These three cities ship superior facilities and destination-worthy mountain biking motion
It’s no secret that the Blue Ridge area is chock filled with killer mountain biking trails and journey areas. However with many path programs managed by a hodgepodge of municipal companies, park service personnel and volunteers from native MTB golf equipment, discovering new long-weekend-worthy spots might be harder than you’d suppose. Right here, we transcend the checklist of regular suspects to spotlight locations which have tons of nice facilities and ship a treasure trove of rides certain to fulfill each wheelie in your pack.
STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA
Do you know the historic dwelling of Penn State College’s major campus can be host to a thriving mountain biking neighborhood? Nestled in a slender valley between 2,500-foot ridgelines within the state’s central Appalachian Valley and Ridge area, the 41,000-person county seat is surrounded by tens of hundreds of acres of public lands in state forests and parks.
Teams just like the Nittany Mountain Biking Affiliation (NMBA) and Rothrock Path Alliance (RTA) have capitalized on the situation to construct greater than 200 miles of trails inside 30 miles of town. Downtown holds a cornucopia of restored early nineteenth century and Victorian houses and buildings—plus all of the facilities you’d count on from a grade A university city.
THE RIDES
Rothrock State Forest
Its 96,975 acres include dozens of two,000-plus-foot peaks, the 45-mile Tussey Mountain ridgeline, 4 state parks and greater than 100 miles of mountain biking trails. What’s extra, the RTA lately employed professional path builders so as to add one other 53 miles of routes (round eight of which have already been put in).
Rides vary in problem from flat and beginner-friendly loops to gnarly, downhill bombers that will check even essentially the most skilled of thrashers. Discover the trailhead to the Worldwide Mountain Biking Affiliation designated epic Rothrock Trailmix locally of Boalsburg on the sting of the forest simply 4 miles exterior of city. The 36-mile thigh-mauler carries you deep into the backcountry and gives a success parade of essentially the most spectacular circulate trails, ridgeline rides, and technical singletrack within the space.
Harvest Fields Neighborhood Trails and Bike Park
The NMBA spearheaded growth round this state-of-the-art expertise facility and circulate path middle sits simply down the street from the primary Rothrock path space. About 4 miles of super-smooth, feature-rich blue- and green-level trails wind by means of woodlands that again onto the foot of the Tussey Mountain Ski and Recreation resort. However the star of the present is a development park that opened in 2023. Constructed by Black Diamond Path Designs, it’s divided into programs in line with talent degree and brings a joyous gauntlet of options like berms, rollers, rock gardens, tabletops, wood North Shores, platform drops, and log jumps.
HARRISONBURG, VIRGINIA
Thirty-plus years of intensive efforts amongst an especially lively base of fanatics and proximity to longtime MTB-friendly Massanutten Resort led the Worldwide Mountain Biking Affiliation to crown this 50,000-person metropolis within the coronary heart of the Shenandoah Valley a Bronze-level Experience Middle method again in 2012.
Mix that with a quickly revitalizing historic downtown space that abuts James Madison College and boasts a slew of eating places, music venues, bars, and breweries, and you’ve got a rider’s paradise. On the town, lovely Hillandale Park holds a pump monitor, 5 miles of purpose-built MTB routes and a half-mile-long circulate park with tabletops and berms. And pre- or post-ride, a must-stop is downtown staple Shenandoah Bicycle Firm for a brew on the outside patio and to shoot the bull with in-the-know shredders about native trails and driving areas.
THE RIDES
Massanutten Resort
The 6,000-acre ski resort is dwelling to one in every of two lift-assisted bike parks within the state. Slopes are actually crisscrossed with about 12 miles of lately rebuilt trails that vary in problem from greenhorn to prograde. A cluster of routes winds by means of forests close to the decrease carry, whereas a quartet of black-diamonds—together with a leap line with about 50 tabletops and drops—alongside the three,000-foot ridgeline rounds out the package deal. Be sure you take in unbelievable eastward panoramic views of the Web page Valley and Shenandoah Nationwide Park earlier than dropping in.
Western Slope Bike Space
This 800-acre MTB oasis on the bottom of Massanutten gives round 40 miles of prograde single and doubletrack. It’s managed by the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition (SVBC) and contains a gravel service street to ridgeline trailheads serviced by elective weekend van shuttles. Trails run the skill-level gamut. Child-friendly “Gravel Doubletrack” is a breezy loop by means of near-magical rhododendron thickets and old-growth oaks. Black-diamond burners just like the quick and flowy 1.1-mile “Puzzler” boast options like 50-yard stone rock bridges, park-grade filth berms, and tabletop jumps with ride-arounds. Join them to decrease elevation blues for five-mile rides with 1,650 ft of vertical descent.
Stokesville / George Washington Nationwide Forest
The SVBC has put in 40 miles and counting of Virginia’s highest-elevation purposebuilt MTB routes within the rural Allegheny Mountains about 25 miles west of downtown. The epic, 7.8-mile Timber Ridge Path drops 2,800 ft by means of one of many Southeast’s lone remaining stands of mature Canadian hemlocks from 4,400-foot Reddish Knob. Enjoyable, flowy however much less demanding routes weave by means of the excessive hills round Stokesville Campground.
KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE
This close to 200,000-person metropolis in southeast Tennessee sits nestled amid the Nice Smoky Mountains foothills on the banks of the place the Holston and French Broad rivers meet to kind the state’s namesake river. The beautiful array of pure magnificence has mixed with a de facto motto of “Maintain Knoxville Scrappy” to remodel town into an unpretentious mecca for outside recreation that brims with the form of metropolitan facilities you’d anticipate finding in Asheville or Boulder. And for two-wheel fanatics, there’s a lot to take pleasure in, as Knoxville has a staggering 200 miles of MTB trails inside 25 miles of downtown.
THE RIDES
Knoxville City Wilderness
The Knoxville City Wilderness is a sprawling 1,500-acre community of protected lands alongside the banks of three rivers that spans 5 metropolis parks, 4 historic heritage websites, a quarry, quite a few wildlife administration areas, and nature preserves. And it’s all related by a 60-plus-mile system of pure floor biking and mountain climbing trails.
Baker Creek Protect is the crown jewel of the various driving areas. The onsite bike park gives a pair of asphalt pump tracks—one in every of them large—in addition to asphalt and crushed-stone progressive leap strains. Eight miles of trails are damaged up into some breezy two-way greens, three downhill blues, and a trio of black-diamond gravity routes. The latter are flagshipped by the beautiful .6-mile shredder, Satan’s Racetrack, the results of a $100,000 2015 Bell Constructed Grant. The quick however stellar doubletrack gives large rock drops, huge berms, giant tabletops, and a 50-foot wood wallride.
Windrock Bike Park
Co-developed and designed by professional downhiller Neko Mulally, Windrock was purpose-built for diehard riders. Legendary five-time World Cup downhill champ Aaron Gwin purchased the 550-acre park in 2023 and promptly doubled its acreage. And better of all: It sits inside an hour of downtown.
With superb trails, Windrock serves as a coaching floor for prime tier execs. Whereas there are some inexperienced and blue routes—and plans are within the works to dramatically increase choices—the vast majority of the 29-mile system is devoted to consultants and proliners. Catch the shuttle to the highest of three,200-foot Toddy Mountain and drop right into a feature-loaded, 23-trail community with max vertical descents round 2,150 ft.
Cowl photograph: Rothrock State Forest. photograph by Edward Stoddard, HappyValley.com
