Want to sell your bike? Interested sellers can register their bike online at www.SpokaneBikeSwap.com starting March 15. Registering early will help expedite bike check-in, which is on Friday, April 21, from 3-7 p.m. Bike registration is $5 and payable when you register or when you check in your bike on Friday. The registration fee will be waived if you donate a bike. Kids’ bikes are in huge demand too. The registration fee is waived on kids’ bikes with 20” rims or smaller that are priced $50 or less. For all bikes that sell, a 10% consignment fee will be assessed.

“We are thrilled to announce the Spokane Bike Swap is now a non-profit organization,” says LeAnn Yamamoto, Spokane Bike Swap Chair. “The proceeds from the event will benefit regional charitable organizations, and we are excited about the positive impacts it will have on the community while promoting healthy and active living for all.” Want to get involved? Go to SpokaneBikeSwap.com and click on the volunteer link for more details and to sign up.

The post Spokane Bike Swap April 22, 2023 appeared first on Out There Venture.

Maybe your rump is fine, but your wrists are killing you, or your neck, or a knee. Hopefully this article helps you decide if and what level of bike fit you need for pain-free pedaling.

In the long-gone days of my youth, the proper fit on a BMX bike was the simple matter of adjusting the wheelbase and handlebar reach to facilitate better wheelies. Too long and the front wheel wouldn’t come up. Too short and you fell off the back. Striking that balance became particularly important the more time I spent off the ground.

In my early 20s I got my first road bike. I wondered why it felt like I was holding onto the front axle. I really needed eyeballs on the top of my forehead to see the road ahead at that angle, but I was young and my thirst for adventure was stronger than my dislike of the discomfort I experienced.

My second road bike, a 1981 predecessor of the modern adventure gravel bike, magically fit like the aforementioned proverbial glove. After that bike disintegrated, I spent more than a decade trying to recreate that fit on other bikes.

Over the years I was riding less and less, so the perfect fit didn’t matter as much, until Thomas Yeates of The Bike Hub talked me into racing the 700-mile Cross-Washington Mountain Bike Route. I immediately booked a level 3 fit with Brice Erickson at B&L Bicycles in Pullman, Wash.

As Bike Fit Sam, owner of Ambassador Cycling on the South Hill in Spokane, Wash., says, “Cycling is a perceived low-impact activity, but it’s repetitive. If something is off in your fit, you can create an overuse injury or blow something out.”

I now schedule a fit check-up every year with Bike Fit Sam as the riding season ramps up into the absurd ultra bikepacking events that have captured my imagination in recent years. And so far I’m still relatively comfortable after 36 straight hours of riding.

“Not everyone needs a pro fit,” says Sam. “A bike shop will get you close, and that’s good enough for most people.”

Proper bike fit matters: Here are 5 reasons to know it’s time to schedule an appointment with a pro bike fitters.

1. Pain: Even if you don’t have acute pain, you don’t know how much better cycling can be if it actually feels good to sit on your bike.

2. Post-injury: Your fit can be modified to take the load off of a joint or appendage.

3. Injury prevention: If you’ve signed up for your first Iron Man or century, or anything beyond your normal scope of riding endurance, it becomes more important to have your fit dialed in.

4. Reduced activity/fitness: It’s normal for experienced riders to make small adjustments as their fitness fluctuates throughout the season. So chances are that bike that’s been collecting dust in the back of the garage for 15 years will get a signed confession out of you if you spend enough time on it.

5. New bike: Possibly the best reason for a bike fit. Your fitter will probably be as excited as you are.

The best advice is to ride your bike and feel it out. If your bike doesn’t feel like an extension of your body, maybe consider an appointment with a pro bike fitter near you.

In Spokane, check out Ambassador Cycling, Brice at B&L, Katrina Vogel, or Paul Sharp, just to name a few. Your friendly neighborhood Inland NW bike nut probably knows them.

Justin Short got his annual bike fit checkup with Ambassador Cycling in preparation for the 350-mile Odyssey of the VOG bikepacking race out of Salem, Ore., in late May. He will probably ride the thing straight through, unless he comes to his senses.

Find more stories about biking in the OTO archives and Everyday Cyclist column.

