The 20 Best Mountain Biking Towns (article)....

[sir crashalot]

My girlfriend and I went to Bend the summer before last with the intention of buying there. We'd been there separately about 20 years ago and fell in love with it. Well, it ain't the same small town no mo. Sort of a compacted Orange County with traffic circles, crowds, and what looks to be a dying forest. Sorry, just our opinion, but we were much happier with ________.

You know, I used to live in Mammoth, first in winters only and then year-round. We had these cool natural hot springs outside of town. You could almost always find one not being used.. Then somebody went and wrote a book about them and it was over. Same with a small mining camp in the general vicinity. A local reporter decided to write an article and it was overwhelmed. Same with surf spots along the California coast once morning radio reports and webcams went up. Before that you could use local knowledge and tide charts/swell direction to know where to go. Afterward, it all went to hell.

But if I ever need some advice of places to live/ride, my first choice'd be to check in with @evdog. I've never met him, but man, that dude knows his stuff.

For the record, @mtbMike, my rant is in no way directed at you or your buddy. Just a reflection on the concept of "Best Places.." lists. For some reason, we get Sunset magazine and they always have these lists. I cringe every time I see someplace I like in them. Might as well dock the cruise ship and bring on the moving vans..

Case in point: https://www.pinkbike.com/news/local-flavors-mountain-bike-guide-to-st-george-utah.html

 

[sir crashalot]

I’m not ready to attribute the overcrowding of our favorite spots to listicles. The state’s population has nearly tripled since my childhood, and people have more money and more free time. They will go somewhere...

True, population pressure is the real driver of this.

 

[knucklebuster]

Great photos! That little choo-choo used to go right past the house I rented for two years. Like in the front yard close. 3 trains a day in summer, each way. Chugga Chugga...

Here's a shot from Google maps from the front yard.
View attachment 38057

Wife and I once stayed in the motel in Durango just behind that house and up the hill, that had a deck on the back, for a few days one summer. I probably threw an empty beer can or two in your backyard . I recall the train stopping right there one afternoon, and unloaded all the passengers onto school buses. Later we found out it was a suicide, someone jumped on the tracks in front of the train. So they had a long investigation and had to get the passengers off.

Another time we went in winter and took the train (supposed to go half way to Silverton), but the tracks were all iced up and the train would just spin wheels. They let us off while they turned it around, seems like it was next to an old mill. Anyway I jumped into the snow bank and went in up to my ears. No biking there in the winter. I did a little biking there during the one summer trip, from the motel through town and the trails to the south and east. Reasonably fun and nice views.

Moab the only other one on the list I've ridden, Portal Trail was pretty crazy. Been to some of the others but not ridden. I'm glad Sedona is not on the list as @kioti alludes to, doesn't need any more publicity. Call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye...

 

[herzalot]

Wife and I once stayed in the motel in Durango just behind that house and up the hill, that had a deck on the back, for a few days one summer. I probably threw an empty beer can or two in your backyard . I recall the train stopping right there one afternoon, and unloaded all the passengers onto school buses. Later we found out it was a suicide, someone jumped on the tracks in front of the train. So they had a long investigation and had to get the passengers off.

Wow - a suicide in front of the slowest train in the west? It must have been like slow motion. Yikes.

And I would have thrown those beer cans back at you, but they were full, so I drank them.

 

[evdog]

I’m not ready to attribute the overcrowding of our favorite spots to listicles. The state’s population has nearly tripled since my childhood, and people have more money and more free time. They will go somewhere...

Population growth sure, especially because it affects affordability and as people retire or start families they want to move to places that are nicer, have better lifestyle, are more laid back and/or less expensive. But how do these places get so much attention? I'm sure lists do bring some attention but probably not as much as social media - it has become so pervasive over the last 10 years or so that you just get hammered by it constantly... pics or vids or blogs of people in killer destinations doing all sorts of cool stuff. Keeps people's attention on places they want to visit or move to, not to mention fueling and outdoors/stay active movement in general. Look how many more people are into biking/hiking/trail running/geocaching/etc etc. than 10 or 20 years ago. Information is so easy to come by these days too. And it is easier for people to work remotely, which makes destination type places easier to move to. Before social media all you had were the best of lists, magazine articles. Info wasn't as readily available nor was it as in your face as it is today.

I'm glad Sedona is not on the list as @kioti alludes to, doesn't need any more publicity. Call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye...

Sedona is its own special case. It didn't start getting a ton of MTB hype until bike companies started going there to do product shoots. A year or two of that and it seemed like all you'd hear about was Sedona. Thing with Sedona is there are enough trails that riders spread out and it didn't seem that crowded. That was until the Forest Service brought a ton of trails into the system, signed them and put them on the trail maps. Now they are overrun with hikers everywhere. Never used to see hikers on Hiline, the last couple times there have been multiple groups of half to a dozen hikers. Trails like Chuckwagon are so overrun they're not much fun to ride anymore. MTBers are such a small percentage of the population we really are still a drop in the bucket for a place like Sedona. It is the influx of retirees and tourists that have really crowded Sedona. We are just fortunate that our bikes easily take us well beyond the mile or so that 90% of people never venture beyond from the trailhead.

 

[tick]

I saw Ridgway on a drive through as well. It seemed like a very cool, artsy little town in an inarguably awesome setting. Not sure I'd want to live there year round though, imagining what the winters are like.

Population growth sure, especially because it affects affordability and as people retire or start families they want to move to places that are nicer, have better lifestyle, are more laid back and/or less expensive. But how do these places get so much attention? I'm sure lists do bring some attention but probably not as much as social media - it has become so pervasive over the last 10 years or so that you just get hammered by it constantly... pics or vids or blogs of people in killer destinations doing all sorts of cool stuff. Keeps people's attention on places they want to visit or move to, not to mention fueling and outdoors/stay active movement in general. Look how many more people are into biking/hiking/trail running/geocaching/etc etc. than 10 or 20 years ago. Information is so easy to come by these days too. And it is easier for people to work remotely, which makes destination type places easier to move to. Before social media all you had were the best of lists, magazine articles. Info wasn't as readily available nor was it as in your face as it is today.


Sedona is its own special case. It didn't start getting a ton of MTB hype until bike companies started going there to do product shoots. A year or two of that and it seemed like all you'd hear about was Sedona. Thing with Sedona is there are enough trails that riders spread out and it didn't seem that crowded. That was until the Forest Service brought a ton of trails into the system, signed them and put them on the trail maps. Now they are overrun with hikers everywhere. Never used to see hikers on Hiline, the last couple times there have been multiple groups of half to a dozen hikers. Trails like Chuckwagon are so overrun they're not much fun to ride anymore. MTBers are such a small percentage of the population we really are still a drop in the bucket for a place like Sedona. It is the influx of retirees and tourists that have really crowded Sedona. We are just fortunate that our bikes easily take us well beyond the mile or so that 90% of people never venture beyond from the trailhead.

I’ve had a similar conversation with my daughter. Instagram is a FOMO amplifier.

 

[kioti]

I’ve had a similar conversation with my daughter. Instagram is a FOMO amplifier.

Didn't know what FOMO was I looked it up. Found this article: http://time.com/4358140/overcome-fomo/. Hopefully now I'm as rad as the rest of the world. j/k

FWIW, I find this platform to be empowering and inclusive. Helps us make new friends, helped me get on my bike yesterday, helps increase knowledge of bikes and trails, and is helping many of us find a quality place to retire. Might even get me back into photography, which is something I loved. And the "Pets.." thread is not something I'd expect from a mountain bike website, but is particularly wonderful and helpful to me right now.