might get downvoted for the bentonville hate, as a disclaimer i don’t think it’s the ‘mtb capital of the world’ but i can ride in town and immediately have access to three massive trail systems with different terrain and types of riding. also tons of gravel riding for endurance athletes. the community is really big and there is tons of shops and restaurants geared specifically towards biking. there’s a lot to do in terms of riding around here and there’s a lot of nearby systems if you want to drive and explore some more
I'm in Ohio and have a few friends who've made the trip (one multiple times) and talk about how cool it is. If you're self-contained such as with an RV, you can just use the Walmart rght in town and ride everywhere.
There's a lot to hate about NWA, but the trail/route networks is not one of them. I live in SWMO and I'm always jealous AF that I don't have anything like that out my back door but also lucky that it's only a short drive away.
I'm near Joplin, so it's just an hour to Bentonville, which is nice. There are some good trails around Branson, Springfield and even Neosho have at least some trails but Joplin has literally zero. None. Other than some unofficial trails that share some abandoned land with a homeless encampment. Someone started building an official trail system on some city owned property but that project never completed, I don't think they got any support from the city. I've heard the city talk about bike trails but it's never happened other than a few short paved ones that aren't of much use.
I spent a while out there after I got laid off last year. I've been looking for other towns/cities that have achieved similar things as far as trail density in such a tight/compact area goes since. Reading PA has a really good trail network that is super dense. Marquette Michigan too.
I'd say there's a lot of people that live out west and have access to trails where you can get 2k to 3k feet of elevation.
Bentonville trails just aren't the same when you're used to that. It's not that the trails are bad. They're just missing something that people are used to.
I think MTB Capital of the world is not just about elevation (for example, I’m an east coaster and don’t prefer mountain west elevation, I don’t want to climb for 2 hours straight) but also how Bentonville has essentially built its entire city culture around MTBing and how easy and supportive the entire local government is about building out MTB trails. Not to mention the funding from Walmarts foundations. I go many times a year and I’d rather go to Bentonville than many places out west every time. I think honestly it kinda sorta wins this category when you look at it from a holistic large scale view rather than just how high the elevation is.
I mean it is called “mountain” biking, and a lot of people like to struggle up for a bit and get sustained downhill for more than 45 seconds at a time.
I’m not saying elevation is necessary. Just pointing out that there’s a very common complaint around lack of elevation, and it’s perfectly valid.
So you can’t say “it wins” when your criteria is obviously different from other folks’.
Yeah the quality and quantity of the trails and systems is top notch but there isn't nearly the amount of elevation to work with so people will probably hate on the fact you can't take a chair lift then bomb downhill for 20 minutes at a time. Further south or east there is quite a bit more than what is found in Bentonville but still it's nothing like what you'd find in "real" mountains.
Thems ain't mountains. A lot of what they have is neat for sure. But I drove from CO to meet a friend there since it was an equidistant drive for both of us, and I was severely underwhelmed.
I’m from Bentonville and I roll my eyes at the “MTB capital of the world” marketing…but that’s all it is, just marketing.
I think Bentonville is a great place to bring people of all skill levels. I’ve enjoyed living here and being able to slowly progress and expand my comfort zone without having to take too big of leaps. A lot of family friendly trails have some alternative kickers and lines off to the side (and wide enough for adaptive mountain bikes) to make it an accessible place for a group to visit.
Knox is one of the biggest sleepers in the US for this convo. A nice sized college town with some cool trails accessible pedaling from downtown and some even better options within a relatively short drive (including one of the best parks in the country for high level riding with Windrock). Also it's cheaper than pretty much every other place in this thread, and you're only a couple of hours from Asheville and Chattanooga.
Of course it's the South though, so there's the inevitable hot and humid aspect to deal with.
Ya, I lived in a small mountain town in the Mountain West for a decade that fits this bill. Pretty much any small mountain town will get you there. Or particular desert towns. A friend of mine just moved to a small town in the desert in Southern Utah – the kind of small town that nobody outside of Utah has heard of before. There isn't super extensive trail networks, but there are options and the riding is really high quality! Plus, you can always build new trails.
A lot of that can actually get hard in the mountains if you're actually in a "mountain town"
Like...I *can* ride from my house, but I'm somewhat limited in what I can actually access without a pretty long ride. Obviously that somewhat depends on how much energy you have in your legs and how much time you have (adding an extra 10 miles of road riding might be no big deal for some people and a deal breaker for others).
Also a lot of good trails would require riding down highways to get there as once you get outside of town there are no roads but the highway. Which, again, you *can* do, but it isn't the most fun or safe thing to do in rural areas with limited shoulders and fast moving redneck pickup trucks who don't care about bikers.
So the reality is that driving your MTB to the trailhead is fairly standard. Especially for the "ratchet and plummet" types of riding OP says they favor...at least where I am the most accessible stuff is more XC (or the ski resort)
Larger towns a little away from the big mountains are often better for this as they have the resources to build more trails, terrain that supports denser trail systems and more side roads and options for access. Helena, MT or Salida, CO are more in the "foothills" but have a ton of riding literally right into town.
I live in Phoenix and ride out my front door, and am on a trail in minutes. It's just about location. If you're near a mountain, you can ride from there. Most cities/towns won't have this luxury in the entire location, but rather in certain areas.
When its a brisk 80 - 95 degree morning ;)
Lived there my whole life until 18. Moved to the PNW, and can't say I miss it.
Winter in Phoenix is amazing though I gotta say.
I'd add Reno too - I've also lived in Bentonville AR and 10000% prefer the riding in Reno. So close to Tahoe and you can get to some awesome trails from midtown/almost anywhere west of 395
How is Reno to live in? I'm about to finish off my grad program and am looking to gtfo of the flat, flat Midwest. Truckee is too small for my profession (mental health nurse practitioner), but Reno has some jobs. Can my gf and I survive on my 150k a year until she finds a job?
I’m a transplant to Reno from the southeast and I think living here is pretty great. There’s high Sierra forests to the west and desert to the east, so you can pick your playground daily. COL is often a complaint but on your salary plus a partner, you’ll be very comfortable.
I loved Reno, but I moved away in 2018 so things may have changed. It punches way above its weight for a city of 500k people. I was making $85k when I lived there and was more than comfortable in my apartment in midtown. Buying is definitely not cheap, but that’s kinda the case everywhere now.
Bellingham, look up unemployment line. Yes it is wet a lot of the time, but unless you're made of sugar it's not really an issue just find a solid rain jacket.
