Hobby Park - Mountain Bike Trail

While the trail might be named Hobby Park, this is a trail for serious mountain bikers first and foremost, because this trail is used for many local mountain bike races. It covers seven miles and prioritizes speed over everything else, so if you aren’t used to controlling your mountain bike in terrain that boosts and prioritizes your speed, then you should seek out another trail.

Additionally, if Hobby Park wasn’t already pushing your body hard enough, there is also an optional trail that is called Little Pisgah, and it is one half mile of terrain that looks like the mountains it is named after and rides like it too. 

Before you go:

Drinking water

Restrooms

Fee required

Lift service

Fat bike grooming

Family Friendly

Night riding

E-bikes allowed

Dogs Allowed

Obstacles

Shuttles

Detailed Trail Description

Hobby Park is a massive loop with seven miles of twists, turns, and changing elevations. It also is designed to be a race track, meaning that you shouldn’t go on this trail unless both you and your bike are prepared for it. Despite it being a seven mile loop, turning around and calling the trail quits can be just as punishing as continuing forward, so you should make sure you understand what you are committing to before you take on Hobby Park.

Still, you will start and end at the entrance to Hobby Park and the parking lot, so once you are done you will be able to get up and go back to your vehicle without any trouble. However, some of the hardest areas of trails are at least optional, so you can make the choice if you want to take Little Pisgah on yourself.

Also, Hobby Park is a  park, so around the entranceway and parking lot you can find bathrooms, water fountains, fields, and sitting areas, perfect to either use before you get on the trail or you can use them whenever you get back from the seven mile loop.

Recommendations/Precautions

As stated several times, this bike trail is not for beginners. It is rocky, it has several large hills and drops, and it is designed for races and to prioritize speed over everything else. If you aren’t experienced enough to handle a trail like this, or you don’t have the proper bike to take on this type of terrain, go find a different trail. The risk of you hurting your bike, yourself, or someone else sharing the trail with you is too dangerous. Make sure you are properly prepared and have the needed skills to take on this trail before you do.

But if you are prepared, then you will find that Hobby Park is a rush like no other as you try to figure out just how fast your bike can go, and if you happen to be faster than your friends while on this trail, that’s something no one can take away from you. 

Conclusion

The trail at Hobby Park has several bumps, rocks, roots, and manmade mounds to jump and contend with. At first glance it might not be the type of trail you think it is, but once you get about a quarter of the way down, you will find that the trail becomes all about downhill speed. The falls are the lengths of football fields, and the climbs to get to the next fall aren’t any shorter, as you crest hills and then let gravity do the rest for you. 

The trail also has plenty of rocks and changing terrain as the trail goes from clay to a mixture of sand and pebbles and then back again, so make sure that your bike can handle all of that as you go from one curve to the next.