Cunningham Park

The park does not drain well, muddy in parts, but not enough to dirty the bike. Love the tricks and switchbacks.

The East side of the park is fast and flowy, with well maintained berms and small jumps with smooth landings. In the past this side of the park was ideal for rigid or cyclocross bikes. However additional switchbacks have been added, with baby-head rock gardens and a few massive log-overs. Generally the riding goes like this: flowy turn, optional boulder obstacle, flowy turn, log pile, chute, skinny, and so on. A few of the log piles have been added to the apex's of turns, which is an unfortunate design choice. It forces a slow pace where in years past this side of the park could be ridden at speed. However, drainage has been greatly improved overall and the overall mileage has been increased (spring 2018). Although some of the fast areas are gone, the most interesting turns and features of the park have been well preserved and improved.
______________________________________________________________
The centerpiece of the East side is a beautifully maintained pump track and beginner and advanced dirt jumps. Expect to see a number of BMX and dirt jumpers along with digging crews.
______________________________________________________________
The West side of the park is more technical, with off-camber turns, drops, and a greater tendency toward sequential technical features. This area of the park is more natural and has seen the least amount of change in recent years. Central to the west side is an expert dirt jump area. Watch out for broken glass, local teens have bonfires, throw parties (and beer bottles) in this area.
______________________________________________________________
All trails are one-way out of necessity. It becomes overgrown mid-summer and can hinder visibility, use caution and watch for stopped riders and walkers. Poor signage can lead to unfamiliar riders heading the wrong way on trails, so use some caution. User conflicts in this park are rare, as few locals are interested in walking the trails. Traffic is low, and there are seemingly so few MTB'ers in NYC that the few people you do run into will become regular acquaintances and friends.
______________________________________________________________
Sprain Ridge, Graham Hills, and Blue Mountain offer much more in terms of natural beauty, elevation, and tech. Overall its a great half-day escape from city life, and the trail builders have done an amazing job squeezing so much value out of such a small and ordinary space.

Being from Long Island this is about the best it gets nearby.
There are actually 2 pumptrack sections and one big dirt jump section referred to as "jet line". There are also public bathrooms in the park directly across the street from the trails. Really fun for people of all skill levels as there are a variety of trails packed into a small area.

Fun place to ride with plenty of options on difficulty. Perfect for beginners and for people looking to have fun.

Good technical stuff - log rolls, drops, jumps. Fairly good flow. Not much in the climbing department but enough to break a sweat.

Five stars for being accessible from the city. And pretty awesome besides.
See note about poison Ivy below.

As others have noted, this is a great little park with some fast and super fun singletrack. And a couple impressive dirt jump sections for the jumpers. You on your mountain bike will likely not do these;) In general, solid, fast XC with good technical attributes and maybe a couple of mild drops and more than a few places to catch (normal) air and test your abilities. I believe this park was designed from scratch by the volunteers who got this park going, and it really is an accomplishment.

It's also a perfect park for single speed rigid if you're into that. My 33t crank is just about perfect for this park, able to get up 99.9% of the short little grades. But you'll see most riders riding full squish trail-bikes here.

I cut my MTB teeth out west and Cunningham was my first ride out east. It didn't disappoint and after exploring some of the other local options within an hour or so, it still stands out and is a unique park. And this might sound insane, or a symptom of my lack of having experienced that many locations (despite riding for 20 years) but it actually resembles the speedy, low vertical-grade flow, in my humble opinion, of... Goosberry Mesa in Utah. Just because that's regarded as one of the sweetest spots on earth to ride (it is) doesn't invalidate the comparison. Mesa is like riding on a roller coaster with every track and rock face accommodating your zippiness. That's what Cunningham has in common, minus the tear inducing "epic" of place like Mesa of course;) with it's fancy pants slick rock desert god-scape overlooking Zion Nat'l Park.

Caution, there is POISON IVY in this park. It tagged me and blew up my knee a bit. It's common for first encounters to take between 10-20 days for it show believe it or not. This is what happened to me about 12 days out. I road in mid July, after some heavy rain storms, when the brush started to become overgrown a bit. Don't get me wrong, this is really well-maintained park. In fact in between five days of riding, I noticed a few side-brush sections had been cleared. But there are a lot of trails here and not everything can be groomed to a tee.

