who mountain bikes and skis equally

[ToddF]

I am thinking there are quite a few hard core mountain bikers

It seems that the two go hand in hand

 

Where are some great vacation places to do both other than reno/tahoe I used to live there so that was a daily thing

[kingshredd]

Well, I know the Salt Lake city area has excellant access to Gold Level mountain bike trails up in the Park City area and a few ski sites in the valley. And if Broadside Harbor near Boise has access the mountain biking in that area is very good also. I think there is also a couple ski lakes just out of Sun Valley ID. and the there is all kinds of great riding there. I spent time mountain biking in both places this last July while on a family vacation. Durning the summer months I am usually able to split my skiing and riding equally.

[markchilcutt]

Kalispell, Montana hands down

[jipster43]

Quiet Mark!

[Alberto Soares]

usually ski 4x a week and mtb 2x, lots of trails around my home

[Chef23]

Can you guys ride to the MTB trails or do you have to drive with your bike? I am thinking about getting a mountain bike but I would need to drive (20-45 min) to get to the trails and I am not sure how often I will do that.

[Rpc29]

Sun Valley, Idaho has a couple of lake and really good biking.

 

Aspen would be another place that has both a great ski lake (Kodiak) and top of the line biking.

[jpwhit]

I've been skiing since I was 4 years old and have been a serious mountain biker for the last 28 years. I haven't found any exercise that completely keeps you in shape for skiing, other than skiing, but MTBing seems to come very close especially if you ride rocky technical trails because there is so much upper body involved in addition to lower body.

 

@Chef23 question is very relevant IMO because I find that people that have easy access to trails tend to be much more likely to stick with Mountain Biking. I'm very fortunate because I can ride my bike out of my basement door and have access to over 100 miles of trails without getting in a car. That's fairly rare given that I don't live out in a rural area. But then I again, I did buy my house based on the proximity to great trails. And it's a pretty unique area where we have a large state park and a very large section of airport buffer land within a metro area.

 

For skiing, I have to drive 25 minutes to our ski clubs private lake. That drive doesn't really bother me and I ski 3 times a week from March - November. It also doesn't hurt that we have truly world-class mountain bike trails 3-4 hours to the West in Pisgah national forest. As well as some truly awesome and even less well known riding to the north west in western Va and Wv.

 

The part that's surprised me lately is that our ski club has opening and we haven't been able to keep the membership roster filled.

 

If I sound like I'm trying to sell the region, I guess I do think it's a pretty nice area. Pretty much everybody works in the Research Triangle Park, which has been called the Silicon Valley of the East, and it certainly doesn't hurt that we have 3 major universities in the area. And some folks really like having very nice beaches 3 hours to the east.

[jpwhit]

And I forget to mention that most serious mountain bikers really need some form of strength training. And for folks like me that really can't get motivated to spend time in the weight room, skiing helps fill the role for some level of strength training.

[jpwhit]

Sorry for going on and on, but I keep thinking of additional important points and this is a topic that is near and dear to my heart.

 

I realize this is not practical for many families, but I put huge time and effort into making both skiing and mountain biking activities the whole family was interested in doing. I'm lucky that my wife is fairly adventurous and athletic, but had no background in boating, skiing, or biking when we got married. Through very careful planning, to make sure all the early experiences with both activities were stress free and a lot of run, she really took to both. Then when our daughters were born, it was pretty easy to get them very involved in both from an early age. They were slaloming by age 5 and I think they were 10 when they entered their first MTB race and smoked all the boys. And that was a big motivator for them.....beating the boys. And they skied competitively in college and that was an awesomely fun experience for them.

 

It's pretty cool to have your own self-contained 4-person 24-hour MTB race team when 24 hour racing was a big thing in the early 2000s. Lots of great family memories at weekend 24 hour races up and down the east coast.

[mikegile]

+1 for Sun Valley! World class biking - they hosted mountain bike nationals a few years back.

 

[DW]

@jpwhit: The 24 hour MTB race team sounds really fun. very cool you did it as a family team, area sounds pretty awesome.

I am fortunate also to be able to walk to the end of the back yard, hit a button and catch ski sets and/or pull the bike out of the garage and hit some really nice trails. You can probably add snow skiing to the list of common sports enjoyed by the water ski crowd.

