Review Date
August 30, 2009

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 3 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 5 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Reviewed by: wakerider142 ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
The first section of the trail starting at the pool is pretty nice. it's got small hills and quick singletracks. as soon as you get to the overlode trail, you hit some serious hills and switchbacks that wind through pretty cool ravines. the "chert dip", "willow spring trail" and "holy schist trail" are labeled "advanced to expert" and they are labeled that for a reason. I like to think I am a pretty decent technical rider but those rocks, roots, logs and boulders had me walking every 50 feet or so. some of the uphill climbs were next to impossible with loose rock, gravel and slippery roots sticking out. the other reviews are not up to date because i rode over 15 miles of trail today and did not have to overlap ever. i know they are in the process of adding more trail so that might be why. great trails if you can handle the crazy stuff on the north side of the park.

Recommended Route:
it's all pretty good trail riding

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Anything near Madison

Review Date
August 28, 2008

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 5 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 5 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a week

Reviewed by: bitflogger ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
The current "2 mile bigginer section and a 2.5 mile itermediate section" description here is not only wrong in terms of spelling, but no way accurate as far as describing the trails. Our standard ride making a loops of all the upper park, Pleasure Valley to the east and the new out and back Pokerville area is about a 16 mile ride.

BMSP is unlike most riding in the state where you have a lot of vertical feet, stream crossings and near constant "technical" riding. The Over Lode trail in Pleasure Valley is fast compared to the rest of the trail network.

New work is almost constant and the area trail workers use www.madcitydirt.org as a source of info and getting help.

This is the gem - the sort of riding you have to know how to do to ride in real mountains, camping, and swimming minutes from Madison. Hill & gully riding with stream crossings, rocks, and logs.

Note: This trail network can be a nasty hurt yourself place when wet and for much of the early season riding, so make sure you register at www.madcitydirt.org to know if it's ready to ride and know what you can do to support the trail work in the area.

Recommended Route:
I suggest riding counter clockwise loops starting at the swimming pool parking lot.

If the first loop is a bit much for you in terms of rocks and roots know it only gets more (you decide if that = better or worse). Over Lode (Pleasure Valley, across road and east side of park) does not have the roots and rocks but you will be riding in, down, around and up (out) of a former ski area.

"Recommended Route" also has to mean stay away when wet and know that this place can hurt you unlike most trails in the area - something some love and others not.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Cam-Rock, Quarry Ridge, Quarry Park.... Again, www.madcitydirt.org is where you get info for the area. Registering, joining the events and the crews is where it's at to know the good riding that includes trails that can't be discussed in public.

Review Date
August 4, 2007

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 5 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 5 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Ridden Once

Reviewed by: shooty babitt ,  Cross Country Rider

Summary:
Rode this for the first time yesterday. I've ridden a lot around the state, mostly central and north. I think this is the toughest ride I've hit in the state. I came off my bike a number of times on the climb and even a few times on the downhill. I drove 2.5 hours to get there and it was worth the trip. I just wish I lived closer so I could master some of the more technical stuff. I'll definitely driving down a couple of times a year to get my ass kicked.

Recommended Route:
See the route recommended by madisonbiker below. Then when you're done with all that, head back down Gneiss and Smooth and cut across the paved round when you see the sign for the new Over Lode trail. This one switches back up and down some really deep ravines for what felt like about 500 miles. If you've got any energy left to work on some of the technical parts, go have fun. You're a braver man than I.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
Standing Rocks (east of Stevens Point)

Review Date
July 8, 2006

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 5 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 4 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a month

Reviewed by: scottg07 ,  Weekend Warrior

Summary:
trails are great, lot of fun, lot of options with the trails, pretty well marked though got on a walking path once somehow... thought i was in good shape but these trails proved me wrong!

Recommended Route:
ride them all

Other recommended trails in the same area:
camrock

Review Date
February 24, 2006

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Aerobic Difficulty
 5 of 5

Technical Difficulty
 5 of 5

Ridden Trail:
Once a month

Reviewed by: madtownfreerider ,  Downhiller

Summary:
best single track in the lower part of the state. I ride a Big-hit freeride bike and i am still able to keep up with some of XC guys so its not that bad. there are a few places that i have to get off and hike a bike but its not to bad even for us dh/freeriders looking for a work out.

Recommended Route:
hed to the trails up on the hill behind the swiming pool, if looking for more of the freeride/dh part of the trail. or if you want more Xc go to trail head and ride the whole thing till you drop, and trust me you will if you dont bring water. its a must.

Other recommended trails in the same area:
right now I cant tell untill it is more finalized as far as if we can ues the land or not