Single Track Sunday
Place: Six Mile Run Reservoir, Somerset County, NJ
Ridden: November 2015
Click on video to play
The Six Mile Run Reservoir Site, part of Delaware & Raritan Canal State Park, is one of Central New Jersey's most hidden recreational resources for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. The 3000 acre reservoir site, rich in cultural and historic significance, is also a valuable oasis of wetlands, forests, farmlands and old fields. Parking is available at three locations at Six Mile Run. These spots are located on Rt. 27, Jaques Lane and Canal Road.
The trails here are fast, flowy, and twisty. Not many rocks...just a few roots here and there to keep you on your toes. While Six Mile Run is low in rocks and roots; it is loaded with twists, turns, and trail obstacles. It is a great place to work on turning skills; both big flowly burned turns and tight, twisty through the pines turns. Numerous logovers, bridges, and a few log rides allow for practicing skills. Most of the place is flat, don't expect any climbing here,
If every trail is ridden (red, orange, white, and blue) total mileage is about 20. The trails system essentially runs from one end of the park to the other; if going from end to end many sections end up being an out-and-back, with a few side loops that can be added on. If your looking for a longer ride, parking is available in multiple spots in the Princeton area along the Canal Path. You can easily access Six Mile run from the canal path, since it sits next to the Blackwells Mills Road crossing.
All in all it is a fun place to ride with good opportunities to practice skills.
- words by Jess
- video by Joël
- awesome log jumping skills by Cliff
Single Track Sunday
Place: Shindagin Hollow, Ithaca, NY
Ridden: September 2015
Click on video to play
Shindagin Hollow State Forest cover 5,266 acres of land just east of Ithaca, New York. Its large size and good access via public roads make this a great forest to enjoy activities such as mountain biking, hunting, hiking, snowmobiling, cross-county skiing, nature viewing, and camping. The trails are designated as "primary use mountain biking", so there will be bike specific features on these rolling, rooty trails. Cycle-CNY is the official trail stewards for Shindagin Hollow, maintaining the trails.
All total there is somewhere around 17 miles of trails. Now, that is a rough estimate. There are some newer trails that we were not on and add in the dirt roads and double track trails and there is probably way more than 17 miles. The older, established trails are marked via colors. They can get tough to follow at times; at intersections it can get a little difficult to tell which way which way the trail goes. But even if you go on a different trail you will eventually circle around anyway, you can't get completely lost. There is a map available on the website but it does not have the newer trails on it.
The terrain is rolling. Not many rocks but there are tons of roots. There are also many man-made features such as bridges, skinnies, and logovers in which to practice skills. All in all a place to ride where you can get in some good miles and practice skills.
Single Track Sunday
Place: Mountain Creek Bike Park, Vernon, NJ
Ridden: October 2015
Click on video to play
Mountain Creek Bike park is a 49 trail primarily downhill orientated bike park in Vernon, NJ. It is located on Mountain Creek ski resort and lodge; thus during the summer the ski slopes become mountain biking trails.
The trails have a great range of ability levels; beginners will feel comfortable here and advanced riders will find trails that challenge them. In addition to the downhill trails, there is a pump track, progressive drop practice area, skills zone, and about 10-15 miles of XC trails.
Due to the wide nature of trails and difficulty levels, we were able to ride our XC bikes here. Sure, our Lust Advanced 0 and Anthem Advanced SX looked a little out of place along side all the downhill bikes, but they could handle a large majority of the trails. Using our own bikes was a good way to work on skill sets and techniques that would come in handy for races and technical riding.
All in all a great place to practice skills and feel comfortable with speed. Definitely somewhere all types of mountain bikers should visit, downhill bikes or not, because it is a great place to practice various skills that will come in handy anywhere.
