Philadelphia Mountain Biking Association - Forums

Ok all- this is not really wiss related but this seems to be a board with decent traffic so here goes....

Looking for a new place to ride, thats navigatable without a guide/local, withn 90 minutes of wiss.  Advanced riding only plse.
-wiss- no
-Ringwood and muchy are out.  to far.
-White clay and middle run...been there.
-Fair hill...dont know it well enough without a guide.
-Thorpe- bored and need a guide to get onto new booyah trails
-Round valley- boring
-French creek- bored/overidden

So that leaves where?
-neshammiany?  not sure thats where id go on my friday off

What about some places in Md?
What about locations in PA that im not familiar with.  I hear south mountain in emmaus is good but i also hear its pretty gnarly and requires a big hit bike.  true/false?

Basically- were looking for new day trips that are not 2 hour+ drives...

would like to see what we come up with.....

thanks.

j

I haven't ridden south mountain in a long time but we all used to ride it on hardtails with shitty forks (compared to today's standards)  yeah it was knarly but it's not extreme.  Other than that I'd say your best bet is to move to Utah or Colorado. That's my dream anyway....

Chimney Rock in Bridgewater NJ, about 1.5 hours away, it's small, about the size of Neshaminy, but from what I remember from few years ago, very technical and fun.

Sourland reservour (I think it's called) also in NJ, I can look it up if you want, also about the same distance and pretty technical.

also check out MTBNJ-directory (http://www.mtbnj.com/directory.php) for trail directory and MTBNJ-forum (http://www.mtbnj.com/forum/) if you want to ask questions about riding in NJ

I heard about Mount Penn that it's good, but never been there.

Blue Marsh  (http://trails.mtbr.com/cat/united-states-trails/trails-pennsylvania/trail/PRD_169922_4573crx.aspx) is a lot of fun.

just a few off top of my head.

Lots of other parks in DE/MD area, Iron Hill where the race will be this Saturday, etc...

forgot...blue marsh- been there many times, chimney and sourlands...nah...

where is Mt penn?  im also posting this in mtbr...yes...

Neshaminy will definitely cure your boredom for a bit. They have a 6 mile loop packed into about 1 square mile on a mountain side. You can go explore, but you may be happier with a guide as the loop has so many twists, turns and offshoots.

This map (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=117386519570370236015.00044d8411d58e6a88904&z=9) is far from complete but may offer some options; it's an early attempt to map the Philly area MTB locations.

What about Salisbury?

http://bikevmb.com/

Also some good riding in York Co., PA. Pushing your 90 minute requirement, but good trails none the less. Rocky Ridge is my favorite:

http://www.epgsoft.com/MBYork/index.html (http://www.epgsoft.com/MBYork/index.html)

You can check out Allaire State Park in Jersey.

Its about an hour away in Wall Township (just outside of Belmar on the Jersey Shore).  I rode there on Memorial Day weekend and had a pretty good time.  I rode with members of the local JORBA chapter, who do a lot of work on the trails there, and they were really cool people.

Go to MTBNJ.com and click on the forum for Allaire.  I guy by the name of gt2brew (his real name is Frank) will respond really fast and he'll probably even offer to take you out and show you the trails (which may be a good idea, since it is a bit tricky navigating through there). 

I know you ruled out Ringwood, but I've been there and liked it a lot.  The park is real big and offers a lot of options (just watch out bears). 

Just saw some video clips of "6 Mile" in NJ that looked like a lot of fun, should be within your 90 minute range (it's above Princeton).

I ride 6 mile fairly regularly, i don't think that it's worth the 90 minutes drive... After Wiss and Belmont you'd find it boring. It's sort of entertaining, but small and not terribly challenging. I go there with my son, good for 45 min to an hour for us, and we are not flying by any means...

dz

I don’t know much about the trails in NJ, but I know of a bunch west and south of here. If you’re willing to push the 2 hour limit you’ll have a lot more. 2.5-3 hours and you have so many more options. Most of these trails would be a nice challenge for your single speed 29er. Check out MORE, as they’re an extremely large Mt biking club that represents Md, DC, and Northern Va: www.more-mtb.org
I'll try to do these in a concise order:

Pa:
Brickerville/ Camp Mack, Lancaster County 1-1.5 hour drive
Mt. Gretna, Lebanon County (right off the turnpike), 1-1.5 hour drive
Rocky Ridge, York County (York, Pa), 1.5 hour drive
Lake Williams/Lake Redman, York County (York, Pa), 1.5 hour drive
Michaux, Adams County (Gettysburg), 2 hours, but worth it!!

