Tag: Mountain bike trails

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Trails of Bend – Ultimate Flow

Bend in Central Oregon has grown rapidly during the last decade and I guess the great trails in the area contribute significantly to this development (together with decent climate, fascinating nature and good micro breweries) .  Most of the trail system has been created by the local MTB-community and is really hard to beat in terms of flow and fun.  So, I was delighted to be back in Bend to rip the finest trails together with my son.  Of course, Tiddlywinks and Lower Whoops were our favorites.  However, there are so many miles of outstanding trails, that I should spend simply more time when I am back in Bend.

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Mountain Biking the Lofoten Islands, Norway

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What about a trail ride in dramatic scenery in the midnight sun?  The Lofoten archipelago lies within the Arctic Circle, so you could enjoy 24 hours of sunshine during the summer months in good weather conditions.  Yet, your body’s need for sleep remains the same at 68° north.

The Lofoten Islands combine dramatic mountains and peaks with open sea, sheltered bays, beaches and steep fjords to one of the most spectacular landscapes.  There are a handful of trails that are as well good for mountain biking, however, hiking your bike is sometimes inevitable.  The biggest challenge though, is to find a decent bike to rent.  It is a good idea to bring your own rig.

One of the best Lofoten rides starts just south of Leknes in Bergsdalen and winds up to Smordalskammen (437 meters elevation).  It is an out-and-back ride on a ridge with a fun way back downhill.

A real classic trail is the Keiservarden near Digermulen.   The last German emperor Wilhelm II enjoyed the view on the Raftsundet already in 1889.  The ride at the top is partially on granite rock.

Kleppstadheia in the Kabelvag/Svolvaer region offers great views, but requires to hike your bike for a while.

Trailride.no is a very helpful app to locate MTB-rides in Norway.

Bayview
Kleppstadheia
Keiservarden
Reine
Kleppstadheia rocks
Sweet singletrack
dream ride
Zooming down Smordalskammen
Keiservarden viewpoint
Other trail users
Keiservarden trail
Rock riding on Keiservarden
Hang loose above Reine

 

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Mountain Bike Metropolis Frankfurt

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Frankfurt is the best major city in Germany to live in when mountain biking is the key criteria – thanks to the nearby Taunus range.  The U3-line takes you from the heart of the city directly to the Hohemark, the most popular starting point for MTB-tours to the higher Taunus elevations like the Große Feldberg (879 meters).

In the recent mild winters there hasn’t been much snow, which made it possible to enjoy all-year long riding.  In addition to the countless official and unoffical trails, new purpose-built trails have been added during the last year.

There are now two “official” downhill lines starting at the Feldberg and a flow trail not far away in the opposite direction.  If you connect all the fun trails just around the Feldberg – Altkönig – Sandplacken area you easily end up with tour over 50 kilometers and 1500 meters of elevation gain.  Quite a MTB-playground bordering the city limits of “Mainhattan”.

WildTurn

Coolest unofficial Taunus trail

 

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Vinschgau Late Fall Biking

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The Vinschgau bureau of tourism loves to rave about the 315 sunny days per year they allegedly have.  So, when I was heading to the Val di Senales for a ski touring event end of November I just threw my bike into the trunk as well and took off a bit earlier.  I read about the newly built Propain Trail and was keen to get it under my tire knobs.

The surrounding mountain ranges were all snow covered but the Vinschgau trails on both sides of the valley were in superb condition up to an elevation of 1800 meters.   It was sunny and dry, but cold.  The trails were covered with fine larch needles that added a soft golden shimmering finish.

The Propain Trail is a sweet purpose built trail to descend from the Sonnenberg down to Schlanders.  In order to get up to the trail head at an elevation of about 1400 meters you either pedal up from Coldrano via Vezzano on paved roads or you cross over from St. Martin am Kofel. The 800 meters climb from Coldrano was all on paved roads and somehow relaxed due to the warming sun and nice views.  The downhill on the Propain Trail is excellent: technical with tight turns, but full of flow.

