Helmets? Check. Water bottles? Check. Small dog in a milk crate on the back of a bike? Also check.
So began a September afternoon mountain bike ride at Snowbasin Resort. The National Ability Center, Ogden Valley Adaptive and Wasatch Adaptive Sports organized group rides like these throughout the summer. It's a strong sign that adaptive riding is having a moment in Utah.
After riding Canyon Rim Trail, Amanda King's face was dusted with dirt. Her dog, Faith, had fallen out of her milk crate a couple of times. Though also dirty, the Chinese crested-Pomeranian mix was unharmed.
"There's certain ones that I won't take her just because I go really hard, but it's like I catch air and stuff like that," King said.
The organizers towed trailers of specialized bikes for people to borrow, though some riders brought their own.
Technically, adaptive bikes aren't bicycles. They're built for people who can't ride a standard bike, so they come in lots of variations. Picture a recumbent tricycle that's pedaled by hand. Other types might have four wheels, foot pedals or be set up for riders to kneel. Electric motors are common to give riders a boost.
Canyon Rim Trail was designed with everyone from high school teams to adaptive riders in mind, but it wasn't a perfect fit for King. On a borrowed recumbent e-assist handcycle, she bottomed out a few times. In one spot, she went around an obstacle, then had to do a five-point turn to follow the bend.
Still, she said it was a cool trail with lots of variety.
Eden resident Kristi Prall had an easier time. She loves getting her heart pumping on the trails, but adaptive biking wasn't the first thing she thought of when she got a spinal cord injury. She started with an off-road wheelchair to help her get back outside. Turns out, it wasn't enough to scratch the itch.
"You can go some places," she said, "but it doesn't get you very many places."
Then she went for a ride with the National Ability Center in Park City and tried different bikes. A lightbulb went off for her. Adaptive bikes lean more expensive than traditional ones, so even with a partial grant from the Challenged Athletes Foundation, Prall's cost more than $10,000. It was a game-changer.
"My bike gives me the freedom to go to those wild places," she said, "to get out and in the outdoors, to go in the mountains and to do all of those things I used to do."
But she can't roll up to a new trail on a whim. She needs to know how rideable it is before heading there alone.
"I can't just, like, get up and walk over an obstacle or over a tree or something like that or turn around," she said.
Over the years, Prall has noticed more places she can ride. She volunteers with Eden Valley Trails, a nonprofit in the Ogden Valley, to test new routes like Canyon Rim to make sure her adaptive bike can handle them.
Across Utah, adaptive mountain biking is growing. Moab's trail system designed for handcycles opened in 2025. The Northern Utah Trailfest added an adaptive mountain biking race last year, and a casual adaptive ride is on the schedule this year too. And Park City-based Mountain Trails Foundation is using a state grant to evaluate what different trails need to become adaptive-friendly. It's hoping for a second round of funding to implement those changes.
The work started in the Park City area but recently expanded statewide, said Marshall Evans, who rode with the group at Snowbasin and works for Mountain Trails. It's hard to tally up how many trails are adaptive-friendly, in part because there's no strict definition, but his group estimates about 25 miles of trails in Park City were built with adaptive riders in mind out of about 400 miles total.
The most important thing is width, since adaptive bikes tend to be wider than standard ones. Trails can't be too tilted from side to side. Obstacles and jumps have to be wide enough for two wheels to cross at a time, or some riders will have to stop and go around if there's room.
Evans said it only takes a little bit of trail-building effort for him to be able to ride at speed with his buddies, rather than ride the brakes and cause a traffic jam.
"We're not trying to change the character of the trails," he said. "We're just trying to make it so we can get from point A to point B and go ride the same areas that we used to."
As trail builders design with adaptive bikes in mind, bike technology has also improved. The machines are narrower, and Evans said electric motors can help people ride longer.
"Technology has absolutely equalized the disability, as far as in my life, for biking," he said.
Elsewhere in Weber County, Eden Valley Trails is building a new mountain bike track at North Fork Park. Wearing an orange sun hoodie pulled up over his baseball cap, Justin Lindine raked rocks under the late summer sun.
Making a route good for standard and adaptive bikes isn't mutually exclusive, he said.
"Whether it's a flowy trail or a technical trail, it doesn't super matter as long as you have your mind on both goals."
Wider trails make it easier for search and rescue crews to get somebody out. Riders also have more space to pass each other. And they hold up better over time, Lindine said.
"It gives you the room to allow drainage properly and also to have machinery come in, whether it's weed eaters or a brush hog or something, and maintain the trail in the future," he said.
While there are no official guidelines for how to build adaptive-friendly trails, some organizations like the Kootenay Adaptive Sport Association in Canada have developed their own. But Eden Valley Trails opts instead for clear communication. They consider how different bikes will handle the terrain as they build and post details about finished trails online so riders know what to expect.
Trails should be fun and challenging, said Eden Valley Trails Executive Director Alan Wheelwright. They should also be open to people of all skill levels and abilities.
"A good adaptive trail is good for everyone," he said.
Macy Lipkin is a Report for America corps member who reports for KUER in northern Utah.
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