Pennsylvania has a reputation among mountain bikers as a place with too many rocks and not enough elevation. The Keystone State’s bitterly cold winters and brutally humid summers compound its roughhewn reputation, but resident riders happily embrace these realities and passionate communities are scattered throughout the state. One of the most devoted of these is in Berks County, roughly an hour’s drive northwest of Philadelphia.

Bookended by the Appalachian Mountains to the north and the foothills of the Reading Prong to the south, the 866-square-mile county is home to more than half a million people. The county seat and major population center is the small city of Reading, which has long been the area’s epicenter of mountain biking. The hills surrounding the town are laced with trails, some of which have been around for decades. For years, events such as the Duryea Downhill—a short but demanding race from the top of Mount Penn all the way into town—have defined the community. Some of the country’s preeminent downhill racers cut their teeth here, most notably World Cup standout and Reading native, Neko Mulallay.

Mount Penn, whose apex sits at 1,120 feet above sea level, boasts several of the state’s most beloved descents. The technical, rock-strewn terrain is filled with big hits, making it a gravity-fueled playground as well as a proving ground for up-and-coming talent. Manufacturing accounts for more than 20 percent of the jobs in Berks County, and the area’s blue-collar sensibilities bleed into the mountain biking scene with a fast, rough and no-frills heritage that spans decades. Much of the Reading area’s success can be chalked up to the stewardship of the Berks Area Mountain Bike Association (BAMBA), whose efforts have evolved from trailbuilding and maintenance to ride clinics and youth-oriented mountain bike initiatives. Their leadership even led to Reading being awarded a bronze-level ride center designation by the International Mountain Bicycling Association in 2015.

Not far from Mount Penn, the Neversink Mountain Preserve offers a bit of everything including loamy dirt, technical rock sections and a host of challenging climbs. To the northwest of Reading, the forested hillsides surrounding Blue Marsh Lake feature 36 miles of multi-use trails. But one of the area’s crown jewels of riding is the Birdsboro Preserve, a haven of mountain-bike-specific singletrack about eight miles southeast of Reading near the Borough of Birdsboro, home to just more than 5,000 people. The preserve is part of the Hopewell Big Woods, which stretches across 73,000 acres of hilly terrain and is the largest unbroken forest remaining in southeastern Pennsylvania.