Stretched along the whitewater of the Arkansas River, below a high string of 14,000 peaks, lies the Upper Arkansas River Valley. Locals call it the Valley of Fun and it’s home to some of the best mountain bike trails, road rides and hikes in Colorado. Time for a road trip!

The singletrack dipped and swooped across the hillsides, splashed into a small stream and tightly turned back uphill. I shifted down and stood to power up the small hill. At the top I tucked back into the flow of the trail, leaned loosely into the corners, dropped through easy rock gardens and it all felt perfect. All mountain bikers want to find trails that flow fast and smooth through the woods and I’d found one – a prime stretch of singletrack above Buena Vista.

Mountain Biking the Colorado Trail near Salida, Colorado

Below me, the green Arkansas River Valley stretched out into the horizon, but I didn’t have much time to look as I gave in to gravity as it rolled me into the next section of trail. I was riding the “Hot Springs Ride”, a fun section of the Colorado Trail that connects two hot springs. After pedaling a few miles of this perfect singletrack, I fully planned on stripping down to [Read more →]

Salida Singletrack: Mountain Biking in Colorado

Salida Singletrack was the first mountain bike guidebook to the excellent singletrack trails of Salida, Buena Vista and Leadville. It details trails for beginners all the way through expert with maps, mile by mile descriptions and elevation profiles for each trail. [Read more →]