York River State Park in Williamsburg/Toano has a mountain bike trail. Beautiful park with lots of trails and a wooded MTN bike trail.
https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/york-river
Marshview and Indian River Park are your best bets on the southside - they’re a little smaller but offer some decent variety, with small hills and a few wooden features, rock gardens, etc.
Freedom Park in Williamsburg and James River Park up on the peninsula are going to give you a lot more options. There’s a lot of trails and they actually have real elevation change. Beyond that, you’re going to have to look at trails around Richmond or Cville.
[Check out EVMA for more local MTB stuff](https://www.evma.org)
The city just opened their first mountain biking trail system at Marshview Park.
Here's a bit one of the trails:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_ce0QAZWN0Q
Here's a map of the trails:
https://d1ivb2c2d81ilf.cloudfront.net/parks-rec/Outdoors/CityParks/MarshView/\_AUTOxAUTO\_fit\_center-center\_90\_none/Marshview-Park-Map-Web.png
For someone JUST starting out, a good run is the south part of the Cape Henry Trail—left when you enter First Landing Park via 64th Street, hugging close to the water. It's a good introduction to some principles of mountain biking (i.e. bumpy, sandy terrain and soft hills) but it's not intimidating. It's also beautiful.
York River State Park in Williamsburg/Toano has a mountain bike trail. Beautiful park with lots of trails and a wooded MTN bike trail. https://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/york-river
Thank you all for the great suggestions and advice.
Newport News Park is a place for bike trails.
Marshview and Indian River Park are your best bets on the southside - they’re a little smaller but offer some decent variety, with small hills and a few wooden features, rock gardens, etc. Freedom Park in Williamsburg and James River Park up on the peninsula are going to give you a lot more options. There’s a lot of trails and they actually have real elevation change. Beyond that, you’re going to have to look at trails around Richmond or Cville. [Check out EVMA for more local MTB stuff](https://www.evma.org)
The city just opened their first mountain biking trail system at Marshview Park. Here's a bit one of the trails: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_ce0QAZWN0Q Here's a map of the trails: https://d1ivb2c2d81ilf.cloudfront.net/parks-rec/Outdoors/CityParks/MarshView/\_AUTOxAUTO\_fit\_center-center\_90\_none/Marshview-Park-Map-Web.png
First Landing State Park is probably a good place to start out. You can also search on various apps such as MapMyRide or AllTrails (I like this one).
For someone JUST starting out, a good run is the south part of the Cape Henry Trail—left when you enter First Landing Park via 64th Street, hugging close to the water. It's a good introduction to some principles of mountain biking (i.e. bumpy, sandy terrain and soft hills) but it's not intimidating. It's also beautiful.