John has been mountain biking since the year 2000. He's traveled extensively across the USA, sampling the best mountain bike trails along the way. As a result, John topped the Singletracks leaderboard for "most trails ridden" for many years. He spent several years writing for Singletracks as a freelancer and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Sustainable Trails Coalition.
Work frequently takes me from my home in Colorado Springs to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Fortunately, the trip is done as easily by driving as by flying, which means I can generally bring…
Photo: Sharing the PCT Facebook Page WHAT: The "Detailed Proposed Action in Support of the Need to Change Items in the Notice of Intent for Forest Plan Revision for the Inyo, Sequoia…
Thanks to prodding from some forward-thinking bike shops, Foes is jumping into the fat bike game with a super sweet looking, as yet unnamed, full suspension fatty. We can look forward to…
Prologue: July 28, 2010 I was out for a quick 9-mile spin, roughly 4.5 miles each way running from a little over 9,000ft in elevation to about 10,400ft. The ride up was…
We live on an increasingly crowded planet and trails, whether we hike or ride them, are a refuge from the daily grind. And while these wonderful strips of bare ground in our…
Really, all you need is a bike. If you're healthy enough to ride, all you need is a bike. Period. But then again, should you take a tumble, it's better to live…
A review of the 2015 Rocky Mountain Instinct mountain bike.
A couple months ago, I wrote a rave review of the Pearl Izumi X-Alp Enduro III Shoe, but lamented the fact that Pearl Izumi was replacing the X-Alp Enduro III with the…
One of my riding goals for 2014 was to do some races, including at least one with my son. When I spotted the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde, I knew I’d found…
One of the many step ups heading out on the Sovereign Trail. After a successful two days in Price, it was time to turn the van toward home…
The view from the top of the mesa on the Driver Trail, Price Utah. On day seven of the Second Annual Ultimate Spring Break Singletrack Adventure, we had…
Stunning views of Zion National Park are your constant companion on the Guacamole Trail. Having survived the Broken Mesa Rim in the first half of day 3 of…
Miniskibum enjoys the slickrock playground that sits atop Little Creek Mountain Day Three of the Second Annual Spring Break Singletrack Trek would be the one which we chose…
After two glorious days riding the San Rafael Swell, we headed further southwest into Zion country. While the riding was excellent on the swell, it was rather lonely, and we were actually…
A mountain bike trip report through the Green River, Utah area.
I picked a bad time to start racing. After all, I’m getting a little long in the tooth for this sort of thing. This August marks my half-century point. Why would I…
Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Goldilocks who liked to ride…
So, this is two mountain bike shoe reviews in a row for me... one might think I'd lost track of my Y chromosome. But a fella needs the right shoe for the…
Typical ski run traverse between switchbacks on the King of the Mountain climb (photo: delphinide) Cycling8r recently shared her backyard trails in the Sandia Foothills on the east…
For some time there has been much ado about how to best preserve Idaho's stunning Boulder-White Clouds mountains. Recently, preservationists and mountain bikers combined forces to…
After my disappointing experience with the Serfas Trax, I renewed my search for a versatile, performance-oriented, yet reasonably-priced mountain bike shoe. After many false starts, I simply gave up and decided to…
The comment period for the Environmental Assessment covering multi-use (including bikes) on the East Shore Trail in Rocky Mountain National Park closes on March…
Having covered the trails on both the eastern and western sides of Sedona’s stellar riding, we are now ready to complete our circumnavigation of this Southwestern red rock wonderland. Sedona’s north side…
Click here to read Part 1. Having covered the main routes on Sedona’s east side, it’s now time to wander across Highway 179 to the west side. However, I need to point…
I had the good fortune to be able to ride 45 new (to me) trail systems in 2013. Having ridden so many trails (405 trail systems to date), one might think it…
Rocky Mountain National Park is considering allowing cycling on a two-mile section of the East Shore Trail near Grand Lake, CO. Citizens may…
Having ridden most of North America’s great mountain biking destinations, I find it hard to answer when someone asks me which is my favorite. Each destination is unique, having its own charm…
While it may not seem like it now for many of you, spring is definitely out there, not that far off... waiting to smack you in the face. Ahh, the warmth, the…
Having not purchased a new, lower-capacity hydration pack for short rides since my first Camelbak in 2000, I jumped at the opportunity to review the Camelbak Charge 10LR. When I reviewed the…
With Texas and Oklahoma having both exceeded expectations, we had one last chance to waste time riding uninteresting, unchallenging, flat, non-scenic trails. I’ve driven through Kansas many times and noted that it’s…
John explores some of the best trails in Oklahoma: Tulsa's Turkey Mountain Trail System.
Thanksgiving weekend can be a tough time for recreation in Colorado. Often there is enough snow to make most biking…
George Wuerthner of Mountain Bikers for Wildlands wrote a letter to the editor of the Idaho Mountain Express and Guide, saying, in part, And as a mountain biker, I believe the single…
More and more, I find myself having trail déjà vu—the feeling that I’ve ridden this trail before—even when I haven’t. With over 350 trails under my knobbies, you might think it’d be…
The Montana Heritage act is moving along through the legislative process. After passing through committee, which it now has done unanimously, it will move to the full senate. This bill adds 67,112 acres…
Having covered the administrative details of NICA racing in part one, I will now give a quick blurb on each of the races and share what I think were the most intriguing…
With Miniskibum’s first season of sanctioned High School mountain bike racing under his knobbies, it’s time to share the NICA experience with Singletracks readers. Even if you don’t currently have high school-aged…
I am a self-identified "new trail junkie." There’s a reason I have the longest list of trails ridden here on Singletracks: I’m just a short attention span kind of guy. Given the…
Last week, I wrote about biking around a major resort in…
An overview of the best mountain bike trails in Breckenride, Colorado
I’m always on the lookout for new trails to ride and have employed many methods to find them. Having lived in one…
As my wife and I prepared for our first ascent of Pikes Peak, I regaled…
After a great first day in Vernal at NUMB Fest, we were stoked for day two. Our new friends from Altitude Cycle said the best itinerary after McCoy Flats was to ride the…
I’ve always thought attending a mountain bike festival would be a lot of fun. However, I don’t care much for hordes of people or crowded trails. Sounds like a conundrum; what to…
While mountain bikers work hard to build new trails, we constantly face losing existing ones as a result of development, lobbying by hikers and equestrians, forest fires and natural disasters, Wilderness designations,…
The itinerary for our final day of the ultimate spring break mountain bike road trip included two rides in Cortez, one familiar and famous, the other unfamiliar and obscure. The first would…
After becoming a human pincushion on day seven of the ultimate spring break mountain bike road trip, Miniskibum’s status for day eight seemed somewhat questionable. Despite being bloodied and spending a fitful…
After a couple rough days in Tucson, it was time to move up, both on the map and in elevation. This would allow us to add a good deal of variety into…
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