Hi

Me and Mrs Zeb are new to biking, mountain biking to be precise. My fitness is pretty good as I do a load of other stuff, but her’s ain’t too great. She struggles on long (and short) hills, regardless of how ‘technical’ they are.

I’m after some recommendations for some easier routes that we can explore to build her fitness, but slowly, so that she can actually enjoy the riding, rather than getting frustrated by not getting up stuff. So, ideally I want to find some easier, but interesting routes incorporating a bit of single-track, some hills and a nice vista!

We live in Manchester so within an hour’s drive would be cool. We’ve ridden at Delemere (which is a bit too easy really) and also at Rivington (which is good). We tried Stanage Causeway the other day (up) and it was nails! She found some of the long tarmac hills around there hard work too.

Any ideas?

Also, any tips on how best to build hill fitness without her going insane and feeling like she’s sh’t would be great.

Ta in advance,

Si

LOADS of stuff around Hayfield.

Have you tried to get her to spin more?

^^^ Good call, also look at The Roman Lakes, Marple, Mellor, Rowarth.

Llandegla. Lots of people on here will slate it but from what you are saying it sounds ideal for you. Is about an hours drive from Manchester.

Great stuff, cheers folks. Pretty quick replies! Is there a guide book worth looking at, or a website? Or is it just a case of buy an OS and pitch-up?

@ MartinGT: spin more?

Cheers

Waterdale in Prestwich. 4 miles North of Manchester centre.

New Forestry Commission facility with a couple of miles of purpose built trails. Once you’ve done that a few times cross the motorway at the end of the viaduct and follow Sustrans 6 along the old railway for as far as you like. To the right is Hurst Woods (another FC facility), straight on you can ride off road to Bury, to the left you can get up on the canals to Bolton. Get an OS map and explore.

If you are driving park your car in Philips Park.

You can do 3 miles or 33 depending on how you feel and it is as easy or hard as you want to make it.

zebedoo

Get her to go in a lower gear so she is spinning the cranks more. This will help her a lot. She wont be getting tired as quick, her aerobic fitness will increase quicker and when climbing it will help keep her balance.

Cheers Martin – yeah, trying to get her to do that. She’ll get there, I’m sure.

@everyone: ta for all the ideas – great stuff

I’ve never used this as living in New Mills I have my own circuits!

http://www.romanlakes.co.uk/mountain_biking.htm

feeling like she’s sh’t

You’re both new to MTBing, there’s no such thing as being a sh’t rider, we were all in your/her position once … fitness and ability will develop with experience … be as patient and encouraging as possible, and just enjoy being out on the bike

tips on how best to build hill fitness

unfortunately, the only way to improve hill-climbing is by hill-climbing … but also, as MartinGT implies, being in the correct gear makes all the difference … i.e. are her climbing troubles due to technique or fitness?

For ‘easier’ rides to get fitter and more confident, try the trail centre at Llandegla
(maybe slightly more than an hours drive though). Not too technical, nice fast flowy trails, a few decent hills on the Black run, and a superb post-ride cafe & bike wash.

Or there’s the Peak District – I’d suggest starting with routes around Hope or Ladybower Reservoir at first … then if you want more challenging climbing aim for Edale, Jacobs Ladder, Hayfield, Mount Famine, Rushup Edge, Mam Tor …

Or for something a bit different, try Lee Quarry & Cragg Quarry (nr Bacup) … kind of like a trail centre, more compact, more technical, not so much in the way of climbing

Yep, top advice joao3v16.

Its all experiance. She will get there, its patience. Its nice to feel like youre making progress though and we know her frsutrations.

Cheers all – some good advice here and some interesting looking locations. Should keep us busy for a while!

S

Where abouts are you based?

Hi mate, I am manchester based too and I can show you around Lee quarry sometime next week if you want? there, you can do a few laps of the red route to get the heart beating. drop me an email higher.climbing at gmail dot com

this is quite a nice one:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/81283420

Mrs Zeb might like to join Shecycles. We often have easy rides not too far from Manchester, and “Gate Openers” are usually welcome to join us

Ta all again.

To extend the question, what about stuff that’s even closer to the city that is good for a mid-week evening ride? I know there’s Lee Quarry, but any other tips on good locations? Maybe within 30mins drive?

We’re based in south Manc

Cheers

Reddish Vale, park at Morrisons in Reddish then head to Werneth Low, Etherow Country Park, Marple Bridge, Goyt Valley.

It’s the perfect area to get up to speed as it get’s progressively more hilly the further away from Reddish that you get.

If you’re stuck for routes, consider getting a GPS and using the connect.garmin.com site linked to above, it’s invaluable for exploring new areas as you can almost always find someone elses route to follow that matches what you want to do.

Anyway, here’s my ofering:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/93651584

This is a hard route, but it’s really three of my rides done one after the other, starting from Reddish. The first loop is straightforward but fun, the second loop is harder and a bit more fun, the third loop is a bit tougher still and good fun.

Hope that helps.

from south manchester, after about 6.30ish you can get to delamere forest in around half an hour’s drive and that’s probably ideal for what you want at the moment in terms of difficulty level (both technically and physically).

Nice one, cheers both. Like the Garmin idea, I’ll check it out. I’ve ridden at Delamere a bit and yeah, I reckon there’s more to go at when you get away from the main wide tracks.

zebedoo – Member
Nice one, cheers both. Like the Garmin idea, I’ll check it out. I’ve ridden at Delamere a bit and yeah, I reckon there’s more to go at when you get away from the main wide tracks.

There’s loads more once you leave the wide tracks…

Loads 🙂