Md:
Lock Raven, Baltimore County (around Towson University), 1.5 hours
Patapsco State Park, Ellicott City (South of Baltimore City) 2 hours, worth the drive!!!
Gambril, Frederick, Md, worth the drive for the climbing and rock gardens, 2.5-3 hours
Schaffer Farms, Seneca Creek(Germantown), Md, 2+ hours, Pure single track by mt bikers for mt bikers, 2.5-3 hours drive

Northern VA, (DC and west of DC):
Wakefield/ Lake Accotink, Fairfax, Va, 3 hours
Fountain Head, Fairfax County, VA, 3 hours drive
Difficult Run, Reston, VA, 3 hours drive
Great Falls, McLean, Va, 3 hours drive
MCB Quantico, Quantico, Va, 3+ hours drive

Did anyone mention Ralph Stover/High rocks. Within your limits. It's small but has a great technical loop.

Tom, great catch, I can't believe I forgot about it. That's the park I started riding in!

dz

I second this.  It's really close and it's a lot of fun.  Plenty of obstacles and bigger hits if you look for them and that's your thing.  Definitely easy to get turned around, but you won't get lost.  Jesse, Greg and I hit it a few weeks after the race there and had a great time!

mrtrostle is getting there.  others too.  i think we have enough now.  there are PLENTY of these places ive not been....

I didn't see a mention of Brandywine.. lot's of sweet riding there including some nice tight technical singletrack and wide open downhills.. You can ride for at least 1.5 to 2 hours and I'd say close to 15-20 miles if you did it all.   Although you would probably need to have someone that knows a good loop and all the turns.  It's 45 min drive from Philly max. 


There are also some sweet trails in Downingtown, PA -  Haven't done it this year but there used to be a group ride every Wed night at 6pm that met around the corner from the Wawa.   I couldn't tell you the exact loop but I can tell you they were awesome trails..  Plus everyone usually went to Victory Brewery afterwords which was SWEEEET!!   I remember hearing there was controversy about them closing the trails but haven't kept up with it.   I would call Beans Bikes or Bike Line in West Chester to find out if they still do the ride..  it's worth it.

Neshaminy is worth a  look and you can do an hour our two there if you do 2 or 3 laps.

Brandywine and Marsh Creek are both good options. Brandywine has some nice rocky sections and some good climbs. Marsh Creek is definately open, just rode there on Tuesday. Check out lowrider bikes in Downingtown for info.

Susquehanna State Park is pretty fun. Right near Havre de Grace in MD. About a 75 minute drive. Camping hiking etc...

Yea good call. Been there a few times; sweet trails.

 - French Creek
 - Marsh Creek
 - GCC
 - Green La

Brandywine! :P

Yup, Brandywine. Also, Iron Hill is cleared out from the race.

Pennypack has lots of trails, single track.  Fewer hills than Wissahickon.

It all depends on your definition of 'advanced'.

So who's going where when???  We've got a nice-looking weekend coming up.  Pick somewhere and let's go.

How about a ride in the rainforest in St. Lucia?  At least that's where I'll be.....who's coming?   ;D

Thanks for the heads up on that Bonkers and RAW!

DO IT!! Hell man I'd do that ride again! Just watch the start area, the guides send ALL of you down a very narrow path & everyone gets jammed up in there. Check out the ziplines that are above you too!

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make that excursion.  The rest of the honeymoon was awesome though.  ;D

HEY! Congrats & welcome back!

Hey Rico welcome back!  I'm happy you had a great trip.

But now that the honeymoon is over, when can you ride...hehe  ;D 

Thanks for the congrats and welcome back. 

Well, my freaking weekend is booked.  Got crap to do friday night, I'll be down the shore on Saturday and at the Eagles game on Sunday.  After the game, I'll be too drunk to ride.  Hopefully I'll start next week.  I gotta start with small rides to get back into shape.

...any PMBA members have season tix or go to any games, let me know....we have an awesome tailgate to grab some grub and beers at.

Second Salisbury near Allentown.
Also good and within your 90 minute parameters:
High Rocks
Bear Creek
Round Valley, NJ
Jacobsburg

anyone know people in michaux that could possibly show some of us around on friday????  advanced xc riders looking for guide.

