What's on Your 2023 Bucket List?

[rideit]

Rideit is the godfather of mountain biking. Some say he drew the concept of wireless bluetooth shifting on a napkin while in a bar in Eden, UT way back in 2006. Legend.

Well, grand-father, at least.
But technically I was shitting on a napkin in Eden that day, someone must have gotten their wires crossed. As it were.

FWIW, a good friend and mag, Full Trucker, just did a trip with the Oaxaca Bike guys, and apparently had an outstanding trip. So maybe some things have been learned.

[Eluder]

"Guided mountain biking" has made mountain biking even more elitist. It's why we have wireless shifters and derailleurs. It's why trail ratings get a negative rating because it was 'too windy' that day and 'it rained'.

While I agree with you, there are places and language barriers that justify paying someone so you don't fuck it up. At least your first time anyways. I mean flying halfway across the world with your bike for 2 weeks isn't exactly free.

I'm not one to pay for this type of thing and have been the one being paid for this type of thing for what it's worth.

[springsproject]

Riding this slab has been on my tick list for 2 years - checked it off last week. The next one is a 200-mile out and back on the West Highland Way in late June.

[jhyatt]

Ride a lot with friends and not get hurt.

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[jackstraw]

Ride a lot with friends and not get hurt.

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Seconded! This answer ftw!

[Roxtar]

It depends on how you define "real". Sure, Bentonville is doing a great job building a super cool town with lots of fun trails- that's what Walmart money and a ton of useless land gets you. Like climberevan said though, it's fun in Bentonville (and the surrounding areas) in a way similar to a theme park. Machine-built flow trails and jumps everywhere. I tell all my customers: if you go with a fun group, you'll have a good time. If you're looking for something that compares to anything out west, Bentonville ain't it.

Mrs Roxtar is a solid intermediate rider and we are constantly riding jank that has her pushing her limits.
A solid week of nothing but pure flowy fun sounds like a great vacation.

[raisingarizona13]

1. I'm traveling in NZ this June. It will be winter and mountain biking isn't the focus of the trip, but I plan to rent a bike and ride for a day in Rotorua and Nelson.

2. I want to get down and ride the trails that RaisingAZ built in Kingman. I've meant to multiple times now, but things keep preventing me.

3. Keep checking off the DH trails in my home network. I have about five left I think (with two being fairly short more challenging bonus sections), and a few more that I've ridden but never cleaned. One is probably above my paygrade to clean and maybe always will be, but I should be able to do the others at some point. I'm just not going to until after that NZ trip...

4. Ride more trails in other networks in my metro area. I've got great trails pedalable from my house, so it means I haven't explored some of the options across the city which are supposed to be great too. I'd like to get to them.

5. Ride Brian Head's bike park. I bought a pass that comes with three bike park days there so I want to get up and use them.

If i can do all those things and get out regularly for my shorter morning loops, I'll be satisfied.

I'm honored to have that system on your list!

I might get over that way this coming week. Lets ride.

[raisingarizona13]

Mrs Roxtar is a solid intermediate rider and we are constantly riding jank that has her pushing her limits.
A solid week of nothing but pure flowy fun sounds like a great vacation.

It's really fun. As a trail builder it was more about looking at all of the awesome work that has been done and inspiration for projects I'm involved with but the riding is plenty of fun. There's a ton of jumps. Who doesn't like air time?

[raisingarizona13]

List for this year,

1. I'm getting a DJ bike to improve my jumping skills. That's all I'll probably ride when I'm in flagstaff.

2. I want to find projects that challenge me and push my skill set. I may be getting into a good one soon, I'll find out in two weeks.

3. I want to keep improving as a builder and a rider, within reason of course. I'm 47 now and I don't want any more injuries.

[snowaddict91]

It's really fun. As a trail builder it was more about looking at all of the awesome work that has been done and inspiration for projects I'm involved with but the riding is plenty of fun. There's a ton of jumps. Who doesn't like air time?

I keep pushing it off for places with more vert, but I really want to get there with the wife. We ride almost nothing but janky tech around here, so a week of riding cool flow trails sounds like fun to me.

