One of our favorite summertime activities in town is biking - whether you're hopping on a mountain bike and hitting the trails, or exploring the paths, there are lots of great options for nearby trails! Here are our tips for getting the most out of your bike experience.
1. Pick a bike that works for what you want to ride most!
Sunriver has miles upon miles of paved trails, as well as lots of options for dirt and singletrack.
Paved Trails: a single speed cruiser gives you that fun, carefree feeling and can handle most of the paved trails in the area, although if you'd like to do longer rides like the ride out to Lava Butte, we'd suggest upgrading to a multi-speed bike so that you can handle the hills.
Singletrack: many of the trails in the area, including the Deschutes River Trail contain some rocky sections as well as some dusty/sandy sections. We suggest renting a true mountain bike for these trails, although for the easy and intermediate trails, a front suspension "hardtail" should be plenty! You might also want to try a fat tire mountain bike, especially in the dry late summer months, when trails get more soft and the fat tire gives you added traction and stability.
Special Needs: If you're out of shape or not that comfortable on a bike, consider renting an Electric assist bike, which gets you further with less effort! There are also some great options like trikes for those who struggle with balance.
Kids: If you're riding with younger kids and want to do a long ride, tag-a-long bikes are a wonderful option that allow them the experience and feeling of biking fast and far, but the option to rest their legs if they get tired. The littlest kiddos can try out a balance bike, or ride along in a bike trailer.
2. Reserve Your Bikes in Advance
Make sure the rental shop has the bikes you need with an advanced reservation system! You can check out your options, prices, and request accessories before you even get to the shop. This is especially a good idea for specialty items like kids bike trailers or fat bikes.
3. Grab a Good Map
With hundreds of miles of singletrack and paved trails in Central Oregon, a good map can be key to finding great trails. We love the waterproof/tear proof Adventure Maps, which we carry at Sunriver Sports in the Village. You can also view maps and up-to-date trail status information online at BendTrails.org
For the 34 miles of paved pathways, we recommend checking out the Google Map:
https://bf4e15fe-e1f2-41e0-a8e9-b1fa09ad0238.filesusr.com/ugd/b3d6b1_0f213ce1d7614b4188f04e5bbd5b3ea6.pdf
4. Stay off the Roads (in Sunriver)
The Sunriver bike trail system is designed for bikers to stay on the trails and off the roads, which have no shoulder and can be dangerous. Try to limit your time on roads except when necessary to get from the house or condo you're staying in onto the bike trails as bikes are not allowed on any of the main roads within Sunriver proper.
5. Bike Instead of Driving
You may have noticed that the speed limits are slow and the traffic circles are everywhere in Sunriver! Because of this, bringing bikes along on your trip (or renting some while you're here) can save a lot of time and confusion - often the quickest and most direct path to where you want to go is by bike!