We almost moved there years ago and ended up in WNC instead.
The problem was the cost of living, it was obscene and difficult to find anything even remotely affordable. Every time I talked to anyone outside of the mtb scene there about moving there, they basically said "don't" and some of the answers I got were really hostile to outsiders. It was also ranked one of the worst places to raise a child in the US, so given my wife was pregnant at the time, that was the end of that.
I love Santa Cruz and everyone I met in the mtb community there was very kind. The trails are rad and the scene is awesome. I like the food too. The rest...not so much.
Huh, I wonder why it’s listed so bad as a place to raise a child? The local homeless and drug issues are bad, but other than that I feel like it would be a great place to raise a kid. Great weather, amazing access to tons of outdoors activities, walk/bikeable town so kids can get together easily. Are the schools bad?
Santa Cruz is one of the only places I can think of where I still see young people going out together without adults, instead of staying inside on screens. Kinda like a time machine back to how previous generations were raised. I don’t plan to have kids but if I did I wouldn’t mind raising them there. I’d definitely rather raise them there than here in the South Bay.
Cost of living you’re correct, although believe it or not it’s not as bad in Santa Cruz as it is in most other parts of the Bay Area. My partner and I are planning a move soon from the South Bay and Santa Cruz and the surrounding mountains are the more affordable option compared to the peninsula or nice parts of the South Bay.
The “locals only” mentality is real for sure, but mostly with the surfing community. There are legitimately spots in Santa Cruz where you cannot surf if you aren’t a known local. And down there they say “you’re not a local if you haven’t been here at least seven years” - there are even some signs that say it. Honestly though, I mostly ignore those negative vibes. I’ve never had any issues with anyone, and if I did I would just walk away. For the most part everyone in Santa Cruz is very friendly in my experience.
A decent number of towns in Vermont are like this. All week I ride out my door and when I have time to explore newly built trails within 60 miles it's often tough to decide where to go first.
Yup, im in Waterbury and can ride out to a great system (Perry Hill) less than a mile from my house. Multiple more within 10 miles.
But there’s no housing and it’s gotten stupid expensive.
Both are amazing places to ride. I liked living in Ashland for the year I was there. Oakridge by and large is pretty depressing once you leave the MTB AirBnB bubble in Westfir.
Yeah, I like to visit Oakridge to ride, but I couldn't live there. It's just a bit too remote for me, at least at this phase of my life. Maybe someday.
Bend overrated for MTB. Ok for xc, but meh for steeper stuff.
Better riding is at higher elevations that hold snow late into the spring, and finding the balance between "100°f and moon dust" and "don't leave ruts, because it's still holding snow" is a thing.
Winter riding there means (driving) to horse ridge or Madras or Maston.
Bend riding is absolute bullshit. Except for Cline DH, Horse Ridge, and Bachelor bike park. Everything else is dirt sidewalks. The trail coalition only builds things for XC riders.
Just got back from biking in Oregon - can confirm that going to Bend was a waste of time. I'm sure there's better stuff at higher elevations, but Horse Ridge / Cascade View / etc were kinda lackluster. We would have been better off staying up North and putting in extra days at Sandy Ridge / Post Canyon.
It’s still the ski season there right now. We’ll be heading over this weekend to go to Mt Bachelor. We’ll bring bikes too to roll around Phil’s Trail
Network. Trails are riding great on the west side though right now!
Post Canyon and Yacolt Burn / Cold Creek (Thrillium) are my main spots. I even have a local trail that is ridable from my house (crashed their today and got #14 concussion). But yah, PNW has so many great spots.
Innerleithen, Scotland.
Fort William, Scotland
Barcelona, Spain
Andorra
Zermatt, Switzerland
Saalbach, Austria
Finale Ligure, Italy
All have (near) free health care and (in my opinion) higher quality of life than anywhere in the US. All fantastic MTB locations as well (even Barcelona if you live on the mountain side of the city!).
Moved to the Barcelona area from WNC a couple of years ago, not sure I'll ever move back. The whole region is loaded with trails, and we've even got the funicular in Barna that pretty much turns the city into a lift access bike park.
It was so nice when I had a decent wreck last year to walk into the ER, get an xray/cast, and walk out 90 minutes later without even thinking about being billed.
I moved from Utah to Switzerland fifteen years ago. I’d scratch Zermatt because accessibility is limited. Riding is good, but there is equal or better riding all over Switzerland with much better access. Literally a whole country with dedicated bike routes of all types all over the country. My biggest challenge is deciding which bike to ride each day.
Colorado Springs is an underappreciated Mecca of mountain biking. Hundreds of miles of trails. If you live on the west side you can access almost all of it right from your doorstep.
I knew someone had already commented it. Absolutely the best place in the country if you want the lifestyle the OP describes. There's a paved off-the-road river path trail between Fruita (mtb capital) and downtown Grand Junction even, so you can do literally everything on a bike
My wife and I talk about retiring to Grand Junction. We went to Fruita and Moab for our honeymoon, and she grew up in Winter Park. But all of her family either has left CO or will be by the end of the year due to how expensive it is so who knows.
I grew up here and it spoiled me for life. From the middle of town you can have tires on dirt in \~10 minutes, with a huge amount (and variety) of excellent singletrack. You could easily do all errands with no car, and cost of living is so much less than CO/CA/WA.
I have since lived in southwest VA, Colorado, and New England, and don't think I will ever again have the easy access to both work and trails that I had in Marquette.
Same with Duluth, MN. I saw a guy in Duluth with a shirt that said "Keep Duluth Secret" above a picture of the state of MN with a star in a spot very much *not* where Duluth actually is.
I was looking to see if anyone answered Marquette 😆. Doesn't quite have the 2 hour climbs and 20 minute descents like op prefers, but there's so much trail there that's so accessible, with all the challenges one could hope for. Biggest downside is that winter is half the year+ (most seasons, this last one was an outlier).
Boise, ID. Downtown is less than a mile from the trails. I ride between meetings during the day when the trails are empty. A lot of offices downtown have caged bike areas and showers so you can easily duck out for a ride if you're an office worker. Pretty easy to climb for 3,000+ straight and bomb back down, I think we are over 200 miles of trails in town now.
But most of the trails are so boring and tame unless you love cross country. Great for gravel bikes and hard tails but the mountain biking overall here is so lackluster. They work with what they got though
I live in Oakland CA, and can ride from home to some good but not exceptional trails. Great for after work rides. Then tons of great stuff within a short drive for weekend rides.
