For the 2025 season, SwitzerlandMobility is sending seven new mountain bike trails into the race. While Valais is stepping on the gas pedal and igniting a firework display of trails, the trail pioneer Graubünden is disappointingly delivering mainly gravel roads.

The Association of Bernese Forest Owners wants money for every meter of forest path and forest road that can be used by bicycles. Built bike trails should be the most expensive. But forest roads should also yield something for the owners when cyclists use them.

One of the most innovative store models has failed: "The Place" in Aosta has been closed since April 7. The restaurant and bike store will be discontinued, but Aosta Valley Freeride is not affected.

After five years of project planning and approval procedures, the TopTrail Tannzapfenland association has been granted planning permission to build a series of trails in Fischingen (canton of Thurgau) that can be combined to create different loops. The final hurdle is financing.

The planned gondola lift project from Fiesch to Bellwald is causing heated debate. The aim of the new cable car is to improve access to the Bellwald mountain bike and winter sports area and to further boost tourism in the region. The start of construction has been delayed for some time due to an objection.

A local DIMB group is building trails near Cologne to relieve the pressure on the adjacent nature reserve. The authorities are cooperative, but the mountain bikers are putting hundreds of hours of hard work into the project. They will also have a lot to do in the future.

The Leiterliweg trail on the Uetliberg in Zurich, which was blocked by felled wood, will be passable again in the foreseeable future. This was announced by Züritrails and shortly afterwards by Grün Stadt Zürich. However, "measures" may still be necessary.

Here is the overview of the newly recorded ride tours in February 2025. 19 researched routes have been added with a focus on the Italian south-eastern Alps.

Five municipalities in the Aletsch Arena have joined forces to make the maintenance and further development of the tourist infrastructure more efficient. The focus is particularly on hiking trails and bike trails, the quality of which is to be improved by pooling resources and using new digital tools.

In Switzerland, bike transport on Postbuses will be subject to reservation from summer 2025. Reservations will cost two francs and will be made via the SBB app. The previous Resabike system from Valais will be abolished.

The Goms high valley in Valais is closing an important gap in the trail network with the newly created bike trail from the Furka Pass to Oberwald. As part of the overarching "St. Gotthard Bike Labyrinth" project, the new route offers a varied descent along natural trails with different characters. It will be completed in summer 2025.

On the Uetliberg, Grün Stadt Zürich has cleared a path that mountain bikers have been using for decades and hikers have probably been using for a hundred years. The path is mapped on the land topography and there is no ban on mountain bikes. The bikers are subtly fighting for their path for the time being.

Behavioral campaigns such as Fairtrail cannot be overlooked in mountain biking. They are well-intentioned, but come across as doctrinaire self-evident. Such campaigns cost millions, but their impact is questionable. An analysis by Thomas Giger.

Reece Wallace has bought a property on Vancouver Island where he lives, but which is primarily a bike park. He even rides an invitational contest there. And above all, he builds whatever the excavators and forestry machines can provide.

The mini ski resort of Les Prés-d'Orvin in the Bernese Jura struggles with a chronic lack of snow. No wonder with a maximum altitude of 1230 meters. In a few years, a bike park should help to ensure the survival of the five ski lifts.

Ten years ago, mountain bikers had their first chance to ride down the slopes of Flumserberg. After it was initially unclear whether the event would attract guests, it has now been firmly entered in some calendars. The next SnowBike NightRide events will take place on January 31 and February 28. A free light test will also be offered for the first time.

More than 40 kilometers of single trails are available in Burgenland, the Schöckl Trail Area offers downhillers the longest cable car-supported bike season in the Alps and mountain bikes are no longer stored away for the winter in the Wachau region.

Twelve years after construction began, the last section of the Waldeggtrail in St. Gallen went into operation in September. Three months later, the city parliament has cut the money for maintenance from the 2025 budget. MTB organizations have launched a petition.

24 people have lost their lives and thousands their homes in a week of bushfires in Los Angeles. Among the latter are members of the mountain bike community. This helps affected mountain bike journalists and store owners.

