We spend the best part of an hour or so weaving and winding our way up to the top of Mill Mountain. You can see the star from almost any street in Roanoke, so we’d been a little wary of the climb – the star being so high up and lurking over us in the days and nights previous – but it wasn’t as punishing as we feared. The sidewinding trail was merciful and offered enough variety and trail features that the climb was actually, dare we say it, pretty enjoyable.

Looking out from the star back out over Roanoke, you get a fantastic sense for how green the whole region is. It’s really, really green. Extremely green. There’s a bit of city in the middle where you can see downtown Roanoke, and the neighbouring city of Salem (not that Salem), and then everywhere else is just… green. Green as a vegan cafe. Which is good, isn’t it? That’s what you want from a trail town. Bit of city. Lots of hills. Best of both worlds.

The Mill Mountain trails are just the start of the riding in Roanoke, a city whose newly-received status as an International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) silver-level ride centre is quickly establishing it as the mountain biking capital of the East Coast.

“Within an hour of downtown Roanoke there’s over 200 miles of singletrack,” says Richard. “And that’s not counting fire roads or double track. That’s just pure singletrack.”

“That’s what you want from a trail town. Bit of city. Lots of hills. Best of both worlds”

All-included, there’s a whopping 320 miles of trail within an hour of downtown Roanoke. With that in mind, it’s almost remarkable it’s not become a mountain biking mecca before now.

The trails aren’t particularly new, either. Most of them were built within the last 15-20 years. The difference recently though, and something that sets Roanoke apart from a lot of places with great mountain biking potential, is that the city is doing all it can to help mountain biking grow in Roanoke. Bureaucracy doesn’t get in the way here.

“It started off as just a few trails,” says Richard. “There was a trail called Four Gorges built by four brothers. It had been ridden a lot but it was unofficial. The city knew they could fight it and just constantly have people putting the trail back in, or just say ‘okay let’s make it a trail’.

“That was one of the first ones out and then it expanded from there into the lowers. Once they realised there were people who were willing to come on out and work on the trails, and that they weren’t having to dump a bunch of money into it, they really gave their blessing.”

We rode the ‘lowers’, a section of the nearby mountain biking paradise of Carvins Cove, the previous day, taking us through enchanted forests, up winding climbs quickly rewarded with technical downhills and past wild deer and turkeys and below hawks. We hear stories of the black bears that often roam the trails though sadly, or perhaps luckily, none pop up.

Carvins Cove Natural Reserve is the second largest municipal park in the country, covering 11,363 acres. It includes McAfee Knob, one of the most commonly photographed spots on the Appalachian Trail, and more importantly, boasts 45 miles of mountain bike singletrail.

It was in May 2018 that Roanoke were recognised by IMBA for their efforts. IMBA say their Ride Centres denote the “pinnacle of mountain bike communities”, and there are currently only 39 in the world. Roanoke is the first spot on the East Coast to be awarded silver status.

“It’s very recent but we’re already seeing an influx of people coming in and riding from different areas,” says Richard.

“Roanoke might just be on the brink of becoming one of the most visited mountain biking destinations in the United States”

“I think that’s really going to ramp up as the weather gets better through spring and summer.”

There are plans to develop certain areas of Roanoke, including the camping and luxury camping options in the city; in anticipation of the expected influx.

The trails are always developing too – we pass three new builds underway in Carvins Cove on our route. The half-finished ‘Rock and Roll’ route makes a fantastic out-and-back, flowing both ways, with beautifully sculpted stone bridges and river crossings, and the trail will make for a tantalising prospect when it’s done. It seems the trail network is always growing more, alongside the other essentials that Roanoke already has covered.

The 10-stool Texas Tavern dates back to the 1930s and will whip you up something cheap and greasy if you want to put those calories back on after your ride, and the craft beer scene is flourishing – check out Starr Hill on Tuesday for a pub quiz or Deschutes on Wednesday to drink a huge variety of beer to a soundtrack of traditional string band Americana music.

We’re told on more than one occasion that most people who grew up in Roanoke used to get out as soon as they could, and only came back when it was time to raise a family or to retire – but that’s changing now.

The mountain biking community has given the city a new focal point; and a new pull for the youth to stay. There’s award-winning bike shops – check out Just The Right Gear – a diverse and developing trail network, and it all offers such variation.

Roanoke might just be on the brink of becoming one of the most visited mountain biking destinations in the United States, and they’ve got there in the best possible way – through the hard work of a community that just loves digging trails, and loves riding bikes.

Do It Yourself

We flew from Heathrow to Washington (Dulles) on British Airways, then got the Amtrak (train) from Washington D.C to Roanoke in Virginia’s Blue Ridge.

We rented bikes from Roanoke Mountain Adventures, rode at Carvins Cove Natural Reserve and on Mill Mountain Park, ate at the Texas Tavern, Tuco’s Taqueria Garaje and Fortunato and drunk at Starr Hill brewery.

For more information on travel to Virginia and the wider Capital Region visit: www.capitalregionusa.co.uk

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