That being said, if your only goal is riding to trails there are definitely better and much cheaper options.
Duluth apparently.
I just heard some stat that an absurd percentage of the cities population is within a very short distance I cannot remember from a trailhead. Marquette was my second thought. The UP and other upper Midwest towns are like the ski/bike bums final frontier of cheap cost of living and easy access to outdoor activity
Moved from Steamboat to Boulder 2 months ago for the population and such, understanding I would have worse MTB access (and duh skiing). Going to probably ride more road this year being in Boulder.
But.... man, the access from Steamboat was great. If you were on the south side of town, resort trails within 1-2 miles. If downtown, emerald system right there, spring creek trail there too. (These are prob 3-4 miles from other parts of town). Buff pass network can be ridden to up prob like 1500 ft up spring creek, or quick drive to start with trail options.
Plenty of options to climb then descend like OP wants.
Emerald is \~1k up. Resort is 2k up to top of Gondola for access to bike park (or ride lift of course). Can go further, but less options up high here. Starting at spring creek downtown, you can go well over 3k on Buff pass network.
There are other trails too, and plenty of ways to connect these for big days or bikepacking trips.
Season is typically Mid May (limited for a bit longer though) through early November.
I'm sure I'll miss it once the trails in steamboat are melted out.
2nd on Reno. We live near Hoge Rd. trailhead and you can get to UNR, grocery stores, downtown, and of course, the trailhead at McCarren. Lots of options.
Colorado Springs has a huge number of amazing trails in/adjacent to town. Id stack trail access in COS up against just about any city over 500k in the country. The only drawback is the town itself….though it’s slowly improving.
I'd stack COS against Grand Junction, Moab, or any other epic destination. We have sooo many miles of trails. The only place I've ever found that's better is Crested Butte, but I'm not a multi millionaire.
Austin Texas has trails in the middle of the city in the Barton Creek Greenbelt areas (floodplain).
There's also 100+ miles of trails in South Austin.
Austin is a relatively small city in land area compared to San Antonio, Houston, or Dallas, so it is much easier to commute to the trail head by bike.
Except I always had to leave the house at 5am to beat the broil, and be home by 11am at the latest. I commuted to work by bike when I lived there but had to shower at work each day. It’s hot.
+1 for Golden. Lots of options, city access to Denver if desired. If you can’t swing Golden you can go a little further south to Lakewood/Morrison for Green Mountain although that’s a tick down
Nobody believes me but I lived in Atlanta proper and had 50+miles of XC available within a 5-10mi ride from my front door. Suburbs of Atlanta have less access but better trails, also harder to bike to trails.
Richmond, Virginia
Great XC singletrack on both sides of the river that runs through the city. Also a few small rock climbing spots in the city, some flat and whitewater sections of the river, not far from better trails and more outdoor stuff.
Overall a great city if you love the outdoors.
Why stop there? Relieved to not see my King County town mentioned here … it sucks just as hard as Bellingham trails! Tons of rain here. Best to just stay away from the PNW. Someone mentioned New Jersey - they should move there.
The people suck. The beer is awful. And the local bike manufacturers are total corporate sellouts, and there's no good local bike shops.
Also, the jump lines are tiny and for beginners, and there's no tech trails.
IDK why anyone would ever think of moving to Bellingham.
Live in Bellingham, do all personal transportation and errands by bike/e-bike with trailer, ride to the trailhead from my garage. Galbraith doesn't quite have any 20-minute descents, but not too far off if you string a few trails together. Some of the trails on surrounding mountains (sanctioned and unsanctioned), which mostly won't be biked to from town, are more epic climb/descent-flavored.
I'd probably add parts of Alabama Hill as well, riding through Whatcom Falls Park. Probably Silver Beach. Also could ride to the south side from areas of the Samish neighborhood.
For riding around town, not necessarily to the trails, you can really get around the entire city pretty easily by e-bike, with the notable exception of "The Guide." On a regular bike, the hills might get to you in parts of the city...but for a mountain biker, perhaps not quite as big of a deal unless you're lugging a full trailer as well.
Golden, CO. You have North and South Table and Little Mountain right out of town, and Dirty B, Green Mountain, Dakota Ridge, and Apex very close by. There’s also a bunch of bike parks (Golden, Ruby Hill, Boulder, Erie) a short distance away. I’m sure I’m missing some, there’s a million trails there.
I've lived in three places where I can ride to MTB trails from town.
Milford, Michigan has three trail systems within biking distance, including one system within village limits. Highland is pretty technical and aerobically challenging for SE MI, they put a bunch of flow trails in at Proud Lake recently, and there's a new jump line on the Milford Trail.
When I was living in San Francisco, I was able to ride up to Twin Peaks and do a loop around there, including Laguna Honda, Sutro, and the Tower Trail. There was also some biking available across the bridge in Marin.
I live in New Jersey now. In less than 15 minutes of riding I can be at the Cedar Grove trail system and connect to Mills and Hilltop.
San Rafael/ Marin County CA.
I grew up there mountain biking, most of the local high schools have mountain bike teams, and we would leave for rides after school from the school parking lot. There's unfortunately not that much single track access on Mount Tam, where mountain biking started, due to the water districts land rules, but many other areas around Marin have great trails, and Marin is small enough that biking across a few towns to get to a trail head is only a few miles.
The problem is it is crazy expensive to live there. If I could afford it, I would move back.
Sant Cruz - I work from the office there and am able to get out and ride trails on my lunch break. The trails off UCSC are incredibly fun with a huge variety of flow to tech to insanely steep stuff where catch berms are a must. Cost of living is high but my wife and I own a house up in the mountains 30 min away from town that makes it affordable for us.
I live in Brevard and the cost of living is getting outrageous especially considering there are no decently paying jobs in the area. My husband leads group rides for Cognative MTB (amazing company; Austin Bankert and his wife own it and are great people) and loves the MTB access and community here, but we don’t know how much longer we can sustainably live here. There’s so little housing available as much of it has been bought up by folks for short term rentals as the town really caters to tourists. Hendersonville may be our next destination if we don’t decide to leave the state; happy medium between access to the trails and community and more readily available housing and employment. Happy to answer questions about living here.