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After Covid lockdown, says Spokane mountain bike coach Frank Burns, “We saw that kids were withdrawn and excluded, for many good reasons, from the interactions that are so critical to the development of adolescent brains. My buddy is a pediatrician and my wife is a psychiatrist, and hearing them talk about what they were seeing with depression, anxiety, and withdrawal in adolescent populations was scary.”

But once kids were able to get back out riding together in the spring of 2021, he says, kids thrived like they had before.

After some thought, Burns says he and his fellow coaches came to the conclusion that bikes are the answer. “Armed with this new found insight, we secured the Bikesaretheanswer.org domain name and put up a website to make it easy for everyone in our region with kids to engage in youth cycling teams.”

Youth mountain biking programs in the Inland Northwest are not new, but navigating the confusing acronyms and disparate programs didn’t make it easy for families to find the right programs and races for their kids.

The Bikesaretheanswer.org site simplifies the region’s youth cross-country (XC) mountain biking team and race options and brings them all together in one easy-to-use web portal. The volunteers behind the effort went a step further and also helped fill the gap between the existing spring youth mountain bike teams under the Washington Student Cycling League (WSCL) and the fall youth cyclocross team (School of Cross); they brought a summer team under the banner of the National Interscholastic Cycling League of Montana (NICA MT) into the fold.

From the Bikesaretheanswer.org website, parents can now find all the info and registration links for Inland Northwest mountain bike team options for spring, summer, and fall, plus optional race dates throughout the year, all in one place.

Simplifying the process for parents has huge value, but the addition of the summer league that brings kids from around the region together into one team has also had a tremendous impact on the kids, coaches, and families that are now so much more connected, explains Burns.

The addition of the summer league really opened the coaches’ eyes, says Burns. “All the kids from the region were put together into one team and thrived. The kids, coaches, and families became friends, and we competed as one group against other teams in the larger multistate league.”

It gave everyone a taste of what a successful regional approach to youth cycling can deliver, says Burns. “We began to ride trails in CDA, Mount Spokane, Mica, Saltese, and Riverside together too.”

An unexpected outcome, he adds, was that kids saw themselves as part of a region, as opposed to a small friend group in a school or neighborhood.

For kids and families, Burns says youth bike teams are a great regional community-building tool, all while delivering fun, friends, health and inclusion. Kids in grades 6–12 can participate in the spring and summer XC mountain bike leagues, and ages 6–18 can take part in the fall cyclocross season.

Youth of all abilities are welcome, and Burns points out that kids typically self-sort whether they are more interested in riding for fun and being social or competing and racing. “At the start of the season, we had some kids who had not ridden much at all,” explains Burns, “and after six weeks, these kids do multi-hour rides and see themselves as part of a mountain bike team and are ready to race if they want to.”

Originally published as “For Some Pandemic-Weary Parents, Bikes Became the Answer” in the May-June 2022 issue.

Find more stories in the OTO archives about biking and Out There Kids family outdoor adventures.

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It’s now time to enjoy those bits of the great outdoors that have been off limits. And what better place to bust out again than Rossland, British Columbia, the capital of Canadian mountain biking less than three hours north of Spokane?

In-Town Epic Riding

According to Caroline Rousselle, one of the owners of Revolution Cycles in Rossland (a must visit!), what makes Rossland befitting its status as Canada’s mountain biking capital is the wide variety of trails that are accessible directly from town, no car required. Anyone enjoying these trails has the Kootenay Columbia Trail Society (KCTS) that built and maintains them to thank.

The trails, says Rousselle, as described on the Trailforks app, are accurately labeled. When there’s a black diamond, you better not overestimate your abilities or fitness.

If you are looking for something Rouselle describes as a “bit more flowy,” then the blue-square intermediate trails are for you. That means, if you want to tackle the local epic Seven Summits, you need to be fit and capable. It may well contain the toughest 30 kilometers (18 miles) you’ll ride, with more than 4,500 feet of climbing.

Bring all the food and drink you’ll need for the average five hours it takes to complete. The Trailforks rating for the Seven Summits is “extreme.” And they mean it.

Along with a great trail system, Rossland has become a leader in adaptive mountain biking, providing a welcoming space for athletes who have suffered spinal cord injuries that would otherwise keep them from cycling. Similarly, every trail but the Seven Summits, due to the delicate trail surface and ecology, is open to Class 1 eBikes.

