New Hampshire Mountain Biking - Part II

New Hampshire mountain biking is spread all around the state. With little freeway access, sometimes it takes a while to and from a trailhead. Expect up to 2 hours of driving if you want the good stuff, depending on where you stay. Below is a list of the better areas to ride outside of the seacoast, Highland, and North Conway. We were able to ride quite a few more but some just weren’t worth the time or effort. We also missed a lot of areas while visiting New Hampshire. Good reason to come back soon.

Arrowhead-Claremont

This place is legit and enduro-ready. They hold EWS qualifiers here. Big travel bikes and good tires are recommended. With steep off-camber roots, slick rocks, and mud, we struggled. A bit of adjusting to the riding conditions at first as it was very different from what we’d been riding back east up to this point. The climb is about 1.3 miles and almost 600 feet of elevation gain. All right at the beginning up a gavel road. With plenty of trails to choose from we went from blue to black and did 6 total laps clocking 3k and 10 miles. Dirty Frank, Conway, Fixer, and Waka Waka. There are a few Double Black trails here as well, but for some reason, they were all closed this day. As far as the trails we rode, I couldn’t imagine riding anything harder that day due to conditions.

Bear Brook State Park

A State Park located outside of Manchester NH, offers a great variety of cross-country and mild trails over a big expansive network. While most of the trails here are pretty mellow, there were a few fun ones that made it worth hitting this area. Cascade and Sentinel Pine are some of the highlights. As we rode around, the rest was still fun, with some flow here and there making it a good day to get out on the short travel bikes. With plenty of single and double tracks around to have a good time. There’s even a small pond with a nice sandy beach to sit at to end the ride. Being a state park it does cost about $5 per person, FYI.

D Acers

A very unique trail system West of Plymouth and North East of Hanover. This is all built on private lands. The landowner is happy to share his love of biking with others. While we were there, lots of work was being done. Some of the trails were still raw and needed a season of snow to settle them in a bit. We had a great time here. Unique for sure and very different from other areas of the state. Hand built by just one guy, you can tell some areas still need work but some sections are ripping! It’s in a weird location. Pictured is the entrance above and that is how you know where the trail starts. Parking is just in a field across from a barn/house. It looks weird but that’s where you park.

Abenaki Trail Network

Wolfeboro’s best mountain biking is located in the heart of the Lakes Region, right off Lake Winnipesaukee. What was once a ski area has now become a small, little trail system. As time goes on they wish to keep growing these trails. No lifts here so you must earn your turns. While we went here a few times during our stay in this area it was fun. Screamin’ Eagle is a flow jump trail that does require lots of pedal strokes in some areas. While Freeway and Abenaki DH were a bit more fun In my opinion. A bit steeper, raw, and more technical type of riding.