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BIKING BEYOND ZION PARK
Hurricane is becoming a mountain biking Mecca. The bike shop Over the Edge Sports is considered one of the best outside of Moab. With Zion bringing in millions of visitors per year looking for adventure and the great slickrock in the area, it wasn’t rocket science to let the two collide, like chocolate and peanut butter. Test ride a bike over the Gooseberry Mesa or join in the Edge’s free intermediate group rides each morning or the women-only rides in the afternoon.
Moab offers some of the best end-over opportunities around and of course, made its name as the home to the best mountain biking on Earth. Beginners as well as experienced bikers can rent bikes or take a guided tour that can test your limits. The world famous Slickrock Bike Trail is not for the fainthearted. Highly technical, it taunts you with end-over possibilities. Many other trails are less difficult and can be enjoyed for the scenery as well as the chills and thrills.
Ride from Colorado’s San Juan Hut System’s Telluride to Moab over 14,000-foot crests among the San Juan mountains. The 215-mile trail goes over the Uncompahgre Plateau and the La Sal Mountains. This difficult trek is for the truly devoted who don’t mind miles of challenging trail to reach uncompromising stretches of scenic wonder. Bikers can stay in primitive huts along the way.
Don’t pass up the Bootleg Canyon in Boulder City, between Las Vegas and Hoover Dam. The hand-built trails quickly created an international sensation with certified Epic Rides by the International Mountain Bike Association. A recent shuttle service allows bikers to hitch a quick ride back up to the mountaintop to get in as many rides in per day as possible.
Many of the ski resorts offer great summer biking and hiking opportunities and use the existing ski lifts to facilitate bikers’ climbs. Snowbird offers an extensive network of trails and rents bikes for those who have left their bikes at home. Keystone Bike Park takes over the ski resort in the summer and offers progressive terrain for riders at all levels through rock gardens, drops and challenging other features. More experienced riders can take on roller coaster rides over bridges and berms.
The resort also offers hundreds of miles of world-class single track rides that connect to the Colorado Trail. Bike chairlifts are available to summer trailheads.
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