5 Sun Valley Trails the Locals Love

June 26th, 2013 • BY Kelly Bastone

Sun Valley doesn’t just tell visitors where to ride—it sends its locals out with you.

Ever show up in a new town and wonder where the best singletrack is? My M.O. has always been to pop into the local bike shop for some beta, but the bike-loving folks in Sun Valley are greeting visitors with an even friendlier welcome: During the Local Stoker Rides (July 1-5), which are part of the Ride Sun Valley Bike Festival (June 29-July 7), locals actually take mountain bikers out on Sun Valley’s choicest trails. The rides are free and shuttles (if necessary) are complimentary.

“You get to go with someone who knows what’s fun,” explains Erin Zell, a Sun Valley resident who’s heading up the July 2nd outing (and who runs the community-owned Galena Lodge with her husband, Don Shepler). “It’s like having your map highlighted with all the best places to ride.”

Not that there are many bad options in Sun Valley, where more than 400 miles of continuous singletrack have been optimized for biking pleasure. Every year, Zell and her girlfriends design a new 10-hour ride using the labyrinth of options around this bike mecca. “There are so many trails to discover,” says Zell.

Which makes these Local Stoker Rides all the more valuable: You don’t have to design your own circuit to find the goods. Instead, local smarties lead you right to the best bits. It’s a novel strategy—one that I’d love to see other destinations imitate.

The Festival’s Local Stoker rides even tap into champ endurance cyclist Rebecca Rusch, who is heading up a women-only ride on July 3rd that previews the USA Cycling Marathon Nationals course. In addition, Rusch is leading the Reba’s Ride Camp for Women (July 2-7) during the Festival. The Camp includes women’s-only “no-drop” ride clinics, tours of prime Sun Valley trails, recovery soaks in the river, and yoga. All Camp events are free of charge.

If you’re lucky enough to be in Idaho this weekend through the Independence Day holiday, be sure to check out the Ride Sun Valley Bike Festival and one of these local-led fat-tire adventures:

July 1: Red Warrior to Greenhorn Gulch. “About 12 miles,” says Zell, this circuit pairs a gradual climb with buttery descents through wildflower thickets and lodgepole pines. “It works your endurance more than your technique, and you get a great view of the Pioneer Mountains at the ridge, from a bald meadow that’s filled with wildflowers,” says Zell.

July 2: Greenhorn/Mahoney/Cow Creek. “A classic cross-country ride,” says Zell, this 10-miler combines smooth, swoopy stretches through sagebrush and lodgepoles with a bit of rocky ridgeline riding.

July 3: Fox Peak. A 17-miler that climbs to high-mountain meadows a huge views of the surrounding peaks, this circuit starts with seven miles of dirt-road riding before spiking bikers’ heart rates with steep singletrack uphills. Then the thrills begin: The 40-minute downhill is a butt-over-the-back-wheel affair. “It’s for advanced riders, but most people who live around here call this their favorite,” says Zell.

July 4: Easely Hot Springs. Start Independence Day off with mountain biking’s equivalent of fireworks: The steep, loose descent that concludes this nine-miler (nicknamed “Curly’s”) is a downhiller’s delight. “It’s short and sweet,” says Zell. “People do it as an after-work, early-evening ride.”

July 5: Edge of the World. Almost all of the climbing on this 11-miler takes place on dirt roads, allowing for a casual, social start to the ride. Then? “It’s all downhill to Oregon Gulch!” says Zell, who likes the rooty drop-offs that keep this ride spicy.

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