New Trails & Amenities Open along with the Border

So what’s happened in and around Rossland since the COVID-19 border closure? Stewart Spooner, operations manager for KCTS, says “We’ve had quite a few developments in the past couple of years.”

The Millennial Trail Expansion opened in 2020, adding 5.8K of trails at the base of Red Mountain with advanced, intermediate, and novice climbing and cross-country terrain and connections to Paydirt trails. Another new trail is the machine-built, bermed, and jump-filled Dragontail, adding a bike-park experience, though without lift access.

Spooner says that KCTS has also created an entirely off-road loop of trails connecting the Larch Ridge trail network, including the popular Monticola trail. KCTS is also developing the new Mxiɬp Xewílh (Cedar Trail), an 18K moderate trail connecting Nancy Green Pass to the Larch Ridge Trail network and RED Mountain Resort. The lower section will open mid-summer 2022, with the entire trail ready for Spring 2023. That’s lots of new terrain for those who have previously ridden the Rossland area.

It’s not just that trail system that has grown in Rossland since the border closure. Kylie Lakevold of Tourism Rossland reports that “during the pandemic more new businesses opened versus closed.”

New restaurants include Rossberry Hill Bistro at RED Mountain Resort and The Underbelly Bistro downtown. There’s a new chef at The Velvet Restaurant too. Shopping has expanded, there are new and expanded art options, and lodging has improved with renovations at The Wild Turkey and The Flying Steamshovel inns.

When to Go

Rossland’s elevation of 3,356 feet means warm weather begins in late-May and many trails can hold snow in places through June. The subalpine Seven Summits doesn’t typically open until early July, closing in late October.

Most trails receive regular maintenance one the snow melts and the trails dry out, but it’s always worth a call up to Revolution Cycles in Rossland for a trail update.

Find more stories about Rossland, B.C., in the OTO archives.

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They each offer a concentration of trails for all levels of riders, active trail-building clubs hard at work on new trails, and mountain town or city amenities that make a multiday bike trip that much more memorable.

Hood River, Oregon

The town of Hood River sits in the transition zone where the Columbia River Gorge shifts from dripping hemlock to dry foothills, where the last stringers of wet westside weather blow themselves out on the river’s legendary gales. It’s long been known for its wind-surfing scene, but the tailgates and trailheads around Hood River tell a story about the town’s rise to fat tire fame.

In the 1990s, trail builders began constructing rogue freeride lines—massive gaps and high-wire, high-consequence wooden features in the forested hills of Post Canyon, located 10 minutes southwest of downtown Hood River. But the tracks ran afoul of the county forestry department, which manages the land for its primary economic use of timber extraction.

After a catastrophic windstorm in 2012 toppled scores of trees onto the trails and the salvage logging that followed disturbed the area even more, local builders approached the county to plead their case for new trails.

Thanks to the efforts of the Hood River Area Trail Stewards (HRATS) and its volunteers, the county acquiesced. And although the county continues to manage the area with timber top of mind, Post Canyon has weathered the storm and come out of it a stronger trail network, showcasing the trail-building transition from rocky, root-tangled tech to contemporary bench-cut jump and berm trails.

One look at Family Man Staging Area, one of the main portals to Post Canyon, shows that, although Post Canyon may have matured, there’s still plenty of high-energy riding here. Come midweek and you’re just as likely to see preschoolers on push bikes rolling out next to big senders.

The bidirectional trails, like Lower– and Upper Eight Track, are smartly laid out and rarely overwhelming to ride; riders going uphill aren’t likely to hit a wall or stall out on steep climbing turns, but beginners can build their descending skills on the return trip.

Meanwhile, expert riders can descend from the top of Upper Eight Track on Bad Motor Scooter and Upper Grand Prix, where one immaculately crafted berm after another connects massive tabletops, step-ups and step-downs.

Upper Eight Track also ties into a broader network of singletrack and motorcycle trails that honor the area’s legacy of chunky, suspension-testing tech. Now, though, the trails are legal and sustainable.

This year, HRATS has ambitious plans to give Family Man a facelift and expand Golden Eagle Bike Park and Pump Track in coordination with Hood River Parks and Recreation. It’s all part of a plan to nurture a grander transition: from beginners to lifelong bikers.

