So I’ve recently got back into biking after a bit of a gap, and I spent a day in July at Whistler Bike Park on a DH bike smashing some amazing trails which has sent my motivation to improve through the roof (as I’m going back to BC next year!). Sadly I don’t have a DH bike, just a long travel (150mm) hardtail.

I moved to Herts last year, and man is it flat, and I’m also struggling to find anything other than groups/clubs that potter up and down farm tracks around Hitchin area. After tackling 30min+ descents at Whistler I’d rather get on a road bike than that 😆

As I’m working on improving my overall riding and skills (I can’t manual for shit, and my jumps are weak) I’ve been heading to Chicksands most evenings and I like the progression there and I’m seeing improvement, I’ve been to Woburn Sands and Thetford (which is just flat XC). I’ve heard of PORC and Aston but never been (and not sure if they are do-able on a hardtail?)

Any locals stuck in this flat land that know a group or organise rides or know some decent trails here? I’m based in Letchworth but don’t mind travelling around (Chicksands is 25-30mins). I’m mid 30’s average fitness so looking for the odd blast evenings/weekends now and again not some KOM 6 hour XC slog .

Anyway, here’s the bike, she’s old but hard as nails:

Check out the essex herts MTB forum maybe? They often do day trips to places

Aye, I’ve stuck a post up there, not seen anything local on the calendar at the moment. Most rides look like they are more towards the essex end (Danbury, Epping) but I’ve only been looking this past week or so, I’ll keep an eye out.

If you want to improve your skills check out here.

Near Hertford so a 20 min drive from Letchworth.

Woburn is my favourite place to go round here. The hills aren’t very big so you are only looking at 1 min descents but if you know where to look there are some steep and technical trails. If you want to get air born then the bike park has some fun trails with small table tops to massive doubles. There aren’t any sign posts so it can be hard to find the trails, take a look on strava to see where the trails are.

Aston Hill is the best place locally for DH runs. Its made from chalk and roots so its very slippery in the wet but once dried out lots of fun. I currently have a full suss but been riding long travel hardtails for many years before around Woburn and Aston.

I’m not riding regularly at the moment but feel free to email me, address is in profile.

Local-ish (Royston) and the bad news is you’ve pretty much identified all the local spots that aren’t pure XC.

For groups you could see if any of the local shops organise anything. Off the top of my head there’s Kinetic Bikes who have branches in Welwyn and Hitchin + Edds Bikes & Contour Cycles in Stevenage.

I live just North of Cambridge, my MTB is gathering lots of dust at the moment.

BMX track in Royston is bloody good though.

See here for friendly Beds/Herts group rides in the areas you describeplus days or weekends away. Very mixed group abilities but friendly and ride weds evenings…..

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sillygrin/

http://www.Sillygrin.Co.UK

Cheers guys, I spent too long riding around Woburn trying to find stuff. Theres plenty in the “Jumps area” to muck about on, there were mainly doubles when I ran down there though. I’m trying to work on technique before upping the speed so I’ll get onto them when I’m happy I have the skill to clear without relying solely on speed. I suspect I only scratched the surface really as I’ve only been late evenings and it’s 45mins to an hour from me.

Recently had a headset replaced at Kinetic in Hitchin, seem a decent bunch in there and there is some mega bike porn to look at. As I’ll be in the market for a full sus at some point I’ve booked a demo of a Mondy Dune when they get the new ones in! 😈

Not checked out anything in Royston yet?

Looks like that lot are heading to Chicksands this Weds, shame I’m at the dentist 😯

Aston is good for some downhill blasting. It’s on the side of a big hill, so runs are of a reasonable length (for the area) There’s quite a good scene there too, so get chatting to some locals, you’ll meet some like minded people.

Woburn is my main riding location. We do around 2 hours of riding 2/3 times a week, but inevitably it’s a bit XC as you need to link up the good cheeky bits, but that suits me. My riding is becoming less gnarrr and more about trying to keep the weight off these days.

The unfortunate thing is that once you’ve ridden big mountains, everything feels a bit dull, and Hertfordshire is just that, dull.

Sounds like I need to check Aston out, think I’ll probably head down on a weekend though bit far for an evening run.

I’m trying to mix up XC for fitness and gnar for skills which is why I went for the Woburn/Thetford & Chicksands combo, I found a few XC routes at Woburn but I got lost fast and ended up on the walker paths now and again so need to revisit that.

Yeah, I get that feeling! Good job I planned to go back to BC next year, not that I can afford to keep doing that for sure 😳

Have you ridden out from Pirton nr Hitchin yet?. Regular loop of between 15-20 miles all off road, few climbs and few decents not techie but quick on good surfaces. Nice views and good pint in pub at the start Plenty of xc riding near chicksands bike Park and surrounding area, mostly bridleway but it can hook up a nice loop if the bike Park is put into it so best of both worlds.

The analogy I would use is this: in Hertfordshire, the best buzz you can get is equivalent to a couple of pints with your dad, even on the best runs here, I’ve never got steaming drunk.
Aston for me is very much a summer ride, I’ve ridden it in the winter and found it just plain scary.

We do Aston Hill when it’s dry and Chicksands when it’s wet. Both great fun in their own way.

batousan but I got lost fast and ended up on the walker paths now and again

Generally the best bits……… 😉

If you want XC trails riding around woburn then give Cyclone a try. They are a fun group with mixed abilities.

If you just want to jump and etc then me and some friends go to chicksands on a weds night and woburn on a sunday morning. We are not very good so if you want to feel good about your riding you are welcome to join in

It sounds as though you haven’t got the best out of Woburn by a long shot and it’s probably most like what you are after. You want to head to the wood south east of the golf course. Google “strava heat map” and fill your boots.

Don’t worry about the walkers paths at Woburn, everythings fair game really, I’ve never had an issue, just be cautious on the blind stuff and expect to find a dog walker around the corner.