East Coast Road Trip heads to New Hampshire EVOlution Mount Sunapee

#ECRT 2017: EVO Mount Sunapee

29 Sep 2017

Does the word EVOlution ring a bell to you, yeah? How about EVOlution Mount Sunapee? Probably not, right? Well, let us introduce you to a New England bike park that popped onto the scene back in 2015. Located in Newbury, New Hampshire, they are only 39 miles West of Highland Mountain Bike Park and 39 miles East from their sister bike park, EVOlution OKEMO, in Ludlow Vermont. The Clippership Chairlift hauls bike park riders up to 5 trails that are currently in place, with a 6th trail that was still under construction while we were there riding at the park. Mount Sunapee is definitely aimed towards the green/beginner rider, but they have not left out the advanced rider either, with a trail called “Rock This Way”, which of course, was our favorite trail! We arrived just in time for the resort’s 84^th annual craft fair (insert crickets chirping here). With no time to waste, we wanted to make sure that we had enough time to fit all the adventuring in that we could.

(rider: Colman Lamb)

(rider: Trey Clay)

Before we delve into our experience at the bike park, it should be noted, that if a bike park wants to find success, then it needs to start with the beginner rider. Many existing bike parks have, over the last 5 years or so, been scrambling to carve out new trails for the novice rider. So, when a resort that has never had a bike park before, wants to be smart, they will learn from other bike parks’ hardships and start with a green trail, then a blue trail, and so on. Mount Sunapee is starting out on the right foot. So this article is for you—the new rider—looking for a bike park to dip your feet into.

(rider: Natty G)

When we first pulled into the parking lot at the base of Mount Sunapee, our jaws dropped at the sight of a chairlift with massive vertical potential off to the left. At first glance, we thought we were staring at the steep face of Plattekill Bike Park, but then, we looked over to the right and saw a much shorter lift hauling bikes up the mountain, and instantly, we knew that we had found our people. We went into the Adventure Center where we met Colman Lamb, our guide to the bike park.

(rider: Colman Lamb)

Before we had made our way to the bike park, we had been warned that the Clippership Chairlift ran painfully slow. You can just about beat its speed down the mountain; although, we never did try to prove that theory correct, we believe it just might be possible for a strong enough climber. But, in truth, we’ve been on a lot of slow chairlifts, so long as you have interesting things to talk about, you’ll get over it pretty quickly. With only 5 trails and ~360ft of vertical descent, we knew riding the whole bike park at Mount Sunapee wouldn’t be too much of a challenge for us to accomplish in a single day. So, we started on the green trail and worked our way down the list. Colman was a great guide and rider; no doubt we were going to have some fun!

(rider: Trey Clay)

“Dirt Serpent” is the green trail. It’s an easy, fast, and flowy trail that switchbacks all the way down the mountain; it never crossed paths with any other trails. The most notable bit about this trail was that it was a rather beautiful trail gracefully winding its way through the trees. Our favorite blue trail was “Sidewinder”, it offered multiple line choices for a more advanced rider. It had rock gardens and wooden features to amplify the challenge a bit. The only complaint is that we wanted more of it! The other blue trails were pretty smooth and flowy and were a great step-up from the green trail. The most notable trail for us, however, was a double black diamond trail called “Rock This Way”. It is more of a single black trail in our opinion, because there are multiple lines and ride-a-rounds for all the features. All the big features were an absolute blast and solidly made. However, we frequently did have to break-check before some of the features to avoid sailing past the intended landings. Riders should scope out the features on this trail before sending it!

(rider: Natty G)

At this time, Mount Sunapee’s bike park is just getting started, having only been around for 3 seasons. Riding an 8-inch travel, dual crown, dh bike is overkill on these trails. Most of the terrain, we would categorize as beginner & intermediate (flow) with berms, tables, small drops, and small wood ladders and features. The vertical descent (360ft) is one of, if not the shortest bike parks that we’ve ever been to. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun for a day, go fast, and find some thrills. Finally, as we mentioned earlier, Mount Sunapee does have room to expand upward and out if they so choose. We hope they do!