Stowe and smuggs are less about downhill than whiteface and more about single track and both have a smattering of easily accessible machine made trails that beginners can get off the pavement on. Off the well-mapped and beaten path theres a lot of gnarly technical singletrack out there too that's largely maintained by hardcore vigilantes and only ridden by locals who know where the hell they are going.

Is a Specialized Hard Rock worth my time?? Bearing in mind I own a crapton of road machines and whatever I get is really only gonna be ridden on the road for the half mile between my house and the trailhead.