Ride suggestions near the cape

[tree]

I live on Cape Cod and am wondering if there are any good spots off-cape that are relatively near by. I ride at Otis regularly but am looking for some variety (and hopefully better). Suggestions?

[icecreamjay]

You can try Myles Standish or Pine Hills, both in Plymouth. What kind of riding are you looking for? I like Otis a lot, but it does lack diversity of terrain.

Myles Standish is smooth and somewhat sandy. I rode the main marked loops and they are fun and fast, with almost no rocks, less than Otis. There is a lot of Myles Standish that I haven't ridden, its a really big park, but most of the trails seem to be unmarked or carriage trails. Map and info at the official state site.

Pine Hills is much smaller, but seems more bike friendly. There were a couple of manmade features when I was there last and a few drops. More rocks than Standish. Directions and a map can be found at Bikerag.com

Unfortunately there isn't much else just off the Cape. I'm not familiar with anything further up RT 3. As far as 195 goes there used to be some trails in Mattapoisett that sounded cool, but I haven't heard much about them lately and never found them myself. After that there's not much until you get to Freetown/Fall River State Forest. There are some good trails in there, but a lot of eroded ones too, and no useful map. Village Park in Swansea is fun, but only about 8 miles of trails and its about 45 minutes from Otis, so not sure if thats too far.

[dougiestares]

To piggy back on Icecreamjay.

I ride Myles Standish a lot because it is close to me.
Here are some of my observations...
1) It is very big and it has a back country feel to it in places which is kind of cool.
2) There is probably 40 miles of just ST to be had and you can put together nice long loops.
3) The topology is very similar to otis. Constant ups and downs but no sustained climbs to be had.
4) There are some very sandy spots but they can be easily avoided if you spend some time learning the place.
5) The soil in genreal is soft and peaty which is great for building fitness but doesn't make for a FUN ride sometimes. I can feel like you're always going up hill here.
6) It takes a lot of hours to learn it all. I would recommend starting at the center parking lot and learn those trails first. After that park next to the fire tower and there is ST off of the fire road on either side of Bare hill rd. Then park at the Allen road entrance and explore over there. Once you have a feel for those three main areas you can start linking the "good stuff" together. Avoid the south part of the park near Charge Pond as it is like riding on the beach there.
7) The fire roads all have signs on them and you'll have no problem navigating with a map.

There are trails in South Plymouth which are mix of blown out dirt bike trails and some decent ST. THey can be accessed by parking on Bournehurt Rd near the intersection of Bourne Rd. Head north on Bourne road about .3 miles and look for the trail on either side of the road. The east side is about a 12 mile loop which basically brings you back to where you entered. The west side has about the same mileage but requires a little more exploring to get back to the road as it doesn't just loop back like the east side. I only hit these a few times a year for some variety...nothing spectacular.

I personally like Freetown/Fall riverSF the best for its variety of soil and technical sections. Just like all the other networks in SEMass this requires sometime to explore and find the good stuff as there are not any maps (that i know of anyways). And unlike the Myles standish fire roads are not marked and it is easy to lose 3-4 hours un-losing yourself (def. bring the state map). If you take 195 west to the Reed Rd. exit (forget the exit number) head north until you hit the Copicut / Quanapog Rd. intersection and park here. The trail head is about 50 ft. before the intersection on your left. This is actually outside of the SF but this is where the trails with the least dirt bike traffic are. One final note about Freetown SF, spend enough time here and your bound to see something bizarre (search the forum for threads on that stuff).

Wompatuck is about 1 hour north of the Sagamore bridge off of RT3. I enjoy riding here, there is a lot of trail work done here. Great variety on the trails , fast and flowy, rocky and technical, and some little climbs here and there. Check out the friends of Wompatuck website, there is a realy good map on there with all the trails.

Oh, there are also trails in Duxbury which I have heard are good and a lot of trail work has been done. I've never been so I can attest but from what I've heard it is worth checking out.

[intershark]

Have you tried Trail of Tears yet?
I live in Mashpee so I'll go to Otis or ToT depending how I feel lol.
I find with Otis if you stay to the right side its much flatter than riding near the highway side, or come in from Crane Wildlife management side into the Otis trails makes a nice ride.
Trail of Tears has it all from fire roads, single track/hills and meadows for riding.

[icecreamjay]

Dougie, have you ridden Village Park in Swansea? Its a relatively new area, no one rode there ten years ago, I built a bunch of the trails myself from 2002-2008 or so then people started riding there. Since then several more trails have been built. There isn't a lot of distance, but the trails make up for it by being well maintained and being fast and flowy with sections of rocky tech. There are several well built bridges and skinnies over wetlands. There is a map available at the local shop, Bikeworks on 118 in Swansea (or just print one from Nemba places to ride). The trails aren't mapped but its a very compact trail system so you can't get lost. Might be a bit out of your range, but its a very nice and fun 1.5 hour ride spot.

http://www.nemba.org/ridingzone/Abrams.html

edit : The Bikeworks map is more up to date than the online nemba version. There is at least one trail that isn't marked on the online one.

[tree]

Thanks for all of the suggestions.

[dougiestares]

Jay, I haven't made it over to Village Park. I'll have to check it out one day for sure!