Good trails for getting a beginner up to speed

Soundguy

#SenditGuy
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Just do what i did when i got my bike. Learn how to ride at wildcat ridge. But seriously don't do that... Lewis morris is a really good place to learn along with spinning a bunch of miles on patriots path.
Learn to ride wildcat..... hahahaha

But seriously parts of Patriots Path going from Lewmo and out into Mendham is a great ride for beginners. Very scenic and no real climbing.
 

02camaro

Well-Known Member
i vote for allaire, they will learn to like the small hills once they start going down. if you really want no climbing at all check out mercer county park, i went there today for the first time and did 16 miles with like 400ft of elevation gain. 6 mile is fun but maybe a little techy for a first timer, it was for me atleast, someone with a good base would be fine there.
 

walter

Fourth Party
I run cheesequake on the regular, I would say to not bring your friends there. The trails are not maintained and with the climbs, debris, and random holes your friends may not have a pleasurable experience.
 

Oz Von Toco

Active Member
Thanks for all the great replies!

This honestly would probably make a great resource for ANY beginner rider in the area.

But condensing everything

Sound like Mercer, Allaire, Nassau (when reopened) and Huber are best bets for taking the beginners. Unfortunately none of can make the 6pm group ride at allaire - we all work in north jersey and wouldn't make it there in time

Sounds like cheesequake has fallen out of maintenance. Hartshorne, Clayton, and Lew Mo revisit when they are feeling more up to it.

Lol at wildcat ridge, Actually on my list of place that I want to ride, just not with my beginner friends in tow haha.

Once again thanks for all the replies!
 

rick81721

Lothar
Thanks for all the great replies!

This honestly would probably make a great resource for ANY beginner rider in the area.

But condensing everything

Sound like Mercer, Allaire, Nassau (when reopened) and Huber are best bets for taking the beginners. Unfortunately none of can make the 6pm group ride at allaire - we all work in north jersey and wouldn't make it there in time

Sounds like cheesequake has fallen out of maintenance. Hartshorne, Clayton, and Lew Mo revisit when they are feeling more up to it.

Lol at wildcat ridge, Actually on my list of place that I want to ride, just not with my beginner friends in tow haha.

Once again thanks for all the replies!

Hey just saw this. I've been riding every park in NJ the last few years, and keeping a spreadsheet on them. If you're in north jersey, Dickerson Mine is the ticket. Similar to 6mr (very little tech) with a little more climbing - small so can't get lost. The easiest north jersey park IMO (not counting the crap trails like patriots path and Columbia trail, Black River WMA. Check it out!
 

Soundguy

#SenditGuy
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Hey just saw this. I've been riding every park in NJ the last few years, and keeping a spreadsheet on them. If you're in north jersey, Dickerson Mine is the ticket. Similar to 6mr (very little tech) with a little more climbing - small so can't get lost. The easiest north jersey park IMO (not counting the crap trails like patriots path and Columbia trail, Black River WMA. Check it out!
You must only be riding the White trail (which is indeed very beginner friendly). Blue, yellow, and orange have plenty of tech....especially orange.
 

rick81721

Lothar
You must only be riding the White trail (which is indeed very beginner friendly). Blue, yellow, and orange have plenty of tech....especially orange.

I only rode there once. Did white and orange, part of blue. I guess I was gauging it relative to most other north jersey parks tech wise. If they stay on white they won't have problems.
 

goldsbar

Well-Known Member
You must only be riding the White trail (which is indeed very beginner friendly). Blue, yellow, and orange have plenty of tech....especially orange.

Whew, I was starting to question myself. I usually put a foot down on the orange at least once, sometimes more, sometimes not. You don't want to fall sideways on a couple of parts. Most of the other trails are easier but still techy. The log ramp off the rock on yellow always gives me a little pause.

Yes, *part* of white is really easy and I sometimes bring my 10 y/o there to ride.
 

iman29

Well-Known Member
Whew, I was starting to question myself. I usually put a foot down on the orange at least once, sometimes more, sometimes not. You don't want to fall sideways on a couple of parts. Most of the other trails are easier but still techy. The log ramp off the rock on yellow always gives me a little pause.

Yes, *part* of white is really easy and I sometimes bring my 10 y/o there to ride.

Yeah Orange trail and beginners dont go too well together, ask my right knee from the one time I tried it 2 years ago...slow motion tip over on the rocky switchbacks before it goes back down to white. I named the ride "Avoid Orange" in Strava but i decided to not attach the flesh wound pic here in case someone doesnt like injury pics.

On the good side, the white trail and the fun part up top where there are some nice moderate switchbacks are fun for a beginner after you get up the climb. there's also a newer section off the side of that climb but dont recall what its called but I know we rode it with some NICA kids last year a few times.
 

Tim

aka sptimmy43
So I rode Huber Woods today. I had this thread in mind while I was riding As was mentioned there are some climbs. In my opinion they aren't bad but they are definitely steeper and more technical than 6 mile. Could be a good place to visit once/if your friends get hooked and start to lose the aversion to climbing. They will get a challenge without ending up hiking half the time.
 

Mare

Well-Known Member
Sound like Mercer, Allaire, Nassau (when reopened) and Huber are best bets for taking the beginners. Unfortunately none of can make the 6pm group ride at allaire - we all work in north jersey and wouldn't make it there in time

Sounds like cheesequake has fallen out of maintenance. Hartshorne, Clayton, and Lew Mo revisit when they are feeling more up to it.

Lol at wildcat ridge, Actually on my list of place that I want to ride, just not with my beginner friends in tow haha.

Clayton has climbs (elevation on par with more climby parks), but they are much easier because they aren't punchy. I know a lot of people aren't crazy about it, but it's worth it in my opinion. If you get bored cause it's small, ride the road over to Assunpink and ride some trails there.

Kittatinny has a lot to choose from. Stay away from fire tower climb, and the rest is more friendly :)

When you say beginner, how technical can they do? There's a lot of technical stuff up north (and therefore closer to Union, than say Wharton) and you can choose less climby routes. Yes, there's a lot of climbing too, but in general the parks are so big that you can find some good routes that are friendlier.
 

Mtbdog

Well-Known Member
Good place to start might be the Cat 3 loops of the H2H races. The NICA courses may make a good start also. The Lewis Morris track is a great place to start. Good luck and have fun!
 
Top Bottom