# How far do you drive to Mountain Bike areas?



## RootDKJ (May 3, 2009)

What's your drive time to your "home" area?

What's the max drive time you would take for a day trip?

I can get to Lewis Morris or Chimney Rock in about 25 minutes.  I'm thinking about taking a day trip into the Catskills when the weather gets warmer.


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## boston_e (May 3, 2009)

Less than 10 minutes on the bike to one "Home" area... although it is not great (mostly fire road and carriage path) ... so I would say less than 30 mintues to a couple of "co-home" areas.

Max time for a day trip for me is probablly an hour.

I'd do longer for a weekend trip.


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## icedtea (May 4, 2009)

I can ride my bike to Allaire! Takes about 15 mins or so.


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## Greg (May 4, 2009)

Lots of good riding nearby. Nassahegan is my "home" area and 20 minutes away. Nepaug is 25, the West Hartford Reservoir is about 40. From work, I can get to Tyler Mill in 20 minutes and Brooksvale looks to be about 30. Would like to try Case or maybe Trumbull this year too. Case is probably an hour and Trumbull's probably 45-50 minutes. Those would be the longest day trips.


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## gorgonzola (May 4, 2009)

were pretty lucky in the lehigh valley, within 1/2 hour we've got salsbury, jordan, south mountains bethlehem-lehigh and emmaus, bear creek, jacobsburg  - and jim thorpe just outside of that. i'm within 10 mins of the first few and can even bike from home and jordan and south mountain emmaus are between work and home...root come on out one day for a tour!


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## bvibert (May 4, 2009)

I can get to Nassahegan in about 20 minutes, same with Nepaug.  The closest local area is about 10 minutes away, but it's all fire roads/double track type riding.  It's good for quick solo ride or a ride with my wife, I also did a few night rides there last year on my way home from work.  I'll travel about an hour or so a few times a season, but I mostly stay local.  Part of the appeal of MTB (for me anyway) is that I can bang out a satisfying ride in a relatively short amount of time so I still have time to spend with the family.


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## Grassi21 (May 4, 2009)

Nass is my usual spot with the boys.  It takes about 40 min.  I have the Where's Waldo trail about 5 minutes from the house.  Lot's of new areas to try this season all over CT.


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## from_the_NEK (May 4, 2009)

I can ride right out my back door for access to roughly 4-5 miles of trails. Otherwise, the Kingdom Trails are about 7 minutes away.


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## RootDKJ (May 4, 2009)

from_the_NEK said:


> I can ride right out my back door for access to roughly 4-5 miles of trails. Otherwise, the Kingdom Trails are about 7 minutes away.


I was looking at KT last night.  Seems like a really cool area.

I should add, that I _could_ ride to Watchung Reservation from my house in a few minutes, but some dumb-ass politician out-lawed biking there because bikes do more damage to the trails.  Horseback riding on the trails doesn't wear them down at all though. :angry:


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## RootDKJ (May 4, 2009)

gorgonzola said:


> were pretty lucky in the lehigh valley, within 1/2 hour we've got salsbury, jordan, south mountains bethlehem-lehigh and emmaus, bear creek, jacobsburg  - and jim thorpe just outside of that. i'm within 10 mins of the first few and can even bike from home and jordan and south mountain emmaus are between work and home...root come on out one day for a tour!



I think I might be coming out for this: http://www.skibluemt.com/SkiBlue/special-events/fathers-day-carcruise-picnic.aspx

The the paper in the season pass mailing mentions a BBQ cook-off, but I don't see that on the website.  If they are doing a cook-off, I'm in.


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## BigJay (May 4, 2009)

I'm currently building a small loop on the land around my house... 1-2 mile loop... so that will be very close... private type of loop tough...

I'm 7 miles from the trails in Jay, VT... and i have to get across to Montgomery (add 15min) for more...

KT is about 45mins away... but rarely make the drive anymore... Stowe has lots to offer for only 15 more minutes of driving then KT... I don't mind driving an hour to get to some great riding...

If i have to drive more then that, i'll bring a tent and camp overnight...


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## Gremf (May 4, 2009)

Closest trail head for me is 1/2 mile from the house with only 1000 feet of hard ball to get there.  Rest is a dirt road.  There is some open space that abuts my property and my neighbor has offered his to build a kid friendly, XC ski loop, that could hook into more open space up the hill.

Otherwise, 15 minutes from the house there is Collis P Huntington SP, Bennetts Pond, Sunny Valley, Lower Paugussett (tech city).


