Mountain biking GMBA trails is a worthy ride in the Girdwood trail network and fun to ride both on their own, or in combination with a longer ride like Upper Winner Creek.  

The purpose built trails of Small House and Earnagain/Two Cents branch off the nordic loop in close proximity to the Lower Winner Creek Trail so are super straightforward to hot lap and learn the flow and session with friends.

Small House is the easier of the two and is most easily accessed by riding out the Nordic loop or using parts of Winner Creek.  While the trail doesn’t have big vertical or steeps, it flows beautifully through the forest and is super fun – with the structure of the nordic loop crossing halfway, hot lapping the upper half makes super fast and fun hot laps without any steep climbing!  It took me awhile to find my flow on this trail, and when I did it became one of my favorites in the area – it’s a good one to practice dialing in speed and position to line up right for the features!

Hunter showing of the magic of rain forest riding (photo: Dan Starr)

Does it get better than flowing through a forest as magical as this? (photo: Dan Starr)

Two Cents is the more difficult and downhill GMBA trail that is accessed by the Earnagain climbing trail about ½ mile up the nordic loop from Small House . . . it’s well marked and easy to find. 

Entry to Earnagain (access to the Two Cents downhill) mountain bike trail

The climb is pretty punchy and I fully admit to walking, but I’ve seen plenty ride it and welcome you to take the challenge!  Just when you think you’re there and there’s a slight downhill, think again – you’ve got to earn it again with another punchy climb (so it’s worth keeping some speed on the first little descent!).  The transition to Two Cents and the action downhill is well-marked.  It starts out with a fun entry drop (easy ride-around).  While it looks scary, it actually rides quite nicely and the trail is well setup to do hot laps on that feature to learn it if it’s not too crowded (which it generally isn’t!).  From there, the trail winds through the forest with plenty of jumps and berms before dropping back to the nordic loop – a left turn will take you back to Earnagain or follow the nordic loop back to Two Cents for a fun ride out! 

Girdwood singletrack is growing consistently and totally worth coming down to check out mountain biking the GMBA trails!  Want to check out the trails but don’t want to go figure out the network yourself?  The Powderhound shop ride Thursdays at 6:30 (summertime only) is a great way to ride with a super fun local crew and learn the network!  If you’re from out of town, it’s also a great place to rent a bike and spice up your Girdwood stay with some flow! 

With the hot laps on Small House being pretty achievable, it’s also a great place to introduce the kiddos to singletrack – I can’t wait to see how these riders will progress our sport as they grow up after getting a start like this!

So much perfect about this photo! (photo: Dan Starr)

For more info about riding around Alaska, check out the full bike guide at www.alaskaMTB.com!  Don’t miss other Girdwood trails like the Iditarod, Abe’s, and Upper Winner Creek!