We're organising regular rides in the Swindon area, plus visits to rides further afield.

We've now got an officially approved club.
See http://www.mbswindon.co.uk/club/ for details.

Membership benefits include CTC insurance cover and a growing list of discounts. Non-members are welcome to come on the rides to see what it's like.

We went out on a ride over the ridgeway area on Saturday 13th Feb. There was some snow on the high parts but it wasn't too cold. We had about 8 people and are always keen to meet more mountain bikers.

Meanwhile there's still a lot of work to be done at our own trail in Croft woods at Swindon.

Website: http://www.mbswindon.co.uk/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=41279586404
Google maps: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=102649200503519711649.00045ad0a770073dde6d5&t=h&source=embed&ll=51.536513,-1.776288&spn=0.006006,0.011802&z=16

Sat 13th Feb

http://www.flickr.com/photos/92961862@N00/sets/72157623307194085/

We're really keen to get back on with trail building at our own trail in Swindon (Croft) over the next few months. We've got to repair some sections that sank in the rain and snow, plus some parts are being completely redesigned to improve them.

Good luck especially with the croft wood tis a gem of a place

We've got some free skills training sessions coming up in the summer.
To keep up to date subscribe to the mailing list at
http://www.mbswindon.co.uk
or join the facebook group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=41279586404

Not for me thanks I escaped Swindon 5 years ago, the Quantocks is now my playground

But good on ya for getting this off the ground

I've helped with a couple of digging sessions but having moved to Cheltenham its not so local anymore.
All the best and hope the new section to replace the loop round the jumps will be just as good as what's currently there.
Fun little place.

There are a few riders round too i think judging by this 5 month old thread:
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/calling-chippenham-riders

Do you ride in the now world famous woods behind Nationwide in Swindon?

We've now got an officially approved club.

that puzzles me a little, approved by whom to what end ? My club is mostly disapproved of, which suits us fine :o)

I'd say its in front:

Google maps: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=102649200503519711649.00045ad0a770073dde6d5&t=h&source=embed&ll=51.536513,-1.776288&spn=0.006006,0.011802&z=16

Officially approved as in CTC affiliated, meet council requirements for a sports club, can apply for grants etc.

Good to see a Swindon club. Used to live in Swindon & now about 30 mins out, but still in the area a lot & Red Planet is my "local" shop. Are you planning to do regular weekend / week night rides or something like that?

i approve of them, is that enough simon?

i'll try and join a group ride at some point – children permitting of course!

nice work

hmm … useful to know, thanks.

Family lives in Swindon but my father's a roadie while I'm MTBer … so will keep an eye out in future (and my sister lives barely 1 minute away from the Red Planet shop) .. seems a good, trendy, 'hole in the wall' kind of place.

We've been on a few rides with Ivor from Red Planet, who's been very supportive of the trail. They do night rides every Tuesday.
You get a discount with MBSwindon club membership.

As soon as the weather picks up a bit and we've fixed the sections of trail that sank in the wet then we'll be running weekly night rides.

MBSwindon will also be running a series of rides in the local area and further afield. We've got to spend most of March working on the trail though.

If you shop online at Wiggle, Evans cycles, Halfords, John Lewis, Maplin, Play or Screwfix then you can help the club by using our affiliate links at http://www.mbswindon.co.uk/shops/

can apply for grants etc.

eeeek!

We've got 6 build days sheduled for March. We really need to get on with this and fixing boggy bits of the trail.
See http://www.mbswindon.co.uk or Facebook groupfor more info.

We have a ride and build event for March 13th organised in conjunction with settingascene.com.
See http://www.mbswindon.co.uk/ride-trail-buil…tingascene-com/ and http://settingascene.com/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=448#p2575 for more info.

We've got a whole load of events planned for April.

Swinley forest, Cwmcarn, Spirthill, 4 trail build days and a nightride.
Details: http://www.mbswindon.co.uk/events/

May news: http://www.mbswindon.co.uk/mbswindon-news-may-2010/

Latest video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXuawYRuvPw

As always, a lot going on.
See http://www.mbswindon.co.uk/ for more information.

Facebook group has grown to 372 members, almost 60 signed up members. Good turnout on rides, lots of events planned.

Great effort guys- good luck with the club. Not been on a Red Planet ride for over a year. They got to be a bit of a pain with a lot of waiting around for grossly unfit beginners.

Funny enough, spotted your banner on the M4 yesterday 🙂

May well be moving to your area so will definetly look to join up with you guys

We had a stonkingly good ride at Wyre Forest today. All natural single track.
Photos and report.

Was that your sign I spotted as I was driving home from London along the M4? Just saw it out of the corner of my eye but though it said MB Swindon..

Yes, there's an MBSwindon banner by the motorway.

This whole MTB lark is all well and good, but the name MB Swindon may very well result in immense disappointment for fans of Operation, Connect 4 and Hungry Hippos in the Wiltshire area.

We've been doing a lot of riding.
Wyre Forest
Ridgeway
North Wales bank holiday weekend
Forest of Dean novice friendly ride

We've attracted some more media updates.

Some web site additions:
UK trail centre map
Article on bike lights
Mountain biking in Les Deux Alpes
Croft trail videos

We're putting in 5 teams for the Bristol Kona Bikefest. More trail building planned over the winter and a lot more rides.

We’re still busy!

Our calendar is full until Dec 25th now.

We’ve written a load more ride reports covering popular trail centres and ride locations. We’ve also started on trail building information and planed a load of bike and kit articles.

We’re still working on the Croft Trail and will be taking delivery of a load more limestone and mud this week. Over the winter we’re going to surface all the remaining trail and rebuild the last remaining section. There’s still more to do after that. Outline plan.

We won the “most innovative club” category at the Swindon and Wiltshire sports awards 2010.

We’ve bought several sets of night lights to lend to new riders on our Friday night rides over the winter.

We’re working closely with the newly opened Hargroves bike shop in Swindon.
They’re giving an extra discount to MBSwindon members on a different item every week. Offer of the week.

We’ve got 6 teams going to the Bristol Oktoberfest this weekend. It should be hard to miss us (if you hear “clear the trail! Expert
rider coming through!” then that might be us).

North Wales MTB Aug 2010 by tomstickland, on Flickr

Sept_18_19_Trail_Build 024 by tomstickland, on Flickr

sept_14_mbswindon by tomstickland, on Flickr

Aug_15_2010_Sunday_Wyre_Forest 066 by tomstickland, on Flickr

i hear good things about the mtb scence there.

Nice one! 🙂

That wheelbarrow picture.
Doesn’t the front bit tip up separately under power to save you having to lift the whole thing by hand ? 😕

See you in Bristol. I’ll try not to crash right in front of you on the singletrack again. 😀

Great work guys, I visited your trail a few months back and was impressed by what you cram in to such a small space. Its a great tech skills workout for those of us miles away from the hills 😀

Look forward to seeing more progress.

Doesn’t the front bit tip up separately under power to save you having to lift the whole thing by hand ?

You can make the hopper tip up, but not under power. In that photo they’re tipping the whole barrow so that they can control how much tips out. Expert skillz.

the banner was all twisted the other day, give me a shout if you need anymore I’ve friends with a large format printer!!

Banner has been fixed.