Mountain biking is a great physical activity both for the family and the individual thrill seeker. It’s also happens to be one of the easiest sports to get into, as you only need a bike, a good trail and the willingness to pump your legs.
If you bought a bike it means you probably have the willingness to pump your legs, so the only thing left is a great trail. You’ll most likely start off with shorter trails near you, but eventually you’ll want to try out something more spectacular and challenging. Below we’ve listed five of the most popular mountain bike trails in the world you should make a point of riding before you die.
1. Machynlleth, Wales
Go out as far you want on natural trail through the beautiful Dyfi forest. Different routes of varying difficulty and length can be taken directly from the centre of town. Locals maintain the trails as far as they can without damaging the natural environment, so finding your way around is easy.
This trail also plays host to the Raw Dyfi Enduro a 15km round trip with the longest descent in Wales, a massive jump and flowy turns all round.
2. Moab, Utah
Moab is widely known as one of the best mountain biking trails, not only in the US, but also in the rest of the world. It’s most well-known trail is the Slickrock bike trail, which is runs for 9.6 miles over boulders and various type of rock surfaces. Being next to the Arches National Park all Moab trails provide great scenery and several trails each varying in difficulty.
3. Whistler, Canada
Whistler is a two hour drive from Vancouver and ski resort in the winter and full on mountain bike in the winter. It has a wide variety of trail, built over the years by mountain biking enthusiasts and professionals. Visited by thousands of local and tourists Whistler is perfect for group excursions and provide lodgings, food and beer all year round.
4. Tyrol, Austria
Tyrol Austria is a popular international mountain biking destination due its beautiful scenery and ridden out tracks in the Nordkette mountain range. Tickets are a bit on the steep side at $40 for one day ticket and should preferably be visited in the late summer time for the best riding conditions. It lacks in terms of facilities, but makes up for it in terms of sheer riding pleasure.
5. Emerald Isle’s legendary Cliffs of Moher
Named the world’s most dangerous trail, this one is only for the adrenaline junkies with years of mountain biking experience. With its rugged coastline and vertical drops it’s by far the most scenic route your will ever take and by far the most high risk. Fly to Dublin and drive over to the Emeral Isles or make a pub crawl of it and traverse the whole of Ireland on your bike, making Moher your final destination like Hans Rey and Steve Peat.
Of course there are many other great trails around the world, which most of us won’t have the luxury of visiting in our lifetime, but the five mentioned in this post are the ones I’m most excited about finishing before kicking the bucket.
Jason O’Reilly is an avid bicycle rider, professional product reviewer and all-roud outdoorsman. You can find more of his articles at www.bicyclegarageracks.com, where he review the latest bicycle storage options.
1 comments
Hi Kevin. Having been to the “Cliffs of Moher” in ’93, I can see why it is regarded the “worlds most dangerous trail”. One mistake and your’e history.