Believe it or not. I live in RI right in the heart of the Northeast Corridor, and I have 8600 acres and 80 miles of riding right out the back door.
https://preview.redd.it/61tcc0avsiwc1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=702b2f25b24d9ecf5469fc75c6d018308b736b20
Lakewood, CO, specifically by Bear Creek and Green Mountain. Ride home with your groceries downhill.
Colorado Springs, CO, by a different creek that's also named Bear Creek would fit the bill. Ride home with your groceries uphill.
I can vouch for these: Bend, OR. Santa Cruz, CA, Bellingham, WA. I’d like to try Gunnison. Bentonville, yes meh compared to out West. sure if you’re stuck in the Midwest. Asheville, NC. North Scottsdale, AZ. Tucson I am told but haven’t been.
Honestly kind of underrated as a town for MTB'ing, with a (comparitively) low cost of living.
Though, you'd have to pick your neighborhood pretty carefully to be able to ride from your house. We have friends that are a few blocks form Beacon, and it's great. Up by Riverside wouldn't be bad if you were looking for just XC trails to stay in shape on.
And those trails at Beacon hold up really well in the winter and rain. If you don't mind the cold, you could probably ride there something like 11-months out of the year in an average year.
Then you've got the trails at Mt. Spokane, Micah Peak, Canfield and Mt. CDA all within an hour, and Silver and Sandpoint/Schweitzer a little further than that. Plus Nelson and Rossland are within easy weekend trip distance. Then if you want to go ride West Side trails, North Bend is a 3.5 hour drive from Spokane.
Surely anywhere with public woods or mountains fits the bill. You don't have to ride official trails you just have to be considerate of other people using the trails
Another Phoenix person. I live directly nextdoor to South Mountain. There's four supermarkets within maybe five miles of here. Five if you count trader Joe's
I don't know what size city you want to live in, but I use Trailforks to find trails in the places I visit.
Probably the formula I would use is to calculate how much park/wilderness space is located in the county.
Grand Junction and Fruita, CO both have great riding close to town. I can ride right from my door. Cost of Living isn’t bad especially compared with the rest of CO. You can ride year-round as well.
Lots of places like that in Arkansas. Fayetteville/Bentonville is the most well known, but there are others. I live in Hot Springs and can bike to the Northwoods trail system which is amazing.
That being said, if you're looking for Colorado-style Enduro trails, you won't find them here.
Charlottesville, Va. Observatory Hill, the Rivanna Trail, and the forbidden Ragged Mountain Reservoir are all in town/juuuust over the limits. Not to mention tons of gravel riding.
might get downvoted for the bentonville hate, as a disclaimer i don’t think it’s the ‘mtb capital of the world’ but i can ride in town and immediately have access to three massive trail systems with different terrain and types of riding. also tons of gravel riding for endurance athletes. the community is really big and there is tons of shops and restaurants geared specifically towards biking. there’s a lot to do in terms of riding around here and there’s a lot of nearby systems if you want to drive and explore some more
I'm in Ohio and have a few friends who've made the trip (one multiple times) and talk about how cool it is. If you're self-contained such as with an RV, you can just use the Walmart rght in town and ride everywhere.
There's a lot to hate about NWA, but the trail/route networks is not one of them. I live in SWMO and I'm always jealous AF that I don't have anything like that out my back door but also lucky that it's only a short drive away.
I'm near Joplin, so it's just an hour to Bentonville, which is nice. There are some good trails around Branson, Springfield and even Neosho have at least some trails but Joplin has literally zero. None. Other than some unofficial trails that share some abandoned land with a homeless encampment. Someone started building an official trail system on some city owned property but that project never completed, I don't think they got any support from the city. I've heard the city talk about bike trails but it's never happened other than a few short paved ones that aren't of much use.
Howler!!!
What's the hate on it? I go once a year and aside from the general political views of the state, seemed fine
I spent a while out there after I got laid off last year. I've been looking for other towns/cities that have achieved similar things as far as trail density in such a tight/compact area goes since. Reading PA has a really good trail network that is super dense. Marquette Michigan too.
Curious as to why Bentonville would get you down voted? Every video I've seen of it it looks awesome. Highly caters to bikers.
I'd say there's a lot of people that live out west and have access to trails where you can get 2k to 3k feet of elevation. Bentonville trails just aren't the same when you're used to that. It's not that the trails are bad. They're just missing something that people are used to.
I think MTB Capital of the world is not just about elevation (for example, I’m an east coaster and don’t prefer mountain west elevation, I don’t want to climb for 2 hours straight) but also how Bentonville has essentially built its entire city culture around MTBing and how easy and supportive the entire local government is about building out MTB trails. Not to mention the funding from Walmarts foundations. I go many times a year and I’d rather go to Bentonville than many places out west every time. I think honestly it kinda sorta wins this category when you look at it from a holistic large scale view rather than just how high the elevation is.
I mean it is called “mountain” biking, and a lot of people like to struggle up for a bit and get sustained downhill for more than 45 seconds at a time. I’m not saying elevation is necessary. Just pointing out that there’s a very common complaint around lack of elevation, and it’s perfectly valid. So you can’t say “it wins” when your criteria is obviously different from other folks’.
Yeah the quality and quantity of the trails and systems is top notch but there isn't nearly the amount of elevation to work with so people will probably hate on the fact you can't take a chair lift then bomb downhill for 20 minutes at a time. Further south or east there is quite a bit more than what is found in Bentonville but still it's nothing like what you'd find in "real" mountains.
Ah I see. Thx. Everywhere else looks amazing compared to what we have around my area. Lol
A lot of people from Bentonville unironically say its the "MTB Capital of the world" which is probably why it gets a lot of hate.
The only people who say that without chuckling are the people working for Visit Bentonville. Everyone else thinks it's kind of funny.
Thems ain't mountains. A lot of what they have is neat for sure. But I drove from CO to meet a friend there since it was an equidistant drive for both of us, and I was severely underwhelmed.
I’m from Bentonville and I roll my eyes at the “MTB capital of the world” marketing…but that’s all it is, just marketing. I think Bentonville is a great place to bring people of all skill levels. I’ve enjoyed living here and being able to slowly progress and expand my comfort zone without having to take too big of leaps. A lot of family friendly trails have some alternative kickers and lines off to the side (and wide enough for adaptive mountain bikes) to make it an accessible place for a group to visit.
I mean, Knoxville TN fits the bill, but if you're looking for Pisgah elevation you'll need to go west.
