i approve this message.oh, i'd be riding this...went backwards on the technology fulcrum last year im cool in the rocks with it most of the time.
New England Monkey's - Gloucester
- Thread starter manhattanprjkt83
- Start date
False. The original entrance is on private property but 90% of the trails are public land with multiple entry points. Hopefully all the lame stunts have fallen, the trails themselves were great before most of the stunts were built.
that's cool. It was a bit of a shock to me when I first came out here. I was used to the smoother singletrack you'd find in upstate NY, where I'm from. This was like gravel grinding with 6" rocks at first. It's still fun, you just have to skew your view a little. A 12 mile ride some places will absolutely knock you out, while double that will still leave some in the tank elsewhere.
Your splosif should do well out here. I loved my 650b but liked 29ers better. The low BB might ding up your cranks in short order too, but it is what it is.
Bruce and Toms is indeed where I rode, and Dogtown is the other spot. If the riding at Bruce and Toms is any indication of what the rest of the area has to offer, then I would think you'd be happier on a Bronson or similar slacker and burlier bike.
I have fond memories of the area, and would like to go back on a boys biking trip some day. There was some stuff I didn't want to hit while riding out on my own with no one even knowing where I was. Plus, with all the excellent riding not too far up the road in Vermont, I think it would make an awesome trip. Google maps tells me Waterbury is only three hours away... and I loves me some Waterbury trails.
BTW, start calcium loading now. Your ankles are going to need all the support they can get for some serious drops to flat.
Where? I've been in Boston since August, and ended up sending my bike back to CA because I couldn't find anything within riding distance or accessible via public transport that would require anything more significant than a cyclocross bike.
you're talking about boston proper, though. Getting out by 95/past 95 is where the good riding starts. you only have access to the fells and the western greenway from the city/public trans. you might be able to get to like wompy from the computer rail.
Rockport line commuter rail from the Garden can drop you pedaling distance to dozens of awesome rides.
Literally every station north of Beverly has dirt within an easy pedal of station.
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Thanks for all the input everyone, we have some serious rocks here in PA where I am from but they seem to be sharper and smaller than what i'm seeing in Mass. I am totally comfortable with the super tech, but prefer trails that integrate the tech and speed well. We have a few glacial deposit trails that will work you to death for 12 miles as well. I am waiting on some specifics for the potential move, it is probably 50/50 right now, lots to think about.
So any of you guys aside from sandwich ride dh? I like my dh trails similar to xc/trail, a mix of tech and flow...Highland is great but lots of new school which i dig to a point but steep rock faces and tech lines are my fav. Where do you ride?
So any of you guys aside from sandwich ride dh? I like my dh trails similar to xc/trail, a mix of tech and flow...Highland is great but lots of new school which i dig to a point but steep rock faces and tech lines are my fav. Where do you ride?
So, I know you specifically asked for people besides me, but...
Jiminy is one of my favorites within 4 hours from boston. I think it's one of the most underrated resorts in the northeast. If you've ridden Plattekill, it's relatively similar, but it loses a bit of the "Hey there's a thing, let's jump off it" and adds more dirt and more flow and more SPEED. It's super steep in spots, and nice and flat in others. It's a better mix of dirt and roots than most other places. The lift is fast and there is lots of elevation. They open relatively late, but lift tickets are like $15 less than anywhere else these days. There are also almost no lift lines ever. There are a few trails that just instantly put a smile on my face time and time again.
I like highland, but it gets blown out over time, and they have a habit of building an incredible new trail at the sacrifice of all the rest of trail maintenance. NE style was awesome when it opened, happy hour and hellion had seen no work in a month.
Attitash is also in NH, about 2.5 hours away or so. It's a fun mountain but it's pretty brutal in terms of roughness and many trails are all-out straight down through the woods.
I didn't like Killington that much (it seemed flat despite 2000ft of vert or whatever) and mount snow is still rebuilding after some years of neglect. I haven't been to Sunday River but I've heard it's similar to Killington in that it's more "enduro" than DH.
Bromont is also up north which is crazy technical and crazy fun. It's fast and rough but has an excellent variety of trails. It's about an hour/hour and a half from Burke, which is 2.5 away from boston. Might be less if you head straight up.