The next morning I chose the Holy Hansen as morning ride.  It was even colder, the climb up the Morterer Leger tougher and longer (1200 meters elevation gain).  Yet, as well this fun trail was in very good condition to have a blast downhill with a big smile (on the half frozen) face.  Looks like I will return for more sunny days in the Vinschgau sooner or later…

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Oops, we did it again… Mountain Biking Finale Ligure

Dropping on Kill Bill into the next turn
Dropping on Kill Bill into the next turn
Just two weeks after the Enduro World Series came to Finale Ligure to stage the final round of the season we continued our series of trips to Finale.  This splendid, complete package that Finale has to offer is simply hard to beat: besides the unique  Trail network with its flowy, roller-coaster-like trails there are nice beaches, cool cafes, good restaurants, plenty of shops, historic buildings, organic olive oil plantations, fantastic ice cream and much more to excite the whole family.

The local committee to maintain and develop the trails has done an outstanding job over the last years and has shaped or reshaped numerous purpose built trails.  There are plenty of alternatives when you start your descent at the NATO-base or from Melogno.

The Kill Bill lines down to Calice Ligure are a thrilling alternative to the Caprazoppa Trails to finalize a tour from Melogno to Finale.  Kill Bill is a sort of climax to the Roller Coaster Trail from Melogno as it is even steeper and tighter.

The Supergroppo Trail starts from the old NATO-Base but is longer than the other runs and includes as well some uphill parts.  It was built in 2014 and served as an epic stage in the Enduro World Series race. Altogether 11 km of beautifully flowing singletrack trail that ends in Orco Feglino.

I have the strong feeling that this wasn’t my trip to Finale Ligure…

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Mountain Biking The Great Outdoors in Europe – Ål, Norway

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The glacier-shaped Norwegian landscape is unique and stunningly beautiful.  It can be labelled as the Great Outdoors of Europe.  But what about mountain biking in this rugged terrain?

There are numerous great MTB-spots.  In  the Telemark in Southern Norway you can ride for miles on smooth granite rock and several skiing resorts have remodeled their slopes into bike parks in summertime.  There is a cool app for the smart phone called trailguide.no, that shows all the MTB-spots and helps you navigating the routes.

We chose Ål in Hallingdal as our MTB-hot spot.  Ål is about half way between Bergen and Oslo and it hosts the Hillbilly Huckfest, a big air event, in July.  Knut, the organizer of the Hillbilly Huckfest, helped us to hit some of Ål’s  MTB-trails.  So we gave the Hillbilly Enduro Trail literally a trial. Knut drove us up the hill to a place called Nyset where we hiked our bikes up for about 15 minutes to cross Nysetfjellet and to gradually descent back to Ål.

Due to the rain on the previous days the trail was in fact a creek in some sections.  And with the trillions of rocks the trail was quite challenging.  After a while we found our flow while the trail was still soaked.   On one of the ladders across a swampy spot I lost balance and had to step off the pedal with the consequence of wet and cold feet for the rest of the ride.

All in all we had a cool 15 km long trail adventure that encompassed most of the typical Norwegian characteristics: lots of rocks and water, natural beauty, really nice people & fun.  Skål.

Kjerag Bolten
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The Best Mountain Bike Trail

So, after riding all these renowned, magnificent trails this year, which one was best?  Websites like singletracks.com or mtbproject.com rank the world’s best mountain bike trails based on the ratings of users, so I used these rankings as an orientation.  However, it is obvious that those highest ranked trails aren’t necessarily the best for everyone.  It pretty much depends on the criteria and actually on personal preferences.  Technical difficulty makes a trail challenging but not great.  And the beauty of nature is even more difficult to rate.  Anyway, here’s my take:

Whole Enchilada, UPS
Thunder Mountain Trail
Corviglia Flow Trail
McKenzie River Trail

Best trails with both breathtaking nature and trail fun are

  1. Thunder Mountain Trail (near Bryce Canyon, CO)
  2. McKenzie River Trail (Central Oregon, OR)
  3. Tahoe Rim Trail & Flume Trail (Lake Tahoe, NV)

Best trails in terms of fun and flow are

  1. Corviglia Flow Trail (St.Moritz, Switzerland)
  2. Bend Trails, e.g. Tiddlywinks (Bend, OR)
  3. Sandy Ridge Trail System (Portland, OR)

Best trails in terms of overall experience are

  1. Whole Enchilada (Moab, UT)
  2. Melogno Roller Coaster and  NATO Base (Finale Ligure, Italy)
  3. MAG7 Trails (Moab, UT)
  4. Phil’s World (Cortez, CO)
  5. 18 Road Trails (Fruita, CO)

Although I am tempted to add more categories to list even more great trails I think it is better to stop here.  My bottom line is: The best trails are where mountain bikers are to make them great trails, by painting dots on rocks, by shaping berms or by just riding on…