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Drive to Ride or Ride to Ride?

1K views 36 replies 34 participants last post by  rzozaya1969 
#1 ·
Just curious about how people get to their closest Singletrack rides? I consider myself lucky in that I can ride directly from the house .3 miles to my local trail system. From there it's possible to hook onto anywhere from 30 to 50 miles of looped singletrack without crossing more than one paved road. If I wanted I could even bushwhack a bit and avoid the pavement all together. I ask because we're thinking of a move from Summit County, CO back down to some lower elevation where the riding may not be as accessible. If you have to drive to ride, has that affected your ability to ride as much as you want?
 
#2 ·
cutthroat said:
Just curious about how people get to their closest Singletrack rides? I consider myself lucky in that I can ride directly from the house .3 miles to my local trail system. From there it's possible to hook onto anywhere from 30 to 50 miles of looped singletrack without crossing more than one paved road. If I wanted I could even bushwhack a bit and avoid the pavement all together. I ask because we're thinking of a move from Summit County, CO back down to some lower elevation where the riding may not be as accessible. If you have to drive to ride, has that affected your ability to ride as much as you want?
I'm probably a bit closer. I'm one street north of the Phoenix Mt Preserve (maybe 200 yards).

The funny thing is, the previous owner used to actually drive to the trailhead (and I kid you not, I'm no more than 200 yards from it).
 
#6 ·
Sometimes I drive, sometimes I ride

It is 5 miles from doorstep to trail head on flat easy paved road. It takes between 15 and 20 minutes depending on the winds to ride there. That makes for a great warm-up. Then behind the trail head is 8 miles of fairly difficult single track. Its the most popular single track within 50 miles.
Friends (neighbors) I ride with want to load the bikes in the truck and drive, claiming they don't have enough time to ride there, do the trail and ride home. So I give in and load up.
I do tend to wear tires at a higher rate than most...
 
#8 ·
I moved closer to work and farther from the trailhead 2 years ago. I figure since I go to work every day but don't ride every day I've reduced my impact on the earth. I couldn't afford to buy a house in the town where I was renting an apartment, it's cheaper to live in the same town where I work.

I find I do more road riding (lack motivation to load up the car and drive to the trailhead but still want to ride) than before. I don't MTB in the same place I used to, when I lived close it was super-convenient to ride to the trails but now that I have to load up the car to drive to the trails the extra 15-20 minutes to go to better trails isn't a hassle.
 
#9 ·
Right now, I'm just about always riding to the trail head. It's about 10mi to get there proper but I'm very lucky because about 60% of the ride to the trail head is single track. The rest is split between bike path and road. I love it. And once I'm there I have access to about 6 different parks - all within very close proximity to each other. I live on the Front Range so your move may not be that bad in terms of riding to the trail.
 
#12 ·
I work in downtown Boise, Idaho, but live in the ******* boonies of Canyon County. When 5pm rolls around and I don't have to work at REI, it's several mins to a small city run recreation center where I change into my cycling clothes and take a dook. So by 530pm I'm riding.

I also ride out at Wilson Creek out in the Owyhee Mountains and that's only a 20 minute drive from my house.
 
#13 ·
Usually drive

I used to ride to all my local trailheads. They are no more than a half hour ride away. But then I got a roof rack and started riding first thing in the morning, when time is precious. And I realized that if I only have energy for x amount of riding I should spend that time on the trails rather than wasting an hour on city streets. And I get sick of dodging idiot tourists and riding on dark, twisty roads with no shoulder and a sheer cliff/dropoff on either side. It's worth it to drive to some trailheads depending on the situation.
 
#14 ·
Most of the time..............

I ride out of my back yard, up to a rail line, follow that for .5 mile, cross a paved country road, and into the woods. Either ask friends to start at my house or I meet them at a pre-arranged spot out on the trails. Most of the group I ride with ride to my house to start.

Really enjoy having the riding out the back door, makes it easy to go, less hassle, and more likely to get my daughters or wife to ride on short notice.

