Lately, my son and I have been having fun getting into mountain biking. I’m a roadie at heart, but I love adding the adventure of mountain biking to my training, especially if it means Papa and son bonding. 

During the week, it can be tough to schedule a ride. I’m busy just like you. I don’t use busyness as an excuse to skip a ride. Instead, I systemize my life by creating a list of places to mountain bike near me when I’m local and traveling. I find rides I can easily bike to or quickly drive to during the week and plan an adventure ride during the weekends. The following four resources have been my go-to when finding mountain bike rides.

Strava Routes

I love Strava Routes. I can quickly design a route by clicking the preferred dirt surfaces and turning on the Global Heatmap. I’ve been using Strava for years to create my road routes. 

Mtn Bike Project

The Mtn Bike Project is a database with over 100,000 miles of trail. I love how you can filter out the difficulty level and get details from other riders. It makes it easy to find beginner and kid-friendly mountain bike trails near me. The Mtn Bike Project has been one of the best resources I have used since I got back into mountain biking. 

Bike Parks

Fortunately, I’m surrounded by a few ski resorts. Ski resorts are perfect for mountain biking. A lot of ski resorts have bike parks and lots of variety. For example, I live near the Massanutten and Snowshoe Ski resorts. Both resorts have a variety of trails, from easy to hard to crazy.

Gravel Riding

I know that mountain biking and gravel riding are two completely different worlds, but sometimes you may need to do a gravel road ride in a pinch. Since I’m a fan of a lightweight hardtail mountain bike, riding a mix of gravel and single-track rides is not a problem. Gravel Map has been my go-to for gravel rides.  

Conclusion

Be systematic when scheduling your rides. Make your ride a planned meeting, and try the resources above to help you find the right ride for you.