Local Mountain Bike Rides & Maps
The following mapping effort couldn't have been conceived without those who first paved the way for us with their (literal and metaphorical) rakes in hand and backs-a-achin. Thanks to all who continue to support mountain biking: The Lopper Wielders, Bike Advocates, Town-Meeting-Sitter-Throughers, Petition Signers (the good kind), Frame Builders, Wheel Truers, GPS Users, Trail Blazers, Google Earthers, Flat Earthers, Melvins, Woodchucks, Wannabes, Adult Male Supporters, Tokers, Uncle Todds, Harmonious Voices in the Maelstrom, and of course, the Riders (most likely you).
This page is dedicated to Rob Douglas, one of those voices.
Trails Within 45 minutes of the shop
First here are a bunch of trails that are all within 45 minutes of the shop. This is not meant to be a complete list of the trails in the Upper Valley, but it is a big chunk of the trails that no one will get upset if we tell you about them. If you know of some others that we should add, or see some inaccurate info, please let us know.
Pinnacle Trails
The Pinnacle is one of the most well developed Mountain biking areas in the Upper valley, with signs and everything. The top of the Pinnacle is over 1300 (Coit Summit is 1590 ft) feet so there is some pretty good vertical. This link takes you the Team Pinnacle's web site which has lots of pics, a very good map, as well as all the info for the various races in the area.
http://www.team-pinnacle.org/pinnacle.php
Moody Park
This Town park in Claremont has a bunch of good mountain bike trails stuffed into it. A X-C race is held there each year as well. This is not an all day ride area but it makes a great after work ride. Good technical terrain. There is not tons of vertical but a couple of fun downhills. Here is a PDF telling about the park and has a map:
http://www.claremontnh.com/pdf/MoodyPark.pdf
S.T.A.B. Trails
The STAB club has done a ton of work in the Windsor and Brownsville area to develop and maintain legal mountain biking trails. A number of their trails are featured in the VT 50 race. This is a pretty big network, great trails with lots of up and down. Info about the club and trails are here:
http://www.stabvt.org/
Paradise park
Another cool area in Windsor, not too big or too steep, but a good set of trails. Map here:
http://windsorparadisepark.pbworks.com/w/page/15199226/Trail-Map
Cornish Town forest
The Cornish Town Forest is laced with 8 miles
of superbly-designed singletrack. Almost all the riding here has
a very robust technical flavor that is best appreciated with
your pinky out. Solid balance and good bike handling skills will
help. The network has been carefully laid out with Vedder-
approved Evenflow and each of the trails is blazed
consistently with its designated color. If you enjoy slow,
technical riding with lots of natural rock obstacles, this is
your rock Garden of Eden.
French's Ledges
This area behind the Plainfield school features 10K of groomed XC trails in the winter, plus an abandoned alpine ski area, so this place has it going on all year around. Besides the XC trails there is a bunch of singletrack with quite a bit of vertical for a modest footprint so there are some very fine downhills. Parking is at the Plainfield school and a map is here:
http://www.plainfieldnh.org/recreation.html
Boston Lot
This is one of the biggest areas size wise in the upper valley, but unfortunately has significant land use issues. Some of the land is owned by Dartmouth College, some by Lebanon, and some is private, and there are different land use zones as well. Some trails are marked as OK for Bikes, some are marked Not OK for bikes and a bunch of trails have no markings. UVMBA and others are involved in getting a responsible land use plan for bikes in place but as of now there is not an official map of legal Mountain biking trails in this area. So, keep your wheels off the "no bikes" trails and have fun exploring as there are a number of great legit trails. The trail entrance we usually use from the shop is the "nature Walk" entrance across from the Cemetery on Pine Tree Cemetery road but there are other entrances at the trail head at Hitchcock, and at the Wilder Dam (NH side). Call or stop by for more details.
Oak Hill
From the Dartmouth Outing Club website: "Oak Hill is the site of the majority of Dartmouth's cross country ski trails. The Outdoor Programs Office promotes its use for mountain biking. These trails have been widened for skate-skiing and are mowed every fall. There is an almost complete absence of technical riding here, except if you attack the S-turns on a couple of the descents with enough speed. Watch out for compacted clay in the middle of trails which gets slippery when wet..." Visit the link below for more info.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~doc/mountainbiking/oakhill/
Some popular trail between 1 and 2 hours away
Everybody has heard of the Kingdom trails by now, it's around 1:15 from the shop up in East Burke and deserves its reputation as a top notch place to ride. Many miles of great flowy singletrack, lots of vertical and great views.
http://www.kingdomtrails.com/
Millstone Trails in Barre Now with 70 miles of trails, the word is starting to get around about this great area. Memberships are very inexpensive with scenery like nowhere else. Check out more info here:
http://millstonetrails.com/home/
Pine Hill Park I have heard more people talking about this place than anywhere else this season. It's great for less confident riders to have a good time, and is probably the most sculpted riding around.
http://www.pinehillpark.org/php/Pine_Hill_Park_Welcome.html
Lift Service areas withen 2 hours
Killington
They have had lift service mountain biking for many years, there's nothing like doing 2000ft vertical runs till your arms fall off. Downhilling is hard work. There are a great number of XC trails there as well. You don't need a downhill bike to tackle the lift serve biking, but it's a lot more fun with at least a dual suspension "trail bike" with an "all mountain" ride being better. These are for the most part not highly developed trails like at Highland, it's just old school goodness. Super fun if you have a good dual suspension bike and some riding experience other wise not so much.
http://www.killington.com/summer/index.html
Highland
This lift serve area is open for biking only, they are closed in winter. Highland is just a few years old but is already world famous as it hosts international events like the Claymore Challenge. Although they have regular style singletrack trails down the mountain, they are more known for their sculpted or built up trails with huge berms, jumps, and bridges. This is not a wonderful place to bring your brand new to mountain biking friend but a great match for your all mountain or Free ride bike.
http://highlandmountain.com/