- Winter in the UK can be pretty long,
pretty wet, pretty dreary.
But it always gets me dreaming of warmer climates
and the epic rides that I've done, the amazing places
that I've been, and those that are on the hit list to do.
(whoosh)
Epic rides are why some of us love mountain biking,
but of course, definition of the term epic
really varies from person to person.
Some people love nothing more than a steady pace
and a great view, whilst others are all about
the quality of the descents coming back down.
So we've listed some of the most epic rides
that we know, something for everyone,
from cross-country to dang ole' technical stuff.
Let's start with one of my favorites, the Andes-Pacifico.
Now, this is one of the most epic rides
for the enduro type of rider out there.
It gives you access to ride epic trails,
some amazing ridgelines with views over Santiago.
You just don't get a chance to ride
any other time of the year.
And the great news is that myself and Blake
are going there in just a month's time.
I can't wait to go there, show Blake what it's all about,
and get into those amazing trails again.
The trails are really varied, from the scree slopes
high up in the Andes to the raw alpine dust trails.
And actually it turns more to dirt and woodland
the closer you get to the Pacific.
The five days of riding and friendly competition
that await the entrance attracts
quite the pro crowd, including us.
The race village is fully disassembled
and reassembled as you work westwards
towards the Pacific, and actually run
by the people that do the Paris Dakar race.
The catering is amazing, free South American wine,
the best free craft beer you'll ever taste.
It's 136 kilometers, 75 kilometers of timed racing,
with almost 12,000 meters of total descent.
Get your entry in as soon as you can,
consider altitude training,
and don't take the racing too seriously.
Deep in the Moab Desert is a trail
that you may have heard Dottie talking about once or twice.
It's The Whole Enchilada Moab.
This black diamond-rated trail's absolutely
packed with technical rock features,
some of which are pretty high consequence.
It's a touch under 55 kilometers of single track,
pretty much going all downhill,
just 390 meters of climbing compared to 2,370 of descending.
Dottie's advice is to take your time and try and enjoy it.
It's a long, hard day, so don't try and blast it in one go.
You'll miss some of the coolest desert
scenery you're ever likely to see.
Take a chilled out perspective, both in pace and mindset.
And the exposed nature of this trail is super gnarly,
so don't take any risks.
You'll be faced with a series of highly technical features,
although everything is rideable.
And this is top of my list of places
that I've got to go as a mountain biker.
I need to go to Moab.
Tips: make sure you take a camera,
take some spare tubes and tire boots,
and a spoke key, 'cause of those really punching rocks.
Don't rush it, and make sure you make a day of this ride.
Now over to the southern hemisphere,
this is Rude Rock, Queenstown, New Zealand.
It's the highest of Coronet Peak,
just outside of Queenstown,
home to one of the flowest trails in the world.
You'll probably recognize it from your
favorite Kiwi riders' Instagrams or from Follow Me,
where its host Gee Atherton and the late Stevie Smith.
And arguably one of the greatest
riding movie segments of all time.
Either way, some rugged mornin' scenery
and interestin' shaped rocks make this track
recognizable worldwide.
Fairly small in comparison to our other
epic rides on this list.
It's only three kilometers long and a 400 meter descent,
but this is the definition of flow trail.
It's rated as an advanced blue trail,
so Rude Rock is fairly accessible to be rolled down
by intermediate riders, but it's best enjoyed
by advanced riders with a good lick of pace,
making a lot of the features and flow make more sense.
The great thing is, it's accessible
via the Coronet Peak Road for climbing your trail bike
or for shuttling your downhill bike.
Tips: Take it easy and warm up into the trail,
'cause you're likely to get loads of runs
and build speed through out the day.
Now, over to Canada, and probably the mecca of
mountian biking, this is Whistler
and the Top of the World Trail.
Of course we had to include Whistler,
and probably the most epic trail there,
is the highest one, is going from
the Top of the World.
Of course, there are notable other epic rides
in the area, including Pura Vida, Howler,
Dark Crystal, Microclimate and Comfortably Numb.
But the one we had to choose was the
gondola accessed Top of the World.
So this is the jewel in Whistler's crown,
it has 5000 vertical feet of descent to offer
It's been reced in a number of EWS races
It's famous for its length, brutality and
changing trail conditions as you progress
towards the valley floor.
The trail starts super rocky and exposed,
but with amazing views of the Canadian panorama
and you can stay on that hard-packed trail,
and drop down into the bike park,
or you can take inspiration from the previous
EWS racers and get off in some of the most amazing
natural riding you'll ever do;
Khyber Pass, Middle of Nowhere or Kush.
The natural way is definitely the steeper and more
difficult option, going at the bike parts,
banes and getting away from the safety of patrolers
so don't ride it alone.
You'll end up creek side at Dusty's Bar and Barbecue,
so get yourself a cold one, you'll have earned it.
Split off the natural trails, stop at Dusty's,
don't ride alone and make sure you take plenty of spares.
Now, the next trail on this epic list
is just down the road from Whistler a couple of hours.
This is Vancouver, and this is the North Shore.
The trail is Ladies Only.
So this place has such a legacy
as the birthplace of the Northshore stars.
Any trip promises to be epic.
For a real taste of what Northshore mountian biking
is all about, you simply got to ride Ladies Only.
This is a double black trail, and it really showcases
a good variety of stars in a way that only the shore can.
Don't get us wrong, we're not saying that
Ladies Only on Mt. Fromme is the hardest trail
available in the area, of course those are super-techy
super hard trails that you've probably seen on videos
but it's a taste of the northshore riding.
It's difficult enough to make you stop and think,
or go a little slower than you'd might like.
But easy enough for advanced riders to enjoy
fairly frustration free.