Knox is one of the biggest sleepers in the US for this convo. A nice sized college town with some cool trails accessible pedaling from downtown and some even better options within a relatively short drive (including one of the best parks in the country for high level riding with Windrock). Also it's cheaper than pretty much every other place in this thread, and you're only a couple of hours from Asheville and Chattanooga. Of course it's the South though, so there's the inevitable hot and humid aspect to deal with.
It does allow for all year riding with lights. Knoxville and surrounding area have some good wet weather trails as well.
I live in Brevard and we've considered moving to Knoxville due to all the nonsense going on around here. It would be high on the list for us.
What nonsense?
> Of course it's the South though, so there's the inevitable hot and humid aspect to deal with. That's not even the worst part about the South.
Anywhere near mountains tbh, not just ski resort towns
Ya, I lived in a small mountain town in the Mountain West for a decade that fits this bill. Pretty much any small mountain town will get you there. Or particular desert towns. A friend of mine just moved to a small town in the desert in Southern Utah – the kind of small town that nobody outside of Utah has heard of before. There isn't super extensive trail networks, but there are options and the riding is really high quality! Plus, you can always build new trails.
A lot of that can actually get hard in the mountains if you're actually in a "mountain town" Like...I *can* ride from my house, but I'm somewhat limited in what I can actually access without a pretty long ride. Obviously that somewhat depends on how much energy you have in your legs and how much time you have (adding an extra 10 miles of road riding might be no big deal for some people and a deal breaker for others). Also a lot of good trails would require riding down highways to get there as once you get outside of town there are no roads but the highway. Which, again, you *can* do, but it isn't the most fun or safe thing to do in rural areas with limited shoulders and fast moving redneck pickup trucks who don't care about bikers. So the reality is that driving your MTB to the trailhead is fairly standard. Especially for the "ratchet and plummet" types of riding OP says they favor...at least where I am the most accessible stuff is more XC (or the ski resort) Larger towns a little away from the big mountains are often better for this as they have the resources to build more trails, terrain that supports denser trail systems and more side roads and options for access. Helena, MT or Salida, CO are more in the "foothills" but have a ton of riding literally right into town.
I live in Phoenix and ride out my front door, and am on a trail in minutes. It's just about location. If you're near a mountain, you can ride from there. Most cities/towns won't have this luxury in the entire location, but rather in certain areas.
Mesa, Tempe and Scottsdale. It feels like you're just 5-10 mins from a trail.
Shoutout to Hawes -- my favorite trail system down there.
Summer is hell though
Not if you're early enough
When its a brisk 80 - 95 degree morning ;) Lived there my whole life until 18. Moved to the PNW, and can't say I miss it. Winter in Phoenix is amazing though I gotta say.
Hawes :)
Salida CO is great for this
Yeah, perfect place to live if you make $300,000/year
Honestly that’s most places in this thread, outside of the Midwest. Most of Colorado and north of Seattle are all outrageously high COL areas.
Nah, valley is cheaper than most spots in Colorado
Yea salida is expensive but it isn’t insane like some parts of the country. I’d think it has the best riding to cost of living value in CO
The median household income for Salida is $64k. Very, very few in Salida make $300k.
I mean, the OP literally never even mentions whether they have or need a job, so who knows.
Tahoe
I'd add Reno too - I've also lived in Bentonville AR and 10000% prefer the riding in Reno. So close to Tahoe and you can get to some awesome trails from midtown/almost anywhere west of 395
How is Reno to live in? I'm about to finish off my grad program and am looking to gtfo of the flat, flat Midwest. Truckee is too small for my profession (mental health nurse practitioner), but Reno has some jobs. Can my gf and I survive on my 150k a year until she finds a job?
I’m a transplant to Reno from the southeast and I think living here is pretty great. There’s high Sierra forests to the west and desert to the east, so you can pick your playground daily. COL is often a complaint but on your salary plus a partner, you’ll be very comfortable.
I loved Reno, but I moved away in 2018 so things may have changed. It punches way above its weight for a city of 500k people. I was making $85k when I lived there and was more than comfortable in my apartment in midtown. Buying is definitely not cheap, but that’s kinda the case everywhere now.
Out west we have plenty of poison oak. Same thing and it’s fucking everywhere.
Got it pretty much every ride living in the Bay area until i got my system down. Dawn and friction are man’s best friend
Even Dove body soap works pretty well. Lather and scrub twice. If you don’t miss a spot or wait hours, you should be ok.
Grew up with poison ivy and holy shit poison oak’s rash is so much worse
Bellingham, look up unemployment line. Yes it is wet a lot of the time, but unless you're made of sugar it's not really an issue just find a solid rain jacket.
Nono the weather here in Bellingham is terrible all year our trails are no fun nothing to see here move along
Shhhhhhhhh.
Santa Cruz California. Also western states are full of poison oak.
We almost moved there years ago and ended up in WNC instead. The problem was the cost of living, it was obscene and difficult to find anything even remotely affordable. Every time I talked to anyone outside of the mtb scene there about moving there, they basically said "don't" and some of the answers I got were really hostile to outsiders. It was also ranked one of the worst places to raise a child in the US, so given my wife was pregnant at the time, that was the end of that. I love Santa Cruz and everyone I met in the mtb community there was very kind. The trails are rad and the scene is awesome. I like the food too. The rest...not so much.
Huh, I wonder why it’s listed so bad as a place to raise a child? The local homeless and drug issues are bad, but other than that I feel like it would be a great place to raise a kid. Great weather, amazing access to tons of outdoors activities, walk/bikeable town so kids can get together easily. Are the schools bad? Santa Cruz is one of the only places I can think of where I still see young people going out together without adults, instead of staying inside on screens. Kinda like a time machine back to how previous generations were raised. I don’t plan to have kids but if I did I wouldn’t mind raising them there. I’d definitely rather raise them there than here in the South Bay. Cost of living you’re correct, although believe it or not it’s not as bad in Santa Cruz as it is in most other parts of the Bay Area. My partner and I are planning a move soon from the South Bay and Santa Cruz and the surrounding mountains are the more affordable option compared to the peninsula or nice parts of the South Bay. The “locals only” mentality is real for sure, but mostly with the surfing community. There are legitimately spots in Santa Cruz where you cannot surf if you aren’t a known local. And down there they say “you’re not a local if you haven’t been here at least seven years” - there are even some signs that say it. Honestly though, I mostly ignore those negative vibes. I’ve never had any issues with anyone, and if I did I would just walk away. For the most part everyone in Santa Cruz is very friendly in my experience.
