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Best Mt Bike Parks Utah/Colorado?

1K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  Island20v 
#1 ·
Moving back to the east coast!! I'll be driving across in June and looking for some recommendations for mountain bike parks. I prefer riding aggressive single track on my hardtail… lots of ups and downs, fast and flowing, small the medium jumps and some technical terrain would be nice.

I'll be coming up thru the southwest corner of Utah on the 15 and taking 70 all the way thru Denver. A park would be ideal for a couple reasons. I don't really have the time to explore, I'll be alone, and I don't want to waste any time driving around looking for trailheads or wandering around aimlessly on trails and get lost. I just want to hit it hard for a couple days and then leave denver content.. and haul *** the rest of the way. So far I'm thinking Granby Ranch? but doesn't look like they have lift access on weekdays. or winterpark.

Lemme know Thanks!!
Nick
 
#2 ·
Moving back to the east coast!! I'll be driving across in June and looking for some recommendations for mountain bike parks. I prefer riding aggressive single track on my hardtail… lots of ups and downs, fast and flowing, small the medium jumps and some technical terrain would be nice.

I'll be coming up thru the southwest corner of Utah on the 15 and taking 70 all the way thru Denver. A park would be ideal for a couple reasons. I don't really have the time to explore, I'll be alone, and I don't want to waste any time driving around looking for trailheads or wandering around aimlessly on trails and get lost. I just want to hit it hard for a couple days and then leave denver content.. and haul *** the rest of the way. So far I'm thinking Granby Ranch? but doesn't look like they have lift access on weekdays. or winterpark.

Lemme know Thanks!!
Nick
I've been to Winter Park, Granby Ranch (formerly known as Sol Vista), Keystone, Vail, and Steamboat.

I would say Winter Park is the number one place to hit. Keystone is a close second. Granby Ranch has a much more limited selection of trails and lower ridership numbers (although it is very close to Winter Park, so it's worth hitting as an "extra day" type of thing, if you've already roasted WP).

As of a few years ago, Vail was kinda weak as far as progressive Flow-DH (it has XC and limited rugged DH, though). On the plus side, Vail was cheaper--both in lift tickets and rentals.

Steamboat has done a ton of work creating flow trail--I only got to hit it for a few hours one day, so I'm not fully sure on the variety. The few trails I did get to hit were awesome, but also seemed to be weirdly homogenous--like a million of the same radius switchback berms in a row with minimal jumps and minimal wood features. It's a beautiful mountain though, so if you're driving through there, you should stop.

Are you planning on renting a DH bike? At Winter Park and Keystone, I would say that you should. Especially later in the season when braking ruts start to get bad, a hardtail will beat you up. I did see some guys on them, but most people were riding personal or rental DH bikes.

That said, I convinced some of my XC friends they had to hit WP, and they did it on all-mountain 26"s and 29"ers and they still loved it (although i bet they were riding slow and not getting a lot of air time).

My trip thread from Winter Park:
Vail, Keystone and Winter Park

One day at Trestle. Recommended trails?

Some of my pics from Steamboat:
https://forums.mtbr.com/trail-building-advocacy/bermed-corner-radius-sizing-724304-2.html

Granby Ranch has one trail called "Silky Johnson" which is very much like a downhill pump track. Tighter turns and rollers than is typical at other parks.
 
#3 ·
Thanks! That's the info I was looking for.. I was planning on riding my hardtail just because I'm cheap. I know out here at Tahoe it is REALLY expensive to rent a downhill bike + pads. If I remember correctly Northstar is $95 for the bike + $40 for helmet and pads and then the lift ticket makes it pretty close to a $200 day... I might just suck it up and do it. I am going to spend over 1k in gas on the roadtrip so whats a few extra bucks.

Nick
 
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