Hannah Nordhaus wrote an article for the Rocky Mountain News website a couple days ago about the new paved bike loop in Leadville, CO where she waxed poetically about the virtues of loop trails. I’ve been obsessed with loops almost since I began mountain biking and I think it’s for many of the reasons Hannah mentions.
Mountain bike trail networks are unsatisfying to me because you can almost never ride every inch of trail without doing some planning and/or backtracking. Multiple loops are okay in my mind since it’s a bit easier to string them together but networks with cut-throughs and spider-web patterns just aren’t as fun for some reason. And forget about trying to map a network trail – it’s tough no matter how you choose to attack it.
Ditto for out-and-back trails, though the Rocky Mountain News article already covers the reasons these trails don’t satisfy. Why backtrack when you can see new stuff?
Lollipop loops are often necessary and I guess these don’t bother me as long as the “stick” isn’t too long. The stick is just an annoying out and back section so it’s not surprising that lollipops aren’t as fun as loops.
Figure 8 trails are pretty cool but I’m always a little disappointed when I get to the intersection of the two loops since I know I’ll be eventually be back. In this case two loops aren’t better than one.
One way to make loop trails EVEN BETTER is to alternate travel from day to day. That way riders can experience the trail from both directions without having to worry about encountering oncoming traffic.
There’s just something about the sense of accomplishment you get from riding a mountain bike trail loop that other trail configurations can’t match. Trail builders take note!
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