Spring is an ideal time to visit Hood River: Passing showers give the trails a regular refresh but don’t tend to be day-drenching affairs. When in town, don’t miss the legendary Dirty Fingers Bicycle Repair, a Hood River institution and an all-in-one bike shop and pub. Next door, KickStand Coffee & Kitchen will get your caffeine and calories sorted.

HRATS, informally known as the Hood RATS, build and maintain the trails at Post Canyon in addition to backcountry trail networks along the Hood River and across the Columbia, so consider making a donation after enjoying their trails.

Wenatchee, Wash.

On the sunbaked east slope of the Central Cascades, Wenatchee has developed into a shoulder-season destination for riders on both sides of the state, thanks to the hallmarks of east-slope riding: towering pines and steep, flowing descents on the sandy ridgelines that separate the Wenatchee Valley from the Cascade Crest.

In the foothills on the west side of town, #2 Canyon has transitioned from a rogue riding network to a fully sanctioned and Forest Service-supported trail system. The Central Washington chapter of Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance put the public’s pandemic-inspired desire for outdoor activity to work for them, building out miles of new, buttery-smooth trail to connect to classics like Stairway to Heaven mtb trail.

The flowing berms on New Sundance replaced a heinous fall-line climb but kept the spectacular views of Mount Stuart and the central Cascades, while The Still added a swooping, 3-mile loop that flows equally well in both directions. And Evergreen has ambitious plans for even more miles this year.

Thirty minutes west, Leavenworth Ski Hill/Freund Canyon rewards riders with immaculate flow and a bird’s eye view of the Bavarian-village vibe of Leavenworth—that is, if you can take your eyes off the sidehill gap jumps of Rosie Boa.

Methow Valley, Wash.

If you haven’t ridden the Methow (“Me-tow“), go. Now. The wildflower displays on the open sage-covered hillsides, with the snow-capped battlements of the North Cascades in the background are second to none.

First, the bad news: The catastrophic wildfires that surrounded the Methow Valley in summer 2021 decimated the Chickadee trail system at Sun Mountain, where the Methow chapter of Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance had just completed a three-year building campaign on trails such as Thompson Ridge—a trail that had opened the year prior and offered a backcountry mini-epic to the popular trail network’s forested, flowered tracks.

The good news: The Methow Valley boasts a number of other trail systems, such as the classic singletrack loop on Buck Mountain and the Rendezvous Hut network outside of Mazama. Better news: The community in the Methow Valley is resilient and has already been hard at work raising money to rehabilitate its trails, which are a pillar of the recreation economy and the community’s identity.

Support the Methow Valley’s efforts to recover by shredding, sipping and shopping in the region—and go the extra mile by donating money or muscle to Evergreen’s “Bring ‘em Back!” rebuilding campaign.

Sandpoint, Idaho

Despite being home to Schweitzer, one of the largest ski resorts in North America, Sandpoint locals and tourists alike often refer to the city on Lake Pend Oreille as a lake town that just happens to have great skiing. And although they share similar sentiments about the community’s trail offerings, Sandpoint is quietly developing into a dirt destination.

The transformation is in large part thanks to the Pend Oreille Pedalers (POP) and their work on the Syringa Trail Network on the west side of town. Syringa, which encompasses a trio of public lands and private parcels—Sherwood Forest, Pine Street Woods, and Velo Tout Terrain (VTT)—offers a healthy mix of kid-friendly rollers and expert-level tech.

And POP continues to add new trail as fast as people can ride them; this spring, they have already opened two new trails in VTT, the newest acquisition at Syringa. Zen Garden and Chaos Theory trails add intermediate- and expert-level tech to VTT’s entry-level berms and rollers.

Meanwhile, up on the mountain, Schweitzer is putting the finishing touches on three new flow trails, a beginner, intermediate and expert. With these new additions, Schweitzer adds some modern manicured lines alongside its notoriously gnarly old-school tech trails like Pinch Flat. And it’s only the beginning: Like its neighbor down by the lake, Schweitzer is building them as fast as its guests can ride them.

McCall, Idaho

Like Sandpoint, McCall is known first and foremost as a lake town. And like its North Idaho counterpart, this southwest Idaho community on the shore of Payette Lake boasts its share of excellent biking, with trails that bridge buffed-out flow to backcountry epics.

