Greg began mountain biking in 2005, and since then, the pursuit of singletrack has taken him around the world. While Greg first started adding trail reviews to Singletracks in 2008, his career in mountain bike media officially began in 2010. He started writing for Singletracks in 2011 while simultaneously finishing his formal secondary education in writing and publication. Greg has the distinction of being the first employee that Singletracks ever hired, and he went on to serve for seven years, including five years in the Editor in Chief role. After a six-year hiatus, Greg is back at Singletracks, serving in the Managing Editor role.
While Greg has reviewed innumerable mountain bikes and products over the years, his true passion lies in writing about mountain bike trails and destinations. Greg has ridden over 8,000 trails and visited 21 countries (and counting). He recently spent four years traveling full-time, including two spent living in a camper van with his wife, Christine. In between epic trips, he now resides in Durango, Colorado.
Author snapshot
MTB Background and expertise
- Riding experience: Primarily trail and enduro, with experience including endurance XC, bikepacking, downhill, and gravel riding.
- Mountain biking since: 2005
- Number of trails ridden: 8,000+
- Number of countries visited: 21+
- Current stable: Pivot Switchblade V3, Pivot Vault, Scott Big Jon
Education and writing experience
- Bachelors of Arts, English: Writing and Publication, University of North Georgia
- Other publications: Strava, FATMAP, Dirt Rag Magazine, MTB Project, Hiking Project, GearJunkie, Outside 365
Sure, you've probably heard talk about riding in Sedona, but there's so much more to Arizona than just Sedona.
Santa Cruz has just announced an all-new mountain bike in their lineup: the Hightower 27.5+/29er. This new rig is available stock in both wheel size configurations and can be switched between the…
A hidden motor was discovered in a bike at the UCI Cyclocross World Championships this past weekend. The offending rider was Femke Van den Driessche (Team Kleur op Maat). This is outstanding as…
News has reached us that freerider Kelly McGarry has died while riding in New Zealand this weekend. Having met Kelly briefly, in addition to watching probably all of his videos, I can…
Photo: Greg Heil Last week we received word that John Bliss, former chair of the IMBA board of directors, had joined the Sustainable Trails Coalition. And now we…
I've come to the conclusion that there are many crappy fat bikes on the market today. From poor component choices (wheels and tires), to poor geometry creating awkward handling, to excessively high weights,…
Editor's Note: Greg Heil made it one of his primary goals to not enter any races in 2015--and he succeeded. While Greg is the Editor in Chief for Singletracks.com, the opinions expressed in this…
The existence of "mountain" biking in the state of Mississippi is a testament to the tenacity of human beings. Not willing to settle for riding skinny tires on pavement, the residents of…
Photos courtesy of Spirt Mountain Facebook Page Spirit Mountain, located in Duluth, Minnesota, announced today that they are opening their lifts for lift-served, downhill winter fat biking, from…
While the Southeastern US is a popular mountain bike getaway for northeasterners and midwesterners during the dead of winter, riders in the northern rockies need an escape, too!
Testing the 4-inch-wide Maxxis Mammoth fat bike tire.
photo: Matthew Koehnemann (horton581). While reviving our Five2Ride series as the northern hemisphere plunges headlong into winter might not seem logical, the reality is that mountain bikers around the world are still riding dry…
Mountain biking is expensive. We all know this. The thing is, I hate the idea of having to pay hundreds of dollars for a pair of simple mountain bike shoes. Many top-end…
The Hangover Trail in Sedona, Arizona is hands-down the sketchiest trail I've ever ridden. Rarely do videos and photos do a trail's technical, high-consequence nature justice, but this recent video from Nate…
A review of the Kali Protectives Maya half shell mountain bike helmet.
With so many new fat bikes hitting the market, what makes one bike stand apart from the competition? Is it a unique design, construction, parts spec, or something else? With the Chumba…
Back in April I shared with you my goal of riding at least one new trail per week, every week--and I invited you to join me in my challenge, dubbed #1trailaweek. Many…
Over the course of the past year we published over 1,200 articles here on Singletracks.com. Some of those posts are stunning videos. Others are news articles, and still others are reviews, top 10…
According to cpsc.gov, Felt Bicycles is recalling mountain bikes with OEM carbon fiber seatposts. They've found that "the carbon seat post originally sold with the bicycle can crack and break, posing injury and…
In October of 2015 Adam Creager of Brandon, Florida purchased the 5,000 lumen SolarStorm Bike Light, a cheap Chinese knock off light. After just a couple of uses, the light’s battery pack caught fire, and burned his home, gutting the inside.
