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This trail is really well made and maintained. It's directional depending on the day of the week so make sure you take the correct route for the day posted. The Magnolia and Lilly loops will make you work so avoid those if you're a beginner. Personally I like them better because they feel like real mountain biking. Good trail overall. One of my favorites in the Triangle by far. |
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First time riding the trail. Doing the right turns since it's Saturday. I have to be honest, I had low expectations for this trail but I was happily surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The trail was covered in pine straw and leaves so it was a bit slippery but thats all I can complain about. There is definitely enough climbing to get a good workout and enough flow to make it fun. I'd ride here more often if it were closer to home but I'll definitely be back. |
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Williamson Preserve - Having entered the park using the Greenway Connector, which lets you start at the Salamander Trail. You can ride North on the older trails, which are Salamander, Long Leaf, Pine Warbler & Little Falls. Or you could ride South, on the two newer trails, which are Magnolia and Lilly.
The Northern trails are the better in the park, with more flow, you are able to build up more speed for longer sections and there are more opportunities to carry momentum. These Northern Trails are fun and I will return to ride them again.
The Southern Trails, Magnolia and Lilly are the two trails I liked the least. They were quite a chore to ride. Too often I was given a short downhill only to immediately go into a tight bend with an up-hill, killing all momentum. Magnolia & Lilly would be improved by straightening out the track a bit, not so many tight bends causing you to loop back on yourself, allowing you to carry more speed for longer. Look at the map of Salamander trail compared to Magnolia to see what I mean.
Overall, it is a very nice park, well kept, well signposted, these are beginner friendly single track trails, they are smooth forest floor, very few roots and rocks, no big climbs, no steep descents, a small number of optional wooden features. The Northern Trails are the more fun in the park, Magnolia and Lilly are quite a lot of work with not much payoff for your effort. |
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I've been riding trails in the triangle for 20 years. This is by far my favorite. It flows so well. If you want super technical and lots of obstacles then go to New Light or Beaver Dam. Reviews like the one below are infuriating given how much hard work has gone into making this trail great. This trail is perfect for getting in miles and flowing fast. It is a great workout and the fact that it is unidirectional makes it superb. thanks to all who work to keep improving this trail. |
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This trail is a terrible bore, and absolutely worth skipping. I’ve ridden it a handful of times, and went back today to check out the newer opened sections. The entirety of WP is identical to itself; if you ride 10’ of it, you’ve gotten the experience.
There is no flow to be found. To me, flow is an extended section of trail which allows you to carry speed with very little need to pedal or brake during that section. WP has none of this due to the fact that they over-embrace >90° turns with no berms built to let you carry speed…rather they use loose sand and gravel where berms should be. You can’t find any extended flow because you’re constantly on the brakes and re-starting your momentum.
There are a few kicker ramps they’ve put into various spots, but they’re extremely limited in usefulness since they’re almost exclusively huck-to-flat landings with hard turns and no berms immediately following the landing zones.
They built a few “skinnies”, which are nicely constructed, but are built with 2x10”s so they aren’t exactly skinny.
Where the trail description says rocks, it means a few randomly scattered piles of river stone which do not require any technique other than pedaling straight through. Where the trail description says stream crossings, it means via wide wooden foot bridges of roughly 3’ length; certainly not any stream crossings where you could touch the actual stream.
I’d recommend WP if you’re taking your kids trail riding for the first time, enjoy doing nothing but gently pedaling on your bike, or are taking a highly inexperienced rider out. Other than that, Williamson Preserve is no fun whatsoever on a mtb.
I would ride a gravel bike through WP if I were on the greenway there and wanted to throw in a few dirt miles. |
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updating my previous, they have done a lot more work out there and is awesome. There is enough climbing to get you where you can get some good descents. Biggest problem is all the lose pea gravel around. |
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What a nice set of trails! The Williamson Preserve may be my favorite area so far.
There are very few roots and rocks which makes for a more enjoyable day out.
I really like the directional trail setup and wish more areas had that requirement.