A vegan bike influencer now has a criminal record because he reported on how he realized too late that he was driving while banned. He was threatened with 6 months in prison and a 5000 dollar fine. The main problem was that he shared his offense with his 150,000 followers.

Dealing with bike bans is a crux: should you submissively accept them or rebelliously ignore them? It's complicated, says Thomas Giger in his blog post. However, unthinking compliance with the law is a dangerous boomerang.

Veteran mountain biker Hans Rey and fourcross retiree Guido Tschugg venture into a labyrinth on their e-bikes. Viewers are not told why the route around the Gotthard has this name. But the video does make you want to ride the tour again.

After 13 years of operation, the Hanover region no longer wants to approve the trails on the Deister. However, it still wants a legal offer. However, a lot of harnesses have been broken between the bike organization Deisterfreunde and the authorities. A solution must be found and is a long way off.

In Davos, there will be a significant restriction for mountain bikers in summer 2025: the Parsenn cable car will not be transporting any guests throughout the summer due to maintenance work.

The Deisterfreunde association has been operating official bike trails on the Deister hill not far from Hanover since 2012. Now the responsible authority does not want to extend the permit, which expires at the end of 2025 - for reasons that mountain bikers cannot understand. What's going on here?

What makes a fantastic mountain bike tour? The place? The trails? The people? The culture? The landscapes? What would it be like to say that this trip has it all? In the latest episode of "Trail E-Xplorer", ex-enduro racer Scotty Laughland and former slopestyle king Martin Söderström go in search of trails in Norway and find more than just riding fun.

Switzerland has one of the best and densest singletrail networks in the world. Its first official kilometers were created no less than 90 years ago. However, it was not the bicycle that was responsible for this, but the car.

The Gornergrat Railway will stop transporting bikes in summer 2025, and mountain bikers will no longer be able to ride the legendary cogwheel railroad. The reason given is the "separation of hikers and bikers". However, this is not disentanglement but exclusion.

After perhaps the longest approval phase, the bike trail on the Weissenstein near Solothurn is finally open to the public and has already been in operation for around three months. During the construction of the flow trail, the builders were really challenged by the terrain and specifications, and the operators by the rainy autumn weather. Despite all the adversity, the trail is a sight to behold - and above all, it's good to ride.

The building permit for the total renovation of the Gurten Trail has been granted and construction will begin in March 2025. On July 5, 2025, bikers will celebrate the reopening of one of the oldest official trails in Switzerland. At the same time, the second party will be held to celebrate the 20th birthday of Trailnet, the organization that made it all possible. Crowdfunding is underway.

The Ride Trail Map is becoming ever more extensive. In 2024, the route network has grown to over 205,000 kilometers, making it the largest available network of bike trails. New additions include trails in Baden-Württemberg, on the Costa Brava and in Tenerife.

Here is the overview of the newly recorded tours in November 2024. 26 researched routes have been added with a focus on Tenerife and the Innsbruck region.

On November 24, the Zug mountain bikers lost their fight against the forest law at the ballot box. The result shows the balance of power and should serve as a warning to other mountain bike organizations: We are too few to win votes. And also not important enough.

The Canary Islands are a popular winter destination for trail bikers. Ride MTB has just activated a fresh spot guide for Tenerife with 15 detailed tour descriptions. This complements the already prepared Canary Islands spot guides for Gran Canaria & Fuerteventura.

The referendum launched by Zug mountain bikers against the new Zug Forest Act has no chance. 72.8 percent of voters want to leave it as it has already been enacted by parliament. More single trails for bikers are not an argument for them to reject the revised regulations.

Mountain bikers in Zug have launched a referendum against the new forest law. This only allows biking on a strictly defined network of paths. A victory for the bikers at the ballot box would be a big surprise. Nevertheless, IG-MTB-Zug President Manuel Siegrist does not see trail biking on the brink of collapse.

Gstaad is taking targeted measures to promote cycling and wants to establish itself as a leading destination for mountain bikers and racing cyclists. The focus is on expanding the infrastructure and maintaining existing trails. In close cooperation with the municipalities, attention is being paid to sustainable development and attractive services for guests and locals alike.