I don't know what the cause is, but lately I've been hearing from people I talk to and commentators here on ye olde interwebs, that they'd love to do something--be that compete…
We've received several emails from IMBA urging mountain bikers to respond to the USFS's request for comments regarding "Nantahala and Pisgah National Forests Potential Wilderness Inventory." From the initial emails, it sounded…
After watching Danny's latest, I now think that is personally my favorite MacAskill video, second only to "The Ridge." Seriously, can you believe what you just saw?! Oh, you skipped the video…
The controversy surrounding the Sustainable Trails Coalition and their goal of getting mountain bikes into wilderness areas is heating up for round two, with articles and editorials dropping in many publications, including Bike…
Singletracks.com has been collecting trail conditions and check-in data for many years. In 2014 we added conditions information specific to fat bikes, including "Snow: Packed" and "Snow: Powder." As the 2015/2016 snow…
As Editor in Chief for Singletracks, rumors of developing trails and trail systems drift to my ears from all parts of the country, and the world. Occaisonallly I only hear a rumor…
Technically, Grand Targhee Resort is located in Wyoming. And while I was stoked to ride there, during my time in Wydaho I really wanted to spend some time in the 'daho part,…
You may have read a test ride review that I penned about the latest rendition of the Santa Cruz Bronson after a demo ride experience at Outerbike in Moab. If you read…
Shredding powder in the midst of winter is fantastic, and so, of course, is riding high-alpine singletrack in the middle of the summer. But during the transition from season-to-season, there are a…
How "illegal" is truly illegal when it comes to riding trails on your mountain bike? You’d think this would be an easy question to answer, but it’s not. You’d think that the…
Bikepacking is one of the fastest-growing sub-disciplines of mountain biking, and along with this boom in ultra long distance riding and a survivalist ethos has come a corresponding revolution in mountain bikes…
My primary goal for the summer was to dial in my riding kit to be as lightweight, compact, and as dependable as possible. One of the key pieces of gear that I…
With the Bucksaw already in Salsa's lineup, they weren't afraid of jumping on the full suspension plus-size tire band wagon, and their mid-summer release of the Pony Rustler marked one of the…
Bikepacking is a fast-growing mountain bike discipline that provides the perfect combination of the go-fast mountain biking ethos with the wilderness survival ethos of backpacking. Finally, the bikes are starting to catch…
Revel In The Chaos - Brandon Semenuk - Utah Night Segment from Rupert Walker on Vimeo. This year, Brandon Semenuk has cemented himself in my mind as the most entertaining mountain biker…
I don't know if you've ever experienced this compulsion, but I get this thing, where I'll stare at a map day in and day out, year in and year out, and I'll…
After riding the Turner King Khan at Outerbike last year, I instantly became a fan of dual suspension fat bikes. Interestingly, the number of fully-suspended fatties hasn’t really expanded since that time,…
This near-mythical arrangement has been dubbed the "Trail Rider Shuttle," and as you'd expect, it's pretty friggin' awesome! Most months during the summer it runs 5 days a week, with different trail…
Helena, like most towns in Montana, is surrounded by hundreds of miles of backcountry singletrack, up high in the mountains. But unlike many other Montana towns, they also have absolutely fantastic riding…
Helena, Montana’s Shuttlefest began with the most backcountry trail that they routinely shuttle to: the MacDonald Pass portion of the Continental Divide Trail. We have a popular CDT shuttle route near my…
As the world's best freeride mountain bikers flock to Virgin, Utah to compete in the 10th Red Bull Rampage, they look for every opportunity to get practiced up on going big in…
Note: There's a follow up to this review, here. While Santa Cruz has done away with official model years in their lineup, they recently released some new updates to the Bronson that…
Intense Cycles' Tracer 275C has become the stuff of legends, but sometimes, unless you get up close and personal with a legendary figure, you'll never know how much of what you've heard…
Ever since I first heard of the new Yeti SB4.5c back in August, I was eager to swing a leg over this new rig and take it for a rip! I had…
17 mountain bike brands are voluntarily recalling 1.5 million mountain bikes with quick releases. In these 1.5 million bikes, the quick release (QR) can open more than 180 degrees, thereby catching in the…
Right smack-dab in the middle of Interbike 2015, Wahoo Fitness raised the curtain on their brand-new GPS Cycling Computer: the ELEMNT. Now, is this a cycling computer, or is it a GPS…
The "Patrol" mountain bike brand is officially launching in the USA! If you haven't heard of Patrol before, don't fret: they hail from Indonesia, home of a burgeoning mountain bike scene thanks…
Norco had several new and updated mountain bikes on display at Interbike 2015. New for this year is a 27.5+ hardtail, dubbed the "Torrent 7." The Torrent 7 is a budget-friendly hardtail,…
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