Yesterday I rode my 22 year old mountain bike on a fitness ride to prepare for the MoCo Epic 20 mile off-road trail course. The route began and ended at the Anne Arundel County Trails Ranger Station on the B&A Trail.
I rode north on the B&A to the BWI Trail around the airport. This is a safe and scenic ride on asphalt paved trails.
My old mountain bike has 26 inch Continental “Traffic” tires, which are perfect for asphalt, gravel and some light dirt trail riding.
https://www.biketiresdirect.com/reviews/continental-traffic-26-inch-tire
My other mountain bike is full suspension for heavy-duty dirt trails only, with good aggressive tires for steep, rocky and root-filled dirt trails.
Off-road trail riding definitely requires a different kind of bike, with different tires specially designed for the unique challenges, and I was lucky to pick up a second-hand one from a friend. It is in the shop now getting some tune-up and repair. These days, a good quality full-suspension bike will cost many thousands of dollars. I could ride off-road with my old hard-tail bike, and I have many times, but it’s a bumpy bear of a ride. Ironically, both bikes are black Treks, one from 2003 and the other a 2014 model.
I have a couple more weeks of fitness rides before this event, which is more fun the better fit I am! The beer tastes better too.
https://more-mtb.org/pages/moco-epic
This is a great video which illustrates the course, which has different length routes depending on how challenged you wish to be:
Atlas Great Outdoors 