PHOTOS COURTESY OF TRANSYLVANIA TDA
IN 2012, BIKE MAGAZINE CALLED TRANSYLVANIA COUNTY "AMERICA'S BEST KEPT SECRET." SINGLETRACK’S TOP TEN CYCLING DESTINATIONS CAN BE FOUND AT WWW.SINGLETRACKS.COM /BLOG/MTB-TRAILS/THETOP-10-MOUNTAIN-BIKEDESTINATIONS-IN-NORTHAMERICA.
Editor and writer Vernon Felton lavished praise not just on the trails – but on the bike-friendly vibe that Transylvania County has cultivated in recent years. The county's embrace of the biking ethos has earned it the title, “Cycling Capital of the South.” “We came to Brevard with an inkling that the trails were good,” said Felton in the article, "but we underestimated them.” He went on to say that the team spent two weeks riding trails that "absolutely blew our minds." Felton quoted World Cup cyclist and former Olympian Adam Craig about the quality of riding in Transylvania. Craig, who participated in the Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race in October, 2011, said, "Pisgah is definitely one of the top three places in the universe that I've ever ridden – and maybe the very best one." Following the high praise of Bike Magazine, in 2013 the popular blog Singletrack added Brevard to its Top Ten Mountain Bike Destinations In North America. Listed alongside such internationally celebrated destinations as Moab, Utah and Whistler, British Columbia, Brevard is the only listed destination east of the Mississippi. With 100,000 acres of public lands encompassed within Pisgah, DuPont and Gorges State Park, Transylvania County’s reputation as a mountain bike Mecca has been an open secret among cyclists for years. Trails crisscross the county, ranging from high, craggy single tracks to the Bracken Mountain trail, which connects charming, historic downtown Brevard to Pisgah National Forest. “We’ve got something no one else can offer, “ said Wes Dickson of Brevard’s Sycamore Cycles. “You can’t fake this. We’ve got some of the best and most extensive riding trails in the country.” The Singletrack author concurred, stating, “Brevard is truly head and shoulders above every other potential destination on the East Coast.” B I K E T R A N S Y LVA N I A , 2 0 1 4 »5