On account of being inherently stupid – the kind of person who, as a child, would constantly ask myself stuff like “I wonder what would happen if I shoved my head in there?” I’m quite partial to just heading off down any random stuff I spot, while out on the bike.

I’m lucky enough to live somewhere with footpaths, bridleways, sheep tracks and stuff heading off in all directions. If I spot one I haven’t noticed before, I’ll instinctively (and usually stupidly) just head off down it to see where it goes. I wouldn’t like to say what percentage of these forays are successful. Lets just go with ‘not high’.

For example: Last Sunday I found something really promising. Then it looked less promising, then less still, then I ended up being shot ‘The Look’ by Mrs Binners as it became apparent that I’d blindly led us into a massive squelchy bog that we were now sinking in, and the only way out was a massive climb back up, or to just wade through the stinking quagmire.

So how about you lot then? Do you stick to what you know? Or do you head off-piste where you can soon regret confident assertions like “well there has to be a way through there, obviously….”?

I like a bit of an exploration, it’s how we find the good stuff, innit?.

Someone on here once described themselves as a rambler, but on a bike. I quite liked that.

A fair bit, recently had the pleasure of “exploring” my old local woods on a trip back down south.

So much has changed, some very good new trails and some familiar favourite trails sadly blocked from access now.

Even managed to get lost in woods that I knew like the back of my hand. Trails can change so quick.

I like to explore, but tend to do it on my own. That way if it goes wrong there’s no one apart from me to throw the toys out of the pram 😉

Last Sunday I found something really promising. Then it looked less promising, then less still, then I ended up being shot

I read that with a full stop after “shot”. That would have been a really bad day out!

I had a quick explore on the commute home on Tuesday night.
Ended up pushing along the side of a sticky clay field with wet corn brushing up against my right side, and stinging nettles to my left.

As above – I usually only explore on my own, so as not to annoy my fellow riders.

Depends on the time I have spare. Last Friday we explored plenty of places I’d not been/ridden/seen before, but only because the wife was away so I had as long to play out as I wanted.

lol I’ve had plenty of moments like that, in the bog as you say. Do you turn back or carry on? usually turn back coz if you’re having a bad time now it’s highly unlikely you’ll come back there ever again for fun.

I hate exploring off summits, like you’ll head up a hill to do a route you’ve done before and then you see a different descent, have a go and there comes a point you have to decide whether you cba to carry it on and find out where it goes with potentially a slog back up OR just not bother and just carry on with the route you had planned. Exploring on the flat or slight downhill in the daytime is much easier.

on the road bike I do a lot of random riding round Peak district lanes. Not so much on the mtb as it so often ends in bog-wading or miles of tarmac to get back on track. Definitely on my own, if I’m riding with others I try to show them a route that works. But then I most often ride on my own anyway since I’m billy no mates…

It’s one of the pleasures of riding offroad. I’m working in London most of the week, staying in Stoke Newington and there’s a surprising amount of exploring to be done on the way up to Epping.

My days of mindless wandering are few and far between recently, much more likely to make mental notes (or tag my position on the GPS) and check it out later back at home on Google Earth or Strava. Got a few variations on regular rides now doing that, natural and at trail centres!

I think the last time I went wandering aimlessly was at Machen and I ended up finding loads of stuff, went back there a few weeks later and it was all overgrown or felled so unrideable!

I used to do quite a bit of ‘where does that go?’ type exploring. But now, hardly do any.

Round my way, there’s hardly any bridleways/paths and the ones that are there are generally straight lines to nowhere, or pop you out on a busy main road.

I lived in Bavaria for 6 months and used to just choose a direction & go. Used to end up miles away from home with the sun starting to dip & no real idea which way was back. Always worked out OK & never had any bother.
Once almost got run over by a herd of deer in a forest, but they just missed me.

Should probably give a bit of ‘exploring’ a go again and see what I find.

I do like an explore, but usually only by myself or with one particular riding friend who’s also that way inclined.
Generally have an idea of where i am and a possible bail out

When I have time, however if I know I’ve got 3hrs on a sat am to ride, then I will more or less always stick to a route I know.

I do and I don’t. Depends where I am, where I’m heading and how much time I have. Sometimes, when out solo, I’m in that head down mode where I want to check something out but also want to crack on.