I thought the trails flowed very well overall, and some sections are quite fun! There are a few randomly placed skinnies and small jumps! Magnolia Run was fun and longer than I expected. The connector trail that goes down to the Neuse River (and paved Greenway) adds the chance for a lot of variety to your trip.
I saw lots of deer, and occasionally could smell the nearby goats and horses.
As for the person who said the trails were just boring, maybe take a break from biking for a while? Or if you want to ride over a ton of roots, might I recommend the West section at Harris Lake County Park, lol. |
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Today I took a break from the Triangle’s rooty, rutty, rocky trails and visited Williamson Preserve. I felt like I was back home on Long Island. This trail is fast, flowy, and smooth in most spots. It’s a nice change from my regular rotation and I’ll be a regular here. |
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pretty flowy, good trail for change of pace. You can do some different things. |
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not technical but fun and nice change of pace |
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I've been riding road bikes for years and just got into MTB last year. This trail is close to where I live and it was a great trail to learn on. I don't have any trouble negotiating the loops even though I am a beginner. I do find some of the uphills troublesome since I've had two knee replacements and haven't gained all my strength back. It would be great if you would allow e-bikes on this trail. |
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Lot's of flow on this trail. I enjoy riding out here a lot. Great for beginners and for getting in some good mileage while having an enjoyable ride. The reward is the ride, and I always have a rewarding experience out here, whether it is getting my kids out for a lap, getting someone new into riding, or running solo for an endurance run at a high pace. For reference, I find greenway riding torturously boring, and my other favorite trails in the area are Forest Ridge, Crabtree, and Brumley Preserve. |
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I completely agree with the person that said this: " Probably one of the most boring trails I've ever ridden. It's just keeps going and going with little to no reward. Unless you live near Williamson Preserve, I wouldn't recommend it."
I decided to write this review to refer to the newest section of Williamson preserve, Magnolia Runs (4.5miles). It was said,(rumored) that this new section Trail builders would have the freedom to create a more fun and challenging trail for Mountain bikers, well, if you have ridden the original trail and didn't like it, don't waste your time or get too excited about this new section. It's almost 5 new miles of the same boring stuff. I honestly can't understand what's the purpose of this trail, it literally feels like riding in circles, 120 degree turns without berms, so many unnecessary turn without berms that only cut the little flow that you may carry, you don't need a mountain bike to ride this stuff, a gravel bike is more than enough, I would even say that a riding a greenway is a lot more fun that this. I understand people been happy to have more trails, but having more miles just because should not be the last purpose of a mtb trail, do laps if workout is what you want. I can't help to be upset seeing how an opportunity to build something amazing was completely wasted. good amount of elevation completely squandered. |
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I noticed ebikes are not allowed at Williamsom Preserve and was wondering if the regulation could be modified to allow ebikes for ridders 70 and older, or to limit the power to bikes with less than 300 watts. I am 77 years old and use a low-powered bike and would love to be able to ride the trails. |
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Probably one of the most boring trails I've ever ridden. It's just keeps going and going with little to no reward. Unless you live near Williamson Preserve, I wouldn't recommend it. |
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I am a new mtb rider and find Williamson to be beautiful, mostly quiet and a very well rounded trail for anyone to get out of it what they want. I truly appreciate the one direction of travel and wish ALL trails would follow this. Most people on foot are respectful of those on wheels are yield. This trail is known for being very flowy and I'd say that I agree. I mainly wanted to write this review as a thanks to those that built the trail and preserved the land, making it available to those of us that use it for our pleasure. |
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Really smooth and flowy! Not challenging by any means. I took my father-in-law on his second mtb ride ever and we rode all 8 miles. This is an excellent location to sprint and build up fundamental skills. I'm looking forward to coming back and working on my speed. Another time I'll bring back my 6 year old for her first ride on a mtb trail! |
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A great addition to the Triangle trail system! The trails are very smooth compared to others in the area. There's lots of short assents and descents. Having bikers all go one direction and walkers go the opposite helps with the flow very much. If you're a beginner, you'll like the smoother, non-technical nature of most of the course. If you're more advanced, the trail flows quite well, and you can gather a good bit of speed. I suggest going on one of the days where bikers stay left at the splits, as the trail flows the best in this direction from what I have experienced, although both are very pleasant. |
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Nice trail. Lots of opportunity to practice and improve your turning skills. Very twisty and windy, just at the edge of being too tight, but not too tight.