Live in Northeast PA. A couple of weekends a month we drive to Jim Thorpe(45 minutes), Blue Marsh Creek(1.5 hrs) or Fell Mtn. (1 hr). Travelling a super long way to Fruita in September( Cutthroat-I think you gave some input on the planning of that trip...thanks)....won't be riding to fruita from the house!!
 
#15 ·
a little of both

I live in an area where a short ride puts me on the trails. But options are limited at that point, so I sometimes drive the bike somewhere else just to ride different trails. The key to driving somewhere else is having a routine down to plan ahead, and pack your stuff so you don't forget something crucial.

Same thing on the road rides. I can leave from the house, but options are limited, so I often drive somewhere else to ride different routes and terrain. Helps keep it fresh
 
#17 ·
Wel we don't have any setout/maintained trails/tracks here on the island so we just normally ride from diff peoples houses. Most people drive to the ride and then we ride as much road as we have to to get to trails/tracks. I recently decided that I would be ridng to the rides because in general they aren't more than 7 or 8 miles away and it gives a good warm up and adds an extra 14-16 miles to my ride and excercising - problem is as mentioned, the wear on the soft MTB tires on tarmac.
 
#18 ·
cutthroat said:
Just curious about how people get to their closest Singletrack rides? I consider myself lucky in that I can ride directly from the house .3 miles to my local trail system. From there it's possible to hook onto anywhere from 30 to 50 miles of looped singletrack without crossing more than one paved road. If I wanted I could even bushwhack a bit and avoid the pavement all together. I ask because we're thinking of a move from Summit County, CO back down to some lower elevation where the riding may not be as accessible. If you have to drive to ride, has that affected your ability to ride as much as you want?
I ride to my trails now. That's why I got the bike(s). That and I wanted to be in better shape for dirt biking. Now I find that I spend way more time on the MTB then the DB because it's so easy to ride out of my garage to the trails. I have to drive at least 2 hrs for decent DB trails and I'm finding myself not going because of it. So speaking for myself, I would definately ride less if I had to drive my bike to the trail head.
 
#20 ·
skinny-tire said:
I'm probably a bit closer. I'm one street north of the Phoenix Mt Preserve (maybe 200 yards).

The funny thing is, the previous owner used to actually drive to the trailhead (and I kid you not, I'm no more than 200 yards from it).
That's the equivalent of the "road trip" in Not Another Teen Movie. If you didn't see it, they basically drove their parent's car to a party at the house next door.
 
#22 ·
cutthroat said:
Just curious about how people get to their closest Singletrack rides? I consider myself lucky in that I can ride directly from the house .3 miles to my local trail system. From there it's possible to hook onto anywhere from 30 to 50 miles of looped singletrack without crossing more than one paved road. If I wanted I could even bushwhack a bit and avoid the pavement all together. I ask because we're thinking of a move from Summit County, CO back down to some lower elevation where the riding may not be as accessible. If you have to drive to ride, has that affected your ability to ride as much as you want?
I drive. The closest "legal" trail head is about 30 miles from me.
However,
There is a gate in my backyard fence...directly behind this gate is a levy( its a flood protection levy for the American River in Sacramento, CA)...this levy is about 6' high, is easily walked up, and has a footpath on the top of it. Between this levy and the river, which is about 75 yards I suppose, and running along the river for ~2 miles, is a wooded area. Within this wooded area is some of the most righteous single track within Sacramento city limits...it's mostly flat with gentle rollers, there is an awesone 10' gap with a 5' drop to tranny, and it's frickin pedestrian only!
And the worst thing is; there are actually quite a few people walkin back there, and most of them it seems, have small children(I'm one of them actually). It is quite dangerous, not to mention irresponsible to ride it. In the 3 years I've been in this house I think I've had my bike back there twice, and i was just kinda meanderin, doin my XC thing, not really bombin.
So, you see, I do have access to trails here in town, but for any *real* riding I *need* to drive.
And thats all I have to say about that.
 
#23 ·
I live a mile or two from the trails, so riding out is no big deal and I do it often, but I like to ride with the mutt, and he doesn't do so well in traffic. Therefore I usually end up driving.

Fortunetly, driving to the trailhead is about the only time I use my car these days.
 
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