The Payette Lake Trail (PLT) aims to combine the two. Modeled after the Tahoe Rim Trail, the approximately 30-mile Payette Lake Trail will circumnavigate the mountain lake on mostly new, modern singletrack.

And, like the famed Tahoe Rim Trail, the PLT will feature near-constant views of the lake far below. So far, crews have completed the west leg, which ties in with the Payette Rim Trail, a McCall classic.

This season, Brundage Mountain Resort, in collaboration with the Central Idaho Mountain Bike Association, will build an 8.4-mile connector between the resort’s 30-mile lift-served singletrack system and the Bear Basin trails, a 15-mile network of flowy machine-built trail on Forest Service land just outside town.

Bear Basin trail system connects with the Payette Rim Trail, which means that, in seasons to come, riders will be able to drop off the top of Brundage and circumnavigate the lake, all on trail—proof that McCall is truly both a mountain biking and lake town.

Boise, Idaho

Idaho’s City of Trees is also the city of bikes. Centerpiece to Boise’s biking bona fides is the Boise Foothills trail system, which encompasses some 200 miles of tread radiating out from two-dozen trailheads across a patchwork of private and public lands only minutes from downtown.

The urban trail network has earned the city the honor of being an International Mountain Bike Association gold-level ride center, one of only seven in the world. From the trailheads, often at the end of tree-lined residential boulevards, the singletrack curls and snakes through the scalloped ridges and ravines that border Boise to the north.

Ask a local for a favorite route, and they’ll likely recommend the one closest to their driveway; they’re uniformly good. And from most of those trailheads, riders can climb some 5,000 vertical feet to Bogus Basin Bike Park. Here, amid subalpine firs, a far cry from the dry sagebrush below, riders can circle the ski hill on Around the Mountain—Idaho’s top-rated trail on Trailforks—or sample the lift-served trails that have received the input and manpower of the of the numerous pro riders that call Boise home.

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Dedicated dirt riders often find themselves getting desperate this time of year, between spring’s false starts and freeze-thaw cycles. Take a break from researching flights to Vegas and plan a weekend to Echo.

With a population hovering around 700, Echo is aptly named; stand in the middle of Main Street most days and you’re bound to hear nothing but the distant hum of the highway. The zero-stoplight town lies along the Oregon Trail; wagon ruts from that historic route are still visible nearby. (Editor’s note: Learn more at National Park Service Echo Meadows – Oregon National Historic Trail.)

Thanks to the owners of Sno Road Winery, riders have the Sno West Ranch and Vineyard trails to savor. And if there’s one thing that wine and wheels share, it’s an appreciation for good dirt.

Loyd and Lois Piercy offered their uncultivated land on either side of Alkali Canyon to the trailbuilding hand of former pro rider Shayne Myers, who began scratching out berms and stacking wooden features in the sandy sagebrush and bunchgrass a decade ago. Myers, along with his wife Stephanie, owned Echo Bike and Board, which was for a number of years the hub of Echo’s cycling nano-scene.

Echo Singletracks

Today the trail system encompasses around two-dozen miles of rolling, buffed singletrack on rolling, wind-buffed hills. There’s little in the way of technical challenges, although the narrow, occasionally faint singletrack will provide a good test of lateral balance for those of us who have been doing all our rides on a trainer the last few months.

Trail Recommendations

Riders should start with A Trail, a five-mile loop out of the trailhead parking lot. A Trail, like all the routes here, is designed to be ridden in either direction depending on your preference for long mellow climbs and short punchy descents or vice versa; however, counter-clockwise ends the ride with big views from basalt outcroppings and some big sweeping berms.

Stack on Shayne’s or Shelly’s Trail, or go further afield on B and C trails. Most loops average about two miles, so it’s easy to add or subtract mileage depending on your early-season conditioning.

Across the road, the Vineyard Loop circles the vineyard with some moderate exposure on a rocky bluff above the Umatilla River before closing the loop on the dirt access road. The private landowner occasionally closes the gate, requiring riders to re-trace their route. Fortunately, the views are just as good in the other direction.

Safety Precautions

Echo receives about seven inches of precipitation a year, so wet riding is unlikely. The wind, however, is another matter, especially given the lack of tree cover. Riders should be mindful of rattlesnakes and ticks when things warm up as well. But they are a small price to pay for the feel of soft, sandy soil under the tires when the ground is snow-covered or sloppy back home.

