Heading up north later this week and thinking of trying out Hamsterley. What are the Black XC routes like (done a search will be doing this route – Hamsterley route red and black )

What sort of features are on the trail to make it a red / black? Anything that will take you by surprise?? It mentions steep drops on the website – what do they class as a steep drop?

So Hamsterley is that bad no one rides it??

don’t you ever do any work?

Dave

Nope 😉

That’s very similar to my usual Hammers spin.

Nice mixture of natural and man made. Black route is really a red grade imho, lots of fun but nothing that’ll take you by suprise.

Can’t think of anything on the Red or black that would take you by surprise. Most everything is rollable, lots of small kerb height drops that only become big if you hit them at speed and land further down the transition. There’s a small ladder drop toward the end of the ride that’s entirely optional.

That’s a pretty good route, pretty much what I like to do.

It’s not a very long 11 miles, I’d take the time to do the top section of transmission and section 13 a couple of times, fairly good fun and Pretty easy to get back to the top.

Have fun

I wouldn’t recommend hamsterley unless you are planning to do the DH runs. The majority of the red/black route is fire road or very tame singletrack. There is one new section towards the end though that is very good; it’s about 3km in length and is full of very fast flowing berms and jumps but i didn’t think it made up for all the fire road before hand.
Hope that helped..

I wouldn’t recommend hamsterley unless you are planning to do the DH runs

Now these do include big steep drops – not really what the OP is looking for from what I read… Great DH setup though, big bike highly recommended.

The majority of the red/black route is fire road or very tame singletrack.

But the OP has sensibly found one of the routes that crops out a lot of the fireroad, except for where it’s used in a sensible fashion, to gain height.

Oh I forgot to add, there has been a small addition to the bottom section of transmission, so it doesn’t spit you out onto the back of the grove car park any more, it’s a good section, but it might confuse you if you need to follow that map exactly.

Hamsterley is excellent and is well worth a go. The majority is definitely not all fire road. I would also grade it red but it’s great fun. Most of the best riding is off piste but I’m sure you could find most of that with the aid of google.

i did the gravity enduro there recently, I thought it was great, some excellent tracks and the route above looks like it ticks some of the best ones.

I fancy going back to try the uplift, does anyone have a link to this ? If I google descend hamsterley I just get a list of adverts, which is confusing

I fancy going back to try the uplift, does anyone have a link to this ? If I google descend hamsterley I just get a list of adverts, which is confusing

Try ringing Craig direct;

07795 514 251

the red/black XC is veey disappointing – well it was for me

I think Descend Hamsterley’s website is on the blink. You need to get a license from Craig to ride the downhill trails. What you have there is the best way of linking all the cream of the marked XC routes together; have fun!

thanks kevj for the number

thanks to to bushwhacked for the route, I will use that. The descent from the big aerial thing is superb (I assume thats the one called transmission?).

Take midgie repellent, it’s wick with the little bastids at this time of year.

Was there yesterday walking the dog and we couldn’t sit down and have our sandwiches because of the midges.
Done the red and black routes and they are entertaining enough but as everyone says theres nothing really that would worry you.
The climb,Route 66 i think, is tough to clean completely when theres been some wet weather.
I’m not sure if people complain about the fire roads because you have to ride uphill.When i’ve been there nearly everybody has been around the descent area and when you get higher into the forest theres been very few bikes.

Fork failure has lead to some comedy moments – Swapping a QR Revelation with a Maxle Sektor – Shimano and Hope brakes on each, one wheel had a Centre lock disc and the other a 6 bolt and the mounts were either POst or IS. Looking back it would have been easier to have swapped levers/calipers than try to get the Hope disc working with a Shimano disc.

Now I’m ready. Anyone got a weather prediction for tomorrow since we can’t bank on the Metoffice giving us an accurate forecast?

Supposed to be nice tomorrow. If you can find some of the hidden stuff it adds a bit to the ride. It’s a good ride when you mix black and red. Fire roads are mainly climbs so not bad.

sunshine as ever…

yeah looks like its going to be lovely….. Typical Hamsterley day!

Did that route on Sunday afternoon: http://app.strava.com/rides/11623403 (that’s the full route with the new red bits down by the Grove car park added in).

I really like it – it’s technical enough for me (caveat: I’m a girl) and also has some fast flowy bits. Root 666 (the black climb before the descent to the Grove car park) is pretty wet and muddy at the moment. I got off and walked bits of it cos I just could be bothered manualling over all the bloody roots. The rest is pretty weather proof.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast/?tab=fiveDay

That is good for up here. Only 40% chance of rain! Anyway helped Danny Hart.

Nice route that – its one we often do as an evening run – a possible detour at the Ayhope Beck section would be to turn right up the fire road rather than drop to the ford – follow the fire road to the turning circle and take the obvious trail into the woods – straight on is ok but if you spot it turn right as you enter the trees and follow that loop around to the forest edge – eventually you drop back to the ford and will pick up the route 666 section.
If you want do do Transmission again, when you come out onto the fire road turn left (red route is signed right) after about 75m there is a rough double track on the left – follow this up to the fire road – turn right and you are back to the start – and as TrevorB said, take plenty of midge repellent!!

I rode the black route on Monday night- slippy out on the top of the moor but otherwise in good condition considering the recent weather. There’s nothing nasty to take you by suprise- other than the midgies!! We skipped usual bait stop before Transmitor as they were everywhere. Accelerator and Nitrous have ridden in well- section 13 is well worth the long fire road slog. The last few dh sections are fairly wet but not severe. If you have the time it’s well worth having a day on the dh runs and 4x track- both have been well developed in recent years. Also a mini duel track and jumps section. See craig at the cabin for a day ticket.

What a hoot! Loved Hamsterley. Some nice trials in there with some serious roots in parts. Tried to do the route suggested but went a bit off-piste on Star Wars, came out somewhere random and **** up finding the bit of red (transmission) I was going to do which I’m a bit gutted about. Before I realised where I was I was at the top of Section 13 / the 4x track. so went down Section 13 and that section is awesome! 13 may be unlucky for some but I loved it. So much so I had to do it a second time, however on that run 13 was unlucky as I tried to wall ride in that bombhole thing and pinchflatted on a rock. Cue 5 mins of trying to change a tyre while seeing midges eating me alive (also the first time I have experienced a midge attack too).

From Section 13 down I loved it.

I’ve justy worked out that I did the whole of the Black which in places could be classed as a reddy black. Root 666 is just a slog in places with all those roots but something quite good about doing it.

All in all a great evening, even though my legs are burning at the moment from the bites. Going to have to give it a go again.

You have to get back up here to ride transmission,accelerator and nitrous. Hooking up with some locals to find the off piste bits is a good idea as well.

What time were you there today? And was the place engulfed like further up the N.E.?

Did it yesterday.

Looked like loads of secret trails, I imagine local knowledge adds so much

Hamsterley 12-5-2010 by Dee P Jay, on Flickr

Much fun to be had on Section 13 – pity you missed Transmission and the bits after – still its a good excuse to go back. 😀

Loads of my friends rave about spooky woods at gt, but section13 is way better

I enjoy the place for a once a week jolly of the red and black route 18miles with plenty of climbing and yes some great man mad sections, fast, fun and furious!