Lincoln Woods or Arcadia?

[jsb2dc]

I'm heading down to Newport, RI this weekend and I'm planning on doing some riding while I'm there. I've seen listings for both Arcadia and Lincoln Woods. I like riding that's more on the technical side. Can anyone clue me in as to what the two places are like?

[Jisch]

I used to ride Arcadia once a month or so many moons ago (10+ years ago). A friend of mine used to live down that way so it was a good spot for us to meet so he didn't have to drive all the way up here everytime we rode. Those were the rigid/beginning HT days and I used to love riding there.

Fast forward to last weekend. I did the same ride on my new 6x6 rig and found many of the trails a bit boring. Its a beautiful forest and there are some very technical patches, but you'll end up doing many miles of riding along semi-smooth trails.

There could be more technical stuff out there that I am not aware of since I only know "my" loop (Mt Tom/Breakheart/Escoheag/ledges). There are probably 50 miles of trails at Arcadia so you definitely can get in a good ride there! If you do ride there - definitely get up to the ledges its a very technical and strange environment.

I haven't ever ridden Lincoln Woods, but I've heard that is very FR oriented and not many miles of trails.

John

[bdee]

Arcadia is closer to Newport (take the bridges back to rte 1 - 4 north to 102 west - take a left when it dead ends at Rte 3 - right on 165). LW is fun and can be a really technical XC ride, a lot of FR or a little of both. LW is tought ot ride XC for more than 1.5 hours or so as you have to start re-riding sections or getting really creative and there's no marked trail.

Arcadia actually has more a lot more tech stuff on the South side (95 trail, arcadia trail, etc.. - the Ledges are also on the South side as well). The stuff Jisch described is technical, but is mostly on the North side which is overall less technical. I guess it all comes down to what you want to do and how you like to ride. If you're into FR post on the BS board and try to hook up with the crew that rides weekend mornings. If you want a longer ride with plenty of rock gardens hit up Arcadia's South side and then make a little roll down the road (165 W) to hit the ledges.

[jsb2dc]

Thanks. Sound like Arcadia is the place to go. Are there maps available or do I just need to go out and get lost?

[geezer]

Try this link:
http://www.rinemba.org/?page_id=26


Enjoy yourself, Arcadia has alot of different types of terrain to experience!!



You also might want to try these reviews of Rhode Island trails-Might be helpful


http://trails.mtbr.com/cat/united-states-trails/trails-rhode-island/PLS_4575crx.aspx

[C.P.]

Dont forget your "blaze orange"- dove hunting season started sept 15th, & RI is pretty strict about wearing it.

[jsb2dc]

Thanks for the tips. Even though the place was damp from the previous day's rain it was a ton of fun. And I figure I only rode about 1/10 of the trail system. For those that haven't made the trip, give it a try soon. Go when it's dry though. The rocky technical sections I went through were too slick to ride all the way through. They'd be great in dry conditions though!