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Tags:
Level: Advanced
Length: 2 mi (3.2 km)
Surface: Singletrack
Configuration: Loop
Elevation: -
Total: 3 riders
Mountain Biking White County Recreational Complex Trail
#140 of 202 mountain bike trails in Tennessee
This trail is moderate for only being 1.8 miles. You can go either way on the loop, as long as multiple people are not there. Going left is a more gradual climb with a faster downhill at the end. Going right is an intense uphill climb, but very flowy coming back down. After it rains, it is very slick for the next couple of days. This trail was made by Danny who owns the Town Hill Bicycle Shop in Sparta.
First added by BanksK on Jun 9, 2017. Last updated Apr 20, 2020. → add an update
Before you go
- Drinking water: unknown
- Lift service: unknown
- Night riding: unknown
- Pump track: unknown
- Restrooms: unknown
- Fat bike grooming: unknown
- E-bikes allowed: unknown
- Fee required: unknown
This trail information is user-generated. Help improve this information by suggesting a correction.
4201 Smithville Highway
Sparta, TN 38583
Park at the last parking lot and it's straight across the road. It starts out as a path by the edge of a field. The field entrance is directly across from the entrance of the gravel parking lot for the baseball fields.
The best thing I can say about this trail is the trail head is easy to find.
A neat invititing sign accompanied with an old mountain bike wheel clearly points you in the right direction through a field. The path at first has been yet to wear in and is instead a mowed patch the width of a vehicle guides you. You come to a fork that allows you to pick a direction at your discretion. I've heard you're supposed to go the same direction as other trail users if present, but here's the head scratcher. How do you know what direction someone is going if they are already out along the 2 mile stretch? Mistake 1, have signs to direct traffic as this is a huge safety concern.
We took a right as per recommended by another singletrack.com user under the impression of a sharp steel climb followed by a flowy downhill section. Sharp steep climb? Check. Flowy downhill? Where? Maybe he meant take a left? Nope, not that way either.
Crawling to the top of this steep route on the right I was left with high expectations after a rewarding climb. Looking around you could see some great landscape that would make for some awesome singletrack. The elevation was good with plenty of rocks and roots present and not too thick of foliage.
Expectations were immediately held in check after the first "switchback". It's impossible to gain any speed out here and if you do by chance feel like you want to down shift a couple times your immediately thrown into another switch back to loose all momentum. This off beat rythm continues all the "down" the "mountain". The trail is so nicky-nacky and evey turn and section feels so forced to squeeze in 2 miles. This idea of more is better needs to stop. If the trail was a fun 1 mile section we would have been out there all day. Instead we did it once and decided to go back to Cane Creek Park in Cookeville. I'm sure hard work went into this but trails like this do no good for the community when all they will do is turn beginners away from the sport. Trails need to be FUN first and then you can worry about distance. Unfortunately this trail had neither. 2 miles is nothing on a bike and the fun factor was close to zero. There was more work that play and that's fine if who ever made this wanted it that way but that's not what the community needs.
We won't be back and will detour people from going out until whoever is in charge revisits the drawing board.
1 out of 5. Forced mileage on a narrow multi directional trail through landscape that had great potential.
| ThankVery fun trail. Going to the right is very challenging and tests the uphill skills with a nice flow winding mostly downhill. Going to the left is still rather flowy however it is mostly uphill. The downhill is very intense yet pretty short.
| Thank