[mcski]

Not crashing

[Roxtar]

It's really fun. As a trail builder it was more about looking at all of the awesome work that has been done and inspiration for projects I'm involved with but the riding is plenty of fun. There's a ton of jumps. Who doesn't like air time?

I've got a couple trailbuilding buds from here that are now soaking up that Walmart coin. Alex Scott from Jagged Ax and Hogan from Bike Park Solutions (built and ran Angelfire). Hogan has been bugging me for years to come out.

[skaredshtles]

Fuck Arkansas.

Come on - somebody had to say it.

[muted reborn]

It's really fun. As a trail builder it was more about looking at all of the awesome work that has been done and inspiration for projects I'm involved with but the riding is plenty of fun. There's a ton of jumps. Who doesn't like air time?

My friend goes down there every winter from Minneapolis and absolutely loves it, but he's used to small vert. One trip he saw a Walmart heir and his friends doing heli laps on the main trails, ha.

[raisingarizona13]

1. I'm traveling in NZ this June. It will be winter and mountain biking isn't the focus of the trip, but I plan to rent a bike and ride for a day in Rotorua and Nelson.

2. I want to get down and ride the trails that RaisingAZ built in Kingman. I've meant to multiple times now, but things keep preventing me.

3. Keep checking off the DH trails in my home network. I have about five left I think (with two being fairly short more challenging bonus sections), and a few more that I've ridden but never cleaned. One is probably above my paygrade to clean and maybe always will be, but I should be able to do the others at some point. I'm just not going to until after that NZ trip...

4. Ride more trails in other networks in my metro area. I've got great trails pedalable from my house, so it means I haven't explored some of the options across the city which are supposed to be great too. I'd like to get to them.

5. Ride Brian Head's bike park. I bought a pass that comes with three bike park days there so I want to get up and use them.

If i can do all those things and get out regularly for my shorter morning loops, I'll be satisfied.

Don't make the mistake of going to Brianhead and only riding the park. The shuttle trails are awesome, more awesome than the park imho. I like the park but it's pretty sketchy if you are going for it there. It's crazy rocky and there isn't really any good place to crash. Every time I ride there we watch lots of riders being driven down the hill or walking down with broken bones and displacements. The Little Glitter Trail is a blue but probably the most fun trail there and you don't have to feel like you are on the verge of killing yourself while riding it. The blacks are much steeper and fall line and get really eroded and rowdy, especially if it's been raining. There's some big hits on the blacks but a lot of them I need to pedal into and that gets real sketch at those speed. I've bottomed out my pedals smashing the dirt and rock getting real close to getting bucked. There is a green trail but it's not all that.


There's three main shuttles and Georges Ski Shop has a shuttle service. All 3 are fun and have their own character. Bunker is chill and a bit more XC but there's a lot of really fast dh on it. The alpine sections up top are just incredible and the views are huge. Dark Hollow is a trail I worked on in 2020. I did most of the lower 2/3rds. It's a really nice alignment that Kevin from the bike org in SW Utah did. It's steeper and more dh-ish than Bunker. Last is Blowhard. It's currently my most favorite trail anywhere. It's steep, fast and rowdy! I think it's around a 3600 ft. vertical drop in about 6, maybe 6 and a half miles, there are a couple of climbs in there but it's mostly down hill. This is much more tech than the other two. It's a legit black.

Hope that helps. That Thai joint at Brianhead does breakfast and their chicken and waffles dish is awesome. The pizza joint is decent enough, it's hard to fuck up pizza and beer. The sandwiches ain't bad either. There's tons of free camping up on that plateau. All of the sites I've used are beautiful. Parowan down the hill has a couple of decent Mexican restaurants and the diner is good enough. Parowan is really peaceful.

If you do a couple of shuttles in a day I like to finish with a Bunker if it's on the agenda. You can ride right down to a good BBQ/Burger joint. We'll do a car drop with the shuttle service right at that place.

[MarcusBrody]

I'm honored to have that system on your list!

