Mountain Bike Mike

Oleta River State Park is located on Biscayne Bay in the busy Miami metropolitan area.  Although it offers a variety of recreational opportunities, ranging from camping to hiking, picnicking to kayaking, the park is best known for it’s off-road biking trails, and even offers bike rentals and a helmet loaner system.

Entrance to the park is $6 per car (2-8 people) or $4 for single riders.

 For Novice Riders/Children

Oleta River State Park has several miles of easy trails, including the usual shell-rock fire roads. These trails tend to be more hard-packed and less rooty or rocky than some of the more intermediate ones found in the park. 

There is also a short track located near the bike rental pavillion with some easy whoop-dee-dos that is popular with the younger kids. At the end of February 2011, another new trail will be open, which is also supposed to be very family friendly.

For Intermediate Riders

Oleta contains over 10 miles of challenging, intermediate cross-country bike trails. These trails tend to be very rooty and rocky, and include some nice man-made structures, inclines and descents. If you do not have at least good front suspension on your bike, though, riding here will almost certainly require a follow-up visit to the chiropractor for a spinal adjustment. All of the trails at Oleta should be ridable to the intermediate level rider.

For Advanced/Expert Riders

Oleta doesn’t appear to have any trails designated specifically for the advanced/expert level rider, although the trails within this park do seem to vary enough to maintain interest, even if they don’t provide the most technical or physical of challenges.

For a rider’s first-person perspective of some of the trails, check out the Coconut Cup #6 race videos from Oleta River State Park in the videos section of the website. As always, information and comments from riders more familiar with the trails is always appreciated.