A Sneak Peek: Guest-Favorite Recipes
Want to know what’s waiting for you at the end of the trail? Here are the four legendary staples that have reached “must-have” status on our trips
Pedaling the Icons: The Ultimate Guide to National Parks with Western Spirit
Discover the Hidden Soul of Zion, Yellowstone, and the Grand Canyon on an Immersive Western Spirit Journey.
Ramblings of an (ex) guide
A guide's perspective on riding solo vs guided in high country terrain.
Our Favorite Cycling Route Planning Apps
We hope this finds you in good health during this very challenging time for our world. Although our primary focus is on the health and wellbeing of our staff and communities, we are still planning for and designing backcountry bike trips on our public lands.
What’s A Guide To Do?
So, you may think the most significant, most rewarding part of being a mountain bike guide is getting paid to ride bikes. While that is pretty awesome, in my opinion, the most fulfilling part of the job by far is helping others enjoy the sport. Guiding is a 24/7, all hands on deck, gig. We’re used to fixing flats, diving headfirst into the cooler to grab pickle juice when someone starts cramping, running after tents through the desert (that may not have been properly staked down) [...]
Why Experiences Have Greater Impact
The era of experience is alive and well. More and more people are devoting their time and resources toward meaningful experiences versus owning more physical stuff. Look no further than your social media community, and most likely, you will witness most engagements focused on experiences. People are interested in pushing their boundaries by doing new activities like hiking or mountain biking, achieving sought after goals that test their endurance, or visiting our beautiful public lands. But why? We put our heads together and came up with some ideas about [...]
National Park Visitors Contributing Billions to U.S. Economy
Report details visitor spending, job support According to a Department of the Interior (DOI) press release sent out Thursday, visitors to national parks contributed $40 billion to the U.S. economy and supported 329,000 jobs in hotels, restaurants, transportation, and recreation. The annual National Park Service report showed that, in 2018, more than 318 million park visitors spend $20.2 billion in communities within a 60-mile radius of a national park. More than 268,000 of the 329,000 jobs supported by visitor spending are also in gateway communities. The report also showed [...]
How To Choose A Family Vacation
Exposing young kids and teens to our national parks, national forests, and to the wilderness is extremely beneficial.
Western Spirit Cycling gets outfitted with Showers Pass active apparel
We all love to think it will never rain on our vacation, but we know the reality. We often say “there’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing choices!”
Decades of Adventure: The White Rim
View of Washer Woman formation on the White Rim Trail, Canyonlands National Park, Moab, Utah. There are very few established mountain bike routes that are as well known as the White Rim. For good reason, this iconic ride has been in the hearts and minds of mountain bikers for decades. But why? What draws riders here season after season? Here is a quick history to put this biking legacy into context. The National Park system has been one of the keystone aspects of land conservation in the [...]
Guest Blog – Meg Huffman – South Dakota
The following blog post is from a Guest on a trip. We wanted to feature it as it answers a few questions that we get quite a bit. We hope you enjoy. My family is very choosey about vacations. As our three boys get older, it is harder and harder to find a time when we can all be together. Between school, college, sailing, skiing, and all the other activities we do over the year, finding time for a bike trip was a serious challenge. When we settled on [...]
Public Lands: It’s All Yours – Part 2
Important Public Land Designations: Wilderness and National Monuments In Part 1 of our public land series we clarified the three major federal land managers: US Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and National Park Service. All three of these land management agencies manage different types of lands within their jurisdictions. In the forest and on the BLM most of their lands are usually open to multiple uses—that means they are available for harvesting trees, grazing cows, mining, and/or recreation of all types. But both agencies and the park service also [...]
5 Tips from the Guides About Packing Your Gear.
One of the most-asked questions from people about going on a Western Spirit trip is what to bring. So, I sat down for a few minutes to write down some tips. These come from my personal experience guiding trips. They are helpful for me and hopefully helpful for you also!
Easy Bike Checks Everyone Should Be Doing
Every bike needs love every now and again. So I wanted to fill you in on a few things you can do to keep you and your bike happy and running smoothly. Before every ride. 1 - Check your tires - Checking the pressure in your tires is something that you should do before every ride. Not only will it make your bike ride nice, It will also help prevent pinch flats and keep your tires from feeling all squirmy in corners. Don't know what pressure to pump them too? Look [...]
What are Mountain Bike Vacations?
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I just need to step away from my regularly scheduled programming to get some perspective. My life is busy and filled with family, work, and all kinds of responsibilities. It can be a challenge to keep up, and even some of the things that I love can start to feel like burdens and obligations. There’s no better cure for the everyday doldrums than a vacation. And I think the best ones are on two wheels—on the dirt. A Fun Challenge Whether you bring friends with [...]
