Where To Mountain Bike This Spring
Trail systems, recreational areas and mountain bike hot spots to keep on your radar for stellar early-season riding.
We love spring because it means it's time to pull the trusty steed out of hibernation, strap on your favorite mountain bike gear, and to venture out on trails near and far. Those first warm, sunny rides followed by a few laughs and aprés beverages offer a glimpse of an incredible season of biking to come.
To celebrate the season, we asked our lady boss ambassadors where they get their early season mountain bike fix. And they came back to us with killer ride ideas to get out and enjoy the sun, perhaps a little mud, and most certainly some good times. This list is by no means complete, and we plan to keep adding to it—in the meantime, we’d love to hear your favorite spring rides in the comments below. But we do hope it gives you a little inspiration to plan a weekend trip or get out for some evening laps because it’s the time of year to #PlayWild.
Western Colorado
“A lot of Aspenites head out to Fruita, Colorado, in the spring to get their mountain bike fix. Folks either camp for the weekend or even day-trip it since it’s close enough. Some favorite trails in the Fruita/Grand Junction area include Lunch Loops, Palisade Rim, 18 Road and more. It’s all great desert riding with everything from flowy trails, to techy desert rock-to-rim riding. Nice to dry out, get some sun after the long winter and get back into riding shape.”
- Tucker Vest Burton | Aspen, CO
“My favorite place to ride early season is the Kokopelli Loops in Grand Junction, CO. The trail system has lots of fun techy riding, great views, and there is riding for all ability levels, beginner to expert!”
- Ingrid Stensvaag | (Vail, CO)
Moab, Utah
“One of my absolute favorite early season locations is Moab, UT. It’s just warming up there making it the most ideal of riding conditions! In heavy rotation on my list of Moab riding go-to’s is the Captain Ahab Trail. I really enjoy this ride because for me I feel like it’s an ideal trail to gauge my progression. It’s technical, challenging and really fun. It has been awesome to come back to this trail year after year and suddenly be able to clear climbs I couldn’t before, or clear descents that weren’t so easy previously. I love how challenging it is. Once you clean something there’s the next more difficult feature to try. Not to mention stunning red rock views and pristine slick rock trail riding throughout the ride. Without a doubt, I don’t believe I’ve done a single Moab trip that didn’t involve the Captain Ahab trail!”
- Hailey Schiff | (SLC, UT)
Central Vermont
“My favorite early spring trails are Blueberry Lake, in Vermont. This trail system is good for all levels and has been designed to drain really well. My home circuit is Perry Hill in Waterbury. It is slippery when wet, rooty and rocky. These trails will not disappoint the intermediate to advanced riders. Another super fun area is Millstone in Barre, VT. (pronounced “Barry”). Folks get to ride along granite carvings and the old granite quarry.”
- Alix Klein | (VT)
Sun Valley, Idaho
“My go-to early season mountain bike trail in the Sun Valley, ID area is Croy Canyon. It's the area that melts off first in the spring, so some days I get a morning ski tour in on Galena Pass then rally south about an hour to bike a few laps. The Croy trails are ideal for getting the peddle legs back in shape. The smooth rolling single track flows up and down gradually making for a fun challenge. For a little extra excitement, the Punch Bowl Trail within this system has a few berms and jumps to get the adrenaline going.”
- Amy David | (Sun Valley, ID)
What did we miss? Keep the conversation going and comment on your favorite mountain bike trails below. We want you to help us grow a library of bike trail beta created by women and for women, just like Wild Rye.