The International Mountain Bicycling Association has been anointing the world’s most amazing riding destinations with what it calls “Epic” status since 1998 (though mostly in North America), and six recent additions bring the number of IMBA-certified Epics to 52. But some of the new Epics, such as the 20-mile network of Oak Mountain in Alabama and the suburban MoCo Epic in Maryland, are — how to put it — less-than-obvious additions when compared to classic rides like the Tahoe Rim Trail or Plains of Abraham. In short, some of the latest Epics have elicited a collective “huh?” from the mountain bike community at large and raised the question of just how epic an Epic should be.

“It can be confusing,” IMBA communications director Mark Eller admits, “because the definition of what constitutes an Epic has evolved over time. In the beginning they were all of one ilk — they were all remote backcountry singletrack, and they were almost entirely in the West. But by only honoring one specific type of trail, we were ignoring every other branch of riding. So over the years we’ve expanded the definition to embrace freeride, urban, and suburban riding opportunities.”

Eller says that if IMBA abided strictly by the original definition, the only trails to earn Epic status would be in Colorado, Northern California, and Canada — and the sport has certainly evolved beyond that. He points to the inclusion of Ray’s Indoor Mountain Bike Park, an 110,000-square-foot indoor mountain bike park in Cleveland, Ohio (that is soon to open a second location in Milwaukee, Wisconsin), as an example of the expanded definition of “Epic.”

This incoming class of Epics continues that expansion. Here’s a closer look:

BLACK ROCK, OREGON
At one end of the gnarlness spectrum, Black Rock trails in Falls City, Oregon, offer a massive rider-built, gravity-fed trail system riddled with ladder bridges, huge high-speed berms and gut-wrenching drops, all of which would make traditional XC-loving riders (those for whom the original Epics were selected) soil their Lycra. Black Rock already has been featured in various magazine spreads and video segments, but beyond its stardom it’s also a sustainably built with laudable cooperation from the community, and by giving it the nod IMBA hopes to encourage more such new trails.

OAK MOUNTAIN, ALABAMA
At the other end of the scale, Oak Mountain contains just a few technical rocky sections, and riders’ tires barely leave the ground in this buff XC network. Elsewhere in the country, Oak Mountain might be just another blip on the radar. But as regional IMBA rep and executive director of the Southern Off-Road Bicycling Association Tom Sauret points out, getting a 20-mile-long handmade singletrack network built with public support in the Deep South is an epic feat in and of itself.

“The partnership between state and local governments and volunteer organizations to create a great trail…is unprecedented in this part of the country,” says Sauret. “Another unique feature of Oak Mountain is that it is really an urban trail and it is extraordinary, if not singular, in that it offers so much mileage to riders in Birmingham.”

Sure, Oak is a far cry from an original epic like the Maah Dah Hey, a 96-mile stretch of singletrack that streaks across the Badlands of South Dakota. But try telling a rider from, say, pancake-flat Mississippi that the experience of breaking through a low cloud ceiling while ascending a rocky singletrack summit climb is anything short of epic.

MOCO LOOP, MARYLAND
The MoCo Loop also hails from south of the Mason-Dixon Line, less than an hour from the White House in nearby Washington, D.C., and while it may seem as far from the original Epics as Oak Mountain, local organizer Denis Chazzele dares doubters to ride it before they pass judgment.

Located in the backyard of M.O.R.E., one of the biggest mountain bike clubs in the country, the MoCo Loop evolved out of the efforts of local riders to patch together an all-day epic ride by stringing together multiple local parks around Montgomery County.

After riding various permutations of the route for years, Chazzele and M.O.R.E. last October organized an inaugural supported ride, complete with aid stations and three mapped routes: a 25-mile course through three parks, a 40-mile course through 6 parks or the “Officially Epic” 62-mile metric century loop that covers nine different parks and notches some 4,500 feet of rolling climbs that don’t allow for much recovery in the descents.

“It may not be crossing the Andes, but there are a lot of people who can’t make it,” says Chazelle. “Part of the challenge is that it’s very hard to bail. The course is sort of a long rectangle, so if you have to bail midway you’re as far from the starting point as you’ll ever be. There’s also not a lot of places to get food or water. So it takes some commitment to finish.”

Unless you latch onto an organized group ride, the course can be difficult to follow. GPS files and cue sheets are available at www.mocoepic.com.

HURRICANE CLIFFS, UTAH
The singletrack outside Hurricane, Utah, has become wildly popular even among the Mountain West’s hit parade of stellar trail options. The 21-mile loop highlighted here as an Epic includes the scenic and challenging Hurricane Rim, JEM, Gould, and Gould Rim trails. And yes, Gooseberry Mesa is right next door.

ROCK LAKE, WISCONSIN
The Rock Lake Epic in Wisconsin, meanwhile, makes great poster child for the excellent riding in the larger Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. For riders looking to explore the more than 300 miles of quality singletrack in the region, Rock Lake is a great place to start.

FRESNO-SAUCEDA LOOP, TEXAS
Finally, the Lone Star State gets its first Epic with the Texas-sized 70-mile-long Fresno-Sauceda Loop, a burly full-day commitment set in the vast and scenic Big Bend Ranch State Park.

For a full list of IMBA’s 52 Epics, along with links to all of them, visit IMBA’s site.

Photos by Denis Chazelle (top), Leslie Kehmeier (Black Rock, Rock Lake), Sam Guss (Oak Mountain), Joe Foley (Moco), Whit Richardson (Hurricane), Crystal Allbright (Fresno-Sauceda)

Tagged as: mountain biking