Wednesday February 22 , 2012

My all-time favorite Mountain Bike Trails

Hall Ranch Mountain Bike Trail

hall ranch

Ok the picture above is one of the main reasons I like Hall Ranch

This section is ridiculously technical, I don’t think I ever made it up

and it took me to the 3rd visit to have the guts to go down

Description: From the lower parking lot, go uphill to the trailhead at the upper lot. From here it’s an easy trail to follow. Follow Bitterbrush trail uphill through somewhat rough singletrack. Around the 1 mile mark you will head down a valley and up the other side into a field. From here the trail becomes physically and technically difficult. You will have roughly 1/2 mile of steep ascending with very difficult technical sections. 1 3/4 miles you reach the top of the first hill and descend into the valley only to ascend into a valley meadow. The trailis easy and hard packed. Once you reach nelson loop (3.5 miles) take a left for a switchback ascent or a right for a slightly less agressive ascent. Follow Nelson Loop (2.3 miles) but beware of speed reducing ditches that rangers dig out for drainage reasons. Once you reconect with Bitterbrush trail follow it back to your car.

4. White Ranch Mountain Bike Trail

Golden, Colorado

MTB TRAIL STATS

Avg Rating:  21 trail reviews
Status: Open
updated 9/12/07 by Someonelse		 Difficulty:  Advanced
Length: 14 miles Global Rank: 86
Tread: Singletrack Configuration: Network
Ridden: 234 Wishlist: 84
Avg. Speed: 5.29 mph Avg. Time: 2hr 14min
Directions: To view directions to White Ranch mountain bike trail, please login. If you don’t have an account, sign up now: it’s free, only takes a minute, and gives you access to tons of other rad features.

Description: This trail network is typical of what Colorado has to offer… a technical granny gear ascent up 1800+ ft on the Maverick trail with spectacular views of the surrounding Rocky mountains and wildlife. The downhills can get pretty gnarly as well with lots of rocks and log dropoffs. We didn’t get to ride the entire network because we got caught in a thunderstorm, luckily we hid out in a cave on the Mustang trail until the storm passed. Pick up a map at the parking lot as there are several trails to explore!

Bolderado’s Review:

A fantastic Colorado trial!  The setting is just on the outskirts of Golden Colorado, and there are two options on the approach.   A short drive from the highway is the lower lot which forces you to ride Belcher hill which is a real beast of a climb and first you have to get through some sand and baby heads (baby heads are rocks about the size of a baby’s head, or a grapefruit).  The other path is drive up the steep climb to a parking lot on top and ride down.    call me old fashioned, but I always enjoy the downhill at the end of the ride., after I have truly earned it and after I am so spent, I can’t ride up anymore.  White Ranch is all vertical and it can wear you out!  Some of the trails are loaded with water bars which makes for a crazy ride when headed down, but also a very difficult climb coming up.  On the climbs, I tend to take an alternate route.

Poison Spider Mesa Mountain Bike Trail

Moab, Utah

poison spider mesa

MTB TRAIL STATS

Avg Rating:  2 trail reviews
Status: Open
updated 5/7/09 by david_darling		 Difficulty:  Intermediate
Length: 13 miles Global Rank: 142
Tread: 4×4 Trail Configuration: Loop
Ridden: 38 Wishlist: 3
Directions: To view directions to Poison Spider Mesa mountain bike trail, please login. If you don’t have an account, sign up now: it’s free, only takes a minute, and gives you access to tons of other rad features.

Description: This is a technically and physically demanding trail which can be done as a loop or an out and back. Those willing to take great risk can try their skills on the famous Portal Trail singletrack descent to finish the loop. Warning! The Portal Trail has some “really extreme” exposure and people have paid the ultimate price negotiating certain sections of this trail.Portal Trail is a very narrow singletrack that skirts the face of a near vertical cliff. Many people walk this part of the trail. Poison Spider Mesa is a challenging ride due to the attention required to negotiate loose terrain, babyheads, bedrock ledges, slickrock (lots of slickrock) and at times deep sand all on one of Moab’s classic Jeep 4×4 trails. Once on the mesa ,there is much slickrock to play around on. The ride starts with a tough climb on bedrock and the occasional alluvial terrace or deep sand and then on to a flatter ledgy surface. The trail turns curvy a bit then some confusion awaits for finding the route to the slickrock. Once on the hallowed surface you can freeform ride to the mesa or follow the trail markers which are little painted Jeeps. If you choose to make your own way to the mesa, study the trail map first and keep a look out for certain landmarks to help you navagate to the rim. At any point along the trail you can turn around to make it an out and back ride.The mileage count is assuming you follow the painted markers to the top, however, mileage becomes a moot point if you decide to freeform ride once on the slickrock.

8.  Razorback (RIP)

Ocala, Florida

The terrain is permanent but sometimes ownership or situations change.  Razorback was on private land and after many years of being on of the top MTB parks in Florida, teh owners had other plans for the property.   Unfortunately Florida does not have that many outstanding MTB parks and Razorback was one of the best.  It also had the best hills I have experienced in Florida.  Not Colorado long, but still very steep and challenging.

Description: There are 2 loops : one short and one long. Plenty of climbs that let you earn your decents. Good fast singlrack. Varied terrain. Worth traveling from South Florida to go there. While in the area try Santos or Hardrock.