So I just read this article about a year-round, dedicated downhill mountain bike park on Bailey Mountain. This is the first I have heard of the project. Any one know anything else about this?

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

I want one!

MTBman1127 wrote on 04/20/15 at 11:19pm:


That's exactly what I said when I saw the news.

It's ok but it could be better... a jump line would be a much appreciated addition... needs a little more fun and a little more of everything, it doesn't take long to tire of it.

so is it good for someone who has never tried downhill?

This park looks suuuper promising!!!!!

With that being said I think there is still good reason to go up to Beech Mountain.  There lift is super fast (5 min or so to the top) and they never have a line because you can load 4 bikes on each of their racks.   

The way Beech is set up there is an upper mountain and a lower mountain (with a paved road called "summer road" in the middle).  There are three trails choices to take you down to summer road, 2 blacks and one green.  The off of summer road you can choose to go green (which splits into two trails for a bit, one has a small 5 jump small table top line) one of two blacks (you can transfer from one to the other halfway down), or far riders right you can drop into a blue flow trail (Heart breaker, new at the end of last year) that is smooth with a really unique rock roller, some jumps and the biggest berms on the mountain.  Of course all of the blacks and blues filter into the same bottom jump section (wide open, my favorite part of the hill), and the green ends with a couple of fun berms.  So if you do the math there are quite a few different run options  .

Stoked to have more DH park style trails to ride this summer!

jleealex wrote on 04/22/15 at 5:18pm:


There is a pretty big difference IMHO between the blacks and the blues at Beech.  The Blues (I have not ridden the newest addition) are really easy, the challenge is all about how fast do you want to go, controlling your speed, the smallish jumps and berms.  Both of the black trails on both the upper and lower part are pretty technical and steep in sections.  Nothing you can't walk or pick your way down slowly and carefully but I wouldnt send a novice down the blacks at Beech until they have really scoped it out and are ready.


jleealex wrote on 04/22/15 at 5:18pm:


You can ride anything at Beech, as most folks will tell you today's trail bikes are very capable to go down most anything.  If yo uare going to make a day out of it on your trail bike I would recommend DH tires if possible and DH tubes at a minimum.  An XC tire, even set up tubeless will get torn up pretty quick in some of those rockier sections.

Where a DH specific bike becomes worth it is when you want to start to go a faster on the steep sections or charge those rocky sections.  If you think you want to try DH, I would highly recommend you rent yourself a DH bike at least once, there is a difference.

jleealex wrote on 04/22/15 at 5:18pm:


Ditto on what Rob P and Doc00t said.  I put 2.3 specialized butchers front and rear on my trail bike (trance) to ride it at Beech.

All the blacks at Beech are really technical.  The good thing is you won't run out of challenges quickly if you are new to DH because it will take you a while to master the more technical trails.   

The greens and the blues are actually relatively smooth and if you only ride those you have about 5 different combinations of unique top to bottom runs.

You can have fun on just about any bike there.  My first trip up there was with the intention of riding their single track trails with some friends who came up from FL so i took my hard tail SS.  A lot of the singletrack was closed due to construction and my friends legs didn't like the climbs since they came from the flat lands.  We ended up getting lift tickets and still had a ton o' fun.  Yes, I had more fun on return trips when I rode a full squish trail bike, but it isn't a necessity to have fun.  Run what you brung!!!

You can ride it on a hardtail if you wanted but idk how much fun it would be.