Harbin Park Mountain Bike Trail Review by MTB Cincinnati

40 minutes north of downtown Cincinnati, 161-acre William Harbin Park is the largest park in Fairfield, Ohio. This suburban oasis features soccer fields, basketball courts, 18-hole Frisbee golf, play and campgrounds, plus one of the best sledding hills in our area. What brings us to Harbin are its wooded hills providing six miles of old-school, cross country style mountain bike trails.
Harbin Park features a multi-use, multi-directional trail system that’s open year round, weather permitting. There are three loops making up the roughly six miles of trail: the 4 mile orange, 1.1 mile green, and ¾ mile blue loop. The orange and green loops connect, allowing you to ride them as one big loop. Harbin’s trails are known for their constant elevation changes. It rewards strong climbers and will strengthen riders who aren’t. Like Tower Park and Caesar Creek, Harbin’s trails are some of the original mountain bike trails in the area. While not as steep or technically demanding as Tower and Caesar, Harbin’s old-school design often takes a more direct approach at climbs and descents, rather than winding their way gradually up and down hillsides.
Difficulty level is mostly intermediate with the Blue loop being pretty beginner friendly. The 4 mile orange loop is the most technically and physically demanding trail in the park. It features a mix of mostly flowy trail filled with multiple punchy climbs and equally steep descents, with few sections steep enough to get skilled riders in over their heads. There are a few root drops adding technical difficulty plus the orange loop is home of Mount Mother, a roughly 25 yard climb that feels considerably longer due to its grade of over 20%.
The 1.1 mile green loop features a mixture of tight and flowy sections with some punchy ups and downs to contend with although it’s less technically demanding than the orange trail.
Originally an Eagle Scout project, the 3/4 mile blue loops layout is pretty tight and twisty with shorter climbs and descents and some smaller roots and rocks to contend with.
As you step up to more aggressive trails, it might be a good idea to step up your bike’s performance as well.
Of all the trails we’ve ridden in the area thus far, Harbin Park’s difficulty level ranks somewhere in the middle. Its hills provide a great place to build strength without being too overwhelmed by technical difficulty. Harbin provides great local trails if you’re lucky enough to live nearby and is a place we’d definitely recommend checking out if you have never been there before.

[@mistabone3899]

It was good to see the Blue Trail in the video. Around 2015-2016, with Alex Maier's blessing I cleaned it up and people started walking/riding it. At 5:10 in the video that little hump I almost went OTB, taco'd the front wheel, almost going into the creek on the right.

[@jedrzejku]

very cool! i'm moving out to fairfield this august from rhode island. is it normally this leafy? what other places do people ride?

[@darthpotassiums1fan20]

Been waiting for this... nice job!

[@mountainbikeondemand]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!