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Visiting MD from AZ

589 views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  dsittman 
#1 ·
Hi all. I will be visiting the Bel Air, MD area in a few weeks and was looking for some local riding advice. Any recommendations for trail rides that are nearish to Bel Air? Place to rent a bike? Is the weather usually decent there late October (I'm from PHX so I just don't want to freeze my a$$ off :D ).

Browsed around a bit to see if there was a visitors thread or something but came up empty. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers :)
 
#2 ·
Weather should be fine.

Good riding in the following locations:

Lock Raven Reservoir outside Baltimore: 35 minutes
Susquehanna State Park near Havre de Grace, MD: 25 minutes
Fair Hill NRMA near Newark, DE: 45 minutes
White Clay Creek/Middle Run, Newark, DE: 60 minutes
Gunpowder Falls SP, MD: 15 minutes west of Bel Air (but riding not as good as others)

Bike rentals available at Bike Line on Main Street in Newark, within 10 minutes of Fair Hill and White Clay/Middle Run. Not sure about bike rentals for points south.

If you are around on 2 November 2008, check out the DE Trailspinners MTB Jamboree (see the post in this forum topic).

www.trailspinners.org

There should be demo bikes available from EMS. When will you be here and what size bike do you ride ? PM me and I might could arrange something.

Tim
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the info Troutboy :thumbsup: . I'm going to be in the area from 10/21 -10/28. Visiting family and our plans are kinda sketchy so I don't know if I'll know the exact day(s) I'll be riding. I think I'm going to drag my brother-in-law somewhere. He said that he might have a bike available from a neighbor but I'll send you a PM if that doesn't work out.

So out of the trail choices you gave, would you rate one as a can't miss ride or are they all pretty similar. I'm an intermediate rider both technically and stamina wise if that helps narrow it down a bit.
 
#4 ·
I've only ridden at Fair Hill and White Clay from the list on the previous post, but I'd highly recommend White Clay. I know its a little bit of a ride from Bel Air but it would be worth it. I'm sure if you do a search you can find a ton of pictures of the place. Plus for someone from out of town there is a great trail map available so it would be very hard to get lost. Fair Hill is fun as well but the place is sooo big it can be overwhelming finding your way around if your not riding with people familiar with the trails.
 
#5 ·
dsittman said:
So out of the trail choices you gave, would you rate one as a can't miss ride or are they all pretty similar. I'm an intermediate rider both technically and stamina wise if that helps narrow it down a bit.
I'm with Sparkman - go to White Clay Creek/Middle Run. Plenty of trail for a whole day and a bit easier to navigate than Fair Hill.

Get a map from here:

http://www.kencox.net/

or buy the new map at the park office.

Park at the Possum Hill parking lot for Middle Run Natural Area. This puts you in the middle of the trail system and allows for some great loops.

I work in Edgewood and live across the street from Middle Run. The drive will take you slightly less than 1 hour. E-mail me for directions/fastest routes.

Unfortunately, you hit a bad weekend for a visit. One of the Trailspinners is getting married on Saturday 25 Oct so most of us will be occupied. But I might be able to free up some time on Sunday or Monday, so let me know your plans.

The Trailspinners have regular rides at Fair Hilll on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Start times these days are around 4:30, but we usually swing back through the lot to pick up stragglers/late arrivals. Fair Hill will be about 45 minutes from Bel Air.

Tim
 
#6 ·
Thanks Sparky and Troutboy :thumbsup: Good info. I'll try and get more of a fix on my travel itinerary and post up before I take off. I'm sure you both know how it goes when travelling with family (in-laws in this case :madman: ) so everythings kinda up in the air this time.
 
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