# MTB from the house



## Greg (May 8, 2009)

Do you have good MTB trails accessible directly from your house? How much road till you get there? How big is the trail network? Post pics of your local riding spots too.


----------



## JD (May 8, 2009)

1200 acres of land with a well developed network of double track, and several DH trails...plus a few xc type singletracks....growing every day...
Bridge at the top of doyon...a nice high speed descent down an old road bed after some misty singletrack.





Brown ribbon growin out of the old ski area...




and some ski area stuff that you can tie into....working on connecting the good stuff with some nicer singletrack...right now the good sections are connected with crappy fall line, eroded trail....but the potential is huge for this area...and I heard Norwich just got a grant to develope a trail network.  Up until now it's all been geurilla...


----------



## deadheadskier (May 8, 2009)

That you dropping that huge bridge drop at the beginning and end?


----------



## JD (May 8, 2009)

No, that's all some kids from the college...it's a fun drop though.  Pretty non technical to a good transition....also very fun on skis...


----------



## RootDKJ (May 8, 2009)

I could poach a ride from my house.  It's about 1/2 mile on road to the Watchung reservation.

_HOWEVER, _I'd be riding illeagly, as the biking on the trails is not allowed (and there are signs posted)


----------



## JD (May 8, 2009)

RootDKJ said:


> I could poach a ride from my house.  It's about 1/2 mile on road to the Watchung reservation.
> 
> _HOWEVER, _I'd be riding illeagly, as the biking on the trails is not allowed (and there are signs posted)



One of the places I learned to ride..my friend had a duck stick his neck thru his spokes on the pond loop....funniest crash ever...not for the duck.


----------



## GrilledSteezeSandwich (May 8, 2009)

I live in a city..but you could ride a couple miles of city streets to get to a 500 vertical foot mountain(south mountain) to ride..that's one of the places Gorganzola likes to go..


----------



## MR. evil (May 8, 2009)

Below is a link to a thread whee I posted some pics of my 'back yard trail.
http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=332602

The trail head that I now start from is less than 1/8 of a mile from my house, could even be closer. It takes me a couple of minutes from my driveway to the trail head. This trail is part of the Netcomet trail and I could actually ride it from my house to Pennwood or the WestHartford Rez with several road crossings. Typically I do an out and back ride from my house to Rt57 which is about 8 or 9 miles. The next time I get out there I will take some more pics.


----------



## RootDKJ (May 8, 2009)

JD said:


> One of the places I learned to ride..my friend had a duck stick his neck thru his spokes on the pond loop....funniest crash ever...not for the duck.


 I lol'd when I read that.

I've done some riding there, but not much, and only after work.  Too many people there on the weekends....and county cops


----------



## Greg (May 8, 2009)

MR. evil said:


> Below is a link to a thread whee I posted some pics of my 'back yard trail.
> http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=332602
> 
> The trail head that I now start from is less than 1/8 of a mile from my house, could even be closer. It takes me a couple of minutes from my driveway to the trail head. This trail is part of the Netcomet trail and I could actually ride it from my house to Pennwood or the WestHartford Rez with several road crossings. Typically I do an out and back ride from my house to Rt57 which is about 8 or 9 miles. The next time I get out there I will take some more pics.



I wish I had something like that. The search continues....


----------



## marcski (May 8, 2009)

This helmetcam video is awful in quality but you can get a little bit of an idea about our local trails.   It's about 3/4 of a mile or so up hill and I'm there.  Not sure of the acreage..not huge, but we have trails to keep you occupied for about 2 hours before you have to ride them in reverse.  If we're going to be riding longer than an hour and a half we'll travel about 20 mins and hit some bigger places.  



P.S. the video originally had Jungle Boogie as the sound track but Youtube nixed it so I added the Berlioz march!


----------



## Talisman (May 8, 2009)

I can ride ~2 minutes on paved road and be on trails through ~900 acres of upland, swamp and a few fields.  The trails form roughly 16 mile loops with out too much cross over.  In the fall the area crawls with hunters, but that's OK in the Sprinf and Summer it is an exclusive domain of a only a few bikers, hikers and horses.


----------



## mlctvt (May 8, 2009)

There's a 400 acre wildlife preserve/Land trust land  only 400 yards from my house. You aren't "supposed" to ride mountain bikes in there but the trail system is just fantastic so I've been known to poach it. I can access hundreds of more acres of state land on the other side so I'll sometimes go through it to get back to the house.  Sorry no photos. 
I rarely see hikers but when I do,  I just pull over and let them walk by. Most are nice if you are too so I always say hello . One guy walking with his dog started giving me sh_t  so I told him he wasn't supposed to have dogs in there either. He shut up and walked on.


----------



## snoseek (May 8, 2009)

Obviously not New England but there is many many miles of excellent fast singletrack right from town. The hills are often huge climbs but car shuttling is an option for many of the rides.


