What are your disappointing destinations to ride at?

[raisingarizona13]

In the 90s it was all just "Mountain Biking". I don't really get the whole lift served, shuttle served biking scene. You've got wheels, gears and pedals. Just ride your bike ferchrissakes!

I don't get how some people don't get or are bothered by other peoples preferences of recreation.

Who. Gives. A. Fuck.

Seriously, can we all stop being such whiney little entitled cunts?

[Tamburello Rouge]

I don't get how some people don't get or are bothered by other peoples preferences of recreation.

Who. Gives. A. Fuck.

Seriously, can we all stop being such whiney little entitled cunts?

NP. You first.

[Danno]

A lot of people come to Marin County and are extremely disappointed. The "home" of mountain biking and all of the singletrack is illegal. In terms of expectations and reality, that may be the winner of this thread.

yeah, Boulder is similar, everybody thinks it must be such a great mt bike town, when it's most certainly not. Super awesome hiking town, though.

Really surprised to see a mention of Crested Butte in this thread, that place is alpine biking heaven (along with Durango).

I love all of the trails I've done off the Monarch Crest, but I think it's a bit overrated (since it seems to often be rated as BEST EVAR!). But I would not call it disappointing, not in the least.

[mmmm...pow!]

My personality may be a bit muted, sure. But complaining about anything about Ashland makes you a bunch of notches below me, sorry bud. It put me in a damn fucking good mood riding it in June, not even the snowstorm on top mattered. I gave some hi-fives to strangers on the way down and had a big smile on my face. Can't wait to go back!

What can I say, the trails in my backyard leave me a bit jaded when riding out of town. It was an ok stop on the way to see the eclipse and ride Black Rock, which was kick ass. And the blackberries were the finest I've ever tasted, so there's that.

[rideit]

I tried living in BOTH Marin and Boulder in the same year, ostensibly because I heard what great mountain biking areas they were. This was ‘92...I left Mill Valley within 6 months, and Boulder within a year...

[TahoeJ]

Marin has great trails if you don’t mind riding mostly at night and poaching, and paying the occasional ticket, but overall that really sucks.

[rideit]

Yeah, I learned real quick when I showed up for a clandestine night ride with squealing brakes. I was given ten minutes to fix them, or go home.

[SchralphMacchio]

What can I say, the trails in my backyard leave me a bit jaded when riding out of town. It was an ok stop on the way to see the eclipse and ride Black Rock, which was kick ass. And the blackberries were the finest I've ever tasted, so there's that.

Yeah, it’s kind of unfair when your “backyard trails” consist of 2500-3000’ fall line mostly continuous descents on primo subalpine decomposing granite with big granite slabs and tech features plus old growth forests and lakes thrown in, which in and of themselves are a destination that is National Park-worthy. It kind of changes your perspective of “destinations” to ride

When I lived in Oakland my backyard trails involved jibbing off the concrete stairs at Lake Merritt (a glorified floating trash dump in an estuary off the SF Bay, that in fairness has been reasonably restored and cleaned over recent years, but still ...) and bunny hopping over used needles and broken glass ... give me a few hundred feet of smooth loam or sandstone slick rock and I’m a happy camper!

Next time you visit Oregon skip Ashland and come straight to Oakridge. Book a 3-ride shuttle that hits up the best of Hardesty Portal (Hardesty, Lawler, and Eula, in that order) for a fun 10+k of descending, then you can self shuttle or add-on Larison Rock for another 2500’ of high speed forest descending that finishes on the bank of Middle Fork Willamette River. Then drive 2 hours to session the gnar at Black Rock the next day. Beers and bike tuning on me if you are disappointed with that itinerary!

[grskier]

yeah, Boulder is similar, everybody thinks it must be such a great mt bike town, when it's most certainly not. Super awesome hiking town, though.

Really surprised to see a mention of Crested Butte in this thread, that place is alpine biking heaven (along with Durango).

I love all of the trails I've done off the Monarch Crest, but I think it's a bit overrated (since it seems to often be rated as BEST EVAR!). But I would not call it disappointing, not in the least.

See, I like CB, but I don't see it as this mecca it's made out to be by some... 401 is cool, sweet views, some fun sections, and was super rad back in 1999... That said, I giggle every time I punch a 1/4 mile of wildflowers at a time headed down that trail.

[grskier]

yeah, Boulder is similar, everybody thinks it must be such a great mt bike town, when it's most certainly not. Super awesome hiking town, though.

Really surprised to see a mention of Crested Butte in this thread, that place is alpine biking heaven (along with Durango).

I love all of the trails I've done off the Monarch Crest, but I think it's a bit overrated (since it seems to often be rated as BEST EVAR!). But I would not call it disappointing, not in the least.

Boulder has great riding NEAR it, not in and immediately adjacent.

Sourdough, Mag, Heil, Hall, etc... all get driven to most of the time.

White, Golden Gate, Apex, Chimney etc all not too far....

But I'm always appreciative of having somewhat empty trails every time I finish a ride down there.

[skaredshtles]

See, I like CB, but I don't see it as this mecca it's made out to be by some...

Well... since it's the birthplace of Real Mountain Biking™, it deserves the moniker, IMO.

[Name Redacted]

See, I like CB, but I don't see it as this mecca it's made out to be by some... 401 is cool, sweet views, some fun sections, and was super rad back in 1999... That said, I giggle every time I punch a 1/4 mile of wildflowers at a time headed down that trail.