[Chef23]

@jpwhit you are in the Raleigh area? I spend a lot of time in Cary my company is headquartered there.

[jpwhit]

@Chef23 Yes, I live in Cary.

[Chef23]

@jpwhit where do you ski? I don’t generally bring my ski with me but I might.

[Deanoski]

MTN bike more than I waterski And I ski 4-5days a week april-oct

 

good for the soul and helps keep the weight down

[Than_Bogan]

I keep reading the title of this thread as if it's a Who Does That? kind of "question."

[Jibbo]

Big advocate for MTB training for skiing. Apart from MTB being a great fun activity with minimal cost and find I can go out riding in any conditions year round. The balance required and fitness generated (especially climbing mountains) with low impact is great to build strength and fitness.

If I drop off MTB through the season my performances skiing usually drop off as well. So maintaining riding while skiing is a must.

[HighAltitude]

Colorado. Out my front door, 1000 acres of open space with great running, mountain biking and horse trails. Out the back door, slalom course that's always open. Less than 2 hours to world class ski resorts. Ah...paradise found!

[ALPJr]

The SF Bay Area is pretty good. MB where it started on Mount Tam' in Marin Co. and skiing at Aquatic Park in Berkeley.

[sixball]

I could use some help but don't want to hijack this. I am looking at A fat tire bike and have very little experience with any of the new bikes today. I am looking at Motobecane 2019

Sturgis NX12 EAGLE Bullet (Bikes Direct). I am riding more flat sand and snow in winter. I want to bike with a backpack with photography gear. Any thoughts?

[TimWW]

I live in area known for mountain biking, I can hit a trail in about 50 yards. what sucks is the 2 hour drive to get to the lake. If anyone comes out the the Sea Otter Classic at Laguna Seca send me a text.

[BCM]

The PNW has some of the best mountain biking in the country (I have ridden over a dozen states including every major mountain range), great dirt, great trials, and many have near year round access. There are some pretty nice ski sites around as well. I am 3 miles from the lake and 30 minutes from some amazing trails.

 

I did notice a handful of ski sites along I-70 in western CO while on a bike trip this summer.

 

Having mountain biked all over the US I would have to suggest figuring out what kind of mountain biking you like to do, each region has its own flavor and some don't like what other regions have to offer. If you like open, fast, and flowy, you may struggle in Pisgah, NC. If you like wet, rocky, rooty, technical stuff, the central coast of CA might not be for you.

 

Check out www.trailforks.com best trail network website around, great app too.

[ToddF]

@BCM I grew up in Vancouver and have been thinking about heading over there to check out thrillium a friend of mine said it was pretty awesome. Have you ridden it?

[sunvalleylaw]

I mountain bike more. It is way easier for me to get on a trail than behind a boat. I live in Sun Valley. Really good mountain biking. There are a couple ski lakes here. I am able to get on a friend's lake, about 45 min away, when I am invited. the other lake, much closer, is great too, but I do not have a membership. Public water is about 20-25 minutes from where I live, when Magic has water in it. I hope to help out with a public course that used to be there next year. The high mountain lakes are awesome to ski on, but no opportunity for course skiing.

[BCM]

@ToddF - I haven't ridden Thrillium but have been riding Cold Creek and some of the longer Tarbell loops as well as some of the Mt. St. Helens and Siouxon Creek loops.

[ToddF]

This is for anyone cruising through the Tri-cities with their bike. I have enough property to build a mountain bike park, unfortunately not a ski lake too. Still working on that one.

 

But I have updated my property trails video

 

 

 

 

 

 

[UWSkier]

Used to be able to ride from my house in WI to nice flowy wooded riverside singletrack. I could fly on those trails.

 

Now live in AZ and have a 25 min drive to stuff that's all rocky climbs and switchbacks. I have a big frame FS 29er, which is great on the bumps but doesn't really like the switchbacks that much.

 

And my riding style is usually fast and flowy. This is more climbining and more technical than I'm used to. I used to use the big ring in front all the time in WI (esp on my road ride to the trailhead) and wondered why anyone would want a 1x12 setup or anything... but I totally get it out here.

 

Still beats sitting on your butt on days you can't find ski partners.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BosrfFSAkn1

[DW]

@UWSkier : Nice pics, so being near the old GM Proving Grounds, has that facility been converted to something yet? There were some really fun roads there for car development.