Veterans Park, located on the south side of Lexington, offers up great mountain biking within city limits. Maintained by KyMBA Bluegrass in cooperation with the City of Lexington, Veterans Park offers well maintained and laid out bike trails that are fun for those getting into the sport and those that have years of experience alike.
Quick Info:
Free to ride
The park is a hub for numerous activities that can keep the entire family entertained
Beginner friendly, all trails are made to accommodate any experience and fitness level - Don’t be intimidated!
Veterans Park is often quite busy
Be mindful of weather conditions, KyMBA offers regular updates through their website and Facebook Pages:
Trailforks and MTB Project offer accurate and up-to-date trail maps.
Bike Shops
Broomwagon - Bike Shop, Coffee, Beer, Food
Restaurants
I typically give some recommendations for food in these but in a town like Lexington, you probably already know where you’re going to eat. And the good, old places are already being overcrowded.
Blog
A lot of folks are surprised when they learn that there are mountain biking trails in urban environments, and flatter geographic regions, such as Lexington. I guess the Laws of Supply and Demand apply in such cases because Lexington, Louisville, Northern KY, and similar urban areas around the country are springing up mountain bike trails yearly.
It would be awesome if there were more mountain bike trails in Kentucky’s mountains, such as Sugarcamp Mountain Trails, but the fact is building trails is a lot of work. Activities like mountain biking depend heavily on volunteers and where there’s more people, there’s likely more folks willing to pitch in. But I digress.
Veterans Park is where I started mountain biking. Quite frankly it was out of necessity. I was living in Lexington at the time and was getting real tired of the hassle of hauling my moto bike at least an hour to ride. Being a fan of motocross all my life, I’d seen mountain biking in passing but had never really considered it. I stumbled on Veterans Park’s MTB trails on accident and immediately started scouring CraigsList for a mountain bike. Soon I was out on the trails 3 and 4 days a week, after work and after long nights out at Fifth Third Pavilion.
Veterans Park might be located on old farmland in a vertically challenged part of the Bluegrass, but well designed and maintained trails are never bad. Get out there and give it a try, you might get sucked in just like me.