Tend to explore more regularly when out running as I feel this gives me more scope to bail out. This summer I found a bunch of trails around Pitch and Holmbury that I need to revisit on the bike.

I rarely go the same way twice. So many ‘whats down there’ to explore

I like it the most! Always have, so much so that I have the added need to investigate my findings further (usually online, old maps, local chat, libraries etc). Inherited the trait from my father – he’s like a ferret with a nose for legs.

Explorating! Much of which eventually finds its way into my paintings, field sketches, reference pics, musings etc. Sometimes I explorate down a forgotten lane and find myself moving there many years later 8)

Yup I like exploring, part of riding a bike innit.

I use Garmin connect most nights of the week when theres not a lot on TV for ride planning, taking me to places I’ve never been before. Strava’s good for kicking routes off then modifying them too. However I have my favourite routes, some I just hack on, some I ride segments on, some I ride just for fun.

Bike ridings ace for exploring, also the benefit you can a) go way out of your area long distance b) turn around and get back quickly if you need to c) just carry on riding until you hit a town and catch the train back.

Exploring is IMO at the very heart of riding bikes.

Probably once or twice a year – not a lot of public access over here (no bridlepaths, few footpaths or rights of way), so most trails were found by word of mouth after someone spent a lot of time building off the beaten track to keep it secret, although a lot of people stick stuff onto strava now making it easier (if you have a GPS).

I cheat a bit and saunter around the walking forums for suggestions of all day epics, will look on a map and try to link descriptions together with stuff that I already know about and see what happens.

Another good trick is youtube, found a whole mountainside of trails locally doing that. I find google Earth isn’t great, only stuff I tend to find on there are fireroads or sheeptracks to the field’s gate.

Oh, always on my own too.

Most of my current riding is exploring, as I’ve just moved here!!

love it

Regular explorer here.
I finally cracked the great sca fell bridleway last week with an adventurous bike hike up to Knott.hurrah.(after 3 failed attempts)
For the past 3 years I’ve concentrated on the wild hills of Herts!
Love the feeling when you’re lost and you get back on track again.
I’ve only ridden with a couple of other riders with the patience to explore with me.ha
Never with the missus ,you must be mad.

I live right next to one of those big pine covered things with a load of marked trails… also surrounded by a fairly extensive network of paths and rights of way.

I’ve done a lot of exploring and certainly keep doing it. For a while we had a night riding group who’s main purpose was exploring and pushing the boundaries of our known riding universe. Other than that I’d never drag anyone else along on my forays though – that’s just asking for trouble.

Most exploring recently has been spotting those very subtle/slight indications of trail entry/exits on fireroads, and then just following them. Years ago most of these ended up being deer tracks and within 100yds I’d be trying to ride through handlebar height branches. Nowadays there’s so many people riding locally that, certainly in the main bits of the forest, these trails are nearly always man made.

Can go either way – spot and entry and chase it to the end, making on the fly route choices, or finding the exit and then hiking it up to find the entrance.
I showed some of them to some MR team colleagues recently, anticipating that we’re bound to get called to a pranged rider on a well hidden trail sooner or later. They were a bit taken aback at how well hidden some trails were.

Not seen it mentioned in this thread but if I see a BW or track marked on the map I’ll use geograph.org.uk to try and trace along it to get an idea of what the terrain is like. The website has a horrible interface but I have found one or two things worth doing on it.

Always exploring…particularly if its just me and the dog. Family despair when go on walks with them and I start leading them ‘off-piste’ 8)

Depends on the time I have spare. Last Friday we explored plenty of places I’d not been/ridden/seen before, but only because the wife was away so I had as long to play out as I wanted.

+1

i used to explore quite a lot when i was younger…nowadays my time is much more restricted by the long haired general…so i leave the exploring to the rest of my riding buddies….unless she’s away of course!!

A fair bit of exploring here. Quite often I’ll catch sight of a small strip of dirt disappearing off of a road/track and have a little investigate. It’s part of the fun isn’t it?

I would say, though, that round my way we have pretty much discovered everything that is good to ride, so these little prospecting trips are about 90% bad decisions.

