Q&A: Oak Mountain

12 Jul 2016

Q&A: Oak Mountain Bike Park

Who are you and what is your involvement with Oak Mountain Bike Park?

My name is Sam Dana and I help Oak Mountain management and “Bike Park Important guy”, Eli Glesmann, promote Bike events at Oak Mountain Bike Park.

Gravity East Series #5 at Oak Mountain New York. from MadKats Productions.

How long ago did Oak Mountain become a bike park? Who or what was the driving force?

Eli began building trails at Oak in 2012. He was the driving force behind the MTB trail development.

What are the hopes for Oak Mountain?

To continue to offer downhill mountain bike trails with unique terrain, flow, and features that Oak Mountain has to offer. It’s really a great example of Northeast Singletrack Trails. Rocky, technical, steep, fast, flowy...it really has it all!

How many trails do you have in place right now? Do you plan to build more

trails this summer?

We have 9 trails (7 top to bottom)

Describe the predominant “style” of riding at your park? (Natural vs.

Manmade, DH/Tech/Steep vs. Flow/Features) Typically, what kind of terrain

do you have? (Rocky, Drydusty, Tacky, Roots)…

Again, Oak has the best of everything. Manmad singletrack with natural downhill northeast gnar make up about half of the trail system, but we do have 3 machine-made trails that offer smooth flow, berms, and jumps for those craving freeride and flow.

Stoked on Oak | Summer opening from Elias Glesmann.

Do you have any events planned for this 2016 season?

October 2nd will be our Annual “rider appreciation race.” Event details will be posted on the Oak Mountain Bike Park facebook page and all race proceeds go towards trail development and maintenance.

Is there a large riding community? How far do your riders travel to ride at

your park?

The Downhill mountain bike scene has blown up in the past 5 years. Attendance is growing every year. We get anywhere from 15 to 30 riders on any given Sunday. Riders travel from all over the northeast to ride Oak. It has become known as a “Hidden Gem” amongst those in tune with the Northeast DH scene.

Is there a main place for riders to hangout? Maybe a restaurant or bar where people can eat lunch or have post ride drinks?

The Acorn Pub is located right on Oak and features great craft beers on tap and Chef Lou in the kitchen (runner up contestant on season 4 of “Hell’s Kitchen!” Needless to say, the food and drink is phenomenal!

What does the future hold for the bike park?

To continue to offer singletrack trails to DH riders that are unique to Oak Mountain and Eli’s building techniques (Eli has gained quite a name for himself as a trail builder) Oak’s terrain is really one-of-a-kind!

Is there anything that you would like to talk about that wasn’t included in this article?

To those who ride mountain bike and have never been to Oak or rode lift access trails: Come out and ride one Sunday! You will not regret it!To those who ride DH: If you haven’t rode Oak yet, get it on your ride schedule!

#stokedonoak