Muni trails near highways.
Nothing breaks up a long road-trip like a muni ride, but most good trails are in the middle of nowhere.
I just discovered a HUGE set of trails 5-10min from 2 major highways in southern NY, on my drive to the in-laws.
These are in Stewart State Forest. I rode them twice recently, once coming from the north via I-84
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8550597
And another ride coming from the east via i-87
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8550598
This is a huge trail system. I rode for 2 hrs and probably covered less than 1/4 of the trails. Overall I would rank this a 29 or 36er course, not too technical, although it would also be fun on a 24. There are a number of short hills that keep you working.
This was the site of a recent ‘Single-Speed-a-Palooza’ race that included one uni. There is a map of this course here.
My first ride I tried to keep to the course, with limited success. Second ride I just went south, then turned around and headed north, which was more fun. As with any large network of twisty trails, a compass/GPS is suggested to help get you back to your car.
We have had a lot of rain recently and, despite some obvious high bike traffic, the trails were pretty good. Exceptions were stream crossings, and the first 1mile of the singlespeedapoloza course, which was a washout.
-Ro