Pay Dirt is the sponsorship program that was initially supported by Santa Cruz and is now also supported by Cannondale, GT, Focus, Juliana and many other brands. Since its inception, 2.1 million dollars have been invested in various projects in the bike community - in trails, events and increasingly in activities for the disadvantaged.

With the publication of routes, is Ride to blame if trails are damaged by mountain bikers? "Yes and no" says Ride editor Thomas Giger in his blog. Far more problematic, however, is the underlying thought pattern of always naming someone to blame for everything - with the exception of yourself, of course.

The canton of Solothurn is working on revising its forest law. The draft of the new regulations includes a ban on riding mountain bikes on narrow paths. Mountain bikers, organized as IG MTB Solothurn, have now submitted a petition with 12,000 signatures against this to the administration.

Here is the overview of the newly recorded tours in October 2024. 26 researched routes have been added with a focus on the Eastern Alps in Austria and Friuli in Italy.

A new video has been released from Hans Rey. The undisputed MTB Methuselah set off for Vancouver with Steve Peat and Wade Simmons, tracing the origins of modern freeriding.

Ok, Sonja Schreiter didn't speak to the entire Bundestag, but to its Committee on Tourism. The representative of the German Mountain Bike Initiative DIMB explained the potential and needs of the sport of mountain biking. The video of the public hearing shows what mountain biking sounds like in officialese. And the man from the AfD also had two questions towards the end.

The Bike Kingdom Lenzerheide is getting ready for hibernation. But before the snow covers the trails, the Bike Kingdom conducts its annual survey. In order to improve further, the royal court wants to know how satisfied its guests are. Two season passes will also be raffled off among the participants.

Every morning, Ludo May looks out of his window at Mont Rogneux, but now it's time for a ride. The latest episode of "Let's Ride" takes him and Steve Ude up the 3084-metre-high mountain in the Valais Alps. The ascent is already challenging, but the descent? Whether the summit area at the start of the 2200-metre Elevation loss downhill is rideable (or bounceable) at all is what the two top riding technicians find out in their ten-hour adventure.

October is often one of the highlights of the MTB season. While the mountain railroads have already closed in France or Italy, the season lasts until the end of October, especially in Switzerland. Here are the shuttle tips for October.

The "summiteer" is settling down: Lukas Stöckli is one of the best-known bike guides and adventurers. Together with business partners Rolf and Nicola Weibel, he is now taking over the well-known "Cicalino" bike station in Tuscany.

The single trails in the Engadin and Val Müstair should be even more fun than usual in the fall. How good that there is still room at the Indian Summer Camp. Organizer Ride la Val promises The Best Of Münstertal. In other words: there are trails until the brake disks glow.

Illegal trails are usually made unrideable without much ado. In Steinhausen ZG, the forest association is now threatening the creators of 200 meters of trail with fines. And on November 24, the people of Zug will vote on the Forest Act, which threatens to massively restrict mountain biking in some areas.

It's time for the monthly review of new ride tours. In September 2024, the tour database grew by 16 routes. The focus was on the Swabian Alb, the area around Innsbruck and the Upper Valais.

In Saalfeld in Thuringia, not to be confused with Saalfelden in Austria, German downhill biker Nina Hoffmann is the godmother of a new trail center. Next Sunday, September 22, the fastest German on a bike will be leading a community ride.

Obergoms in Valais is known for its numerous single trails. The region is getting serious about its mountain bike offer and has declared the descent from the Nufenen Pass and the nearby Mossmatten Trail to be official MTB routes. The trails have been structurally upgraded and will receive more intensive maintenance thanks to their new status.

At the Queens Days from 26 to 29 September in Scuol, participants can enjoy the full bike program: tours with racing bikes, gravel and mountain bikes, workshops on various bike topics and a wide range of test bikes from all categories, with and without electric drive.

As the saying goes: predictions are difficult, especially when they concern the future. This also applies to mountain biking. There are currently controversial positions on where the sport is heading.

Ride editor Stefan Michel is on the road with a mountain biker from Bern who has been riding single trails for decades. His perception of the controversy surrounding bikers on trails is astonishing.