The kind of place you know you can go faster if you work on your turning technique, and go a bit outside your comfort zone in the many curves.
Extra tricky when the ground is covered with slippery pin needles.
Surface is very smooth, no roots. Few rocks. No tech obstacles excepts the turns and pine needles.
As a bonus, its close to Legend, so hit that when you are done here. |
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I REALLY enjoyed this trail. I've named it WAP (WilliAmson Preserve). Twisty, turny, flowy, fun. It's a fast paced 7.5 miles that just pulls you along. Check the trailhead for days and directions to keep oncoming rider conflits to zero. Quite a few hikers but generally polite and yielding, as was I.
Be careful on a few of the bridges as they could use some griptape to offset the wet leaves and sand that at speed are slickery.
This'll be a hoot at night. |
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There is flow but due to random sharp turns it took me a couple days to figure it out, plus the direction rotates on different days(IMO right turn days have more flow/speed, esp on the last half). The fact that this trail is close to me, bikers have the right of way, and the decent flow I’ll definitely be coming back on days where I want to get some pedal strokes in. There does seem to be some liveliness of the forest as well as far as wildlife and nature. Pretty sweet |
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Trail is very smooth and beginner friendly. Hard to maintain top-end speed due to some tight, narrow, and loose turns, A great opportunity to learn that slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Also great training spot for cyclocross riders.
Overall great use of natural topography and really liking the directional signage. |
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Fun, fast and flowy, with a few significant gravity features and a big honkin’ boulder to ride up and over if you like. 8 miles of trail not including a .5 mile connector down to the Neuse River Greenway. I got 12 miles without feeling overly repetitive. Fun stuff! |
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pretty flowy in general with plenty of little whoops and sweeping descents. This is a really chill ride through a sandy pine/oak forest- reminds me of Wilmington a bit; not quite that sandy. These are directional trails that change on alternating days, so you'll have to ride it twice to experience it all. There are a few log crossings (easy), one rock that you can ride down, and a little ramp thingy. Less tech than even Crabtree has. I like it, and will return. This is the most beginner-friendly trail I've ridden around here (San Lee, Harris, Crabtree, Falls Lake, New Light, Brumley). I actually got a great workout here. |
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This trail is freshly cut and will benefit from being ridden in as it needs to harden. The trail is a good foundation that will develop into a fun system. Flow is great- there are sections of this trail conducive to some serious speed. This being said, there are very few challenging areas and the trail could really benefit from some technical additions to keep advanced riders interested. This trail is best enjoyed on an XC full suspension or a hardtail. I tried this trail on my enduro bike but I had a way better time on my XC. Ride it fast for a challenge. |
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The trail has good flow and almost no roots. There is one crazy rock that I chickened out on that is tough my buddy did it second try. But There is a real big hill straight west of salamader. ALSO southwest on the johnston county section is a high ridge that ends where marks creek intersects with neuse a real crazy steep hill there. Hopefully trail will continue there thats the good stuff that would make this trail alot tougher. |
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Super flowy trail that allows you to carry a lot of speed. No real technical skills required, but there are a few sharp corners between trees that can catch you unaware if you aren't careful. There are no sustained climbs anywhere on the course. There are a few short semi-punchy climbs to deal with but they are easily handled. The entry to the trails is a gravel trail that is very loose but once you are on the trails, it is all tight singletrack. It is a speedy track that can easily be ridden on a hardtail or XC bike. Long travel bikes will be completely wasted here. There is just no use for the extra travel here.. |
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It's nice to have another legal trail in the area. Although it is not a technical trail with a lot of features, it is fun to ride. The varying surface goes from a sandy clay to something that is mostly sand in places and it can catch you off guard in some corners. Not much elevation change, but it looks like the trail builder used the more interesting terrain during the build.
I like the idea of having it be a directional trail and that we have the right of way over all other users there. |
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Easy at slow speed, but gets more difficult as pace comes up. |
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