Buckeye Hills MX

The site used to be called Highland Lakes and is now Buckeye Hills: about 70 acres on McAfee Road near Hillsboro in southern Ohio, plus some 20 acres of woods holding roughly two miles of trail. The soil is described as loamy with sandy patches, the layout carries many small jumps and a few big ones, built-up berms and gently rolling ground throughout. Two lakes for fishing and a primitive campground belong to the property. The rider fee is 25 dollars, entry and parking cost nothing. Worth planning around: this is mostly a private facility that opens for public ride days spread across the year - without a phone call first you will not know whether it is open. Rolling ground here does not mean jump faces, it means traction work. The climbs are long enough that a clean corner exit carries all the way to the crest, and short enough that a botched exit cannot be rescued. That is exactly where the most common mistake happens: the rear spins up and loses traction on the climb. First on our cause list is too much rear tyre pressure - drop it, entirely safe with a mousse, and the contact patch grows.