Hi
A few friends and I were going to head to Wilkesboro this weekend for a mountain bike trip.  It doesn't appear those trails will be open so we are thinking about heading to charlotte since we haven't ridden there.   

What trails would you guys recommend we ride first?   

We are planning on heading down tomorrow to ride.  We'll spend the night and then ride some on Sunday before heading back.   

We're from the Raleigh Durham area and have ridden all of the trails around here.   

Thanks for he help

Try and get to Whitewater Center and Lake Norman. Two of the bigger networks in the area. Rocky River trail is also an experience, but shorter on time.

Sorry, that's not very helpful. Depends on the type of riding you want to do. Fast & flowy, Technical climbs, etc. Also, how much mileage are you looking to get in?

The U.S. National Whitewater Center is great for a bit of everything. I believe it has somewhere around 30+ miles of trail at this point. Plus a Biergarten, restaurant, ropes course, ziplines, rock walls, whitewater and flatwater activities. Plus they do concerts on Thursdays and Saturdays in the summer (Riverjam) but according to their calendar that doesn't start until next weekend. Of course the downside to so much awesome in one location is crowds, especially on nice weekends. Plus a minor $5 parking fee per car.

Lake Norman State park has similar total mileage and is mostly smooth and flowy, i.e. fast and fun! (perhaps a good substitute if you were hoping for Wilkesboro Warrior Creek type stuff)

Uwharrie is a little further out there but will give you some big mountain feel with long climbs, long descents (not Pisgah long, but long by Charlotte standards). Good, proper chunky gnar. 10 miles at Uwharrie feels like about 20 at Lake Norman.

Sherman Branch is a blast, probably the fastest flow type trail in Charlotte. Total mileage around 11.5 

Rocky River is hard to explain. Super fun descents, really cool manmade stuff, but also relatively raw, true singletrack. Mostly known for all the feature climbs, that will kick your butt. An awesome trail for sure.

Backyard Trail is guaranteed to be one of the most unique trails you have ever ridden. Very technical, lots of cool natural and man-made features.  The best jump lines in Charlotte. Has the older mini DH type jump line, and the new jumpline which is more of a proper DJ jumpline. One of my personal favorites.

Agree with the recommendations so far, but would add Fisher/Allison Farms to the list.

SHERMAN BRANCH

Honestly, the verity of trails here is amazing. Just choose one that matches your style and you'll be fine.
Also might want to look into the Uwharrie national forest east of charlotte in Albemarle if you want a pretty long ride. You can do 10 miles to the full 20+ if that's your thing. But if you want a quick lunch lap after ridding the almighty Branch a new little 1.6-mile trail recently opened up called purser-hulsey, it's short but still loads of fun.

Honestly though you can't go wrong, be it Sherman, Lake norman, WWC, or the Fishstix killer(it's a pretty calm trail actually) just get out and ride. 

Perfect weekend for it to
-Sam


EDIT
Might want to skip Sherman tomorrow morning since it's gonna get all purrdyed up, check the trailworks section for more info

I would avoid the White Water Center on a Sunday, but they have great trails.  Sunday Funday will pack the trails with novice riders on rental bikes.  Try to go there during the week, or ride early if you do go.

Otherwise, Lake Norman or Sherman Branch.  Lots of other good options, but for your effort you want to get in some miles too.  And both trails are on the north side of CLT reducing your windshield time.

 

traildog wrote on 04/30/17 at 1:18am:

I agree