I was surprised to learn last year that there was a mountain bike trail in Manhattan. It is located on the rocky cliffs of Highbridge Park overlooking the Harlem River in northern Manhattan.
High Bridge Mountain Bike Course
(Highbridge Park is also home to the High Bridge and High Bridge Tower, part of the Croton Aqueduct system. Last year I blogged about the High Bridge and High Bridge Tower, and took pictures of the New York City portion and New York State portion of the Croton Aqueduct trail.)
Here is a map that shows the location of the Highbridge mountain bike trail. The green pin shows the entrance to the trail at Dyckman Street and Fort George Hill Road. The bike icon shows the general location of the trail:
View Highbride Park Mountain Bike Trails in a larger map
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation collaborated with the New York City Mountain Bike Association to develop these cross-country and free-ride bike trails as well as the dirt jump/BMX trails. There are bike trails for beginner, intermediate and expert riders.
On the NYC Mountain Bike Association website, you can learn more about the Highbridge Park bike trails and dirt-jump park. And view a detailed trail map (PDF) of the trails:
Highbridge Park Mountain Bike Trails map
Yonathan Arava produced and directed an excellent documentary about the planning and building of the Highbridge Park mountain bike trails. You can watch this video on Vimeo.