So I've raced world cup downhill at Grouse Mountain,
just outside of Vancouver, but I've never
actually ridden the northshore stuff.
So this is definitely on my list of
places I've gotta go and ride
to call myself a proper mountian biker.
This has been recommended to by by Tom here
and Jeremy behind the cameras.
And his tips are inspect it before you ride,
and don't fall in the pond.
Back over to Europe, and this is Saalbach Hinterglemm,
and the Big Five Challenge.
So this big dare includes five gondolas,
five mountian top traverses and
five thrilling downhill runs
on a mixture of flowy alpine trails
varying in length for a few of Austria's
best known bike paths.
You spend a lot of time traversing at altitudes,
so check the weather and make sure it's a
clear day, you don't wanna miss the views
over the surrounding mountains.
The best of the descents is the Hackleberg trail
a ribbon of dirt flowing for five and a half kilometers
by 600 meters of vertical to arrive in the valley floor
but to get there, you've gotta get up the
Westgitfel Peak, a super steep pitch
which not many riders make it up
that extent without walking.
Take a break at the top before you drop in
as it's about 20 minutes of descent.
Tips are to take some downhill casing tires,
take the Hackleburg trail,
and use a down tube protector on your bike.
Now's the Ard Rock Enduro in Wreath in Yorkshire in the UK
I did this event last year and absolutely loved it
And this epic ride is part of an event,
but one which allows you access to trails
that are otherwise closed to the public.
Once a year for three days, the Swaledale
Valley in Yorkshire Places hosts enduro
enthusiasts from all over the world.
And its no surprise that tickets
often sell out in less than a minute.
The trails, the racing, the spectators and the
festival atmosphere all lend themselves
to the epicness of this ride.
This is a ride best enjoyed with friends.
It's a 45 kilometer loop with seven time stages
of super natural terrain, not a man made berm in sight.
It's a super fast start to the day,
Which does give way to a few longer transition stages,
though some amazing Yorkshire scenery.
Follow that by some rock stream chutes,
and some technical single track that demand
a higher level of fitness.
Although there is a timed race going on,
the festival atmosphere really helps to subdue the nerves,
and it's just about the friendliest competition out there.
My tips would be to train as hard as you can,
it's actually quite a long day,
longer than that 45k suggests,
with some pretty long timed stages.
I'd recommend a full face helmet, don't ride alone,
and make sure you enjoy the party.
Now over to Italy, and in the shadow of Mont Blanc,
this is the Aosta Valley.
Pila has been famous, featuring tracks that are
way ahead of the curve with diagonals on the rise,
and still plays host to some big events,
such as the IXS European Cup.
Renowned for its deep, dusty berms,
Pila is still a bike path location that should
be on any downhill fan's hit list.
However we're talking truly epic rides here,
not just great bike parks, Pila still delivers.
For a few months in summer, this is
totally accessible by chairlift.
You can get up to 2,700 meters,
and drop all the way down to the valley bottom.
This tiny alpine goat trails give way to
super fast ski peaks, before getting into
those loamy dirt trails with some of the best
free wheeling absolutely no pedaling in since you'll ever do
riding the whole trail from top to bottom in one
is a huge challenge with consistently steep gradients,
and high speeds, requiring plenty of breaking,
and break pads, total descent of the of the 15 kilometers
of the Desiper trail is 2100 meters,
tips, try and train for arm pump, try to ride it in one
and take spare brake pads,
now to definitely the most epic ride on this list,
it takes a serious amount of commitment, this is
The Tour Divide route from Canada to Mexico,
now there is a race on this route known as The Tour Divide,
you can start either end from Mexico or from Canada,
but the rout is called The Great Divide
the route of course is completely unmarked and it follows
the route of the Rock Mountains
riders have to cope with high altitude, change in weather,
of course, gonna take you weeks to do this,
treacherous trails, and remote back country , inhabited by
both mountain lions, and bears, the route is about
2700 miles or about 4400 kilometers, that is the most epic
thing ever and actually its on my list of things I would
potentially like to do, who knows, maybe I will commit
to doing it one day, have done it?
would you ever consider doing it?
Let me know
tips would be
really think about this before you try and do this
I know I've thought about this for a couple of years and
I have still not decided if I can do it or not,
now over to Iceland, and one of my favorite trips from
last year, this is an amazing place to go,
to visit alone, but to go and ride your mountain bike
there is absolutely amazing,
even better if you can go Heli-biking
so I got the chanced to go there last year with Jeezy
and Si Richardson to do an amazing gravel ride, so
this may not be your thing, and there is more technical
semitrack there which we didn't get the chance to see ,
but I really hope to get back there and ride some of
that stuff as well, however,
I will say that gravel ride in was much much better than
I thought, and actually much more technical than I thought
as well, but even if the ride isn't up to your standard
of your normal super technical stuff I would still
recommend getting out there to see the sites
and what a better way to see them than to pedal your
bike through them, we went with a company called
Ispy that do a bit of everything from fat biking in
winter to those Heli-biking trips, and those single track
in the Summer, Summer of course only lasts
about six weeks in Iceland.
My tips would be to plan it as well as you can
and try and book it in advance, and take plenty of kit
and stay warm, but also for those wet conditions,
and don't go unsupported its a super dangerous place to ride
so there you go!
There is some of our epic rides , some that I've been on
some that I'm planning, and some that I would love to do,
hopefully you've been inspired by some of those,
let me know if you've done any of those,
in the comment section down below, id love to hear
your stories, or if you've got any others you're trying
to do this year, maybe you've got some New Years resolutions
and you wanna get out and do some epic rides
if you wanna see that video of me and Si in Iceland
click over that for that one,
if you wanna see me race the Odd Rock up in Yorshire,
over there for that one.
Thumbs up for some amazing rides and hit that sub button