Mountain bikers are passionate people, we spend thousands of dollars on bikes and equipment. Go to any festival, cross-country, enduro, or gravity event and you’ll most likely notice that the worth of the racers bikes usually triple the worth of our vehicles. We spend money on what matters most to us.
Why then do some people continue to live in places where they have to load up the bikes and drive to where they want to ride? Why doesn’t everyone just live right in their own personal mountain bike mecca? The town that have it all.
Do they worry that if they live there, the town might become boring and run of the mill? Would they get burned out on the trails they so love to visit? Is it the fact that most of these towns are hard to find jobs in? Do they not want to leave family and friends? Would they never consider leaving the town that they grew up in?
Well, until you live somewhere else, you might never know! Once the door is opened you might find that it leads to many more doors!!!
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We have had the pleasure of living and recreating in many towns considered to be mountain bike meccas over the years and are still searching for that one town! The perfect town! The town that has it all!
For us-the town needs to be “livable” with good restaurants, fun things to do and fun people to do them with. It should have a good cost of living and not be too expensive or filled with retired people, tourists or vacation homes. It should have nice weather to be able to ride year round, not too hot and not too cold and sunny! It 100% needs to have access from the garage door to really good single track. If it does not have nice year round weather, it at least needs to have a winter escape close by (drivable within 3-6 hours) for quick get-aways. It needs to have access to big mountains or at least big open places without a lot of people.
Not too much to ask right?
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Here is our short list of dream towns: none being perfect, but read on!
- Squamish, Sedona, Moab, Bend, Flagstaff, Durango, Crested Butte, Park City, Santa Fe, Whistler, Hurricane, Pemberton
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Now – here are some real dreamy towns: Towns that- if blended together, would offer all that we seek! We would settle down at the drop of a hat in any of these towns, buy a small house with a ginormous garage and be “grown ups” instead of moving every 2-5 years constantly seeking!
#1) Squadona (Squamish + Sedona)
The ultimate mountain biker’s town- our #1 choice of DREAM TOWNS
Squadona would have all the miles (kilometers) of the worlds best loamy and desert single track with great weather. In our Squadona it would only rain at night and just enough to make the dirt tacky. This town would offer awesome climbing trails, very little hiker traffic, loam and is close to Whistler for big mountain fun. There would be awesome coffee shops and taco bars on every corner.
#2) Bendango (Bend + Durango)
This awesome town would allow access to big mountain riding with a great town vibe, full of shredders to ride with and great apres-riding spots like “Bread”. There would also be a great river to dip into if it got too hot or if we wanted a little paddle boarding or kayak adventure.
#3) Moaberton (Moab + Pemberton)
All of Moab’s awesome desert single track set in a big mountain town with huge wild open space everywhere, but that has an added bonus of close to Whistler and Squamish. Plus this town would be in Canada so FREE healthcare (ya right) for those pesky mishaps. Moaberton would be void of all the tourist traffic, except all of your cool friends that ride bikes.
#4) FruitaFe (Fruita + Santa Fe)
This would be a great town with artistic funky culture and killer single track. It would have ledgy desert riding with piñon pines as well as an aspen and ponderosa pine forests you can access right from town.
#5) Hurristaff (Hurricane + Flagstaff)
This town would be a nice blend of a cool college town with bustling nightlife, tall peaks with endless flowy, technical single track and remote desert trails with some good year round weather. Not too hot, not too cold, not too windy.
So there you have it- our top 5 DREAM TOWNS
I mean if you’re gonna dream then dream BIG right?! Until these towns actually exist, we will keep seeking. If you have a town that you think has it all, drop us a line at Crankjoy and we will put it on the list to visit soon.
DREAM ON.
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Salidason – a cross between the sage of Hartman rocks and the piney trails around Salida. Alternatively, Salida Butte – blending the best of both worlds at the geographic center of riding in Colorado.