|   I need advice where to relocate on the east coast? | Larue
Jun 15, 2002 6:35 AM | | I live In Charlotte N.C the riding here is great but I am relocating I am looking at the D.C area as well as Richmond VA,Baltimore MD and philly. Any advice would be a great help I ride both mountain and road but ride mountain mtb more.
Thanks, Eric |
| re: I need advice where to relocate on the east coast? | chrisr
Jun 15, 2002 8:11 AM | | ive lived in richmond and dc, and have to give the nod to rva as far as riding is concerned. there is great singletrack all over the place (including downtown!!), supportive shops, a super cool mtn biker scene and nice road rides to be had. the city is awfully small, though, and only gets smaller the longer you stay there...
for mtn biking, dc absolutely sucked. if you actually live in the city, any decent riding is a 45 min car ride away, and then the trails are crowded and not that great anyway. i guess living in northern va would be better for mtn biking, but then you would have to live in northern va and that would suck.
i havent lived in balto or philly, but have visited both cities extensively and dont care for either too much.
so, in my highly opinionated opinion, id have to say richmond is the best for biking. cheers. |
| I'm stuck in Richmond... | fonseca
Jun 15, 2002 1:31 PM | | ...and as it was either Richmond or Nova, I chose Richmond. There's more riding to be had in the immediate area, but both are about the same distance from the good stuff, 1-2 hours away. From Richmond it's an hour to Charlottesville, which has a few trails, but the good stuff is in the Harrisonburg area, my former home of 5 years. I didn't come close to riding all the trails in the GWNF in that time, there literally is more singletrack than you can come close to exhausting even after years.
But Richmond has some okay singletrack, enough to keep you busy. Powhite park, belle isle, buttermilk and forest hill are in the immediate Richmond area and each is good for an hour of riding, plus you can combine several parks into a larger ride. There are a few other places too. Poor farm is 20 minutes north of Richmond, and pocahontis a few minutes southeast, and are good for longer rides. Plus we are about to have a new park with singletrack open near the Richmond airport.
I know there are a few miles of singletrack in the DC area, but in my experience you generally have to head west for an hour to get to good trails. Mabye someone who lives and rides there can comment.
Fons |
| funny how everyone gets stuck there...nm | chrisr
Jun 15, 2002 6:04 PM | | |
| re: I need advice where to relocate on the east coast? | djp
Jun 15, 2002 3:10 PM | | I've lived in Philly and now live in N. Virginia.
I didn't like living in Philly (I'm a country mouse), but I have to say that Wissahickon park, which is in the city limits, has to be some of the best singletrack mountainbiking this side of the Mississippi. Reminded me of the singletrack I rode when I lived in New Hampshire, minus all the climbs. Gets busy on the weekends, but is worth it. I heard rumblings on this website, however, that it may close down to MTBers (is this true? it'd be a real shame).
Northern VA/DC is not all that bad... I've lived here for less than a year, but have found fun trails within 30-40 minutes of my house (I live in Arlington, VA). Fountainhead Park in Fairfax county is a short but intense and moderately technical series of singletrack loops- fun to try to complete without unclipping from your pedals. Schaffer Farms in Gaithersburg, MD is a roughly 12-14 mile network of loops that offer faster, less technical fare that is no less fun. Both can have busy parking lots on the weekends, but once you get on the trails, it's not bad at all.
I have yet to venture up to Frederick, MD where, I have heard, Gambrill State Park offers some rockin' technical and hilly singletrack ('bout an hour from DC). My next trip is to Front Royal, VA (again about an hour from DC) to do the Elizabeth Furnace loop-- more hilly, technical, rocky stuff.
Check out the many trail reviews on this site. They're a good resource.
d |
| re: I need advice where to relocate on the east coast? | mikep187
Jun 15, 2002 5:19 PM | | I live in baltimore right now, well not in the city. There is alirght riding around here from where I live its a 30 min drive to several trails around here, and a ok trail thats 10 mins from my place. There are some trails that are somewhat crowded, but I haven't done to much on them plus I usually try to be early so I get the place to myself. There are some good places between baltmore and philly such as hairhill county (right near the maryland deleware boarder) |
| re: I need advice where to relocate on the east coast? | Romte
Jun 15, 2002 5:32 PM | | I think the Balt area has pretty decent XC riding. Between Patapsco and Loch Raven there is a decent amount. Then Gambrill (really rocky) is about 45-1 hour away. |
| Baltimore is a best kept secret.... | thetitans
Jun 15, 2002 7:01 PM | | I bought my current home to be close to biking. Admittedly, I live in the suburbs, but I can ride for hours in northern Baltimore County past farmland and horses on rolling hills and stop at a vineyard. I can also ride from my door to Loch Raven reservoir which has miles of trails. I can also roll right onto the NCRR trail which is a 30-40 miles converted rail to trail which goes up to York Pennsylvania. It's about 30 minutes drive to Patapsco state park and 50 minutes to Fair Hill, both of which offer more great off road experience. |
| where to locate | Richmond is great for MTB
Jun 17, 2002 1:28 PM | | I agree richmond is great all kinds of rides very close by. Poor farm is great .Powhite is great and very close. Pocahantis(sp?) state park is great too. all three P's get my thumbs up!. I love Buttermilk trail-its right downtown and a great lunchtime ride. You can add as much as you want from forest hill park and really make it a good work out. I string together dogwood dell, buttermilk and belle island for my lunch time ride its just about 10 miles- perfect for an hour ride. Just my .02 $. |
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