In August 2024, the Ride tour database was expanded to include a full load of high alpine routes. A total of 29 new routes were added with a focus on the French Alps and several 3000-metre tours in Austria.

Watching the sunrise on Piz Nair is an experience in itself. René Wildhaber and Oli Dorn treated themselves to the perfect dessert after this special breakfast. The "Top to Bottom Tour" with 1300 Elevation loss trail descent, from Piz Nair to Lake Champfèr offers everything a trail biker's heart desires, including breathtaking pictures by filmmakers and photographers Fabian Gattlen, Tim Menge and Filip Zuan.

On September 14, the new bike trail on Solothurn's local mountain Weissenstein will go into operation - after almost ten years of planning and battles in the courts. At the same time, the canton wants to ban mountain biking on single trails.

Superlatives are standard when Red Bull produces a video. The latest clip with German slopestyler Erik Fedko takes the spectacle to the extreme in terms of both riding and construction.

The small German town of Lörrach (Baden-Württemberg) will soon be opening its second bike trail. Located on the border with Switzerland, it is also interesting for mountain bikers from Basel. And there are set to be more of them.

A leaked draft of the new German Forest Act has led mountain bikers in Germany to fear large-scale bans. The German Mountain Bike Initiative has now given the all-clear: the new draft law, which is also not yet public, retains the article stating that cycling on trails is generally permitted.

Mountain biking should only be permitted on forest roads and specially designated forest paths in the canton of Solothurn. This is the aim of an article in the draft of a new forest law. IG Mountainbike Solothurn is fighting this with an online petition.

A man in Heilbronn is suspected of repeatedly stretching wires across the course of a mountain bike trail. He is now in custody for attempted murder.

This Saturday (10 August), families - including godparents, uncles, aunts, neighbors and friends - can ride a section of the BlueSalamanders trail together from 11 a.m. as a fun race. Despite the race, all trails are open on race day. Guests will be rerouted along the lowest part of the trail for two hours.

They tick differently in South Tyrol. This also applies to the bike hotels. Their latest video clip warns of bike zombies, poisoned by trail forks. An original little film with a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor. Wonderful!

Did you know? If you enjoy the trails on Corviglia, you are doing so where the Olympic Games have already been hosted twice. Okay, it was the 1928 and 1948 Winter Games, but in summer in particular, the sports mountain in the beautiful Upper Engadine offers unforgettable mountain biking experiences and a 5-ring offer.

In April 2011, a forest fire destroyed 110 hectares of protective forest above the Valais municipality of Visp. One of the most beautiful single trails down into the valley was also covered in ash and closed. The trail was rebuilt and reopened in mid-June 2024 under the name "Phoenix from the Ashes". Ride took the resurrected trail under its wheels and shows the video report on its construction.

Here is a review of the ride tours prepared in July 2024: 28 new routes were recorded with a focus on the Stuttgart region, the area south of Lake Chiemsee, Landeck and the Arlberg and the Münster Valley.

A mountain biker was hit by a 50 x 50 centimeter stone last Saturday in the Stubai Valley. It was triggered by a man working with an excavator further up. The 58-year-old German woman was ridden to hospital with serious injuries.

BikerBerg ambassador René Wildhaber organized the iXS Digger Days in his home town of Flumserberg together with his long-standing outfitter, the iXS brand from Sursee in Lucerne. At the end of June, five bike enthusiasts joined René and the BikerCrew to build a jump training facility - a three-stage drop battery - the iXS Digger Drops.

Here is the seventh and final Secret Spot episode from Kriss Kyle on his trip through the Valais. In the Aletsch Arena, he is accompanied by David Constantin. Known in Switzerland as "Bax" in the TV series "Tschugger". Chaos and lots of fun are guaranteed!

Kriss Kyle also lands in Zermatt, where the World Short Track Championships will be held in 2025. The Scotsman is welcomed and shown around by Nathan Taugwalder, a true Zermatt native. Taugwalder is one of the best skiers on the mountain and also knows how to handle a bike superbly. But it's not just the trails at the foot of the majestic Matterhorn that count for the local. Delicious and local dishes are also part of the daily menu served to Kyle.