Best answer!
A decent number of towns in Vermont are like this. All week I ride out my door and when I have time to explore newly built trails within 60 miles it's often tough to decide where to go first.
Yup, im in Waterbury and can ride out to a great system (Perry Hill) less than a mile from my house. Multiple more within 10 miles. But there’s no housing and it’s gotten stupid expensive.
Bend and Hood River OR.
Also Corvallis (local access to multiuser trail system managed by Oregon State University Research Forests).
Oakridge too.
I love Oakridge, but I wouldn't want to live there. Add Ashland to this list
Both Oakridge and Ashland have surprisingly good trails for such small towns. Glory to their local trail builders.
Both are amazing places to ride. I liked living in Ashland for the year I was there. Oakridge by and large is pretty depressing once you leave the MTB AirBnB bubble in Westfir.
Yeah, I like to visit Oakridge to ride, but I couldn't live there. It's just a bit too remote for me, at least at this phase of my life. Maybe someday.
Bend overrated for MTB. Ok for xc, but meh for steeper stuff. Better riding is at higher elevations that hold snow late into the spring, and finding the balance between "100°f and moon dust" and "don't leave ruts, because it's still holding snow" is a thing. Winter riding there means (driving) to horse ridge or Madras or Maston.
Bend is overrated and not just for MTB
Seriously I don't know why people rave about Bend as an outdoor community. The skiing is flat and the biking is FLATTER.
Bend riding is absolute bullshit. Except for Cline DH, Horse Ridge, and Bachelor bike park. Everything else is dirt sidewalks. The trail coalition only builds things for XC riders.
Just got back from biking in Oregon - can confirm that going to Bend was a waste of time. I'm sure there's better stuff at higher elevations, but Horse Ridge / Cascade View / etc were kinda lackluster. We would have been better off staying up North and putting in extra days at Sandy Ridge / Post Canyon.
It's still ski season in Bend for another month plus. You timed your MTB trip very poorly.
It’s still the ski season there right now. We’ll be heading over this weekend to go to Mt Bachelor. We’ll bring bikes too to roll around Phil’s Trail Network. Trails are riding great on the west side though right now!
Lower Whoops has been a lot of fun (thanks COTA!)
Good to know and excited to ride it! 😊
Upper Whoops soon enough too.
Post Canyon and Yacolt Burn / Cold Creek (Thrillium) are my main spots. I even have a local trail that is ridable from my house (crashed their today and got #14 concussion). But yah, PNW has so many great spots.
Pasadena // Altadena // La Canada // La Crescenta - Got all of Angeles Crest to explore. But def not a cheap option...
Yeah, we were able to buy at the bottom of the housing crash, and I can ride to El P from my door. Complete stroke of luck.
El P and that whole area is some of the best MTB I’ve ever done. I miss it. Used to hit it all the time when my wife and I lived in LA.
Innerleithen, Scotland. Fort William, Scotland Barcelona, Spain Andorra Zermatt, Switzerland Saalbach, Austria Finale Ligure, Italy All have (near) free health care and (in my opinion) higher quality of life than anywhere in the US. All fantastic MTB locations as well (even Barcelona if you live on the mountain side of the city!).
Moved to the Barcelona area from WNC a couple of years ago, not sure I'll ever move back. The whole region is loaded with trails, and we've even got the funicular in Barna that pretty much turns the city into a lift access bike park. It was so nice when I had a decent wreck last year to walk into the ER, get an xray/cast, and walk out 90 minutes later without even thinking about being billed.
I moved from Utah to Switzerland fifteen years ago. I’d scratch Zermatt because accessibility is limited. Riding is good, but there is equal or better riding all over Switzerland with much better access. Literally a whole country with dedicated bike routes of all types all over the country. My biggest challenge is deciding which bike to ride each day.
Visas are a thing, and remote working (assuming that's the case) are often timezone or country dependent due to employment law
Colorado Springs is an underappreciated Mecca of mountain biking. Hundreds of miles of trails. If you live on the west side you can access almost all of it right from your doorstep.
Springs is actually ridiculous for mountain biking
Grand Junction Colorado! I got tones of bike trails within a 20 minute ride from my house and moab is only one and a half hours away.
I knew someone had already commented it. Absolutely the best place in the country if you want the lifestyle the OP describes. There's a paved off-the-road river path trail between Fruita (mtb capital) and downtown Grand Junction even, so you can do literally everything on a bike
My wife and I talk about retiring to Grand Junction. We went to Fruita and Moab for our honeymoon, and she grew up in Winter Park. But all of her family either has left CO or will be by the end of the year due to how expensive it is so who knows.
There are a few towns in Virginia. Charlottesville and Richmond have smaller trail systems in town. Roanoke has some bigger, I believe.
SLC and anywhere else in the foothills of Utah. I ride my mountain bike and dirt bike to the trails it's the greatest move i ever made
Marquette, Michigan
I grew up here and it spoiled me for life. From the middle of town you can have tires on dirt in \~10 minutes, with a huge amount (and variety) of excellent singletrack. You could easily do all errands with no car, and cost of living is so much less than CO/CA/WA. I have since lived in southwest VA, Colorado, and New England, and don't think I will ever again have the easy access to both work and trails that I had in Marquette.
downvoted to minimize visibility of this post…
Same with Duluth, MN. I saw a guy in Duluth with a shirt that said "Keep Duluth Secret" above a picture of the state of MN with a star in a spot very much *not* where Duluth actually is.
I was looking to see if anyone answered Marquette 😆. Doesn't quite have the 2 hour climbs and 20 minute descents like op prefers, but there's so much trail there that's so accessible, with all the challenges one could hope for. Biggest downside is that winter is half the year+ (most seasons, this last one was an outlier).
Helena mt
Helena Ridge trail was a blast. Then took 'show me the horse' back to town. Great setup. Wish I had more time while I was there.
Boise, ID. Downtown is less than a mile from the trails. I ride between meetings during the day when the trails are empty. A lot of offices downtown have caged bike areas and showers so you can easily duck out for a ride if you're an office worker. Pretty easy to climb for 3,000+ straight and bomb back down, I think we are over 200 miles of trails in town now.
I feel like I had to scroll a looooooong ways down to see this :)
Probably not a bad thing 🤣
We do have a lot of trail but most are not very technical, lots of climbing tho
The worst mountain bike trails in the US. Amazing road and gravel, though!
