Best Places for mountain biking in America
CRESTED BUTTE, COLORADO Crested Butte, Colorado, has a core bike culture that lures riders from all over the world. Its mountain bike history goes back to the sport’s infancy (the mid-1970s), when intrepid riders tackled Pearl Pass on one-speeds. Crested Butte Bike Weekdates back to 1980, making it the country’s oldest mountain bike festival. With more than 700 miles of singletrack—from buff trails casually winding through wildflowers to rugged backcountry rides climbing to 13,000 feet—Crested Butte boasts a solid week’s worth of quality rides (including classics such as Trail 401 and Reno/Flag/Bear/Deadman Gulch) with perhaps the most spectacular bike-accessed scenery in the country. Several close-to-town cross-country trails have popped up in the last few years like the beginner-friendly Lupine Trail, which follows the bike path from town north to the ski area and back. Evolution Bike Park at Crested Butte Mountain Resortincludes more than 30 miles of downhill and cross