#Highland mountain bike shop free#

The bar offers a dozen beers on tap, many favorite bottled beers and a good selection of wine. Vegetarian and gluten-free options are available. Smoothies, iced chai tea and coffee round out the menu.

Highland’s café serves a pretty mean pizza, breakfast burritos, salads and numerous sandwich choices. The Holiday Inn Express in Tilton is particularly friendly, providing discounts to mountain bikers. Highland has a list of nearby hotels and B&Bs on its website,. If you’re a beginner, you can sit on the deck of the main lodge and watch the professionals while enjoying a cold beer.Īccommodations and restaurants are only a few miles away in Tilton, N.H. Highland also holds sanctioned spectator events, including an Over Mountain Enduro Race on Aug. They hold daylong camps for the littlest shredders, four-week Ayr Academy summer sessions for riders ages 12-18, an adult Ayr Academy and the Women’s Freeride Festival. Highland offers camps and events all summer. The entire progression is meant to help riders gain the confidence and experience they need to develop their skill.” “This is a great middle step before they take it to the dirt. “Once a rider has practiced their new trick in the foam pit, they can then move to the Rezi Jump, which is made from hard foam,” says Kara Chase, marketing and promotions manager at Highland. In an effort to help their riders defy gravity, Highland has a training center with a foam pit that allows riders to learn the art of jumping or new aerial tricks, without being injured by wipeouts on hard ground. Many prefer the cross-country workout and the challenges of riding single track to the challenges of downhilling. The park’s eight miles of cross-country single track are free, and association executive director Phillip Keyes says they are an important piece of the Highland experience.įor these trails, riding a full-suspension bike with a lighter frame that can be peddled up and down hills is the way to go. Last September, association trail builders and more than 50 mountain bikers from all over New England added a mile of trails to Highland’s network. Over the past three years, Highland has not only added more beginner trails - such as Cat’s Paw and Meadow’s End - to their downhill network, but they have also expanded their cross-country single track trails with the help of mountain bike association volunteers.

The lesson focuses on five fundamentals important for novice and experienced riders the idea is: safety and control equals fun. While some riders prefer to learn on their own, many newcomers to the sport can sign up for Highland’s Find Your Ride package, which includes a day pass, bike rental, protective gear, a one-hour lesson on the fundamentals and one-on-one run with an instructor. All experienced riders, the guys in the shop can fit you to a bike and tell you anything you want to know about trail conditions, lessons and what local beer is on tap in the bar upstairs. The shop has a line of sturdy full-suspension mountain bikes for rent that are built for punishment. The best place to begin your Highland adventure is in the bike shop in the main lodge. It is little wonder they were recently voted Best in New England by Decline Magazine.

#Highland mountain bike shop free#

To do that they have added a jump park, a pump track, an Ayr bag, a training center and, with the help of New England Mountain Bike Association volunteers, they have completed eight miles of single-track cross-country trails that are free to the public. Now in its eighth season of providing lift service to novice and experienced riders, Highland Mountain Bike Park in Northfield, N.H., is on a mission to grow the sport so it includes the entire family.