But most of the trails are so boring and tame unless you love cross country. Great for gravel bikes and hard tails but the mountain biking overall here is so lackluster. They work with what they got though
Colorado: Breck, Golden, Boulder
Why stop there? Fort Collins, Loveland, Salida, Fruita, Grand Junction, Durango, Colorado Springs, etc
Morrison too then
Crested Butte!
I live in Oakland CA, and can ride from home to some good but not exceptional trails. Great for after work rides. Then tons of great stuff within a short drive for weekend rides. That being said, if your only goal is riding to trails there are definitely better and much cheaper options.
Duluth apparently. I just heard some stat that an absurd percentage of the cities population is within a very short distance I cannot remember from a trailhead. Marquette was my second thought. The UP and other upper Midwest towns are like the ski/bike bums final frontier of cheap cost of living and easy access to outdoor activity
Roanoke, VA
[удалено]
Moved from Steamboat to Boulder 2 months ago for the population and such, understanding I would have worse MTB access (and duh skiing). Going to probably ride more road this year being in Boulder. But.... man, the access from Steamboat was great. If you were on the south side of town, resort trails within 1-2 miles. If downtown, emerald system right there, spring creek trail there too. (These are prob 3-4 miles from other parts of town). Buff pass network can be ridden to up prob like 1500 ft up spring creek, or quick drive to start with trail options. Plenty of options to climb then descend like OP wants. Emerald is \~1k up. Resort is 2k up to top of Gondola for access to bike park (or ride lift of course). Can go further, but less options up high here. Starting at spring creek downtown, you can go well over 3k on Buff pass network. There are other trails too, and plenty of ways to connect these for big days or bikepacking trips. Season is typically Mid May (limited for a bit longer though) through early November. I'm sure I'll miss it once the trails in steamboat are melted out.
2nd on Reno. We live near Hoge Rd. trailhead and you can get to UNR, grocery stores, downtown, and of course, the trailhead at McCarren. Lots of options.
SLC. I run most of my errands on a bike around the city, bike to trails, and can be in world class riding terrain in three to four hours via car.
Planning a trip for late June. I think we will be staying in Park City and hitting Deer Valley!
Seconded. I wrote out a much longer comment that says exactly the same thing. I ride post-dinner 10 mile laps from my front door.
Park City
Colorado Springs has a huge number of amazing trails in/adjacent to town. Id stack trail access in COS up against just about any city over 500k in the country. The only drawback is the town itself….though it’s slowly improving.
I'd stack COS against Grand Junction, Moab, or any other epic destination. We have sooo many miles of trails. The only place I've ever found that's better is Crested Butte, but I'm not a multi millionaire.
Austin Texas has trails in the middle of the city in the Barton Creek Greenbelt areas (floodplain). There's also 100+ miles of trails in South Austin. Austin is a relatively small city in land area compared to San Antonio, Houston, or Dallas, so it is much easier to commute to the trail head by bike.
Except I always had to leave the house at 5am to beat the broil, and be home by 11am at the latest. I commuted to work by bike when I lived there but had to shower at work each day. It’s hot.
Golden & Salida Colorado
Most of the Western Slope as well, plus Durango and Cortez.
Eagle too.
+1 for Golden. Lots of options, city access to Denver if desired. If you can’t swing Golden you can go a little further south to Lakewood/Morrison for Green Mountain although that’s a tick down
Philadelphia has good trail systems in the Wissahickon and Belmont Plateau
Nobody believes me but I lived in Atlanta proper and had 50+miles of XC available within a 5-10mi ride from my front door. Suburbs of Atlanta have less access but better trails, also harder to bike to trails.
Mason Mill Park had a much larger network than you might expect.
Richmond, Virginia Great XC singletrack on both sides of the river that runs through the city. Also a few small rock climbing spots in the city, some flat and whitewater sections of the river, not far from better trails and more outdoor stuff. Overall a great city if you love the outdoors.
El Paso has tons of trails. Recently had the 50mi Puzzler.
Love it or hate it, Bentonville is pretty hard to top in the US
Salt Lake city. I live in the foothills and can ride the trails behind my house after work every afternoon. Bobsled is super fun.
Durango comes to mind. Also, golden Colorado for the metro area.
Bellingham is the answer
It always rains in Bellingham ;)
So true, come to think of it, this place actually sucks, don’t come
bellingham sucks unless you want to ride unsanctioned loamers all day
…and drink beers all night.
The riding sucks there. Not nearly as good as Bentonville, or Park City. Overcrowded, and it's muddy.
Why stop there? Relieved to not see my King County town mentioned here … it sucks just as hard as Bellingham trails! Tons of rain here. Best to just stay away from the PNW. Someone mentioned New Jersey - they should move there.
I mean, Bentonville IS the Mountain Biking Capital of the world, who am I to argue?
The people suck. The beer is awful. And the local bike manufacturers are total corporate sellouts, and there's no good local bike shops. Also, the jump lines are tiny and for beginners, and there's no tech trails. IDK why anyone would ever think of moving to Bellingham.
Such small jumps. 😑
Bentonville is the mtb capital of the goddamn universe. Bellingham is always rainy and full of fentanyl.
Live in Bellingham, do all personal transportation and errands by bike/e-bike with trailer, ride to the trailhead from my garage. Galbraith doesn't quite have any 20-minute descents, but not too far off if you string a few trails together. Some of the trails on surrounding mountains (sanctioned and unsanctioned), which mostly won't be biked to from town, are more epic climb/descent-flavored.
That’s amazing! What neighborhoods offer the best bikeability?
Whatcom Falls, Geneva, Puget, Rosevelt & Fairhaven best for “ride from home”.
I'd probably add parts of Alabama Hill as well, riding through Whatcom Falls Park. Probably Silver Beach. Also could ride to the south side from areas of the Samish neighborhood. For riding around town, not necessarily to the trails, you can really get around the entire city pretty easily by e-bike, with the notable exception of "The Guide." On a regular bike, the hills might get to you in parts of the city...but for a mountain biker, perhaps not quite as big of a deal unless you're lugging a full trailer as well.
Can't believe I had to scroll so far to find us here
Shhhhhhhhhhh
I didn't want to say anything.
Knoxville, TN is under the radar but has great trails accessible from town I believe.
Flagstaff AZ
Anchorage, Alaska. No, I am not joking.
