Photo: Photos By Sarahbeth Maney / Special To The Chronicle Photo: Sarahbeth Maney / Special To The Chronicle Photo: Sarahbeth Maney / Special To The Chronicle Photo: Sarahbeth Maney / Special To The Chronicle Photo: Sarahbeth Maney / Special To The Chronicle Photo: Sarahbeth Maney / Special To The Chronicle

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Brian Sindt has had a direct hand in just about every inch of the nearly 100 miles of mountain biking trails surrounding Redding. He has spent the past 13 years mapping, navigating federal land management agencies and physically building trails in the open space around the town, which is quickly becoming a hub of the growing sport.

But Sindt doesn’t like to talk about it. “I’m not much of a promoter. I just like to go build stuff,” he says. That stuff is some of the most varied mountain bike terrain accessible to the after-work crowd in the West Coast.

Redding’s connection to mountain biking dates back as early as 1981, with the Whiskeytown Downhill — a 36-mile competition believed to be the country’s first organized mountain biking race.

While there are better technical steep downhill trails north in Mount Shasta and further north in Ashland, Ore., both of those scenes lean toward intermediate and advanced downhillers. Redding, however, has something for everyone.

“We are truly a world-class mountain biking destination,” says Redding City Council member Brent Weaver, the former mayor of Redding and an avid mountain biker. “We have a huge segment of beginner rides, a ton of intermediate rides spread around our 61 square miles, and a dozen two- to five-thousand-foot elevation climbs that will kill you — if that is what you want.”

The variety of quality trails is the result of a triad of a blank slate, plentiful financial resources and supportive city officials. When Sindt started working on trails, in 2005, he was looking at ones cobbled together piecemeal on old logging roads. “If you weren’t already at least a good intermediate rider, you almost couldn’t get started,” he says. “So the first 40 miles we built, any beginner could ride on.”

On top of an open canvas of trails to start from, Redding has a lot of real estate to work with. It is about 15 square miles larger than San Francisco with about a tenth of the population — not to mention that it is the largest city within 150 miles in any direction. Sindt has worked for the McConnell Foundation, which funds projects in the far north of California and has been on board to grow the trail system financially since Sindt started his work.

But the 100 miles of trails for years went largely unpromoted, and getting riders on the trails has been challenging. That’s something Weaver has wanted to change while in office. Last year, he created the Mayor’s Mountain Bike Challenge, a weeklong event in which riders check off trails they complete via a Disneyland-style passport. There are five trails in each category —beginner, intermediate and advanced — and prizes for completing your category as well as the entire challenge.

The challenge, as well as a mountain bike specific marketing push from Visit Redding, appears to be working. Last year, participants in Weaver’s event logged 18,969 miles with 1,778,445 feet climbed. Both trail miles and number of participants are growing.

“A few years ago, I feel like I knew just about everybody in town who mountain-biked because I have been riding for so long,” says Redding Trail Alliance Executive Director Nathan Knudsen. “Now I am on the trail and I come across people and there are always people that I don’t recognize, which is great. The trails aren’t crowded here by any means. You can still go out and maybe run across one person.”

“Most of our motivation was to give people a place to recreate, live a better life and be healthier,” Sindt says. “Mountain biking kind of turned into something bigger than that because people were so excited about it. Then it became a part of Redding.”

Enter your flow state

If you’re interested in dipping a toe into the local mountain biking scene, check out these three trails around Redding.

The Snail Trail

1.6 miles, single track

A continuous mile of ample berms and small, low-commitment jumps make the Snail Trail the type of low-stress descent that even beginners can open up on. The 732-foot descent is steep enough to keep most riders’ blood pumping without having to ride their brakes. The trail, located in Swasey Recreation Area southwest of Redding, starts at Black Bear Pass and links back with Mule Mountain Trail. www.mtbproject.com/trail/7009600/snail-trail

French Fry Trail

6.1 miles, single track

A mixture of technical rock gardens, tough but thankfully short climbs, and speedy single track make French Fry the type of trail that can make three completely different styles of riders happy. The 6.1-mile trail, on a Bureau of Land Management tract in Whiskeytown, starts just north of the intersection of Highway 299 and Middle Creek Road; access it from the Old Shasta transfer station. Bring intermediate skills, and make sure to take the rock gardens slow on your first descent. www.mtbproject.com/trail/7022265/french-fry-trail

Enticer Jump

5,180 feet, single track

At just a year old, the Enticer is the newest mountain bike trail created by the Redding Trail Alliance. The expert-level trail is filled with big berms, drops and jumps. It was named both for its intended purpose (to entice riders from other parts of the country to come to Redding) and as an homage to Canadian snowmobiler Larry Enticer, who quipped, before riding the trail, “Are you silly? You know I am gonna send it,” in a YouTube video that has been viewed more than 7.5 million times. The trail is less than a mile long, but be warned: This trail’s black diamond rating is well deserved with massive park-style jumps, berms and rollers that even advanced riders should scout before committing to. www.trailforks.com/trails/enticer-jump

Joe Jackson is a freelance writer in Southern Oregon. Email: travel@sfchronicle.com