A parcel of land in the Town of Caroga that sat unused for nearly six decades has been transformed into Wheelerville Trails, a magnet for mountain bikers from the Northeast and beyond.
“Those trails are world–class,”
said mountain bike rider Bryan Jones of Carlisle, Ohio.
“They are so smooth and so well built. Wheelerville rivals any place I’ve been.”
With the trails’ opening in 2020, the town joined hundreds of rural communities – not only in the United States, but also globally – who are transforming their economies through mountain bike tourism.
The Town of Caroga purchased the property in 1961 for recreational use under New York State’s Parks and Recreation Land Acquisition Program, but it wasn’t until 2016 that the Town Board started seriously exploring the site’s potential as a mountain biking destination.
The process began in 2017 with a feasibility study funded by a $6,000 grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The following year, founder and current Wheelerville Trails manager Jeremy Manning met trail designers and builders Justin Vesp and Eli Glesmann at the Adirondack Mountain Bike Festival.
After riding trails they had designed, Manning knew that they would be the ideal builders for Caroga, offering high-level trail-building skills that would set Wheelerville Trails apart.
The pair were dedicated to creating trails in Fulton County that would be unique from others in Central New York and the Adirondacks. The town and a DEC Smart Growth Implementation Grant of $65,000 funded the first round of construction.
Wheelerville draws a much broader user base than the town anticipated when it decided to build the trails. “Initially, we had expected to attract riders and trail users from neighboring cities and towns,” Manning said. While those riders do come, Wheelerville regularly sees visitors from western New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, and even Canada.
Michael Tiffe of Trenton, Ontario, a rider with over 30 years of experience, raves about the place and schedules a stop there to ride when he is en route to visit his sister in Schenectady.
Christian Waddington and a group of riders from Rochester travel to ride at Wheelerville about a dozen times a year, sometimes staying overnight. “The trails are the absolute best in the state, very technical with a lot of variety, and so well planned and designed,” Waddington said. “It’s well worth the three-hour drive to get there.”
To satisfy their post-ride munchies, he and his friends grab freshly made sandwiches from the Canada Lake Store just down the road.
Word of the trails’ quality spread quickly. Much of Wheelerville’s success is due to Manning’s careful selection of Glesmann and Vesp as designers.
“Those guys are artists,”
said Patrick Howell, co-owner of Dynamic Cycling Adventures, a mountain bike coaching company in East Burke, Vermont.
“It’s exceptional, and the slow jumps are incredible. I can’t wait to teach there.”
Howell offered clinic instruction at Wheelerville in August.
Wheelerville’s design packs plenty of what Manning calls “thrill seeking and adrenaline-inducing” elements on the 150-acre parcel of land.
“We built it in a way that would promote wanting to ride the same trails over again,”
Manning said.
“It’s designed to be fun, repeat, and ride the same stuff over and over.”
The gravity-fed terrain helps to accomplish this. This aspect also illustrates Manning’s keen knowledge of mountain biking trends, as keeping things exciting is key to attracting and retaining avid riders.
On the weekends, a few hundred people go whizzing down any of the 16 trails with names such as “Live Free and Fly,” “Infectious Nature” and “Forever Wild.”
The town offers the trails free of charge. Over 1,000 riders attend the Wheelerville Annual Mountain Bike Festival in August that features races, kids’ events, and guided rides.
Manning noted that more riders are staying overnight when they come to ride. Some park RVs at Pine Lake Park. “On any given weekend, the trails are full,” he said. “It’s what we’ve hoped for, and it’s happening a lot faster than we expected.”
With the help of additional grant money awarded from 2022 to 2024, Wheelerville has been growing significantly since the construction of its first trails. While many of the trails cater to more experienced riders, the town has expanded the trail network to attract more recreational riders.
It also constructed a skills park for kids, funded by Fulton County Tourism. Last year, the town was awarded grant money to construct more inclusive trail styles, and in the fall of 2024, it built a beginner loop. “It’s designed to give riders more of a skill-building kind of experience with gentler trails,” Manning said.
Jones appreciates the diversity of Wheelerville’s Trails, especially when he visits with family. “It’s got everything,” he said. Last summer, his family rented a house on Pine Lake, and he decided to bring his bike after he read and watched videos about Wheelerville.
His nephew was a first-time rider, and he was able to enjoy the trails. “They’re safe and well-marked with lots of rest spots,” he said. “It’s not just the expert’s playground.” In addition, for non-riders, hikers are allowed on many of the trails. The family plans to return for a vacation this year.
Future plans include constructing the Wheelerville-Caroga Connecting Trail that would allow riders to reach the town center and experience more of what Caroga has to offer, including concerts by the Caroga Arts Collective.
“People might come here for the trails and stay for a concert,” Manning said. The town has a robust selection of recreational activities including a golf course, hiking and snowmobile trails, a ski area, rodeo, and lakes that make it a superlative vacation spot.
Fulton County Planning Director, Scott Henze, also sees the possibility of building connector trails to the Peck Hill trail system and the neighboring cities of Gloversville and Johnstown.
From the start, Manning has viewed Wheelerville as an engine for community development and revitalization. The timing is right for that as the mountain bike industry is growing steadily. It was valued at $11.2 billion last year and is expected to grow to $22.3 billion by 2032.
A Sports and Fitness Industry Association survey found that the number of off-road riders increased from 6.9 million in 2007 to almost nine million in 2022. A significant number of those are willing to travel to ride. According to a survey by Singletracks.com, mountain bike riders average two mountain bike-focused vacations annually and two more trips where the focus isn’t solely on riding. The average travel distance is 566 miles, and they spend around $400 on each trip.
Each year, riders pump millions of dollars into the economies of communities around the country, spending money on lodging, dining, drinking, and shopping.
Dan Price of Queensbury, an hour and 20-minute drive from Wheelerville, provides an example. “It’s well worth it,” he said. He travels there at least once a month to ride, bringing a group of friends from work. During his trip, he stops at Project 29 Pub or Stump City Brewing for refreshment.
Bentonville, Arkansas, Copper Harbor, Michigan, and East Burke, Vermont are just a few examples of municipalities whose economies have been boosted by mountain bike riders. Manning looks to Bentonville, which has branded itself as “the Mountain Biking Capital of the World,” as an example of a goal for Wheelerville, leveraging mountain bike tourism as an economic driver.
What makes Wheelerville an even sweeter spot is that Caroga is a friendly, welcoming community.
“I had five, six, 10 friends instantly when I rode by myself there,”
Jones said. Howell also experienced a welcoming environment when he visited some of the local establishments in Caroga. There’s even a spot where riders can jump in the lake to cool off after a hot ride, he said.
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