. Hopefully more opportunities to dig/build. And a goal of taking some cool photos of my friends doing cool stuff.
Hopefully, what’s upping the stoke in 2026 is just not overdoing it. With training for a 250 mile race (now complete) I honestly just rode way too much last year. Feel free to play the worlds tiniest violin if you must, but our smallish local trail network is best suited for up to 3 days of riding per week at most, not as much 6-7 days all summer. Varying my activity and having MTB be a treat instead of a daily “must do” will be good for me, I think.
Very cool, I love it when places with not much elevation build fun trail centers. That's what will grow the sport. I looked up some pics and info on the park, looks like the real deal for sure, it's awesome how much support the family and volunteers are putting in, that's always a huge part of the equation that seems to get overlooked. Thanks again for the overview some rad stuff in Indiana.
Bought a TIG welder, and I think I have my chances at world's most crooked bicycle frame !
Retiring from teaching in a public high school for the last 31 years. I’m very excited to ride more and spend more time with the people that I care about.
Planning a Moab trip in the fall. I'm thinking about stopping in Richfield to ride Spinal Tap, then on to Moab for some Captain Ahab and maybe UPS/LPS, etc. Gonna get out there on my big, yellow Earthmover of a bike and just smash it all.
I've been dealing with a knee complaint for the last couple of years that eventually limited rides to either 100% shuttles or no more than about two hours of pedalling a week. It appears to be calming down so a lot more riding is back on the cards for this year, I hope!
This bad boy:
https://www.vitalmtb.com/community/agrade/norco-optic
Short travel, short chainstay, high pivot, mullet, burly trail bike. Just put a Switchgrade on for better winch-and-plummet.
I went from a 170/160 enduro bike to the older Norco Optic, and then to the newer high pivot one almost immediately. It got all the old bits off my enduro bike sans the fork, which is now a Lyrik so still somewhat burly, and it's fun as all hell. The high pivot Optic is the most capable bike that can possibly be built with 125mm of travel. It has the stiffness and weight of an enduro bike, it eats bumps like something with more travel, and so it feels like it wants to be ridden like an enduro bike. It's really hard to overwhelm the frame or any of the parts I've bolted to it, to get the response/flex you want from the frame/fork/wheels/tires it does kinda need to be ridden hard. Feels bored and harsh at low speeds. Pushed a bit harder it gets comfy, and it gets comfy right when you start needing to manage the complete lack of travel you have.
Tracks feel way more dynamic. I can manual everywhere with the short chainstays and I love it. I can boost off anything. I can clear gaps with half the speed that the trail builder intended. Berms feel like I'm carving stiff race skis (which I suck at doing, I am way better at bikes). Double black trails feel spicier and like i need to turn my brain on a bit, black trails are much the same, and blue trails are WAY more fun.
If I wanted a sled then maybe the longer-chainstay Druid would be a more capable bike, but I've ridden too much BMX and trials for that. This Optic is the best bike for me right now. I'm going to extend the shock stroke to get another 12mm ish of travel, but mainly to lower the bb slightly and have a bit more resistance to bottom-out rather than make the bike softer. Tiny bit more negative travel won't take away from the unhinged hilarious nature of this thing.
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