A recent staff ride: Mark, Jane, Henry, Dan, Alex, and Peter.
Riding in Bend.
The term “epic” is over-used, but it is the first thing that comes to mind when forced to describe the amount of amazing single track mountain bike trails in Central Oregon. A few other words would be fast, flowing, and endless.
Just how many miles you ask? In a word: hundreds. The Central Oregon Trail Alliance maintains over 700 miles of trails around Bend and throughout central Oregon. Phil’s trail, Funner, Tiddly Winks, Metolius-Windigo, Whoops!, Flagline, Dinah-Moe-Humm, Farewell, Stormking, The Lair, or Slalom Track. These are just some of the trails you can ride to from our door. Drive a little bit and you can ride Waldo Lake, McKenzie River Trail, North Umpqua Trail, Ochoco Mountains, or Cache Mountain.
Bend riding has it all, mile upon mile flowing single track, dirt jumps, lava rock, wood skinnies, there really is something for everyone. Plus there’s loads of gravel routes and road rides as well.
Parking Passes For Trailheads?
Keep in mind that in the summer a lot of the trailheads require a Northwest Forest Pass. We have daily NWF passes ($5) and the annual NWF passes ($30) at the store. Ask our staff for suggestions on planning and parking for your adventure.
Can I Ride to the Trails? Yes!
Pine Mountain Sports is located on the west side of Bend and it’s an easy 2-mile ride from our store to the closest dirt and the trails at Phil’s Trailhead. If you need to find some good bike routes around or across Bend you can find a map of our paved bike lanes and bike paths at BendBikes.org
Group MTB Rides
Wanna go for a ride with us? Check out our EVENTS CALENDAR to stay up to date on all our various group rides and clinics. We also have bikes available for RENT to anyone who would like to join in on the fun!
Free Bike Repair Clinics
Being able to repair your mountain bike on the trail will keep you safe and confident on long rides. Our Pine University clinics include free Beginning & Advanced Bicycle Repair Clinics offered April thru September.
COTA Membership
How did Central Oregon wind up with so many amazing mountain bike trails? These trails did not build themselves. Our Central Oregon Trail Alliance was founded in 1992 by a small group of trail users and have grown into the 700 miles of trails that we all enjoy today. All of these local trails are planned, designed, and maintained by volunteers like you. We encourage you to support the Central Oregon Trail Alliance with a day of trail work, an annual membership, or a simple donation.
Cog Wild Guides & Shuttles
Interested in getting dropped off at the upper trailheads? Guided mountain bike tours and shuttles are provided by our friends up the road at Cog Wild Bicycle Tours. Contact Cog Wild directly for shuttle details and times, and to reserve your seat on one of their (during riding season) daily shuttles.
Mt. Bachelor Bike Park
It’s a far cry from Whistler, but our local mountain is adding more and more downhill trails to the Mt. Bachelor Bike Park. A 20-mile drive from Pine Mountain Sports, the Bike Park has a great mix of trails for kids, beginners, and intermediate riders. A lift ticket is required and a full face helmet and protective gear is recommended. Our favorite bikes for the conditions up there are a 6-inch travel bike like the Trek Slash and Santa Cruz Nomad. A full-on downhill bike may be overkill for most trails. Keep in mind that the Mt. Bachelor Bike Park is covered with snow for a lot of the year, so opening dates are often after July 1.
Fatbiking in Bend?
Fat biking in Bend is fun year-round, but if you’re looking for snow here’s a few suggestions. First off, read COTA’s Winter Fatbike Trail Tips. Then, please don’t ride at Virginia Meissner Sno-Park. Central Oregon has over 250 miles of local snowmobile trails, so there is ample groomed riding. Fatbikers should make way for snowmobiles (as fatbikes on the trail can be hard to see and unexpected) and depending on where you start, it can be a noisy experience. When the snow conditions are good, there are two pop-up fatbike-specific groomed trails (usually a 3 and 6 mile loop) at the Wanoga Sno-Park. When these trails are open, they are detailed at BendTrails. There is also a very good Facebook group page called Central Oregon Fatbikes. There’s some very good things to know before you head to the winter/groomed Wanoga Trails here on the COTA website, starting with the recommended very low tire pressure of around 3 or 4 PSI.
Can I Ride my E-Bike in Bend?
No e-bikes are permitted on the majority of our local singletrack trails in Bend because our trails are within the US Forest Service. We are fortunate to have access to amazing mountain bike trails on USFS land in Central Oregon and none of us wants to jeopardize that access. The short answer is mostly no, there are almost no singletrack trails in Bend that allow e-bikes. You can look up individual trails on BendTrails.org to easily confirm any “no e-bikes” laws in the trail descriptions. Tip of the hat to our friends at Hutch’s Bicycles for compiling this list of dirt/gravel road loops that are e-bike friendly. We’ve also listed the local e-bike trail restrictions that we are aware of in a Pine Mountain Sports blog post.
Gravel Routes in and Around Bend?
Central Oregon has some of the best gravel and mixed gravel routes in Oregon! Looking for gravel ride recommendations and detailed routes? Our friends at DirtyFreehub.com have a collection of all of our favorite Bend gravel routes detailed on their website. Visit the Oregon Gravel page for a map and description of some 5-star rides! Many of these routes can be ridden from our store.
Current Trail Conditions?
If you’re looking for conditions regarding a specific mountain bike trail, we use an on-line mountain bike map from BendTrails that allows you to get the current trail conditions from other users. TIP: Open this on your phone (it’s on our website) and it will allow you to see your location on that map while riding (as long as you have service, which can be sparse in places).
We strive to provide current snow and trailhead conditions for Bend and Central Oregon from our friends at the Deschutes National Forest. The following link contains a detailed report of the most recent trailhead and Forest Service information…
Most current Trail Conditions Report from Deschutes National Forest
Unfortunately forest fires in Central Oregon are not uncommon. Smoke conditions can vary from day to day depending on the wind. Curious where the smoke is from? What is the current air quality?
Active Fires & Smoke Conditions in Central Oregon
And finally, for current mountain bike trail conditions feel free to call us at the store.
For further Deschutes National Forest trails information:
- Deschutes National Forest Headquarters: (541) 383-5300
- Bend/Fort Rock Ranger District: (541) 383-4000
- Sisters Ranger District: (541) 549-7700
- Crescent Ranger District: (541) 433-3200
Don’t Get Your Bike Stolen
It’s a bummer to have to talk about this, but people get their bikes stolen in Central Oregon. Why? Well, like a lot of riding destinations, there’s a LOT of nice bikes rolling around this town. And, sadly, a lot of the time these bikes are not locked up or are left in places where it’s too easy to steal them. Our recommendation? Here’s our suggestions on How To Not Get Your Bike Stolen In Bend. We also recommend registering your bikes on Bike Index.
The Best Mtn. Bikes from Trek, Juliana, and Santa Cruz.
Pine Mountain Sports is serious about mountain bikes. We’re the only Trek bicycle dealer in the world that only stocks and specializes in their mountain bikes. Our showroom doesn’t house any road or comfort or hybrid bikes. Just the very best Trek mountain bikes – all under one roof.
Pine Mountain Sports is one of the biggest Santa Cruz and Juliana dealers in the country. Fewer than 10 other dealers in the United States stock and sell as many Santa Cruz and Juliana mountain bikes as we do each year.
When it comes time to buy, demo, service – or just talk about mountain bikes, our staff is ready to help.
Thanks for taking the time to review us!
