Did you know? Bell’s Fast Facts Fridays

With Thanksgiving only hours behind us, many people are already looking forward to a turkey and cranberry sandwich for lunch and a day full of shopping – Got to love those Thanksgiving leftovers! But while most people are out shopping on this “Black Friday”, we’re putting our helmets on, jumping on our mountain bikes and getting muddy. Before we get rolling though, we’d like to offer up a few mountain biking trails in the American West for you to check out sometime!

1) Located in the mountainous area rising up from the ocean above Santa Cruz, Scott’s Valley is not only a beautiful place to bike ride, it’s also the headquarters for Bell Sports! To see the many trails available, MapMyRide has more than 80 great bike routes already plotted out for the Scott’s Valley area. The site allows riders to plot their bike rides over mountains (view elevation), through the woods (topographic maps), and speeding through the city (street level views) with just a few mouse clicks. At Bell, we enjoy the quick 10.26 mile Glen Canyon/Granite Creek ride. (MapMyRide.com)

2) Bend, OR was named 2009’s “top mountain biking town” in the US by Mountain Biking Action magazine. The editors praised everything from access and lodging, to weather and friendly locals as reasons why they made their ultimate decision to venture out there. (mbaction.com)

3) 360-degree vistas? Check. 25 foot-tall volcanic boulders? Check. Sparkling streams? Check. 17 miles of downhill and a  5,000-foot vertical drop? Check. Can you guess where it is we’re talking about? It’s Downieville, CA – a small town nestled high amongst the Tahoe National Forrest firs! (Outside.Away.com)

4) Jackson Hole, WY offers a plethora of trail options, including rides through Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park. (JacksonHole.net)

5) Moab, UT claims to have “the best mountain biking on the planet” – a pretty bold statement considering  some of the great places we’ve already mentioned. You can ride from the high desert into national forests, with options for beginners looking for a scenic ride through beautiful canyons and mesa tops, to seasoned bikers looking for the ultimate technical challenge. (DiscoverMoab.com)

Have you ridden on any of the trails linked to above? If so, we would love to hear about your adventures! These are obviously only a few of the thousands of great trails and biking towns to experience, so let us know (below) what some of your other favorite places to ride are. And until we meet again – Happy Trails!