By Alan Cote

You won’t cover as much ground as you would on pavement. And no, there may not be a quaint little inn at the end of the day’s ride. But that’s it for the drawbacks of touring on a mountain bike. The advantages? Read on: We’re content to let our picks for the world’s best rides do the talking for us.

1. Slickrock Trail, Utah, U.S.A.
For any off-road rider, Moab’s singular challenge is an essential right of passage. Slickrock is nothing more than a series of white dots painted onto a huge expanse of solid sandstone, but it’s also hallowed ground, featuring some of the most legendary--and legendarily steep--mountain-bike terrain in the world. Contrary to its name, the smooth surface actually provides superb traction, so conquering the countless climbs and drop-offs is a matter of pure skill, strength, and nerve.

2. King’s Trail, Grand Paradiso National Park, Italy.
In the shadow of the Alps’ grandest peaks, Mount Blanc and the Matterhorn, this park was once the private hunting grounds of King Vittorio Emanuele II, who sent his minions to carve a trail into the mountains so he could build a lofty lodge. Now mountain bikers revel in the switchbacks left behind, covering 34 miles and nearly 4,000 vertical feet.

3. Big Boulder Ride, California, U.S.A.
By definition, most of the world’s best off-road rides are in the middle of nowhere. Case in point: the Big Boulder, which starts from the tiny gold-rush mining town of Downieville, hidden in the Tahoe National Forest four hours northeast of San Francisco. The 22-mile loop through endless evergreen forests includes more than 7,000 feet of climbing, but the payoff is the two-hour streamside singletrack descent that brings the ride back home.

4. Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda.
On safari…via mountain bike. The QE is a 60-mile-long swath of grasslands and water-filled cinder cones that runs along Lake Edwards on Uganda’s border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Pedal the park’s dirt roads amid hippos, elephants, impalas, warthogs, and even lions--the last being why it’s best to ride midday, when the cats are resting.

5. Deer Trail, Colorado, U.S.A.
Take a ski town, place it at the end of a 30-mile box canyon, and sprinkle in a maze of abandoned mining roads and trails. Then spice with fields of lupine, Indian paintbrush, and quaking aspens. The classic route through this singletrack Valhalla, otherwise known as Crested Butte, is the Deer Trail, which winds high into the surrounding mountains. If the view of craggy Rocky peaks doesn’t make you gasp, the thin air above 10,000 feet surely will.

6. Kettle Valley Railbed, Canada.
For those who want a full-on backcountry experience without bruising climbs or tricky singletrack, this is the place. The trail follows an abandoned 350-mile railway built through the rugged mountains of British Columbia at the turn of the century to transport minerals to the coast. Its highlight is the section through Myra Canyon, complete with 18 trestles, two tunnels (still maintained and passable), and grades that max out at a gentle 3 percent.

7. Gauley Headwaters Trail, West Virginia, U.S.A.
Appalachia has all the key ingredients for off-road riding: deep woods, high hills, and trails galore. The crème de la crème is the Gauley Headwaters, which snakes 30 miles and 5,000 vertical feet through the Allegheny Mountains in Monongahela National Forest. Advanced riders will revel in the root- and rock-covered singletrack, set in hardwood forests and dense thickets of rhododendron.

8. North Face of the Eiger, Switzerland.
No, we’re not suggesting you bike up the 5,000-foot face that Clint Eastwood (or at least Clint Eastwood’s double) clung to in The Eiger Sanction. Rather, we’re talking about a sweet-and-much-lower-down tour that includes a combination of singletrack and old farm roads that wind around the north side of this majestic 13,000-foot peak. Base yourself out of Murren, a quintessential Swiss village that happens to be automobile-free (it’s accessible only by cable car).

9. Centennial Trail, South Dakota, U.S.A.
This 111-mile route is like riding through a Western movie, complete with buttes, prairie, caves, bison, and countless other Western icons. The terrain varies from tame to burly, with a favorite for technical riding being the stretch through Custer State Park.

10. Route of the Conquistadors, Costa Rica.
Where they pillaged and plundered, you grunt and sweat. The 270-mile trail crosses the spine of the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific--meaning a climb from sea level to more than 10,000 feet and back again--through a constantly changing landscape that ranges from barren lava fields to lush rainforest. It’s an experience neither you nor your quadriceps are likely to forget.

Alan Cote is bike obsessed. Aside from being a competitive cyclist, he is a regular contributor to a number of national cycling publications, as well as Outside magazine.