Ride spots

[Chris C]

Hey all!

I am moving to Manchester, CT in a week from Raleigh, NC and am really looking forward to some of the riding you guys have been talking about and posting pictures of. Is there anywhere that might list the different spots to ride? I am mostly an XC rider, love a challenge and new trails and even have a road bike for when I feel like dodging cars.

Raleigh, North Carolina has TORC (Triangle Off Road Cyclists) and was the first place I have ever lived that actually had organizations dedicated to trail advocacy and preservation. It worked great to get trails built and maintained. It's awesome that you guys (and soon myself) have NEMBA.

Also, any good recommendations for a good bike shop would be great. I am riding a Gary Fisher X-Cal right now and will need a shop to waste paychecks at!

Hope to see everyone on the trails soon!

Chris C.

[Jisch]

Welcome to the boards, NEMBA and CT. I live in northern CT (about 10 minutes from Manchester).

You can find a list of just about every riding place in CT at Bikerag.com. They have pictures and GPS maps of many places as well as directions to parking and basic descriptions of each place. The folks from the boards over there tend to ride "cross stuntery" which is not the same kind of riding I do, but to each his own right?

Within 30 minutes drive from Manchester you have some really great riding - I've ridden at many of "the" spots in the US (and Morocco :-D) and can say that the riding here is in the top tier. Of course we don't have the wide open spaces like out west, but we make do with the space we do have. The trails here can get pretty technical and hilly, though the climbs are usually pretty short. Most places have between 15 and 30 miles of trails.

The closest place for you to ride will be Case Mountain, its actually in Manchester. Its a great ride, though maybe a bit overridden at this point. Other places you should check out are Shenipsit Forest (aka Soapstone), Middlesex, Millers Pond, Cockaponset, Bigelow Hollow, Westwoods, West Hartford Res, Grayville and Salmon River. There are more, but those are the closest and best IMHO. You can see pictures of many of these places by doing a search on my screen name here.

Drop me a PM or post up when you get settled in, Slider and I can show you around.

John