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Flowy Smooth Singletrack

14K views 70 replies 28 participants last post by  sandwich 
#1 ·
Alright, this has probably been specifically done, or indirectly done, but I couldn't find it so I am hoping to have this come through. I am new to mountain biking (basically) after a 15 year hiatus, and like many of you, love fast flowy singletrack. I realize its not what Mass trails are all about, but I have come across some good choices, but would love to find more. So the criteria is that there has to be a 1. substantial number of miles of 2. fast 3. flowy 4. singletrack. My list so far, in no particular order, is:

1. Landlocked Forest
2. Duxbury
3. Willowdale
4. Stratham Hill
5. Russel Mills
6. Cutler
7. Franklin Falls
8. Bear Brook
9. Western Greenway

Any other recommendations would be great. I have GPX/TCX files of all my rides if interested in "doing" any of my routes.
 
#7 ·
Agree on earl's but disagree on Hawley. 1. it's awesome (just rode there today) and perhaps compared to Wendell, DAR and B-Street it qualifies as smooth, but not in any general sense can the root and rock strewn trails of Hawley be called smooth.

2. Flowy...old school flowy, for sure (which I love) but by today's standards (think the KT effect) it's way to tight and turny to be 'flowy' as a whole.

Neither of which decries the place, as I said, it rules, but only compared to the harsher rides of western, ma can hawley meet the 'smooth and flowy' description.
 
#9 ·
OK my list for fast and flowy in descending order (for MA) :
-Earls. Close to KT level but there isn't much of it.
-Cutler Park. Again, not very much but so close to Boston.
-Otis. I would go here more if it wasn't for the traffic. Great place to ride in winter as it typically is snow free.
-Trail of Tears. See above.
-Russell Mill. Fun but not a lot of miles.
-Goat Hill. My "go to" local ride.
-West Hill Dam
-Ribbon Candy
-Robinson. Probably not worth the drive from the Boston area and not a lot of miles but fun stuff. That said, I haven't been there in a while so they might be chewed up.
-Rayburn is great but it is not fast and flowy. Sutton WW is probably a little faster and flowier but can also be techy so it doesn't make the list.

Out of state:
-Allegrippis Trails in PA. Amazingly fast and flowy. Think 30 mile pump track. Around here a fast ride for me will average 8-9mph. There my average is 10-12 with much more climbing. Dirtfest in May is a must do for the tons of vendors, demos, and free beer. 2013 Dirtfest - Allegrippis Trails - Hydro Loop - YouTube
-KT sets the bar for flowy, scenic, well build st. With 60+ miles of st it is an awesome place for a long weekend of riding.
-Ascutney, VT. I was very pleasantly surprised when I was there for VT bike fest. Really great stuff and only 2 hours from Boston.
-Stowe/Waterbury, VT. Same as above when the fest was there the previous two years. VT is turning into the "go to" place for great st. I've heard Pine Hill, Millstone, and Green Mtn trails are also great but haven't had a chance to ride there yet.
-FOMBA although there are some tech trails. And I haven't been there in a couple years. FOMBA - Woodpecker - YouTube
-Big River. Would be really great if they could keep the dirtbikes and atvs off the st.

It should be noted that I haven't ridden some of the places mentioned (LL, Willowdale, etc).
 
#12 ·
Also, if anyone has GPS/TCX routes they could provide, especially if the routes are completing the fast/flowy ST trails in a given area, that would be great. As I mentioned, I have GPS/TCX files for all of my rides and am on Strava, Mapmyride, and Runtastic MTB. Recently mounting the iPhone on the handlebar and following people's routes has been immensely helpful.
 
#13 ·
I'm surprised to see Otis on here multiple times. My definition of flow is based on something akin to KT. I know its the Cape, but Otis is a bumpy ride. I typically describe TOT as the more "flowy" of the two main Cape riding areas, with Otis having more technical riding.

But I do refer to both as "SS heaven" in that they are quick and fun.

I'll also second Allegrippis! I went to Penn State and spent a few weekends down there after they built it, it became my mecca and defined the "roller coaster in the woods feel" until I came back to New England and hit KT.
 
