This is my go to MTB route at Pocahontas.

https://www.trailforks.com/route/tour-de-swift-creek/

My favorite is probably Blue jay way to Moonshine at Pocahontas.

If I'm gonna drive a couple hours nothing beats snowshoe.

I'm not a technical rider at all and my goal on the trails is to avoid injury at all times. Leakes Mill is my favorite course because of this as it's more of an XC style of trail. It's challenging from an endurance and leg strength standpoint yet flowy enough for you to have fun without too much risk of hurting yourself. It's also impossible to get turned around and lost as it's just a giant loop.

Buttermilk. There's always something spicy to keep it interesting.

Within 1 hour - Charlottesville has some goods - Ride Ohill for quick, fun gnar, couple drops and a massive step up. Ragged is a blast.

Little Over an hour - White Rock Gap is one of the most fun descents nearby. Super fun, doesn't last long enough, reminds me of Pisgah a bit. There's no good way to get to the top.

Blue Ridge School is fun.

2 hours - Stokesville. Narrowback west to Tillman West is probably the best introduction to the area if you're not used to hour long climbs and a decent amount of chunk coming down. You can shuttle Reddish, but I find the first third kinda meh.

Over 2 hours - Pisgah. Just go to Pisgah.

Never been to Pisgah. Need to fix that this summer.

It'll ruin riding anywhere else for you...but it's worth it.

Oh, I guess Carvins is also a good ride within a couple hours.

Shit, and the Western Slope of Massanutten. The Western Slope is an absolute gem.

If you're driving 2 hours, one must checkout Douthat. You can even stay in the park and ride in/out from camp.

How would you compare massanutten to snowshoe?

Douthat is pretty fun. Plus good camping.

local: Buttermilk

couple hours: Timber Ridge

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and best local event: Mountain Cat 100

What trail at Snowshoe? My favorite by far is Skyline.

Skyline is amazing. I also love the Dreamweaver/lucid trail. I could ride either of those all day long.

Have you done Torrey to Slacks to White Rock Gap at Sherando? It lasts quite a bit longer that way. Sometimes I take Kennedy Ridge or Mill Creek (the infamous 7 switchbacks) to the top, but the easiest way is up White Rock, Right on the Blue Ridge Parkway for a few miles, then right on Bald Mtn Jeep Trail to the Torrey Ridge Trailhead.

I'm headed to Pisgah for spring break on Saturday, can't wait!

Yep, done all that, Kennedy is nice when I really feel like hurting myself a bit :D

I'd give my left something or other for a fire road climb to the top of white rock(something Pisgah and the whole Asheville/Brevard area has figured out).

Torrey ridge is a blast going down. Only did it once. Need to do it again.

The lift park? haven't ridden it, but by all accounts Snowshoe is wildly superior.

The Western Slope are XC, all climby no lift, trails. There's a robust network of trails and there's a ton of progression. You can ride flow, dirt, rock, chunk and it's really easy to tell what the difficulty is gonna look like (higher up the hill the harder the trail...generally).

You have to buy a $10 day pass for the western slope, but all the dollars go to SVBC to build and maintain trails, so totally worth it. I think you can do like one trail work day and ride all year based on that too.

I wonder how many people in here I know from riding.

Favorite local trail: Honestly the little loop around belle isle is one of my favorites, starting at lost trail and working your way up top then back down. Really love all the trails around JRPS and east end.

Couple Hours: Reddish Knob

As someone else said Pisgah/DuPont is awesome riding and need to get down there if you can.

Potentially a silly question, but how does it work getting the bike to the top of the mountain? Using regular chair style ski lifts? Or are you quadcore and beast mode it to the top on your bike then ride down?

Chair lift. You ride in a normal lift and they have special bike rack lifts.

So you hop on the lift and the bike is on a separate lift next to you?

Yup. You can watch it all the way up. It is amazing fun. Riding all down hill can actually wear you out in a totally different way from normal riding. Kills your core and your arms and shoulders.

That sounds awesome! Never done that before, thanks for the explanation.