Jomissa, I don't know anyone there and I can't go myself but let me tell you....Michaux is awesome!  I went there a few weeks ago and it was superb.  We camped at the Furnace state park and rode out from there.   I printed some maps from Trails.com and some from michauxraceseries.com.  I found that the maps from the race website were very well marked, all numbered, easy to find, and all very awesome.  They have difficulty ratings on them so just do the black and blue marked trails and you almost can't go wrong.  One trail we did that I would say is a must would be the Grave ridge trail.  It's only a few miles long but is an awesome stretch of trail.  Just go and start riding.  From what I saw you'll have fun no matter where you go. 

durb.  so let me confirm.  the race maps are well marked and pretty easy to follow?  which race map in particular?

whats the drive time from philly???

What way are you driving and what time of day are you leaving? It could take almost 2 hours, max.........

I'm a fan of Mt Gretna.  It usually takes me 1- 1:15 to get there.  Pretty much right off the turnpike. 

http://trails.mtbr.com/cat/united-states-trails/trails-pennsylvania/trail/PRD_170047_4573crx.aspx

i live in chestnut hill so whatever way is fastest.  2 hrs is no prob.  wre leaving at 7am.

about mt gretna- is it an all day advanced rider kind of place?  for this current discusison, these past few posts, im specifically asking about michaux.

2 different locations and driving times. Mt. Gretna would be about a 90 minute drive and Michaux about 2.5+ hour drive. Mt. Gretna is a great area, but Michaux sounds like the place you want to be, since you're looking for technical riding. It gets complicated if you're exploring for the first time. Might be discouraging if you've never been there before. I saw your post on mtbr.com so that may produce better results. Some PMBA members did a group ride out there a few weeks ago. Hopefully they'll chime in with better information. Check out these links:

has links to the maps for previous race courses and tons of information:
http://gettysburgbmx.com/michaux/

check out these guys as they have the skinny on the trails. Give them a call in advance:
http://gettysburgbmx.com/gettysburgbicycle/

Local crew who ride/maintain the trails:
http://the-skinny-on-mbm.blogspot.com/

If you decide to ditch on Michaux for this run and want to try Mt. Gretna let me know. I have a map of the trails. Great little town to chill in a grab a bite to eat after the ride.
 

The trails we rode a couple of weeks ago are not on any maps. We had a local guide us and the trails were sick. The other two times that I've been to Michaux the loops were pretty easy to figure out and also very sick. Here's a link to the map:

http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/stateforests/michauxmap.aspx (http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/stateforests/michauxmap.aspx)

Jomissa, what I did was go to the race series website(racemichaux.com) and just printed the maps they had for this years three 10mile races.  Then, I also took a couple of routes from trails.com and actually started with those but once we got on the trails it was easier to just pick and choose using the ones I printed from the race series website.  We camped at the Pine Grove Furnace campgrounds and there were so many trails around there I just found one of the maps that included the campround and started exploring(the forest is so big that the other maps were up to like 10miles away).  From the campground you have about a mile or two of road/fire road stuff so you may want to drive directly to a trailhead.  Like I said, almost all the trails are good.  Here's the map I used: http://gettysburgbmx.com/michaux/wp-content/maps/2008/maximus/08max10.pdf

We did like 36, 37,28,29 ...etc...all of those in that area and we did the grave ridge trail(the best one)  10 and 17 were good also.  You just have to pick the black colored ones and stay away from green(=easy).  Blue was mostly like what we have in the Wiss and Black was like Bear Creek/French Creek style or maybe even a little more technical.  This place is big and I didn't hit anything I didn't like so, like I said, you could just print out some maps from the website and you can't go wrong.  If you're only going for a day, then do the Grave Ridge trail for sure and do it out and back.  Then do the 10 and 17 trails on either side of it.  You can park on 233 and Dead Woman's Hollow to start closer to there.  It takes about 2.5 hrs to get to Michaux.

durb....want to come along on friday!

great advice.  this sounds good and i thnk well have a gps too so in case we get lost we can always track ack to the car.

I would love to go but I'm on call all day Friday at the hospital.  I'm off Sunday but I may be more into a ride around here and watching football.  I have an easier schedule after about one more week so let me know if you want to get out there again in the next month or so.  I'd love to go as I loved the trails the last time I went.

between this board and the mtbr penn board we have stitched together an awesome planned route and gps'd it/.  on the mtbr site someone posted links to a site with the gps waypoints already mapped.