#20 ·
It's always difficult to answer these things because fast and flowy means so many different things to different people. To me, for it to be "fast and flowy," it has to be smooth. That's not true for everyone. My favorite trails to ride are Earle's trails in Amherst/Hadley, mentioned by a number of others. A lot of the good riders call them fast and flowy, but I wouldn't. Compared to B street or Charlemont (also great trail systems), then yes, they are. And it's probably accurate to say that they are pretty flowy in their design. But they are very rooty and have some very tight turns with those exposed roots on a lot of trails, so they really aren't fast IMO. I would say almost every beginner trail and intermediate trail at KT is easier and generally faster than most of Earle's.

There are 16 miles of single-track in Earle's, which yields a ride with little repetition of anywhere from two hours for an expert rider who is hammering and taking pains to minimize double track to 4 hours for a more leisurely ride with a bit of double-track mixed in. One thing it is not is flat (which is one reason I like it).

I second the suggestion of Robinson - only ridden there a couple times, but it is fast. I hear from others there is more flow hidden than I experienced.

Only other place I know of out in this general area is one I just rode for the first time last week, which is Chicopee State Park. There are a few miles of the smoothest flow you'll ever see, but not enough miles to make any significant journey worth it, and I suspect most intermediate and expert riders would get bored quickly. I haven't found a better place to introduce a kid safely to winding single-track around here, though.
 
#25 ·
I would also add Callahan and the XC Nam trails to this list. I've ridden Callahan twice now and the south side is almost all flow, I'm not sure exactly how many miles are there but my guess is 10ish. I rode both sides last night and put in about 15 miles total and I believe the north side was only 6 of that.

I'm interested in checking out anything that is 20-30 minutes from the 495/90 interchange. I think Goat Hill might be close to that distance. Not sure about Groton. But if anyone is planning a ride, post up and maybe we can all find some new flow trails.
 
#27 ·
I would also add Callahan and the XC Nam trails to this list. I've ridden Callahan twice now and the south side is almost all flow, I'm not sure exactly how many miles are there but my guess is 10ish. I rode both sides last night and put in about 15 miles total and I believe the north side was only 6 of that.

I'm interested in checking out anything that is 20-30 minutes from the 495/90 interchange. I think Goat Hill might be close to that distance. Not sure about Groton. But if anyone is planning a ride, post up and maybe we can all find some new flow trails.
Hey...there's a number of good ST places within that radius, which ones on the list have you done? Russel Mills, LLF, Great Brook, are all pretty close and awesome for ST. I have some GPX's from many Groton rides and will be exploring that soon. It looks like there is a ton of mileage outside (but connected to) the suggested Groton Town Forest to make for a long ride with lots of ST. If you're interested in doing the ride with me let me know and I will post when I plan on doing it.

Western Greenway in Belmont is awesome too, one of my favorite rides bc its ST and rather than tightly winding and looping in a small area it makes a huge ST loop through many towns.
 
#26 ·
This thread is perfect! I'm coming to Boston to attend a conference in early September. I'm gonna return here as I get closer to plan out my MTB strategy. I have a couple questions:

Any suggestions on a good place to rent a full suspension bike? Also, aside from flow, what are suggestions on the most scenic trails? I'd be willing to drive (rental car) anywhere that is highly recommended.

And if anybody finds themselves in Vegas, look me up or contact www.facebook.com/SNMBA and I'll be happy to show you around our neck of the woods.
 
#29 ·
Blue- Do you have a weekend full day to see something scenic? If so do you know what weekend? I'd suggest VT for the most scenic and flow trails around here. The top of Burke at KT is pretty phenomenal but that's about a 3 hour drive each way, KT is tough to beat though, something like 100 miles of singletrack, some lift service machine built trails and some great stuff that descends about 2200 feet off the top of the hill- roughly a 20ish minute downhill on some great flowy hand built trails. If it happens that you're here 9/7 weekend I'll be up in the north country somewhere, either KT or the White Mountains of NH, another place for great views.

Immediately around metro Boston you've got the Fells (good view of the skyline off the skyline trail lookout, you can't ride skyline trail on a bike but you can take a fireroad to this lookout point). The fells isn't super techy but it's not flow either, it's kind of in the middle. That is going to be the closest MTB trails to Boston, about 5ish miles from the FiDi.

If you want to see the best trails, and some great views, head up 128 to either exit 17, 15, or 14. All have great trails and some awesome views, mainly of landscape like the ocean and rolling NE style hills.

Close to Boston you also have Landlocked, Needham Town Forest, Hale Reservation/Satans Kingdom, Lynn Woods (one of the most technical rated trail systems in the country), Vietnam, Fells (mentioned above), Wompatuck, Willowdale (mentioned above), Pisgah, Callahan, and if you get a bit further out the options keep expanding.

