are they worth a visit tomorrow? Not ridden there in a couple of years, is the new trail waymarked and obvious from the cafe carpark?

any ideas for roughly how long a loop takes (wife will be waiting at cafe)

Yes, worth a visit
Yes, easily found from the pedalabikeaway cafe
About 40 minutes – the Verderers trail ain’t long, but the final descent is rather groovy.

I suggest you get there as early as you can- gets a bit busy on a nice weekend. Well worth a visit.

Me and my girlfriend rode the Verderers route today and loved it!! I’m returning to bikes after 15 years away and she is completely new to the sport but we still had a blast, I struggled a little with the climbs(no ‘legs’ yet!)and Sam was understandably very steady in places but that final section is just awesome!! Will we go back? … does the pope pray?!! 😆

Thanks for the advice guys. Going to be a bit difficult to get there early as I’ve got a 2.5 hr drive to get there 🙁

Ok hugely disappointed by the red xc loop. Then was thinking it was a wasted journey until the end of the blur. Wow. Now that’s quick. Not sure about the rollers though, seemed really hard to double them up… It’s massively busy than a couple of years ago when I used to come once a month or so

We were there yesterday doing a mixture of red, blue and off piste.
Most of the blue we did is billard table smooth and fast but a little boring…. until you hit the last section with the berms and rollers. WOW! I never expected that from a blue. A great design that works as for beginners to experienced trail riders to DHers. A scary amount of speed could be gained off those rollers.
The trail centre was heaving but the trails themselves were not to bad.

As I understand it, the last ‘Dragon’s Tail’ downhill on the Blue Grade Verderer’s Trail is being regraded to Red because some riders have been getting out of their depth. An alternative Blue Grade return down to the end of the trail will be constructed and the existing downhill re-signed as Red Grade. The rollers at the top of the descent were never meant to be ‘doubled’ and riders are hitting them too hard and getting out of synch. Apparently 😉

I’ll second that the red trail is pants. I had high hopes after the early rooty chute but ended up disappointed.
I understand that they’re regrading the final bit and adding an option, in front of us were some parents with very young children struggling to walk their bikes down the bermy bit. I think the blue is a very good and well designed trail, I will be back, I wish I had a hardtail though. The “bike shop” isn’t what I had hoped for, is the cafe any good?

FOD is a brilliant place, its like Cannock Chase was 10 years ago.

It’s all change at the moment at Pedalabikeaway Centre since ownership changed a short while ago. Dave who ran the shop finished at the weekend although he’s still likely to be doing some wheelbuilding and spannering in the workshops. As I understand it [read…gossip], the shop will probably be re-opened in the main building and will be run by the new owners of PedalaBikeAway. The cafe serves good but basic food and nice homemade cake 8)

plenty of positive feedback so far
Verderers Trail

I’ll second that the red trail is pants. I had high hopes after the early rooty chute but ended up disappointed.

What is it that people don’t like about the red (and by red, I mean the old FODCA trail which is now waymarked as red)?

I know it’s very short, but I’ve always enjoyed it as a bit of a warm up to doing a much bigger ride personally, and the rootiness of it makes you concentrate on line choice.

Was down there on Sunday and it was very busy at the cafe. Made me wonder if they would be better off with an outside barbecue running at busy weekends – quicker service & a better vibe ❓

mboy, I liked the rootyness. I wanted more rootyness. There was very little else of note around the course though IMO.