Best XC riding within 3 hours of NYC

[slimfaster]

New to the forum, and would appreciate some direction...

I am a roadie but will be racing a couple of longer, non-technical MTB races this summer (Wilmington Whiteface, Wildcat, and VT100). Just looking to have fun and mix up my road season. These races will give me a reason to keep training when there aren't a lot of road races.

While most of my training will be roadie-oriented, I want to spend a couple of weekends in the dirt prior to the race in order to get used to the bike and work out the kinks. I have done a bit of riding in VT, but I was hoping for some suggestions for good XC riding within a 3 hour drive of NYC. Preferrably longer non-technical loops (if that exists). Potentially some options where I can ride Sat and Sun back to back and get some good quality training in.

Any guidance (links, suggestions, etc...) would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[6thElement]

For the least technical big loops I'd think that Stewart is probably your best option.

[XCProphet]

Myx Monster Trail Loop, Blue Mountain, Peekskill, NY

[husonfirst]

There are a bunch of places in NJ that are within 1.5 hrs. Check out mtbnj.com for more info.

[jmitchell13]

Myx Monster Trail Loop, Blue Mountain, Peekskill, NY

Blue Mountain is THE place to ride!

[pedaler845]

[sambs827]

I think the previous responses have just begun to scratch the surface of what's within 3 hours of NYC. Everything mentioned so far I have either enjoyed tremendously or heard of many people who have.

Here's something to put into the back of your head: come up to Oneonta and Cooperstown sometime. Lots of roadies hit Cooperstown; it's a very bike-friendly tourist town, home to the Baseball Hall of Fame and (more importanly) Brewery Ommegang. Half hour a way in Oneonta we have 30+ miles of trail, most of which is pretty fast and flowy. Some mildly technical stuff, lots of singletrack.

Could make a good weekend with a crew of riders or with the family. Plenty of people in town here will bike to Cooperstown, eat/drink at Ommegang, and bike back to Oneonta in a day.

[EricfromBrooklyn]

Where are the trails near Oneonta? My folks are about 50 miles away and I ride the road bike to Ommegang often, always a nice ride.

[sambs827]

We've got 30 miles of trail accessible from downtown. 4 different trail systems that can all be linked together into a single ride. There's College Camp, Homer Folks Forest, Wilber Park, and Catella Park/New Island.

I've got an internship with Otsego County Tourism mapping all the trails in town; preliminary rough-draft maps should be available in a few weeks. Once I have some roughed out I'll be sure to post them.

[douglas]

Stewart, 909 & Jockey Hill.

Close enough to ride one Saturday and one of the others Sunday.

[EricfromBrooklyn]

We've got 30 miles of trail accessible from downtown. 4 different trail systems that can all be linked together into a single ride. There's College Camp, Homer Folks Forest, Wilber Park, and Catella Park/New Island.

I've got an internship with Otsego County Tourism mapping all the trails in town; preliminary rough-draft maps should be available in a few weeks. Once I have some roughed out I'll be sure to post them.

Please do!

[glenn a]

Lippman park doesn't get mentioned alot. Great map and trail markings.

http://trails.mtbr.com/cat/united-st...3_4566crx.aspx

Here is another one in the same area. Not as well marked out as Lippman.

http://trails.mtbr.com/cat/united-st...4_4566crx.aspx

Stewart did seem like it had any trail markings. I was lucky to hook up with someone at the trailhead that knew their way around.

[masterofnone]

Blue mountain may be a little more technical than what the OP sounds like he's interested in, although there's tons of climbing, offhand I can't think of a single trail that isn't somewhat technical. If you can pick up a map of stewart from a local shop that place has like 5000+ acres of rolling hills, good climbing and not super techy. Lippman would be a good choice too, lots of climbing, there is one technical trail which is easy to spot and marked at the trailhead, and a few trails further up the hill can be choppy though. Highland lakes (aka camp orange) is very close to stewart and although there's only a few trails they are relatively long and some more of what you're looking for.

