Where are your favorite places to ride?

RickyBikes

Member
Region
USA
I've often used an eBike as a commuter, but lately I've had some friends asking about eBiking trails throughout North America and Europe. I'd love hear your favorite places to ride. No matter the type of trail or path, or even the type of bike required, I'd like to make note of the best rides, and document them as we begin tackling them.

I've seen a few bike trail forum posts before, one in particular from a couple years ago in the Northeastern US:


I look forward to hearing your favorite places to ride!
 
Last edited:
My first reaction: give me a map with some unpaved roads and I'll find you a killer ride. Give me some more time and I'll find you a killer ride that is completely undiscovered or at least a secret shared only with a few locals:

basket-6.png


Screaming descent on Basket Mountain Road, South of Milton-Freewater, OR. I found this route looking at a map and it looked like a cool shortcut.
 
Our favourites are the rail trails in our area, a fine crushed-stone base that is wide enough to ride side-by-side. We are blessed with a number of trails in the Ottawa/Kingston area of Canada. We typically ride from one town to another, have an outdoor lunch, then return.
 
I enjoy my commute to summer camp. Back streets in city, calm industrial park, rolling hills in rich exurbia, ending out in farm & ranchland. Jeffersonville In Nachand st to 8th st to Middle Rd to Utica-Sellersburg Rd to Sundancer Rd to Watson New Chapel Rd to KerryAnn St to State Rd 62 to RiverRidge Industrial Park Patrol Rd to Charlestown Bethany Rd to High Jackson Rd to Jennings St to Main St to Spring St to Halcyon St to Denson Ln to Cardinal St to JC store lot to NWSB lot to sidewalk of Market St to Sunset Tr to Clark Cty Vienna Rd to Jack Teeple Rd to Harry Hughes Rd to Mt Lebanon Rd to Seatick Rd to Otisco Leon Prall Rd to State Rd 3 to Mill St to Clapp Rd to Clark Cty New Market rd to destination corner of Michigan Rd my 23.5 acre lot. ~30 miles, 3.5 to 4 hours.
 
Last edited:
My ride yesterday was through rural Ontario, 25 miles of backroads, rolling hills, a river valley and farmland. I saw deer, turkeys, wild ducks, geese, and numerous other birds.

This part of Ontario has a vibrant Mennonite Community, I followed a horse-drawn buggy for a while and waved at a farmer raking his hay, with the rake being pulled by a horse and a mule. On my ride, I met couple of dozen vehicles, cars and trucks, better than half gave me a wave, I waved back.

All in all a great ride.
 
Northern Virginia is has many, many state or county or community maintained paved and gravel trails plus miles and miles of gravel roads that are through beautiful farms, forests and mountains with few cars. And the cars that are there often are driving at bicycle speeds. Many of the sidewalks are MUPs, too.
 
Closer to home, you can hardly go wrong riding in the San Juan Islands (WA, USA) or Southern Gulf Islands (BC, Canada).

They are really only accessible for cyclists via ferry and are well-set-up for bicycle travel. Roads are all generally quiet and quite safe for cyclists. On some of the islands there are signs at the ferry landings pointing out the best cycling routes.

shelter-bay.png


Shelter Bay, Lopez Island, WA


salish-1.png


Top of Mt. Constitution, Orcas Island, WA
 
When I retired we had to be 3 miles or less from the Silver Comet/Chief Ladiga Trail , it was a ”must have” for the realtor.

Welcome to GA
 
Moab Utah area. It was my favorite with pedal-only bikes, and it holds the same for emtb's. What you say?...a lot of the trails are off limits to emtb's?...well of course they are. But I would tell you that there are still a ton of excellent rides for emtb's there that are multiple use. I've dirt motored on the classic trails there, and I've done the 4WD thing there too. I love when someone who hasn't been there sees a guide book classifying a particular trail as a jeep road and thinks there's no challenge there for MTB, dirt motor, or off road vehicle. While there are regular dirt roads there, there are tons of these so called "jeep roads" that will curl your hair on or in any kind of vehicle.