Gränichen is known in MTB circles for its racing and training base. However, trail biking was prohibited there until recently. Now there are official trails, but the bikers still have to develop them into an attractive network.

"Valais The Secret Spot of Biking" enters its fifth round and sends Kriss Kyle to Leukerbad. Swiss e-mountain bike pro Lukas Dennda guides the flying Scotsman over the trails of Leukerbad and shows him his version of "relaxation" - including a visit to the thermal baths. Because that's what the Valais mountain community is known for.

On his fourth stop in Valais, former BMX pro Kriss Kyle has a female skier as his guide in Val d'd'Anniviers, but not just any skier. Camille Rast is one of the best slalom skiers and also impresses Kyle on the bike. The Scot is also impressed by the marmots, because there are as few of them in Scotland as there are high mountains.

Kriss Kyle is on his way to the 2025 World Championships in Valais - at least as far as the new video series is concerned. Here comes the first episode together with Camille Balanche on the downhill trails of Champéry.

Ride published a major report on the situation of mountain bikers in Stuttgart in the July issue (N°92). On this occasion, the tour database and, above all, the route network of the Trail Map were also considerably expanded with data from the region. Here is an insight into the trail world of Stuttgart. 

Trail centers are currently very popular, and countries such as Scotland and the Czech Republic have already made a name for themselves in this area. In Central Europe, however, there is still a yawning void. Trail center expert Alexander Arpaci explains the background and where such trail centers could be created.

If you want to relax, lie on your lazy skin. That was once the case. The new idleness is called borderline experience. For example on the Bahnentour, known for its 10,000 Elevation loss on trails in just one day. For the 2024 season, the Graubünden variants will be reinforced with a new route in the Aletsch region.

A visit to Disentis Sedrun shows: The million francs are well invested. The man who got the whole thing rolling explains how it was possible. And he has an insider tip: the multi-day trip is really cheap with the guest card.

Here is the review of the ride tours prepared in June 2024: 38 new routes were recorded with a focus on northern Italy, especially Valtellina, and the Croatian coastal region around Rijeka.

The bike agency has already given us the Single Trail Camp, a bike camp for singles. The latest offer focuses on best agers, i.e. people who are older than biking.
 

The small Nara bike park in the Blenio Valley in Ticino has grown by one trail. Up until now, it was mainly varied and long, natural single trails that offered plenty of riding fun. The latest addition to the bike park is called the Black Wood Line, a flowing bike trail with berms and jumps that attracts mountain bikers of almost every level.

Tom Öhler is the undisputed switchback king - no one masters the tight turns more smoothly than he does. Now he shows all possible versions in a video and, together with Davos Klosters, is calling for the "Switchback Challenge".

The Gurten Trail in Bern is undergoing a general overhaul. The good news: the new trail will be around 600 meters longer. But not everyone will like it: It will be flatter and less challenging. And it remains to be seen whether the renovation will take place this year.

Alec Wohlgroth caused quite a stir far beyond his region with his lawsuit against the city of Zurich and the subsequent launch of the "Zäme Happy" campaign. In the ZüriTrails podcast, he talks about his experiences and what he learned during this wild phase.

BMX creative genius Kriss Kyle can also mountain bike. He also has an equally talented builder crew who carve out magnificent ramps for him in the vineyards and villages of Lavaux on Lake Geneva. The combination results in beautiful tricks in a picturesque setting - something for gourmets.

The Bernese Oberland has been somewhat forgotten in the shadow of Valais when it comes to mountain biking. Wrongly so, as there are numerous worthwhile routes between the Grimsel Pass and Thun. These are now neatly summarized in the Ride Trail Book for the Bernese Oberland.

Ride is constantly expanding its tour database. Here is a look back at May 2024: 29 tours were recorded with a focus on the Upper Black Forest, northern Lake Constance and the Allgäu region.

A leaked draft of the new Federal Forest Act has raised the possibility of large-scale mountain bike bans in Germany. Six months of lobbying later, things are looking better, but still not really good, as Heiko Mittelstädt from the DIMB explains in an interview.