Trails for 9 year old

level4

New Member
Hi, I want to bring my son to a place where he can get into mounting biking but not be overwhelmed...and not be underwhelmed. I live next to Bound Brook. I got him a hot rock last summer and he is still getting used to it but seems big enough now to go from street to off road.

Any places within 30 minutes that would offer some minor off road but not too much? I was thinking along Bound Brook canal path but seems like it's not challenging at all - just a gravel path. 6 mile and Chimney rock seem too hard for him (done both myself).

Any ideas appreciated. I hope to get him into it more so we can go together and both enjoy it in the future. Was looking to get out around 6pm a day this week or a day this weekend.
 

rick81721

Lothar
Hi, I want to bring my son to a place where he can get into mounting biking but not be overwhelmed...and not be underwhelmed. I live next to Bound Brook. I got him a hot rock last summer and he is still getting used to it but seems big enough now to go from street to off road.

Any places within 30 minutes that would offer some minor off road but not too much? I was thinking along Bound Brook canal path but seems like it's not challenging at all - just a gravel path. 6 mile and Chimney rock seem too hard for him (done both myself).

Any ideas appreciated. I hope to get him into it more so we can go together and both enjoy it in the future. Was looking to get out around 6pm a day this week or a day this weekend.

I'd suggest Mercer County Park - i'm new to this and that was where I went first (after nearly killing myself at other parks i,e, sourlands).
 

clarkenstein

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
JORBA.ORG
give 6 Mile a shot - just not a full loop. or allaire where you can make it a ride/beach day.

have you thought about the pumptrack in alexandria?
 

Robin

Well-Known Member
give 6 Mile a shot - just not a full loop. or allaire where you can make it a ride/beach day.

have you thought about the pumptrack in alexandria?

We take our campers to 6-mile. I usually just do the route 27 side with the 9-10 year olds.

Patriots Path off 24/Lewis Morris is another place we take the beginners/younger campers. Relatively flat with some roots to mix it up.
 

level4

New Member
We take our campers to 6-mile. I usually just do the route 27 side with the 9-10 year olds.

Patriots Path off 24/Lewis Morris is another place we take the beginners/younger campers. Relatively flat with some roots to mix it up.
I usually start on the other side of 6 mile. But now that I think about it, the 27 side isn't that bad - and actually was really fun doing the winding paths. We could start there and then turn around if it gets tough after. I think I give that a shot. Thanks.

The other places mentioned are a little further out than I want to but if I'm in those areas, I'll check them out.
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
took my 9 year old to the D&R canal and columbia trail first. just to get the feel of something other than the driveways -

then 6 mile out of the canal lot - all of blue.

now...

if he is feeling good we do white
if he is feeling really good we return red->blue

on the return on blue, the park can be simplified by taking the bridal paths along side the woods on the north side. this can be accesses a few different places.

we should do a kids day at some point.

ps -
skiphreaknj (so is spartabard) is an instructor for a kids mtb specific summer camp - not sure if that came across in the post.....
 
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Steve Vai

Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
My son is 9 now but he's been riding off-road since he was 5. We started at 6-Mile Run on blue and stayed in the fields out of the singletrack. You can make a pretty good loop out of those trails. As he got better we added more singletrack until he felt comfortable with that. Then we started adding more sections of trail until he got used to riding longer durations.

Advice. Take the time to show him the right way to ride stuff and he'll make out a lot better. We spent a lot of time just learning how to use the gears and brakes correctly. And make sure you bring 3 times as much water and food as you think you need. 6-Mile takes me a little over an hour by myself, but it's closer to 3 with my son...

-Jim.
 

level4

New Member
took my 9 year old to the D&R canal and columbia trail first. just to get the feel of something other than the driveways -

then 6 mile out of the canal lot - all of blue.

now...

if he is feeling good we do white
if he is feeling really good we return red->blue

on the return on blue, the park can be simplified by taking the bridal paths along side the woods on the north side. this can be accesses a few different places.

we should do a kids day at some point.

ps -
skiphreaknj (so is spartabard) is an instructor for a kids mtb specific summer camp - not sure if that came across in the post.....
First off, I would like to say a big THANK YOU for all the great responses. I think my son and I will have a great time riding this summer and beyond. I'll be hitting up 6mile within the next couple weeks if weather is good.

I would love to meet up with anybody willing. It would have to be a weekend most likely though. I just got into mountain biking a year and a half ago but haven't been out as much as I would like due to circumstances out of my control. The only part lacking for me is the fitness right now but I can hang.

The Morristown Bike Camp for kids sounds awesome but transporting him to/from there during the week is too difficult. If you know of anything similar but closer, I'm interested.
 

D'Oh

Member
I will be at this. Thank you for posting the Kids ride. If anyone want to tag along let me know we are out of East Brunswick.
 
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