Great Rides St. Louis – Bike Rides for Everyone

St. Louis is packed with biking options, from riverfront trails to gravity-fed singletrack.

Beer, bowling, baseball — and biking. St. Louis, historic Gateway to the West and the biggest city in the Great Plains, is a fantastic place to ride. It’s a silver-level Bicycle Friendly Community that’s threaded with more than 500 miles of shared-use pathways. Some, like the 11.8-mile Riverfront Trail, follow the Mississippi and pass by the Gateway Arch. Others, like the Forest Park Loop, circle the most popular greenspace in St. Louis.

The nearly flat, 247-mile Katy Trail starts in Machens and heads out into wine country and the Missouri River valley (with numerous inns and shuttles along the way). Creve Coeur Lake has a dozen miles of paved pathway, plus the lumpier Bootlegger’s Run, a 5.5-mile dirt trail with banked turns, dips, and ravine crossings that’s perfect for a mountain bike.

Head to Castlewood State Park, a woodland park with 17 miles of riverside curves, bluff climbs, and views of the Meramec River Valley. Farther afield, Shepherd Mountain Bike Park (in Ironton) is the spot for shuttle-assisted downhill, and Berryman Trail tackles the ridgelines and rocks of the Ozarks.

You can find great gravel an hour or two from town, especially in massive, 1.5-million-acre Mark Twain National Forest. Try County Road 402 and Pinecone Road to reach the heart of the landscape, or the Victory section of the Ozark Trail if you really want to rough it. Want to try your hand at track cycling? The Penrose Park Velodrome is open to all for training and racing.

Meremac Levee Trail Loop

Distance: 18.4 mi
Elevation: +/- 432 ft

St. Louis County, MO

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Ballwin Loop

Distance: 34.4 mi
Elevation: +/- 1679 ft

St. Louis County, MO

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Jefferson Barracks Lollipop Loop

Distance: 22.9 mi
Elevation: +/- 1415 ft

Arnold, MO

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Schoolhouse Trail to Alton Out and Back

Distance: 55.5 mi
Elevation: +/- 660 ft

Madison County, IL

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Frisco Hill 100-Mile Loop

Distance: 99.7 mi
Elevation: +/- 7994 ft

Arnold, MO

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Frisco Hill 25-Mile Route

Distance: 25.5 mi
Elevation: +/- 2086 ft

Arnold, MO

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River Front Trail Out and Back

Distance: 24.1 mi
Elevation: +/- 620 ft

St. Louis, MO

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Sainte Genevieve 50K

Distance: 32.4 mi
Elevation: +/- 1690 ft

Ste. Genevieve, MO

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Bootlegger's Run

Distance: 14 mi
Creve Coeur Park
13236 Streetcar Dr
St. Louis, MO 63043

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Lost Valley

Distance: 13 mi
Lost Valley Trail
Defiance, MO 63341

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Matson Hill Park

Distance: 8 mi
3576 Stub Rd
Defiance, MO 63341

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Bluff View (Rock Hollow)

Distance: 19 mi
Intersection of Grand St. and 3rd St.
Wildwood, MO 63038

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Klondike Park

Distance: 4 mi
4470 Missouri 94
Augusta, MO 63332

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Castlewood State Park

Distance: 19 mi
1401 Kiefer Creek Rd
Ballwin, MO 63021

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Greensfelder County Park

Distance: 27 mi
4515 Hencken Rd
Pacific, MO 63069

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West Tyson County Park

Distance: 12 mi
131 N Outer Rd
Eureka, MO 63025

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Chesterfield Cafe Ride

Distance: 34.9 mi
Elevation: +/- 680 ft

St. Charles, MO

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Forest Park Loop

Distance: 12.9 mi
Elevation: +/- 573 ft

St. Louis, MO

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Queeny Park Figure 8 Ride

Distance: 5.3 mi
Elevation: +/- 480 ft

St. Louis County, MO

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Grants Trail Out and Back

Distance: 15.9 mi
Elevation: +/- 324 ft

St. Louis County, MO

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Monarch Levee Trail Out and Back

Distance: 9.1 mi
Elevation: +/- 131 ft

Chesterfield, MO

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Route 66 State Park Loop

Distance: 5.1 mi
Elevation: +/- 54 ft

St. Louis County, MO

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Madison County Transit 13-Mile Loop

Distance: 16 mi
Elevation: +/- 417 ft

Edwardsville, IL

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Katy Trail

Distance: 434.6 mi
St. Charles County, MO

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Weldon Spring

Distance: 22.9 mi
St. Charles County, MO

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Shaw Nature Reserve

Distance: 7.3 mi
Franklin County, MO

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Toonerville

Distance: 34.5 mi
St. Charles County, MO

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Broem - Intro to Gravel

Distance: 9.4 mi
St. Charles County, MO

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