Local Amenities

Regardless of your route, finish off with a visit to the Sno Road Winery tasting room back in town and raise a glass to early-season singletrack salvation. Learn about other amenities and stay accommodations on the city’s webpage.

Annual XC MTB Race

The trail system hosts the annual Red to Red XC mountain bike race too, every March. The unofficial kickoff to the dirt racing season in Oregon, Red to Red, which begins and ends on Main Street, effectively doubles the size of Echo for one weekend.

Aaron Theisen has contributed to a number of mountain bike magazines, including Freehub, Mountain Flyer and Dirt Rag. He wrote about the joys of late-season biking in the November/December issue.

Find more stories about biking in the OTO archives.

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On the flipside, Winter Blues can strike when the fog rolls in, or when rain falls on our precious snow and then immediately freezes, wrecking our favorite ski runs, fat bike, and snowshoe trails. In the same way that reduced exposure to sunlight can aggravate symptoms of Seasonal Affective Disorder, reduced exposure to Hero Dirt, Cadillac Gravel, and clear roads and bike paths can wreak havoc on our very will to turn pedals.

For many of us, turning pedals is a form of 2-wheeled therapy, and when the supply gets cut off by Old Man Winter, it can be hard to cope with the stress of everyday life. So, what can we do?

A few hearty souls go out and brave the elements no matter how bad the weather gets, such as Hammer Nutrition sponsored athlete Patty Jo Struve who regularly competes in 100 kilometer and 100-mile fat bike races in the dead of winter.

Indoor smart trainer platforms such as Zwift (a cycling and running virtual training app) and Peloton are helping the more proactive riders keep fitness up during the winter months. As local Team ODZ endurance rider Thee Mow puts it, “There’s definitely something surreal about 4 a.m. suffering on Zwift, realizing you didn’t wake up in a bivy, you don’t have to clean your chain, oh, and you’re not racing the Cross-Washington Mountain Bike Route yet.”

The most drastic remedy to the Winter Blues isn’t available to all of us every year; I call it “Hero Dirt on Demand.” Also known as leaving the snowy Inland Northwest for a change in terrain.

Mountain bikers will take weekend road trips to rip west side trails such as Galbraith Mountain in Bellingham, Wash. Spokane MTB riders Frank Benish and Melinda Dupree, among others, made the epic mid-December journey to Arizona for the Dusk Till Dawn Mountain Bike Race. I drooled over their social media posts, wondering if my own far flung winter adventure plans would be cancelled by a new pandemic variant or a snowpocalypse.

In early February, I very luckily found myself dragging a bike through sand in sweltering 84-degree heat in the Everglades when a friend in Coeur d’Alene texted to remind me that I was riding in probably the only part of the country where it wasn’t currently snowing.

On February 5, I lined up at the start of the Huracan 300, a 362-mile adventure bikepacking race around central Florida, with what seemed to be hundreds of riders, but probably more like 100, from all over the East Coast, a few from Arizona, Utah and Hawaii, and one goofball from Spokane.

The route traverses at least a half dozen swamps and Florida’s high mountain peaks, the most punishing of which I discovered were absurdly long, flat-as-a-pancake stretches of barely rideable sand.

In Florida, sand is elevation. Let us not forget the 100+ miles of fun flowy singletrack mountain bike trails and several hours worth of bushwhacking through thick, scratchy palmetto scrub underbrush. Oh yes, and a waist-deep river crossing where some nice kayakers were happy to warn me about the 10 foot alligator swimming upstream.

This 45-hour odyssey on two wheels should keep me smiling until well after the peanut butter freeze/thaw cycle is finished in our beloved Inland Northwest.

Originally published as “Smashing the Winter Blues” for the Everyday Cyclist in the March-April 2022 issue.

Justin M. Short will be licking his numerous wounds as the weather and riding conditions improve at home in Spokane, but for some strange reason he’s already talking about racing the Huracan 300 again next year.