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## RENO (May 5, 2009)

RootDKJ said:


> I was looking at KT last night.  Seems like a really cool area.
> 
> I should add, that I _could_ ride to Watchung Reservation from my house in a few minutes, but some dumb-ass politician out-lawed biking there because bikes do more damage to the trails.  Horseback riding on the trails doesn't wear them down at all though. :angry:



Gotta love A-hole politicians and other people with an agenda. I work pretty far from home near Valley Forge Park and almost all the dirt trails in the park and around it have been closed to bikes, but horses on them are ok? Used to be a lot of trails that were really fun to ride when I first started here years ago. We have a long railtrail behind my company which is ok to walk on at lunch, but I don't even bring my bike to work anymore since most of the good trails are closed. One of my favorite places to go is Jim Thorpe and the same stuff is happening up there with many miles of trails closed in the last few years. Gotta join IMBA so we can fight some of these people. I just joined. Been a while since I was a member and decided to join again and hopefully stop some of these trail closures. Maybe a futile effort, but you never know. Worth a try...
http://www.imba.com/membership/index.html 

I have a park that's about 2 miles away(Veteran's Park). It has a few miles of trails that are pretty nice, but nothing big. Just nice to hop on the bike and be there in a few minutes. Another one (Mercer County Park) about 10 miles away with tons of singletrack around a big lake. Lot of fun. Nothing too tough and it's very uncrowded on the dirt trails as 99% of the people that go there just hang on the paved paths. Another park (Clayton Park) about 13 miles drive which is very uncrowded also and has a lot of rollercoaster like trails and is pretty much a mountain bike park as 75% of the people that go there are bikers. Fun trails. Tougher than Mercer. Surrounded by horse farms.


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## RENO (May 5, 2009)

from_the_NEK said:


> I can ride right out my back door for access to roughly 4-5 miles of trails. Otherwise, the Kingdom Trails are about 7 minutes away.



Gonna be hitting up the Kingdom Trails this summer hopefully. Now that is an awesome backyard you have! :smile:


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## Johnskiismore (May 5, 2009)

I can access 'my' trails within minutes from my front door!  I'm lucky


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## BigJay (May 5, 2009)

RENO said:


> Gotta join IMBA so we can fight some of these people. I just joined. Been a while since I was a member and decided to join again and hopefully stop some of these trail closures. Maybe a futile effort, but you never know. Worth a try...
> http://www.imba.com/membership/index.html



IMBA won't bring back access to closed trails...

IMBA will support the local advocacy chapter who will then support the local bike club. And support can be a lot of things. I don't know what's the advocacy roles of the groups in your area... In Vermont, VMBA is doing a great job on the political side of things. This week their holding a seminar aimed at ski resorts and municipalities that want to know more about mountain biking. This seminar normally brings-in the politician... The governor of Vermont came to visit and saw lots of representative of a bunch of different background... and as a governor saw the economical impact that mountain biking can have on a state...

I work for the Quebec advocacy group (ADSVMQ.org). We're IMBA in Quebec... We're affiliated with IMBA Canada... We have bike clubs in many regions of Quebec. We help clubs with different issues and with trail development and maintenance. We also work with towns and mountain biking destinations... but a lot of the work is to develop new opportunities for mountain biking in the province... and no matter how much someone wants to put in a trail, you have to make sure that you'll have local users who will benefit from the trail... if you don't have that, you don't have a sustainable project.

Joining IMBA is great for mountain biking on the nationnal level, but joining your local bike club and standing up to help is even better! Ask how you can help. There is probably already someone working on that area and you can link up!


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## RootDKJ (May 6, 2009)

RENO said:


> Gotta love A-hole politicians and other people with an agenda. I work pretty far from home near Valley Forge Park and almost all the dirt trails in the park and around it have been closed to bikes, but horses on them are ok? Used to be a lot of trails that were really fun to ride when I first started here years ago. We have a long railtrail behind my company which is ok to walk on at lunch, but I don't even bring my bike to work anymore since most of the good trails are closed. One of my favorite places to go is Jim Thorpe and the same stuff is happening up there with many miles of trails closed in the last few years. Gotta join IMBA so we can fight some of these people. I just joined. Been a while since I was a member and decided to join again and hopefully stop some of these trail closures. Maybe a futile effort, but you never know. Worth a try...
> http://www.imba.com/membership/index.html
> 
> I have a park that's about 2 miles away(Veteran's Park). It has a few miles of trails that are pretty nice, but nothing big. Just nice to hop on the bike and be there in a few minutes. Another one (Mercer County Park) about 10 miles away with tons of singletrack around a big lake. Lot of fun. Nothing too tough and it's very uncrowded on the dirt trails as 99% of the people that go there just hang on the paved paths. Another park (Clayton Park) about 13 miles drive which is very uncrowded also and has a lot of rollercoaster like trails and is pretty much a mountain bike park as 75% of the people that go there are bikers. Fun trails. Tougher than Mercer. Surrounded by horse farms.


I was in East Windsor today.  Even had the bike in the car.

Damn rain.