Porcupine Rim trail is my favorite MTB ride in the whole country. With parts of it now off limits to emtb's, there is still 17+ mile of it that is a hoot. You do what is the "old" Porc Rim route that starts with a 3 mile climb from the Sand Flats road. That climb used to suck a bit IMO, but an emtb changes that part of the ride totally. You then have a fast, technical ride to the turn-around spot for motorized vehicles. Back from the turn-around it is slightly uphill, but again, on an emtb it's a hoot. Then at the last 3 miles that was a decent climb, it's a downhill rush through rocky terrain. One other advantage of this route is that you don't need the traditional shuttle, because you can drive to the old trailhead and make the ride back to the trailhead.

There are still tons of great rides on emtb's in the Moab area.
 
Closer to home, you can hardly go wrong riding in the San Juan Islands (WA, USA) or Southern Gulf Islands (BC, Canada).

They are really only accessible for cyclists via ferry and are well-set-up for bicycle travel. Roads are all generally quiet and quite safe for cyclists. On some of the islands there are signs at the ferry landings pointing out the best cycling routes.

During the last ice age, when all of Puget Sound was filled with a vast glacier, the top of Mt. Constitution was under the ice. Almost exactly in the middle of the photo, but slightly to the right of middle, is a barely visible speck known as Lummi Rocks. There, the grooves in the rock, carved out by the moving glacier, can still be seen, averaging about 12 to 18 inches wide, and starting just above water level and continuing over the top. You can reach some of the grooves with your kayak paddle. Not an appealing place to ride, but Lummi Island to the left of the rocks has some nice biking roads. Reachable by ferry from Gooseberry point, Whatcom Co.
View attachment 93223

Shelter Bay, Lopez Island, WA


View attachment 93224

Top of Mt. Constitution, Orcas Island, WA
 
My ride yesterday was through rural Ontario, 25 miles of backroads, rolling hills, a river valley and farmland. I saw deer, turkeys, wild ducks, geese, and numerous other birds.

This part of Ontario has a vibrant Mennonite Community, I followed a horse-drawn buggy for a while and waved at a farmer raking his hay, with the rake being pulled by a horse and a mule. On my ride, I met couple of dozen vehicles, cars and trucks, better than half gave me a wave, I waved back.

All in all a great ride.
My rides are similar. I live in a rural, very hilly area. Only our numbered roads are the least bit busy. My favorite ride covers about 20 miles, goes past a mountain view, 6 lakes, lots of wildlife and a lunch stop at an excellent cafe. There are many variations, as well as other towns to ride to for lunch, our favorite kind of ride. We don't have rideable rail trails - our local ones are really snowmobile trails with rough surfaces, but we don't need them. Besides, if we had relatively flat rail trails, why would we need an ebike?
 
My rides are similar. I live in a rural, very hilly area. Only our numbered roads are the least bit busy. My favorite ride covers about 20 miles, goes past a mountain view, 6 lakes, lots of wildlife and a lunch stop at an excellent cafe. There are many variations, as well as other towns to ride to for lunch, our favorite kind of ride. We don't have rideable rail trails - our local ones are really snowmobile trails with rough surfaces, but we don't need them. Besides, if we had relatively flat rail trails, why would we need an ebike?
I live up in the northern part NH and there nothing flat about it🏔️
 
I live up in the northern part NH and there nothing flat about it🏔️
The Northern Rail Trail in central NH was a good ride last time I was there. Mostly snowmobiles, cross country skiers and snow shoers this time of year though.

 
Marjorie Harris Carr Cross Fla Greenway: Santos Trailhead. Bellview Fl.

This is a 5 star paved trail that is a joy to ride, especially during the week or early morning. So far, although we have seen and big increase in eBikes, it is till a pretty uncrowded space during the times we ride.
 
Back