[huffster]

Some of the best resources for riding within 1 - 1.5 hours from NYC include:

Fats in the Cats Bicycle Club | Get Involved Ya’ Bums!
www.JORBA.org | JORBA - You Dig?
mtbNJ.com
CLIMB - Concerned Long Island Mountain Bicyclists


You open up the door to 3 hours and there are even more. A couple that come to mind are:
NEMBA: New England Mountain Bike Association - Home
Home | VMB - Lehigh Valley, PA Mountain Bike Club
CapitalMTB - Home

[Orange Ape]

I vote for Blue Mountain!

[nyyankeesrider]

hit up blue and sprain,and stewart,gh in jersey,and trumbull.those are my top 5 for metro ny

[Rab1zzz]

please...3.5 hours try 20 mins..cunningham park is great clean well marked and has get variety of skill level in it...all stillwell woods in long island about a 45 min ride from nyc is great trust me hit these up first before you go anywhere else...more info NYCMTB

[spartacus]

x2 on cunny. Its right off the LIE and part of the trail borders the service road.

Its a lot of fun

[SuperbMan]

3 hours from NYC?!? That's a huge area, I live in western, massachusetts and can get to the Bronx in 2.5 hours (and with low traffic at 6am on a Saturday into midtown Manhattan in 3 hours easy). So keep in mind, the OP's criteria includes trails as far as Saratoga's very excellent SMBA trails (and even Lake Moreau/ Spier falls), All of the The Catskills, ALL of Connecticut (which has tons of great riding areas), big Chunks of Massachusetts, All of the Hudson Valley, ALL of the decent Riding areas in NJ, and significant portions of Eastern, PA and pieces of Maryland as well (and southwestern New York State, and of course Long Island).

With that in mind, places like Blue Mountain (which is a fine area) aren't in the top 10. If you lower the criteria to 1 hour give or take a couple of minutes, you'll get a more plausible answer--right now, your question could read 'What is the best place to ride in all of the Midlantic and Southern New England Combined?"

[cpfitness]

whoever said Sprain should be shot. I'm a newb. I appreciate sprain for what it is, but it's pretty damn technical. I went to cunningham for the first time this past weekend and said "jesus christ, why didn't I start out here instead of practically killing myself. If you stick to all the green circled easy trails at cunningham there is barely anything of a technical nature and it's a lot more flowy than sprain, it's basically like racing a road bike on dirt, you could probably ride a CX bike on the green circled trails. Once you start venturing off onto the other trails it gets more technical but still far easier than anything at sprain and there are pretty much plenty of bailouts around anything you don't trust your skills on. Add to that a nice pump track that is in there and the fact that it's a helluva lot closer than 3 hours it sounds like the perfect training ground for someone who is primarily a roadie.

[Hpirx]

Rocky Point out in Suffolk County on Long Island.
Should be able to get there from NYC in 90min - 2hrs depending when you leave.
Longest loop here on the island I can think of. Fairly well marked and download the map from the CLIMB website mentioned above. The main loop is flat, fast and fun. The black diamonds are all very doable and loop off the main trail. The double blacks are a bit more technical. Download a free DEC parking permit. Two laps there should be a nice workout.
Down the road is Cathedral Pines. Fun,fast, flowy trail, also easy to navigate. Not too technical, except for a couple of short. steep climbs. People are always going on about the tree roots there, but nothing more than you would see in those races you're doing.
Not as long as RP, so do an extra lap or two, why don'tcha?

[spartacus]

RP is fast.......fast ...........fast!

Its a ton of fun.
For the most part it really isnt that techy. Add in speed and it becomes more difficult. Make sure the tire prssure is correct for the trail (I run a little more for RP) and the fork pressure and/or preload is correct as well (I run a little less pressure to get the front wheel to bite a bit better)
and dont forget to watch out for the hawk by the sand box!!!!

[CyclesnIPAs]

I agree Rocky Point absolutely! Flat out burn and damn fun to.

[terryanny]

There are TONS of places within 3 hours of NYC. Blue Mountain is beautiful.