Mountain bike curious? Love biking but realizing it's getting a little cold for road rides? Wondering what it's like to ride on some local trails?

Come join us for an intro mountain bike ride at Rock Meadow on Saturday at 10am! We will ride up to 8 miles on trails, for approximately 1.5 hours, following a route that is adaptable to the group's interest and comfort level.

There will be a mandatory pre-trip meeting Tuesday evening during office hours – Tuesday, 11/19 @ 6pm in the MITOC office – to make sure everyone can rent the appropriate bike.

This ride is for people who are curious about mountain biking and are either new to mountain biking or have tried a couple of times and would like to give it another go. Trails at Rock Meadow are beginner friendly, but you should already know how to ride a bike and be comfortable riding 15+ miles on the road.

You can expect terrain that includes roots, rocks, and loose leaves with rolling elevation through the forest, similar to what you may be familiar with trail running on. Note that the trail system we will be at is mostly cross-country style riding; this is not downhill mountain biking like at a lift-serviced park. The route is beginner-friendly and we will not be hitting big features, jumps, or drops.

MITOC has mountain bikes available to rent. Other useful clothing and gear for the trip includes: -helmet (required) -thin to medium weight gloves (maintain dexterity) -bike shorts are not required, but tights or tapered pants that won’t catch on the bike are helpful -light upper body layer(s) -thin hat that fits under helmet depending on Saturday’s temperature -small backpack (without frame) or hip pack to hold water, snacks, and any layers that you may want to take on and off -trail runners, sneakers, etc are fine as footwear

For this trip, we’re excited to prioritize people new to the sport of mountain biking!

For transportation, riding there is always an option (~40 minutes one way from the MITOC office), and we’ll also try to coordinate cars bringing bikes (MITOC rents bike racks for cars) at the pre-trip meeting.