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## kingdom-tele (May 6, 2009)

during the week ride the backyard trails, good for 30-40 minutes of fun, but as the bridges get finished it gets more challenging

weekend I am 9 miles from jay

50 from KT - but that is only sunday afternoons usually

this year will drive to barre to ride millstone - 

oddly enough this is also about how far I drive to ski


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## icedtea (May 6, 2009)

RootDKJ said:


> I was in East Windsor today.  Even had the bike in the car.
> 
> Damn rain.




Been to Mercer County Park before. I used to play soccer there a lot back in the day. Trails are pretty fun too.


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## Talisman (May 6, 2009)

I'm ~35 minutes from Arcadia, `35 minutes from Big River, ~35 minutes from Pachaug, ~15 minutes from Bluff Pt/Haley Farm by car.  I can ride 2 minutes on pavement and be in the woods on a ~17 mile loop of fire roads, deer paths and trails.

I'm always surprised by how far people will drive to mtn bike, when there is frequently really good places to ride close by.


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## RENO (May 6, 2009)

Let me know if you guys will be in the area again and maybe we can meet up at Mercer for some riding. I also plan on hitting Allaire. Hopefully this weekend I'll have a full susp bike after going to the bike swap this Saturday. If not, I still got my trusty hardtail. Gotta get that thing cleaned up and tuned. Damn rain!!!!!!!


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## RootDKJ (May 6, 2009)

RENO said:


> Let me know if you guys will be in the area again and maybe we can meet up at Mercer for some riding. I also plan on hitting Allaire. Hopefully this weekend I'll have a full susp bike after going to the bike swap this Saturday. If not, I still got my trusty hardtail. Gotta get that thing cleaned up and tuned. Damn rain!!!!!!!


I'm down in EW about once a month for meetings so next time if the weather is looking good I will.

I really want to go ride Lewis Morris after work today, but man that was a lot of rain last night.


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## Greg (May 6, 2009)

Talisman said:


> I'm always surprised by how far people will drive to mtn bike, when there is frequently really good places to ride close by.



I wish that was the case for me. There's really nothing closer than Nassahegan which again is 20 minutes away, by car. Seems like there is a lot of areas of land that could be good for MTB nearby, just no trail networks that I know of. I wish I had something that I could ride to from the house.


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## STREETSKIER (May 7, 2009)

*vt mtb*

HI EVERONE  ,i live in central vt,lots of riding nearby.i can access a latge network of singletrack its right out my door about 5 min drive (to to avoid riding on road)to most trailheads.other locations  i hit  are about half hour drive like putnam,hinesburg,45 min to stowe . travel on weekends further to spots like felchville,kingdom  about two hrs  there are so many spots within that  distance.once in a while ill go to mass. to ride  nam,otis ,tot and even dogtown  mmm  ipswich clams    if  you make up my way  id gladly take you on a tour !!ive been out three times this  week . (just stopped snosliding)   anyway  heres a shot or two from  yesterdays chit sic buff pretty dry  not too buggy  yet. sorry  for  my  grammar etc.  im too busy  riding and sliding  !!!   (dig) who's james joyce ,
 does he shred the nar??


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## BigJay (May 7, 2009)

STREETSKIER said:


> HI EVERONE  ,i live in central vt,lots of riding nearby.i can access a latge network of singletrack its right out my door about 5 min drive (to to avoid riding on road)to most trailheads.other locations  i hit  are about half hour drive like putnam,hinesburg,45 min to stowe . travel on weekends further to spots like felchville,kingdom  about two hrs  there are so many spots within that  distance.once in a while ill go to mass. to ride  nam,otis ,tot and even dogtown  mmm  ipswich clams    if  you make up my way  id gladly take you on a tour !!ive been out three times this  week . (just stopped snosliding)   anyway  heres a shot or two from  yesterdays chit sic buff pretty dry  not too buggy  yet. sorry  for  my  grammar etc.  im too busy  riding and sliding  !!!   (dig) who's james joyce ,
> does he shred the nar??



You should come up north... there is lots of riding up and around Jay and Montgomery worth checking out.

I loved it in your area last year... Trails were a lot of fun... and we avoided the flood going on in Stowe that forced them to close their trails!


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## RootDKJ (May 7, 2009)

STREETSKIER said:


> HI EVERONE ,i live in central vt,lots of riding nearby.i can access a latge network of singletrack its right out my door about 5 min drive (to to avoid riding on road)to most trailheads.other locations i hit are about half hour drive like putnam,hinesburg,45 min to stowe . travel on weekends further to spots like felchville,kingdom about two hrs there are so many spots within that distance.once in a while ill go to mass. to ride nam,otis ,tot and even dogtown mmm ipswich clams if you make up my way id gladly take you on a tour !!ive been out three times this week . (just stopped snosliding) anyway heres a shot or two from yesterdays chit sic buff pretty dry not too buggy yet. sorry for my grammar etc. im too busy riding and sliding !!! (dig) who's james joyce ,
> does he shred the nar??


Looks like some good riding!


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