• 19th century mining history, from closed up coal mines and mining infrastructure to the very trails you are riding.
• Riding under and then over the New River Gorge Bridge. The longest steel span bridge in the western hemisphere and 3rd highest in the United States.
• Legally mountain biking in a National Park!
• The great little adventure town of Fayetteville.
• Ghost town of Thurmond.
• Multiple big views of the New River Gorge.
• Watching rafters and kayakers on the New River.

• When to go: spring, summer, or fall. Avoid the route in winter. Fayetteville gets a lot of snow and most services will be closed during the off-season.
• Getting there: Driving is the only non-bicycle transportation option to reach this route. Park at the Ansted town hall and ask inside if you can leave your vehicle overnight. As of now, there is no overnight parking at the trailhead for the Anstead rail trail.
• What Bike: a hardtail mountain bike with tires in the 2.2-2.6″ range is ideal.
• Dangers & Annoyances:since the new River Gorge received its national Park designation, the Fayetteville area has received a increase in visitation. Understand and plan for some of the more popular trails in the park to be extremely crowded with hikers at peak times. Please be respectful and remember most National Park visitors are not used to seeing mountain bikers on trails.

• Store at Ace Adventures
• Town of Oak Hill with a coffee shop, restaurants and a brewery
• Arrowhead Bike Farm
• Town of Fayetteville. I recommend Pies and Pints, Secret Sandwich Society and Cathedral Cafe
• Water fountain in Fayetteville City Park
• Water fountain at National Park visitor center
• Plenty of streams along the route (avoid drinking/filtering water coming out of mineshafts)
• Restaurants and stores in Ansted

location Anstead to ACE Adventure Resort

Day 1 (33 mi, 2,850′)

Starting in Anstead, you’ll descend on rail trail into the New River Gorge. Once reaching the river, you’ll traverse the gorge on somewhat technical single track. The Hawks Nest connector will empty out onto a paved road that you will descend, cross the river, then begin climbing up the other side of the gorge. Here you will turn off onto the popular Kaymoor Mine Trail. You traverse just under the rim of the gorge for the next 9 miles before reaching pavement and dropping down to the river. Once at the river, you’ll ride a mix of railroad grade trail and single track to the Ghost Town of Thurman before beginning your climb out of the gorge on a little pavement, and then the Rend Rail trail. From the top of Rend, it’s a short bit of pavement to ACE Adventure Resort and a possible campsite or continue to climb through ACE and continue on gravel roads and paved back roads towards the Arrowhead Bike Farm and a campsite there.

location ACE Adventure Resort to Anstead

Day 2 (40.3 mi, 2,902′)

Leaving ACE on gravel you’ll soon jump on to paved backroads. A couple of miles of pavement and you’ll turn into a neighborhood and access the Wolf Creek Trails singletrack. After a few miles of singletrack head into Oak Hill for coffee or food then pedal more backroads to the Arrowhead trails. Here you can stop by the Arrowhead Bike Farm for food and drink or camping options. From here it’s mostly singletrack riding all the way back to Fayetteville. In Fayetteville grab lunch and a brew at one of the several great eateries in town before descending a rowdy section of singletrack into the gorge before climbing back out on a one-way paved road through the National Park and then riding across the New River Gorge Bridge. Once across the bridge stop at the park visitor center before descending back into the gorge and joining up with the Hawks Nest trail and then the rail trail back up to Ansted and the finish.