Such as the one that ended up with me having to hack my way through nettles, brambles and other nasties using only a mini-pump to push them aside. I was moving about 18 inches with every hack then yank of the bike.

Every so often, though, you find a gem.

Yes, I love a good explore. Sometimes I’ll just follow tracks on the ground and sometimes I’ll be looking at my track on a satellite image and notice a faint track that I can reach if I just carry it through that bit of heather or push through that bit of forest. So, I’ll try it next time out. More often than not I’ll end up being up to my knees in a bog or up to my ears in gorse, but sometimes I find some bits to add to the regular menu. All part of the joys of our liberal access laws, which are the main reason I ride a mountain bike really.

Anyone else also slow down their car to have a bit more of a look when they see something that has a small chance of being singletrack gold?

One of the things I love most about riding is the exploration.

I tend not to just randomly decide to ride down particular roads or trails while out except in places where I know there is lots of hidden good riding. I like a good map and enjoy looking at satellite views, OS maps, guidebooks and strava to see what looks interesting and stringing it into a route. I’ll normally try and add something new on every ride – sometimes that is as simple as riding up a hill I normally come down sometimes whole rides in areas I’ve never been before on paths that look interesting and have some gradient.

I like to include a bit of the known so that I don’t come back having been on a crap ride – at least some of it will have been good. Sometimes I find amazing stuff and it becomes regular features on my ride. Plenty of times through winter I make a note to go back in summer when the mud dries up.

I like to explore, but tend to do it on my own. That way if it goes wrong there’s no one apart from me to throw the toys out of the pram

I’ll head out with an OS map and some nibbles and a drink, and if I find a path or whatever leading off I’ll have an explore. I prefer to do this on my own as my OH is a bit of a closet roadie I think and I can’t be arsed with the whining about riding on less than perfectly maintained cyclepaths. I’ll stubbornly plough onward through most situations unless it looks properly sketchy.

+1 on including the ‘known’ to rescue a potentially crappy ride too 😀

Having moved a few years ago to an area which is 30 miles away from my riding buddies I have no choice but to explore!

Had some fun to exploring on the road bike recently, just following my nose in what I thought was the right direction.

Found a couple of decent 40-50 mile loops that will come in handy in the winter.

Less MTB exploring these days, done most tracks and paths round here in the last 12 years. Sometimes find a new way to link them though.

Morning dog walking is normally scouting time for me. Sometimes with some tools for undergrowth hacking too.

I’ll usually use Google earth and geograph to avoid getting too badly bitten. But it’s led to some good, planned exploring.

It’s the best bit about biking innit? & besides, if people like us didn’t go exploring, those who don’t/can’t read a map would be screwed cos Strava routes don’t just appear by magic. (to my knowledgw that is as I don’t do Strava)

Might have been me.

A lot of local rides are repeated and I’ll often mix stuff up but I’m always heading up little tracks to see where they end up. When I was near the Pentlands I started to create a little google overlay map so I could see where I’d been and where I still hadn’t tried.

http://www.blog.scotroutes.com/p/pentlands-mountain-biking-routes.html

I also do a bit of exploring in a voluntary capacity for Scotways (the Scottish Rights of Way Society). They have a database of various old tracks and often need to know what condition they are in or whether they still actually exist on the ground. I’ve done a lot of hike-a-bike following a line on a map that has no corresponding path in real life. Sometimes, that leads to me finding other stuff too.

This is one of mine 🙂

http://www.heritagepaths.co.uk/pathdetails.php?path=157

I tried a blue route instead of a green at a trail centre once.

Shan’t be doing it again. Far too much for my 160mm #enduro gnarpoon to handle.

I tried a bit of local exploring last weekend whilst out on the gnarmac bike. Started off well, decent bit of rough farmers track, good views-

Which turned into-

Then-

Got to a field full of cattle, thought better than to spook them so I turned back!

Did find this within a couple of miles though-

So not all bad…

^ There’s a bridleway near Croft circuit that ends up like that which is a shame as it’d be part of a nice loop if it didn’t end up so difficult to ride in/on/over. Are petrol strimmers expensive?

edit- I turned left at this point and it got really grassy and nettley and I ended up going OTB when my front wheel plonked down into a rut that I couldn’t see 😆 I think I got a hundred metres or so down the track and thought “f- this” and headed back.