4 Points Mountain Bike & Brewery Tours

The Mountain Bike & Brewery Tours from 4 Points Mountain Bike School & Guide Service is a summer camp for adults. Seriously! If mountain biking and tossing back a few hops sounds like the perfect day, add in a tour guide and a designated driver, and it turns into an adventure; a smart one at that.

Rick Sokoloff and his staff at 4 Points Mountain Bike School & Guide Service know the trails, know the breweries and every other piece of miscellaneous Stowe, Vermont, information there is, including where is the best place to get a chainsaw repaired (it’s a long story).

Eight hours with three strangers, it could go really good or really bad. Well these guys make you feel like you’re one of the gang right away. After a couple of beers, and few bad jokes, you won’t want the day to end.

4 Points Mountain Bike Tours

We met up with Rick, Kelly and John and headed to explore a few trails in the area. Depending on your ability, Rick will set you and your group up to ride with himself or one of the young guns on his staff. Never ridden a mountain bike before, not an issue, Rick is a certified coach and has beginner, intermediate and expert level trails at his disposal, along with a sweet little course to practice on before heading out to the single track. We had a chance to check out two different trail systems with Rick and one on our own.

We can’t say enough about how fun it was hanging with these guys. From the camaraderie, the knowledge of the trails and the area, to the homemade muffins, the morning and mountain biking was a blast.

Cady Hill Mountain Bike Trails

Cady Hill Trails offers it all, steep and flowy, twisting and turning, technical and smooth. It is a destination location for riding, and one to put on your agenda for sure. Cady Hill offers so much variety that both advanced and beginner riders alike will have fun. Advanced riders will love nailing the berms on the flow sections, and the more technical trails featuring an abundance of rocks and roots in the back section. It literally has a little bit of everything. Beginner riders will feel comfortable on the smooth flow, and more relaxed single track. We even ran into a few folks riding tandems on the trails. For riders looking for cool photo opportunities along the way, the Green Chair Overlook is a good place to stop.

Crash? Check. Bike Okay? Check. Finger a little broken? Check.

Cady Hill really offers a lot and just at the edge of town. It has flow, more technical trails and even a nice little leg sapping climb at the beginning.

Trapp Family Lodge Mountain Bike Trails

A gradual progression of trails from beginner to expert just outside of town, Rick has even built a small skills track right in the main yard. Trails run from behind the famous Trapp Family Lodge and cover the 2,600 acre property that features an extensive mountain bike trail network with two skills parks. Trails feature 8 miles of expert and intermediate single track, or more than 20 miles of double track through mountains, fields and forests.

Last, but not least, the von Trapp Brewery is right on-site providing their tasty European lagers like Golden Helles and Bohemian Pilsner. A nice treat after a fun ride. Ride Hop Over or Lager Lane to the von Trapp Brewing Bierhall.

Ohio Outside’s Mark cruising some of the expert single track on the property.

After the a leg breaking climb, riders can relax at the cabin and chat about what lies ahead on the thrilling descent.

No Beer Tour for this youngster, but mountain bike skills and training can be requested. Tours can be catered to any level of rider. The week before we visited they had a bachelor party do a skills camp, ride some trails and hit the breweries. Where was our invite?

Adams Camp Mountain Bike Trails

Adams Camp was not part of our tour, but I wish it was. Intermediate and advanced riders looking for a really fun ride and a nice mix of smooth and technical terrain will love this loop. A favorite of locals, this loop stands alone, but if riders are looking for something longer, it is easy to connect to the other trail systems for an extended ride.

Trapp Family Lodge is “Pay to Play” but your tour does include the trail pass fee. Either way, the trails are great and worth the few bucks.

the Adam’s Camp single track offered some fast sections, old school flow and some technical sections that will challenge all. And you know our theory, “If it isn’t hard enough maybe you should ride faster.”

Take the high road or the low road, I guess it depends on how confident you are feeling that day.

4 Points Brewery Tours

4 Points offers a variety of Stowe Brewery Tours; any can be customized to suit your tastes – the area is fortunate to have well over a dozen options within a half-hour drive. Our tour was a tad on the short side since we did a bit extra mountain biking and headed to Hill Farmstead Brewery, one of the breweries that was the farthest away. Not sure where to go, Rick can make suggestions and pick the best breweries for your style. He knows the breweries, the history and the beers very well.

Some of the Stowe area breweries: The Alchemist, Hill Farmstead Brewery (an hour drive), Idletyme Brewing Co., Lost Nation Brewery, Prohibition Pig Brewery, Rock Art Brewery, Ten Bends Beer, von Trapp Brewery, Stowe Cider and Green Mountain Distillers.