I've arranged to go out with a mate for a ride up his neck of the woods.

Really looking forward to getting out with him but the only problem is the route he's found is 95% road and the off road is like this…

http://www.stourbridge.co.uk/wyre/12.htm

It seems to skirt round some areas I've ridden once before and know there are some good tracks to ride – I just can't remember them, except perhaps for Kinver Edge.

Here is the route….

http://www.stourbridge.co.uk/htm/bikewyre.htm

Any suggestions on how to spice this up would be more than welcome.

Cheers

B

How confident is he on singletrack? Where the route enters the forest at buttonoak there is a fast flat loop at the top that then leads on to the 'infamous' Pepsi Max, if however he is not that confident on singletrack this may not be suitable for him.

Reasonably confident but depends on what the "pepsi max" is

Pepsi Max is a fast downhill section in a gully with an elbow shaped tree root on the left with bite marks in it (mine) followed by an up and down section of singletrack that flows nicely

Wyre route including pepsi max

Pepsi max starts at the fast tag on this route and runs away from the dowles road.

Votchy – is this clockwise or anticlockwise running?

Would you sack the road riding off in my route and drive to Wyre just to do this?

When you get to Kinver edge If you follow the bridal path (or any other way you know) down to the DH course then exit on to the road you can go up Castle hill lane to Castle hill farm and there an off-road route up, which you can follow down into the start of shatterford woods and do the final climb off-road up to the bridge north road. This avoids all of the road climb from Kinver to the Bridge north rd.

As per Votch (assuming what I think is the pepsi max is it..) you could easily get to the pepsi max run and a couple of other bits before locating the national cycle route, or head down towards the caravan park and exit onto the road Dry Mill Ln (also the exit of the national cycle route). If you head down towards the caravan park you can't get lost as the lowest point is the river (and fire road) which leads you out
http://tinylink.com/?Tb0GYjOlAj

would you sack the road riding off in my route and drive to Wyre just to do this?

Yes if you not aware of the area that well. It looks a good route but unless you know the off-road bits your going to travel (or have it all GPS'd/ or a guide) I reckon you'll struggle or just end up doing a road ride.

When you say "or head down to the caravan park" is there anything worth riding down there and will this miss out "pepsi max"?

The route I have is going down Pepsi max and onto the old railway then out on Dry Mill Lane – unless thee is a better way out

Bush – route runs anticlockwise starting at the duke william pub, the route in from Kinver that zippy suggests would be my choice if you are looking to get plenty of miles in otherwise it becomes quite a short ride @2hrs plus the hassle of driving etc.

The route includes climbing the camber, the three bears (very narrow, off camber, roots and rocks and a long drop to your right plus a short fast descent, keep left on this unless you are confident taking drops at speed) and caravan (fast swoopy singletrack that follows the contours well).

When you say "or head down to the caravan park" is there anything worth riding down there and will this miss out "pepsi max"?

Mainly to miss out the pepsi max, just becuase it's heading in the wrong direction, where-as if you ride towards the caravan's your at least heading out towards Bewdley. There are still off-road tracks to follow, not just fire roads, and as you can't go wrong (heading downwards to the river) you can experiment as much as you like.
If P-max is what I think it is, it's just fast track, not hugely technical just fast and loose.

I need some-one to show me the 3 bears though…

zippy – search youtube for it, couple of vids of the final descent, 3 bears is the opposite side of the valley that cambers runs down

Hmmm – sounds like its coming together – cheers guys! 🙂

Are the trails down by caravan park and 3 bears easy to find / follow?

Entrance to 3 bears is not obvious, as you climb fireroad it is on the right just after a RH bend in fireroad, just head in to the trees and you soon pick up a defined trail.

does it run beneath goldilock challet then? (youtube is blocked at work)

Do you have a grid ref for the entrance to 3 bears so I can roughly mark it on the map?

Can 3 bears and or caravan be ridden either way?

we used to ride up past the caravan park (we don't tend to go that far down on our loops now), so yep no problems on that front.
As for going down, as I say as long as your heading downwards you can't go wrong as at the bottom it leads to the river/fire road which leads you out to Bewdley – if anythIng you more at risk of coming out too early and missing more potential tracks.

right just after a RH bend in fireroad,
Err I will check youtube at home, but which fireroad is this? Is this the one that goes past the start of the camber then heads down to a stream and back up? I'm missing out on a trail in the wyre forest and I'm not happy about it! 😕

Unable to give grid ref at work but if you zoom in to route in map mode there is an obvious bit where we double back then cross the original route, located directly below the B4194 sign.

Suppose you could ride 3 bears and caravan either way but they would both be up hill and not much fun.

Hmmm… exiting the forest at Bewdley so have to think about how best to incorporate them…

Bushwhacked, if it's next Monday (29th as per your mail) I'm off that day so would be able to guide you round.

Do I need a vicar to ride these bridal paths?

I'm off on the 29th too!

Yep – its the 29th… this could be very interesting

do u have a rubber/latex/leather jump suit?

It's just about impossible to give written directions around the Wyre Forest as nothing is signposted.
Starting from the two car parks at Button Oak, just keep turning right whenever you can without actually leaving the forest. This will keep you following the perimeter, mostly on decent singletrack.
When you get to the railway, head for Bewdley. Look for two steep drops to the left close together, just past the family cycle route on the right.
Follow either one down to Cooper's Mill footbridge.
Over the bridge and turn right.
At the start of the concrete road there are two tracks on the left.
The first one, over the stream, is Camber.
The second one, which ends in a very steep drop, is Three Bears.
Both these are much better ridden downwards, so either struggle up them or circle your way round to the top.
If you're riding from Stourbridge, the canal makes a good off road route. Follow it almost to Stourport, then over Burlish top to the end of Bewdley bypass and in to Bewdley along the river.

votchy, how accurate is that Nokia tracker thing?, the route seems to go across grassy feilds at some points

votchy, how accurate is that Nokia tracker thing?, the route seems to go across grassy feilds at some points

Dunno, it was dark so may have been across the fields 😉

HA! I have a route from a recent ride, about 14 miles, need to upload it though

Ah, got all excited by Militant Graham's UTube vid of 3 bears descent – only to fine he bottles the best bit at the end 😥

There are old mountain bikers and there are bold mountain bikers, but there are no old, bold mountain bikers. 😛

Hehehe, it's pretty hairy all along the rest of 3 bears – better IMO than camber

There are old mountain bikers and there are bold mountain bikers, but there are no old, bold mountain bikers.

bag o shite…. 😀

bag o shite….

So you're admitting to the old bit then 😉

Mick – might take you up on that offer – will let you know probably tomorrow morning if that's OK.

if you don't want the happy go lucky,dawdly up the climbs daydream ride i'd stick with Mick 😉

Mickarms – YGM

yep, you too.

skipping hand in hand through the folliage?

brings a tear to one's eye, it really does 🙂