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Article sponsored by Wheel Sport Bikes

Fool’s Spring. Second Winter. Whatever you want to call it, the freeze-thaw cycles and just plain freezes of this time of year can toy with the emotions of riders desperate for dirt. Fortunately, several trail systems have sprouted in the cultivated lands of the Columbia Plateau. And these areas’ arid climates mean they are perfect shoulder-season destinations. Best of all, they’re all close enough for a day trip but have enough trail mileage to sustain a sunny weekend. Put this list of early season rides in the Inland NW in your back pocket for a rainy (or snowy) day.

Beezley Hill (two hours from Spokane)

Surrounded by wheat fields and wind turbines, Beezley Hill Recreation Area is an oasis of sagebrush and sandy singletrack on the edge of downtown Ephrata in central Washington.

A little over twenty miles of singletrack wind through Beezley Hill, most of it built with bikes in mind. With smooth, swoopy turns and low-angle pedaling, the trails are a good transition to dirt from months on the trainer. But a handful of expert-level descents with big drops and wood features will quickly shake off the cobwebs.

Ancient Lakes (two hours from Spokane)

Near Quincy in central Washington, the Ancient Lakes trail system traces cliff-lined coulees, basalt outcroppings and pothole ponds that are the remnants of the Great Missoula Floods that scoured the Columbia Plateau.

The routes here tend to be rockier than the other trail systems on this list, with some sections of steep scree, and sagebrush and thistle often threaten to swallow the tread. But the views—across the broad band of basalt that towers over the Columbia River, and the small lakes below it—are second to none.

As with the other trail systems here, watch for rattlesnakes and ticks.

Echo West Vineyard (three hours from Spokane)

The owners of the Echo West Vineyard have graciously allowed the construction of some two-dozen miles of rolling singletrack on their property near the Umatilla River outside tiny Echo, Oregon. The fallow land of Alkali Canyon may not have been ideal for reds, but it’s perfect for rides. The five-mile A Trail loop is a great place to start; and on additional loops as your spring conditioning allows. The area receives only seven inches of precipitation a year; spring comes early and doesn’t stick around long.

Bike recommendations

Specialized Turbo Levo SL Comp: With its 2X power assist and Stumpjumper-inspired singletrack handling, the Turbo Levo SL will let you play until dark—and beyond.

Specialized Stumpjumper EVO Comp: Pairing uncanny descending capability with unexpected climb-ability, the Stumpjumper EVO is a do-it-all bruiser with style to spare. There’s a reason it took home PinkBike’s 2020 Mountain Bike of the Year.

Specialized CruX: Go farther, faster on your gravel adventures. The lightest gravel bike in the world marries racing pedigree with the ability to get rowdy.

Looking for a great paved bike trail option for spring rides and wildlife and bird watching? Check out our spring riding recommendations for North Idaho’s Trail of the Coeur d’Alenes.

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Celebrating the opening of the Velo Tout Terrain Trails (or VTT) in Dover, Idaho, this fall, Pend Oreille Pedalers (POP) are working to raise $30,000 for additional trail building.

VTT, adjacent to Pine Street Woods and part of the Syringa Trail System, is already home to three miles of beginner-friendly trails for mountain biking in the summer and groomed fat biking in the winter.

The additional funds raised will facilitate the building of two to three miles of intermediate and advanced trails. This will make VTT one of the most unique trail centers in the Inland Northwest, offering riders of all ages and abilities a progressive riding destination just minutes from Sandpoint and an easy day trip from elsewhere in the Inland Northwest.

According to Pend Oreille Pedalers’ Executive Director Jason Welker, the 100 acres of Velo Tout Terrain provide a unique template on which trails of all types are planned, from hand-built advanced lines connecting impressive granite slabs to expert-only trails through steep chutes with wood ramps and features to provide for trails the likes of which this community has never had in the Sandpoint area.

What makes VTT most special, however, is that it is a trail center built entirely with the support of the local trail community—from the 1.7-mile arterial trail, Rotarian, which was funded by the Sandpoint Rotary club, to next year’s buildout of the advanced and expert trails, which, as of mid-December 2021, has received almost $15,000 in community donations.

Their goal is to raise $30,000 by the spring of 2022, which will be added to an existing donation of $10,000 to fully fund the buildout of VTT. POP is stoked to welcome riders from out of town to come experience the Syringa Trail System.

Look them up before you arrive; there are always POP members ready to lead guests on a ride!

Find more stories about mountain biking in the OTO archives.

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