If you think we have good mountain biking here in Knoxville, you're not alone.
Miles of trails, with more on the way, and a low cost of living are what led Knoxville to be ranked as one of the top mountain biking towns in the U.S.
The website singletracks.com, known well in the cycling world, ranked Knoxville fourth of the "10 Best US Mountain Bike Towns with the Lowest Cost of Living."
"What they were looking at was the miles of trails in an area along with the cost of living index," said Grant Barton, Vice President of the Appalachian Mountain Bike Club.
The rankings were based on things like housing prices, transportation costs, miles of trails, and how easy those trails are to get to.
Chattanooga came in right behind Knoxville in fifth place.
Barton said people are putting a lot of time and money into Knoxville's trail system.
Like the Devil's Racetrack at Baker Creek Preserve.
It just reopened after more than $20,000 of improvements shaped the course over the past few months.
"We're growing. We have a lot of people who are getting more engaged and actually helping build and maintain the trails that we already have," said Barton.
But he's not so sure Knoxville will go much higher on this particular ranking than number four.
That's because cost of living near these trails may slowly be going up, as more people make the move to south Knoxville.
"I don't think we've passed any sort of west Knoxville housing prices or anything, it's still very affordable to live over here," said Brian Hann, President of the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association. "But we've got a limited amount of stock, and when things go on the market they tend to go pretty quickly."
Hann and other cyclists agree, the bike trails aren't the only thing that make Knoxville a livable city.
"That's just part of it, it takes an entire city to make a great place to live," said Hann.
Here's the full list of towns that ranked with Knoxville:
- Anniston, AL
- Butte, MT
- Pocatello, ID
- Knoxville, TN
- Chattanooga, TN
- Roanoke, VA
- Oakridge, OR
- Canon City, CO
- Ogden, UT
- Bella Vista, AR