----------



## from_the_NEK (May 15, 2009)

I have a 2.5 mile loop right out my back door (literally) that I have been slowly improving. There is a lot of potential on one of the planted pine hillsides (think Webs at the KTs but steeper and with small cliffs). I will have to get some pictures of this area once i finalize some lines.

Tunnel through the trees:










Tight squeeze between the rock and tree into a bridge:


----------



## WoodCore (May 15, 2009)

There's a few miles of unimproved trails that are ridable within a mile from my house over quiet residential streets. I beleive it's City/State owned property regardless, I may have to do a little stealth trail maintenance/cutting to improve the riding.


----------



## Greg (May 15, 2009)

Greg said:


> I wish I had something like that. The search continues....



I think I've determined that without some trail building, I don't have any out the door options. I might be able to build a small loop (maybe 2 miles) rideable right out the back door. Not sure who the land owners are, probably all private. Maybe a winter project. Too bad I'll be skiing.


----------



## JD (May 15, 2009)

Go to the town offices and look at the tax map...you will see all the parcels and can find out who owns them  My advice is look for the big parcels and try and get permission to build on one or two of them.  100 acres can be an hour of riding if you do it right.


----------



## powbmps (May 25, 2009)

I've always bitched about the lack of local riding.  I'm a moron.  Most of the old King Ridge ski area is now conservation land.  The main entrance is just beyond the end of my driveway.  Trails are named, but not enough (if any) traffic for defined single track.  Lots of climbing (typical around here) but some long downhill stretches.

This is a picture of the old Lobster-Quadrille trail.


----------



## bvibert (May 26, 2009)

What the hell is going on in that second picture?? 

You gotta get out there and define the ST yourself!  I'd kill to have the opportunity for ST right out of my driveway!


----------



## powbmps (May 26, 2009)

bvibert said:


> What the hell is going on in that second picture??
> 
> You gotta get out there and define the ST yourself!  I'd kill to have the opportunity for ST right out of my driveway!



I'm riding a 4,000' wheelie :wink:.  I just wish it wasn't such a bitch getting to the top.


----------



## bvibert (May 26, 2009)

powbmps said:


> I'm riding a 4,000' wheelie :wink:.  I just wish it wasn't such a bitch getting to the top.



Is that what you call it?  Looks like you're about to get violated by your seat.


----------



## Paul (May 26, 2009)

About 2 miles down the road is an entrance into the Meshomasic State Forest.

Awesome riding in there.

http://www.crankfire.com/trails/trail.php?trailid=18


----------



## MR. evil (May 26, 2009)

Paul said:


> About 2 miles down the road is an entrance into the Meshomasic State Forest.
> 
> Awesome riding in there.
> 
> http://www.crankfire.com/trails/trail.php?trailid=18



So when are you going to give us a tour?


----------



## Greg (May 26, 2009)

Paul said:


> About 2 miles down the road is an entrance into the Meshomasic State Forest.
> 
> Awesome riding in there.
> 
> http://www.crankfire.com/trails/trail.php?trailid=18



Wow. Lucky you!


----------



## Paul (May 26, 2009)

MR. evil said:


> So when are you going to give us a tour?



As soon as soccer season ends. I'll even sweeten the deal with some post-ride Schmokin' and grillin' and drinkin'


----------



## Paul (May 26, 2009)

Greg said:


> Wow. Lucky you!



Ah... just noticed you saw the TR :wink:


----------



## MR. evil (May 26, 2009)

Paul said:


> As soon as soccer season ends. I'll even sweeten the deal with some post-ride Schmokin' and grillin' and drinkin'



Just say when.


----------



## Greg (May 27, 2009)

Just based on the Crankfire tracks, that looks like an incredibly expansive trail network. There's likely a lot of other trails not yet tracked either. Is that all ST, Paul?


----------



## Paul (May 27, 2009)

Greg said:


> Just based on the Crankfire tracks, that looks like an incredibly expansive trail network. There's likely a lot of other trails not yet tracked either. Is that all ST, Paul?



There's a small network of fireroad, so no. But there are miles of ST, more than enough to keep you busy for a few years.

Here's a crappy MS Paint map I threw together. You can compare to what's on Crankfire, and what's on Crankfire is only a fraction of what's in there.


----------



## Greg (May 27, 2009)

Wow. You're a lucky guy to have that so close. Plan an early Sunday ride sometime. I'll head over.


----------



## o3jeff (May 27, 2009)

From where I am sitting right now I am about 2 miles from there and never knew the place existed. Will need to bring the bike to work and do a ride one of these afternoons.


----------



## MR. evil (May 27, 2009)

o3jeff said:


> From where I am sitting right now I am about 2 miles from there and never knew the place existed. Will need to bring the bike to work and do a ride one of these afternoons.



Thats not too far from my office. We will have to do a RAW there sometime. I will also look into finding a guide, I know a couple of people that live in the area that ride.


----------



## Greg (May 27, 2009)

I could be there most any weekday for a 4:30-ish RAW.


----------