So ride with caution if this concerns you, or even better, with some skin protection if you can handle the heat in the summer when this is most likely to be a problem. This is what I'll be doing, sad (but not too sad) to say. And in no way should this put you off if you're new and eager to visit, since I have ridden here several times over the years and this was my first encounter. And for context, my riding partner encountered no poison ivy despite shadowing each other the whole ride.

Great park and a gift to NYC riders grateful for accessible quality riding.

Been riding this track since 2007. It's nicely kept up by C.L.I.M.B.... Great for beginners just starting out if you need something flat and the intermediates and black diamonds are fun too. Technical trail in some spots with minimal climbs but some sharp turns and a lot of optional trees boulders and rocks.

The most fun you can have riding a bike in New York City.

Cunningham is an exceedingly well designed trail system right in the middle of Queens. The trails range in difficulty, making it an excellent place to step up your skills gradually. The east side of the park is fast, flowy, and generally easier; I am in no way an expert but with the exception of a few tight logovers and the bigger man made features (which I skip anyway) I can clear the whole side without dabbing. West side is a different story. Although there's probably nothing there that will give a skilled rider pause there are enough rock gardens, logs, and technical sections to keep pretty much anyone entertained. If you want big tech lines, jumps, etc they are here. Not to the degree or at the frequency you'd find them at Sprain for instance, but aspects of that kind of riding are available at Cunningham. Rollers and logs are all over the place so its a great place to build those skills in particular. If you're into skinnies and balances you'll have a couple of appealing areas on and around blue and black trails on both sides of the park.

There's no real climbing but enough constant ups, downs, and turns to get a good workout. Some of the short steep sections on the west side are fairly technical as well. All this said the place is frequented by cyclocross riders (myself included) and my mountain bike is a single speed rigid 29er; you don't need crazy full squish expensive gear to ride these trails, which is part of their charm and fun. And if you want dirt jumps and some relatively mild freeride, you have three mini parks within the trail system. There's definitely something here for everyone and the fact that its in city limits, in a rather beautiful park, is all the more impressive. CLIMB deserves a whole lot of credit for getting this done.

This being NYC the trails can get pretty crowded and erosion does take its toll; try not to ride when they're too wet.

Great trails deff recommend! I am a beginner with moutain biking and went for my first time today and what a blast! Great trails with good jumps and obstacles.

Fun trail. What makes it even more interesting is the fact that it is in New York City. I think anyone who is interested in trail riding and or XC riding needs to definitely check this place out. Great starting off point and getting your feet wet.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit er elit lamet, consectetaur cillium adipisicing pecu, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. Nam liber te conscient to factor tum poen legum odioque civiuda.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit er elit lamet, consectetaur cillium adipisicing pecu, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. Nam liber te conscient to factor tum poen legum odioque civiuda.

Great place in the city, easy areas for whoever starts out, and places for pro's too, or medium trails for training. Definitely a place to go often!

Decent riding within the NYC area. Good for a 1-2 hour ride but nothing more. Some bridges and log rides to play around on. Ranges from intermediate to beginner. Would generalize and say that this is not a destination for anyone outside the city, but a good place for locals to get some quick riding in. True 'city' riding conditions with trash everywhere which can only be expected.

Cunningham Park was a great ride. Large and intricate routes. Jumps for the park people and technicals for the downhillers. Some nice slender hard-packed trails amongst greens, and tight hairpins in the trees.

Amazing place to both learn and advance!! Has everything for all skill levels!! Looking to advance my riding hit me up if you guys are heading there only a 15min ride for me!!

About a 35 min drive from me but well worth it. This is my fav trail because its where I went riding for the first time. There are lots of fun stuff you can do. Great for all skill levels.

This trail has a good combination of beginer, intermediate and advance trails. There is a nice BMX park. Place is well maintained even three weeks after a hurricane all the trails are clear of obstructions. Park has twisty singletrack, jumps, logs and some rocks islands. Excellent ride within city limits

I've only mountain biked a few times but I am confident in my bike handling skills. I used a single speed full rigid 29er and had a blast. Drops were fun and overall the trails held a good speed and flow. I got through all the trails in the park just fine. Didn't use all the obstacles. Some of the bigger jumps and log jumps I had to skip but they are totally doable in retrospect. Have to come back to finish them.

This is the best trails locally