I might get over that way this coming week. Lets ride.

Let me know when you're coming over. I'm fairly flexible at the moment with a little bit of notice.

[MarcusBrody]

Don't make the mistake of going to Brianhead and only riding the park...

That's great info, thanks!

[raisingarizona13]

Let me know when you're coming over. I'm fairly flexible at the moment with a little bit of notice.

It looks like I'll be riding over here all week. A couple guys are coming over from Kingman to ride Flag and Sedona and we might go up to Page and East Zion as well.

[Roxtar]

New plans (possibly)
Mentioned planning the year with Mrs Roxtar and she suggested something different. A two week trip made up of places we haven't been to.
We would have to stay somewhat local-ish (limit to four corner states; NM, AZ, CO, & UT) to keep travel days to a minimum.

So, looking for suggestions from the collective. We've been to pretty much most of the obvious destinations; Sadona, Moab, Fruita/GJ, Salida/BV, Durango, CB/Gunni.
What other destinations would you recommend for 3-4 days of riding? Bonus points for natural + park combos.

[BFD]

New plans (possibly)
Mentioned planning the year with Mrs Roxtar and she suggested something different. A two week trip made up of places we haven't been to.
We would have to stay somewhat local-ish (limit to four corner states; NM, AZ, CO, & UT) to keep travel days to a minimum.

So, looking for suggestions from the collective. We've been to pretty much most of the obvious destinations; Sadona, Moab, Fruita/GJ, Salida/BV, Durango, CB/Gunni.
What other destinations would you recommend for 3-4 days of riding? Bonus points for natural + park combos.

Do you always skip the SLV?

[grskier]

New plans (possibly)
Mentioned planning the year with Mrs Roxtar and she suggested something different. A two week trip made up of places we haven't been to.
We would have to stay somewhat local-ish (limit to four corner states; NM, AZ, CO, & UT) to keep travel days to a minimum.

So, looking for suggestions from the collective. We've been to pretty much most of the obvious destinations; Sadona, Moab, Fruita/GJ, Salida/BV, Durango, CB/Gunni.
What other destinations would you recommend for 3-4 days of riding? Bonus points for natural + park combos.

I'd just open MTBproject or Trailforks and circle an area with a lot of squiggly lines

[skaredshtles]

New plans (possibly)
Mentioned planning the year with Mrs Roxtar and she suggested something different. A two week trip made up of places we haven't been to.
We would have to stay somewhat local-ish (limit to four corner states; NM, AZ, CO, & UT) to keep travel days to a minimum.

So, looking for suggestions from the collective. We've been to pretty much most of the obvious destinations; Sadona, Moab, Fruita/GJ, Salida/BV, Durango, CB/Gunni.
What other destinations would you recommend for 3-4 days of riding? Bonus points for natural + park combos.

If you can tolerate the circus/Disneyworld aspect, Summit County has shitloads of *excellent* singletrack. As does Vail/Avon/Eagle. And don't forget the Roaring Fork Valley - there's enough stuff to keep entertained for 3-4 days.

[jm2e]

New plans (possibly)
Mentioned planning the year with Mrs Roxtar and she suggested something different. A two week trip made up of places we haven't been to.
We would have to stay somewhat local-ish (limit to four corner states; NM, AZ, CO, & UT) to keep travel days to a minimum.

So, looking for suggestions from the collective. We've been to pretty much most of the obvious destinations; Sadona, Moab, Fruita/GJ, Salida/BV, Durango, CB/Gunni.
What other destinations would you recommend for 3-4 days of riding? Bonus points for natural + park combos.

Angel Fire?

[smmokan]

Depending on time of year:

Vail/Eagle
Steamboat
Summit County
Angel Fire / Taos

[Roxtar]

Thanks for input but hoping for slightly more details:

Do you always skip the SLV?

SLV? More particulars, please.

I'd just open MTBproject or Trailforks and circle an area with a lot of squiggly lines

But are they squiggly lines worth riding?

Angel Fire?

An hour from my back door. Great park, not many trails.