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Flight destinations with easy MTB logistics


cody
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What are some good riding destinations near commercial airports? I keep hearing good things about https://www.bikeflights.com/ for handling bike transport, but where are the best places to go? I would like to avoid renting a car, so an airport with trails within riding distance is preferred.

From poking around on MTBProject, it seems that very few big cities have trail networks actually in the city. Are we especially lucky in Austin in that regard?

Looks like Bellingham, WA and Asheville, NC both have regional airports with two-leg service from Austin. Santa Cruz, CA might be an option considering a bus from San Jose airport. Any other recommended trips?

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55 minutes ago, Shinerider said:

And don't forget being able to take a train/metro where you need to go.

 

Yeah... seems that in most places, shipping the bike to a bike shop instead of trying to take it on the plane makes the most sense.... Fly in, bus to bike shop, pick up bike, ride to hotel/trails.

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Book air bnb
Call ahead to Downieville outfitters and get yourself on 9 am and 1 or 3 oclock shuttles with a rental bike in your size.
Fly in to Sacramento:
Get tiny rental car for 30 per day.
Drive to Downieville.
Blow your mind.

If you want to take you bike, go for it, but there is no need. Send your bike to Downieville outfitters if you must have your own bike.



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  • 1 month later...

Asheville is a friggen awesome little town but I'm not sure if you can ride your bike to much of the good stuff around there. A lot of it is a half hour or more drive out of town. 

I think the rule of needing to be able to ride to all the trails will be limiting. 

Durango is a decent sized town with great trails from right in town as well as trail shuttles to the top of trails like Kennebec Pass and Hermosa Creek. Not sure how costly it is to fly there. 

Flying to Salt Lake City then taking a shuttle or bus to Park City might be a good choice. You can probably ride your guts out from within Park City without ever needing a car.

I would think that a flight then a shuttle to a good mountain town, like Breckenridge or any number of awesome Colorado towns, is a template that might work. Crested Butte, Breck, Salida, etc all have riding that start/ends right in town.

Some places have lots of great riding nearby but almost require a car to really make the most of it. Like Grand Junction/Fruita, you probably *can* connect up between Kokopelli area and GJ Lunch Loops but, man, I'd just rather drive and spend more time on the trails. 18 road is a few miles off the beaten path. Moab is soooo close but no way to do it without a car or a shuttle service. 

I don't know California so FJ might be the hookup there.

Maybe a resort in Lake Tahoe area?

Sedona has lots of trail that is accessible via bike from right in town. The trails basically surround the town there.

BENTONVILLE. You can ride to a shitload of trail if you stay near the Back 40 or Slaughter Pen. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Denver airport has some type of  train access to downtown, where you can connect to the Bustang system, a bus that heads west from Denver and stops in towns along the way on the Interstate: Frisco (paved trail goes over to Brenckenridge), Vail, Eagle,  Glenwood Springs, continuing through Rifle, Parachute to Grand Junction.  

At least some of these little mountain/ski resort towns have invested in mountain biking trails to draw more tourists over the summer.  These are big and very nice commercial buses; we were doing a credit card bike path tour from Frisco to Glenwood Springs summer before last and were able to tuck our bikes in the luggage compartments for the shuttle from Glenwood Springs to Frisco.  Maybe you could Uber from Grand Junction up to Fruita. 

 There's also a local bus service from Glenwood Springs up to Aspen. There were bike racks on the front of the bus, and a nice paved trail to ride back to Glenwood Springs, which is what we did. 

Not the right time of year, of course, but could be a possibility from early/mid July  to through September. 

Bustang West Line

 

Edited by June Bug
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  • 2 weeks later...

Instead of trying to figure out how to get your bike somewhere, think about riding destinations and renting there. Yes, it is more expensive, but it limits the amount of transportation logistics issues and risk involved with taking your own bike.

In most places I have been able to find shops that will rent close to trail heads. Also, I have been very lucky with finding local riders who will bring me a bike to ride and show me the trails. This is why I am always the first to offer when someone comes to Austin - I have to pay back the karma.

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On 10/15/2018 at 1:41 PM, cody said:

Are we especially lucky in Austin in that regard?

 

I actually moved out of Austin about 8 months ago because...many reasons. The more I travel the more I think Austin might be one of the best places to live as a MTBer. Decent weather all year, 100 miles of trail accessable from many parts of town (including downtown), good food scene, stuff to do, ETC.

 

I just need to find a garage to rent in the right part of town. But I digress.

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  • 6 months later...

I just flew to Portland with Alaska airlines. $30 first bag for my bike in a standard Evoc bag.  Great service and direct flight from Austin.  Easy to bike anywhere in the Portland area.  Hood river and Bend are not too far.  Lots of short flights from PDX to NW cities including Vancouver.  I looked at bike flights but that was 4 days pack before flight for $100 each way.  Bag has to be under 50lbs and 115” lineal inches to count as regular luggage.

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12 hours ago, AntonioGG said:

I just flew to Portland with Alaska airlines. $30 first bag for my bike in a standard Evoc bag.  Great service and direct flight from Austin.  Easy to bike anywhere in the Portland area.  Hood river and Bend are not too far.  Lots of short flights from PDX to NW cities including Vancouver.  I looked at bike flights but that was 4 days pack before flight for $100 each way.  Bag has to be under 50lbs and 115” lineal inches to count as regular luggage.

Are you there now? Would love to hear about your riding experience there. Good River area has nice riding and fabulous scenery. 

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24 minutes ago, AntonioGG said:

I’m here now but I flew with my road bike not mtb since my brother has a road bike and only my old Kestrel MTB.  About to head to Mt Hood to do a big climb.  Will also go to BC and WA state next week (I know, how did I not bring my mtb?  Easy, family trip.)

At least the road biking will afford you some great exercise and great scenery. Enjoy! 

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I’m here now but I flew with my road bike not mtb since my brother has a road bike and only my old Kestrel MTB.  About to head to Mt Hood to do a big climb.  Will also go to BC and WA state next week (I know, how did I not bring my mtb?  Easy, family trip.)


I was up in Seattle area 2 weeks ago. Visiting friends on a family vacation too, so only squeaked in a few rides. If you get the chance rent something and go play at Duthie Hill about 20 min NNE OF Seattle. Fun bike park stuff so you can have a blast in 30 min or 3 hours and never 10ish min from your car.

Sea-Tac was super easy to fly my bike to. The PITA is you have to shuttle offsite to the car rental area hauling suitcase and bike case so it’s an extra 30ish min dealing with the airport.


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  • 2 weeks later...

In August & September, you can fly from Austin to Kalispell, MT for under $500 roundtrip since it's considered out of season.  It's a quick 6 hour flight with a stop in Denver on United.

There's a ton of really good trails around.  In particular, the Whitefish Bike Retreat is pretty awesome.  You can camp and ride some short but really fun flowing trails on the property. It also connects to the Whitefish Trail which has 20+ miles of single track.  There's 25 miles of downhill at Whitefish Bike Park on Big Mountain.

I think it's really good riding for place not many Austinites would think of going since at first glance it appears difficult to get to. 

 

Edited by achtungpv
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