401 is cool, but not even in my top 5 trails in CB. As far as the rest, there's not that many areas that combine trails of the quality around CB in such a scenic and remote setting.

[muted]

Next time you visit Oregon skip Ashland and come straight to Oakridge. Book a 3-ride shuttle that hits up the best of Hardesty Portal (Hardesty, Lawler, and Eula, in that order) for a fun 10+k of descending, then you can self shuttle or add-on Larison Rock for another 2500’ of high speed forest descending that finishes on the bank of Middle Fork Willamette River. Then drive 2 hours to session the gnar at Black Rock the next day. Beers and bike tuning on me if you are disappointed with that itinerary!

That's what the OP mentioned was over-rated, too many fast parts then with tight switchbacks in Oakridge, which sounds like Lawler. You may owe him beers!

[skaredshtles]

401 is cool, but not even in my top 5 trails in CB. As far as the rest, there's not that many areas that combine trails of the quality around CB in such a scenic and remote setting.

401 is decent as a loop from town with 403 thrown in at the beginning.

[Danno]

See, I like CB, but I don't see it as this mecca it's made out to be by some... 401 is cool, sweet views, some fun sections, and was super rad back in 1999... That said, I giggle every time I punch a 1/4 mile of wildflowers at a time headed down that trail.

Paging goldenboy to the white courtesy phone! CB is WAY more than just 401. It's a very cool trail, but it's just one of many many options, from short to epic.

Boulder has great riding NEAR it, not in and immediately adjacent.

Sourdough, Mag, Heil, Hall, etc... all get driven to most of the time.

White, Golden Gate, Apex, Chimney etc all not too far....

But I'm always appreciative of having somewhat empty trails every time I finish a ride down there.

Boulder has some good riding near it, sure; I hesitate calling it great. Scratch that, it shouldn't be called great, because it's not, it's good. But of the ones you mention, all are at least 30 minutes drive from my house. The less-than-30-minutes-away rides -- Marshall Mesa and Betasso -- are ok but that's it.

As for empty trails, I hear ya, that's why probably 75% or more of my local riding is at West Mag, because it is good riding, in the mountains, and is empty (at least the stuff I ride up there). As empty as your trails, probably.

[grskier]

Paging goldenboy to the white courtesy phone! CB is WAY more than just 401. It's a very cool trail, but it's just one of many many options, from short to epic.



Boulder has some good riding near it, sure; I hesitate calling it great. Scratch that, it shouldn't be called great, because it's not, it's good. But of the ones you mention, all are at least 30 minutes drive from my house. The less-than-30-minutes-away rides -- Marshall Mesa and Betasso -- are ok but that's it.

As for empty trails, I hear ya, that's why probably 75% or more of my local riding is at West Mag, because it is good riding, in the mountains, and is empty (at least the stuff I ride up there). As empty as your trails, probably.

I made the 401 comment on purpose to get a rouse out of the CBers...

I'll hit you up next time I'm down that way with my bike and we can hit up West Mag... I didn't ride that a ton when I was down there and would love to do it again.

[skaredshtles]

I made the 401 comment on purpose to get a rouse out of the CBers...

I'll hit you up next time I'm down that way with my bike and we can hit up West Mag... I didn't ride that a ton when I was down there and would love to do it again.

Goddam high country'ers coming down and gumming up our singletrack!! I BLAME IKON!!

[Name Redacted]

Goddam high country'ers coming down and gumming up our singletrack!! I BLAME IKON!!

Don't worry, soon they will choke on the abundance of oxygen and melt from the heat then retreat to their native environments...

[skaredshtles]

Don't worry, soon they will choke on the abundance of oxygen and melt from the heat then retreat to their native environments...

Yeah - once their "native environment" dries out.

Just to warn you fuckers - when that happens, I'm gonna come to town and gum YOUR singletrack up.

[skaredshtles]

Oh - and not sure how much of a a "destination" it has become, but Eagle in CO is pretty "meh" for the most part.

[smmokan]

Eagle’s definitely not a destination... the trails are empty.

It all depends on what you ride over here. There are so many trails up high that no one knows about. The main stuff- Pool/Ice, Worlds Greatest, etc- is super fun but not on the lines of “epic” riding unless you combine a bunch of them to make a big ride.


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[Danno]

I'll hit you up next time I'm down that way with my bike and we can hit up West Mag... I didn't ride that a ton when I was down there and would love to do it again.

I love West Mag, and happy to show you around there (and you kinda need someone to show you around, because it's super confusing with no signage).

I'm slow AF (on the uphill), so be warned if we do go riding.

[skaredshtles]

Eagle’s definitely not a destination... the trails are empty.

It all depends on what you ride over here. There are so many trails up high that no one knows about.

They're a bit funner than the lowland stuff... but still nothing I'd get giddy about, TBH.

The best one I've ever hit up high there was Ironedge - but it was pretty short and 1/2 of it was FS road.

If you know of any others like that, maybe PM me some details?

[raisingarizona13]

NP. You first.

I try......

It wasn't directed directly at you, at least the cunty part. that was more of a broad stroke for a lot of us.

In all seriousness though, we would do a lot better in the advocacy department if we would stop fighting among ourselves.

[skaredshtles]

<snip>
In all seriousness though, we would do a lot better in the advocacy department if we would stop fighting among ourselves.

You're new to planet Earth?