Jiminy is one of my favorites within 4 hours from boston. I think it's one of the most underrated resorts in the northeast. If you've ridden Plattekill, it's relatively similar, but it loses a bit of the "Hey there's a thing, let's jump off it" and adds more dirt and more flow and more SPEED. It's super steep in spots, and nice and flat in others. It's a better mix of dirt and roots than most other places. The lift is fast and there is lots of elevation. They open relatively late, but lift tickets are like $15 less than anywhere else these days. There are also almost no lift lines ever. There are a few trails that just instantly put a smile on my face time and time again.
I like highland, but it gets blown out over time, and they have a habit of building an incredible new trail at the sacrifice of all the rest of trail maintenance. NE style was awesome when it opened, happy hour and hellion had seen no work in a month.
Attitash is also in NH, about 2.5 hours away or so. It's a fun mountain but it's pretty brutal in terms of roughness and many trails are all-out straight down through the woods.
I didn't like Killington that much (it seemed flat despite 2000ft of vert or whatever) and mount snow is still rebuilding after some years of neglect. I haven't been to Sunday River but I've heard it's similar to Killington in that it's more "enduro" than DH.
Bromont is also up north which is crazy technical and crazy fun. It's fast and rough but has an excellent variety of trails. It's about an hour/hour and a half from Burke, which is 2.5 away from boston. Might be less if you head straight up.
Don't make me come to Boston and ride with you guys.
ok, like i said as part of that i may have been wrong. but i thought i had heard that you needed to check in with Bruce before you went in. maybe that was just as a just in case you got hurt and no one knew you were in there type thing.
I would echo Sammich on Jiminy. Under rated. It too gets blown out a bit later in the year but a new group of people have been working on the trails, however. I need to get there more this year, on frickin' 45 minutes from my house...
Sammich, sell that 888 fork yet?
Sammich, sell that 888 fork yet?
yeah, it's gone dood. all my dh/26" stuff is pretty much gone. I've got the enderpo for lift days now.
Now that I finished up the 2 bmx bikes and rebuilt my trail bike, thought I'd czech!
Nah, but I'm anxious to try out the enduro at Jimenez once they open this summer. Well have to meet up!
The original entrance was on his property and he cut a lot of the trails, but most are on conservation land.
I don't think he lives there anymore but the early issues were traffic on the deadend street and neighbors bitching about it. Then there were the waves of Freehuckers building stupid **** and pissing off the conservation people. It's almost all public land and new entrances/parking have been added elsewhere.
Don't be afraid to ride it without permission; it was one of my go-to rides before all the related personalities made it a douche-fest.
Can you please give me a pointer or two to the new entrances? TIA.
You can still ride up to the original entrance if you know where that is.
Just park at the 128 exit.
Otherwise, there's a lot by the 'ramp-o-rama' side off concord st and another off rt133 across from the self-storage (though its more of a pedal in). Basically the land is bordered by roads with entrances always existing off that, parking was just the issue due to geography.
Check the Essex County Greenbelt site, they may have a map as its their land.
They or nemba built the lot, iirc.
where to you live/ride?
thats great i really appreciate it man...wasnt excluding you just knew you ride dh
Thank you Dan! I live in Winchester, about a hundred yards from the Fells trails so I ride there the most often - early morning, late evenings, then I hit LLF quite often, too. I've only been riding NE trails for a few years but I rode most of the parks and trails in Mass and South NH, I just do not hit them very often. This year, I want to do lots of trips to Highland, too.
if you live in Gloucester, there's very little time you'd be spending driving the Mass pike.
what exactly are you seeing in Mass?
i got old, fat, lazy and time-strapped so i haven't ridden much DH in a while, but Bromont was always my favorite place to ride DH out here. Sunday River was pretty technical, but it's been a long time since i've been there. Jiminy Peak was a fun place to ride too.
i would love to but i royally ****ed up my knee skiing three weeks ago. I can barely walk, nevermind do anything else. hopefully i'll avoid surgery, but partial PCL tear, MCL tear and meniscus tear isn't fun.
Ouch, heal up.
I missed last year due to a spinal injury caused by a texting driver so I feel your pain.