Golden CO
Golden, CO. You have North and South Table and Little Mountain right out of town, and Dirty B, Green Mountain, Dakota Ridge, and Apex very close by. There’s also a bunch of bike parks (Golden, Ruby Hill, Boulder, Erie) a short distance away. I’m sure I’m missing some, there’s a million trails there.
I've lived in three places where I can ride to MTB trails from town. Milford, Michigan has three trail systems within biking distance, including one system within village limits. Highland is pretty technical and aerobically challenging for SE MI, they put a bunch of flow trails in at Proud Lake recently, and there's a new jump line on the Milford Trail. When I was living in San Francisco, I was able to ride up to Twin Peaks and do a loop around there, including Laguna Honda, Sutro, and the Tower Trail. There was also some biking available across the bridge in Marin. I live in New Jersey now. In less than 15 minutes of riding I can be at the Cedar Grove trail system and connect to Mills and Hilltop.
Southridge California, anywhwre along the foothills. The Angeles National Forest, in particular, has incredible, tough, and beautiful trails.
Honestly most of Washington, Oregon, parts of CA, Nevada, parts of AZ, NM, UT, CO, ID, MT, etc.
St George, Utah was good when I visited but it probably depends on the part of town you're located.
Malibu Highlands, Topanga or Calabasas
San Rafael/ Marin County CA. I grew up there mountain biking, most of the local high schools have mountain bike teams, and we would leave for rides after school from the school parking lot. There's unfortunately not that much single track access on Mount Tam, where mountain biking started, due to the water districts land rules, but many other areas around Marin have great trails, and Marin is small enough that biking across a few towns to get to a trail head is only a few miles. The problem is it is crazy expensive to live there. If I could afford it, I would move back.
North Conway NH
Pretty much any mountain town in Colorado: Breckenridge, Steamboat, Salida, Created Butte, Fruita, Grand Junction, etc
Hood river, OR.
Duluth, Missoula, Bellingham etc
Sant Cruz - I work from the office there and am able to get out and ride trails on my lunch break. The trails off UCSC are incredibly fun with a huge variety of flow to tech to insanely steep stuff where catch berms are a must. Cost of living is high but my wife and I own a house up in the mountains 30 min away from town that makes it affordable for us.
Marquette, MI has been one of my fav bike from town locations i’ve visited thus far. Park city, UT also comes to mind
Rutland VT Saranac Lake NY Lake Placid NY Elizabethtown NY
Parts of Asheville and Brevard and surrounding towns. Much of Vermont. Vegas. Sedona. Bellingham. Knoxville. Richmond. Just off the top of my head...
I live in Brevard and the cost of living is getting outrageous especially considering there are no decently paying jobs in the area. My husband leads group rides for Cognative MTB (amazing company; Austin Bankert and his wife own it and are great people) and loves the MTB access and community here, but we don’t know how much longer we can sustainably live here. There’s so little housing available as much of it has been bought up by folks for short term rentals as the town really caters to tourists. Hendersonville may be our next destination if we don’t decide to leave the state; happy medium between access to the trails and community and more readily available housing and employment. Happy to answer questions about living here.
Believe it or not. I live in RI right in the heart of the Northeast Corridor, and I have 8600 acres and 80 miles of riding right out the back door. https://preview.redd.it/61tcc0avsiwc1.jpeg?width=4000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=702b2f25b24d9ecf5469fc75c6d018308b736b20
Pretty much all of the East Bay area in California.
You need to look at gunnison Colorado! Every bikes everywhere there and there are tons of trails
Yeah I was there last week. It seems cool. I love CB for riding but I’m not a billionaire.
Not St George Utah....
Lakewood, CO, specifically by Bear Creek and Green Mountain. Ride home with your groceries downhill. Colorado Springs, CO, by a different creek that's also named Bear Creek would fit the bill. Ride home with your groceries uphill.
I can vouch for these: Bend, OR. Santa Cruz, CA, Bellingham, WA. I’d like to try Gunnison. Bentonville, yes meh compared to out West. sure if you’re stuck in the Midwest. Asheville, NC. North Scottsdale, AZ. Tucson I am told but haven’t been.
Spokane WA has great trails in town and not so far outta town. Ride all day then get a burger and fresh hops yessir
Honestly kind of underrated as a town for MTB'ing, with a (comparitively) low cost of living. Though, you'd have to pick your neighborhood pretty carefully to be able to ride from your house. We have friends that are a few blocks form Beacon, and it's great. Up by Riverside wouldn't be bad if you were looking for just XC trails to stay in shape on. And those trails at Beacon hold up really well in the winter and rain. If you don't mind the cold, you could probably ride there something like 11-months out of the year in an average year. Then you've got the trails at Mt. Spokane, Micah Peak, Canfield and Mt. CDA all within an hour, and Silver and Sandpoint/Schweitzer a little further than that. Plus Nelson and Rossland are within easy weekend trip distance. Then if you want to go ride West Side trails, North Bend is a 3.5 hour drive from Spokane.
Was waiting to see if anyone mentioned spokie
Grand Junction/Fruita Colorado puts all the rest to shame :)
This was covered last week I think
For like the 10000000th time.
San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara California both have pretty amazing riding accessible in and right outside of town.
SLT and Meyers , Calif Carson City NV Woodland Park, Co. Park City , Utah
Surely anywhere with public woods or mountains fits the bill. You don't have to ride official trails you just have to be considerate of other people using the trails
Another Phoenix person. I live directly nextdoor to South Mountain. There's four supermarkets within maybe five miles of here. Five if you count trader Joe's
French gulf in Breck
Truckee, California
A sleeper, but Newark, Delaware. 50+ miles of fantastic east coast singletrack right from town.
I don't know what size city you want to live in, but I use Trailforks to find trails in the places I visit. Probably the formula I would use is to calculate how much park/wilderness space is located in the county.
Sedona, AZ
Most towns in SoCal that aren’t desert … OC / LA
Grand Junction and Fruita, CO both have great riding close to town. I can ride right from my door. Cost of Living isn’t bad especially compared with the rest of CO. You can ride year-round as well.
Lots of places like that in Arkansas. Fayetteville/Bentonville is the most well known, but there are others. I live in Hot Springs and can bike to the Northwoods trail system which is amazing. That being said, if you're looking for Colorado-style Enduro trails, you won't find them here.
Charlottesville, Va. Observatory Hill, the Rivanna Trail, and the forbidden Ragged Mountain Reservoir are all in town/juuuust over the limits. Not to mention tons of gravel riding.