Riding your home trails is great, but sometimes a bit of exploring is in order. If you plan on seeking out some new trails in the new year, there are a few relatively new online trail databases that will help you find trailheads near and far.
If you happen to be in the UK, the iBikeRide website and app are dedicated to the trail systems in the United Kingdom. Now for the second year they have compiled their list of the best trails of the year based on the rider reviews on iBikeRide throughout the year aggregated into a Trail Index. Taking home the title of Trail of the Year 2014 is the Glentress Mountain Bike Trail Center, followed by BikePark Wales and Afan Forest. Head over to iBikeRide for the whole list, and to download the app.
Those of us in North America (or any country really) will certainly want to check out the TrailForks network after the jump…
Credit where it’s due, the crew over at Pinkbike has put together an impressively functional crowd sourced trail database with their Trailforks.com. Since it was first announced in October, 2014 the database currently holds 34,377 miles of 19,870 different trails in 56 countries. Along with seeing what’s nearby, the site allows you to search by area or by type of trail making that next skatepark easier to find. Trails are listed with elevation, usage, direction, and many other vitals as well as who is responsible for construction and maintenance and even local bike shops. Users can rate individual trails as well leave trail status/condition updates in addition to making their own wishlist for future shredding.
Trailforks is only as good as the people submitting new trails, so if you don’t see your local rides on the map – get to it!
