Words: Dave Arthur
There are so many trails around the world just wanting to be ridden, shredded and Strava-ed. Here are five videos of trails we reckon are worth adding to any must-ride list.
Spain is probably one of those places that isn’t talked about enough, or even explored enough, but based on this video really deserves to be. The area in this clip is Galice in north west Spain. Looks good doesn’t it?
Okay, we promise this isn’t turning into a roundup of Spanish trails, but here’s another one. This time we head to the Asturias area for one of the nicest ribbons of singletrack we’ve seen in a while. Just needs to be sped up a bit, but it looks the business.
Only a short hop and skip away for most of us, there has been a lot of development of trails and infrastructure in Northern Ireland in the last few years. This video shows them off pretty well and makes a compelling reason to book a trip there now.
California is a fantastic place to mountain bike, loads of excellent trails and a nice weather system that ensures the trails are caked in dust most of the time. This is the Demo Flow trail in Santa Cruz, four miles of trail with an average 6-7 percent grade, 38 switchbacks and a net elevation loss of 1280ft. If only every day could start with a morning ride like that one!
The Snowbird Ski and Summer resort have opened this 7.5 mile descent dropping 11,000ft through the Glad Valley. Those sort of stats sound very impressive, they claim it’s one of the longest continuous bike trails in Utah.
Finally, a bit closer to home for any London dwellers reading this article, Swinley Forest. Lacking the altitude of most of the other destinations in this roundup, the trail certainly makes up for the lack of height with smart use of the available terrain. This is the best video we’ve seen that actually makes Swinley Forest look like a top riding spot, and it’s pretty entertaining too.