Bike Trails (Cary, Morrisville: to buy, bars, friendly)

[Stoj]

I'm getting ready to buy my fiance a bike for her birthday. I wanted to take her out on Saturday to a local park to ride some trails. We are fairly in shape but we haven't biked in years. Does anyone have any paths you would suggested in the Morrisville/Cary area?

Thanks,

Paul

[dedratermi]

Cary has some amazing greenways which are bike-friendly:
http://www.townofcary.org/depts/dsdept/P&Z/bicycleplan/bicyclemap.pdf (broken link)

Also check out umpstead park.

[Bmateo]

Do you want paved, gravel, or singletrack?

For paved, there is a great network of greenways. I did not click on the link above, but it seems to be covered there.

For gravel, if you want flat, try the American Tobacco Trail (ATT). Rails to trails with lots of multi-use going on there. It is very flat, which might be a good start. Umstead is great too, but much more hilly.

If you want singletrack (actual trails) then I would start with Lake Crabtree County Park, or Harris Lake County Park. Both have beginner to intermediate trails. Both have about 8 miles approximately, and that should be enough to keep you busy for a while. If not, turn around and do them in the other direction.

A great biking resource for our area is www.trianglemtb.com (you will see me over there too). They are mostly focused on singletrack, but you can get info for any type of riding there.

Biking is a huge passion of mine, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask away, I do a LOT of riding in this area, and around the state.

Have fun!!!!!!!

EDIT>>>> They have a very active forum over there on trianglemtb. They also have a section on trail descriptons and directions on how to get there.

[Pepito's Mommie]

We rode the Hog Run Trails at Harris Lake on Saturday. The beginner trail is .7 mi and has some narrow points between trees (I was convinced my handle bars were going to wrap themselves around the trees at some point), a small bridge and lots of roots in the trail. After successfully riding that twice, I braved the intermediate trail (2 mi). Well, we were almost to the end of the trail and I managed to jump off my bike before hitting a tree. I did end up with a golf ball size lump on my knee from having my leg twisted in my bike though. (Why I'm telling this to you...not so sure...)

Any way, this was a great introduction to real trail riding for me. My first trail was riding the American Tobacco Trail which, as Bmateo points out above, is FLAT.

Enjoy your ride!

Hog Run (Harris Lake) is about 15 minutes from US 1 and Ten Ten Road.

WakeGOV.com - Trails

[Citizen Matt]

ATT is paved, but definitely not flat as in no inclines. Took the boys riding there, and those w/out gears on their bikes struggled at several places. At those areas the inclines and declines were subtle. The bike/equestrian gravel trail we followed at Umstead St. Park was wide and exciting; the boys saw snakes, an expired rat, deer and RDU control tower.

[Nelly622]

You can stop by any Cary community center and pick up a Hike and Bike map. They're free!