I've ridden Vegas a bunch of times Bootleg, the stuff out by Red Rock Canyon. You're not really going to find views like that around here, we just don't have that kind of vert that close to the city. The climbs close to Boston tend to be short spurts here and there but add them all up and you can easily link together 1000+ climbing, just doesn't come quite as easy as heading up the trails to the top of bootleg. Also the trails here aren't marked nearly as well, since there are trees everywhere it's best to go with someone who knows the area, almost all of these places have group rides going most weekends and quite a few weekdays.

Anyways, hope that helps. Can't wait to go back to bootleg again, great stuff there!
 
#30 ·
Ward Reservation in North Andover is a good mix of great scenery and great trails. Also, Appleton Farms in Ipswich provides a great scenic look at Massachusetts, if you know the route to ride, with woodsy single and double track trails as well as some meadows, pastures, farmland, and more, really beautiful.
 
#31 ·
I find it really hard to call anything in Massoftwosh!ts flowy, or in New England for that matter. For those who have been lucky enough to ride the real flowy single track in the west, it means one thing. For those who have only ridden in New England, it means another thing entirely.

I moved back here after getting into mtb riding seriously in California. I regret that decision every day. I have ridden a good amount in New England in search of that West coast like single track and after 6 years of searching I can honestly say it cant be found. No long 2-3 hour climbs that you can bomb down in half an hour. While in California the thought of getting on a road bike was an anathema to me. Now that I live in Mass, I have 8 road bikes and 1 mtb. I like speed and I just cant find much of it on my mtb.

I just got a new mtb and am again feverishly searching for that smooth fast flowy-ness we all crave so much. I don’t mind techy stuff just as long as I can carry some speed through it and am not teetering around trying to unclip or trials my way out of eating it. All I want is some flow, some views (not much), some open meadow-ish trails and some water (river, lake, stream) so my dog can drink and I can stop and think.

There are some nicer places to ride where some nice speed and flow is to be had. Calahan is great, both the Marlborough and Framingham sides. Cutler is super flowy, especially that little peninsula and the wooden bridges are a blast (just watch out for that last puddle in the swamp, you’ll know what I mean). Great Brooks Farm is awesome, plus you can get ice-cream! Groton Town forest is nice but pretty claustrophobic, no meadows or views, nice river trail though. Same for Stow town forest.

Lynn woods…meh, Vietnam (aka Satan’s @$$#0le)…meh, Blue hills…meh, Gilbert hills is ok been there a few times and left somewhat satisfied, Leominster town forest…meh. Wachusett is a great road climb though!

Rode to Mt.Holyoke once, I guess that is what people call B-street. 1.5 hours drive for me, it was great but turned pretty technical at the top and had to hike a bike some. Have to check out Earls for sure!
If your willing to drive, Killington is the best single track downhill I have found. Highland was ok if you don’t mind all the DH clones and grommits, but I have not been there in years. Made the mistake of climbing Gunstock once, basically a grueling fire-road hike a bike session, never again! Oh and Mt. Snow was way too technical, not worth the drive IMO.

Never been to Kingdom trails, want to but the drive is insane. Skied Burke once and promised myself never to drive that far again. I can see Maine having some good single track. Acadia is great for road biking even on the carriage trails.

Did my first ride in the Fells yesterday. I got lost, its pretty big and has some nice single track hidden away. I guess the orange trail is the way to go. Skyline was not bikable at all from what I saw. Overall impression at the end of the ride was meh, but I need to go back and do/find the whole orange trail (looks like clockwise is best). I guess there is a lot of drama between the dog walkers/mtb riders and the environmental wackos the “Friends of Fells”.

Alas, truly flowy trails are very hard to find around these here parts, we have the glaciers that ravaged New England thousands of years ago to thank for that.
 
#32 ·
Alas, truly flowy trails are very hard to find around these here parts, we have the glaciers that ravaged New England thousands of years ago to thank for that.
Very important to keep this in mind - someone above had said that "flow" means different things to different people, and one thing is perfectly clear: Massachusetts' riding is way more technical in nature than pretty much the rest of the country. :)

We get something like KT and it's a God-send, where as NC, GA, CA, etc have that as local trail. Hey, I say learn to love what you got!
 
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