Heading up that neck of the woods over the weekend. What condition are the trails in? Are there any ither options in the area that may be a little less boggy?

Its wet, there has been some maintenance over the winter but it’s still wet and muddy, There’s no where else near i can think of that will be any dryer so if you go with the intention of getting shoited up i dont think you will be dissapointed,

Its not Just the wet, boggy suff either, theres a load of grit, sand pebble, Left over from the Ice Age that destroys your chain. But so does the Peaks, And Dalby etc etc, It’s Winter.

Wharncliffe isn’t that far away, Peaks Not too far, BUT Completely different, Pines is as flat as a Pancake and the other two aren’t.

Clumber Park has a Loop of sorts, It’s quite a nice loop if your planning on going round with Kids, Family.

If you are Going Alone then Pines can be Fun if done at a good pace and if you do two laps,

Depending on where you are id head to cannock if it’s trail centre your after as it’s holding up very well considering…

“I’ll be near Nottingham/Workshop, what’s in the area to ride?”

“Cannock near Birmingham”

You could always ride down cycle route 6 loop around the lake at clumber and back to the pines. Not as flat as you think, but not sloppy chain destroying mess the pines will be.
The blue is getting worse than the red due to the dog sled training route the runs along it.

Thanks for the geography lesson pook, at what point does he actually say where he’s staying? But lets say hes in in ilkeston which is pretty close to Nottingham there’s probably 10 more mins drive to cannock and it pisses all over pines. Hth.
Oh and hang on I just mapped it and there’s 20 mins difference from actual nottingham, so once again I know where I’d be going…

Thanks for the info. I will be staying in Mansfield. I can ride from the house to sherwood and so was checking to see if it was rideable and not a complete bog. Flat trails will be a nice change as I do 99% of my riding in South Wales.

Calm down son – I can see the frothing from here!!! I was only teasing. Missed the 😉 in my sleep deprived state

Depending on whereabouts in Mansfield you are, theres various routes to take to the pines,and yes,you can pick up the National cycle route along with the woods, it is afterall Robin Hood country, so watch for the arrows & the Sherrif!,lol, it’ll make a nice ride.. 😉

8) @ pook

Lovely memories of Sherwood Pines: trying to keep up with Cy, Paul, The Potters et all on the Cotic Demo Days and A.Q.L skills days. Lovely singletrack – everywhere is wet and squishy in the winter.

Embrace It! Mwah XXX 😀

Bigdean, was going to suggest that from Clumber, it makes a nice ride, Much nicer in the dry though, went or tried that way between Xmas and New Years and aborted as it was litterally standing water in the trail.
Nipped to the visitor centre @ Edwinstowe in the Van and unloaded agin and nipped in from there with my Son

And as suggested from Mansfield ride in on the cycle routes, Beats getting there in the car and makes it that bit better as you rode there and back,

There a nice loop in the current magazine involving the Pines. Loads bridleways and cyclepaths in that neck of the woods depending how muddy you want to be.

Sweet looking forward to it now, I’ll take my wet weather gear and embrace the mud!
Funnily enough TimCotic I will be taking my Soul with me to splash around in the mud.

Pines will be fine. it doesn’t get muddy as such, just wet. I find that for the most part you just get standing water and puddles, rather than boggy, muddy sections. The ground between the puddles is normally fairly dry and very grippy, due to the fast draining sandy soil.

Despite the lack of altitude, the loop is fun if ridden quickly. Go for a blast, wear some waterproof shorts and have a sausage roll at the café.

Pines will be fine. it doesn’t get muddy as such, just wet. I find that for the most part you just get standing water and puddles, rather than boggy, muddy sections. The ground between the puddles is normally fairly dry and very grippy, due to the fast draining sandy soil.

Despite the lack of altitude, the loop is fun if ridden quickly. Go for a blast, wear some waterproof shorts and have a sausage roll at the café.

Yeah, sums it up nicely. As a regular Dark Peak rider, I occasionally head over there in winter to escape the grinding paste bog fest on the local trails. The red route can get a bit churned up by the trail centre hamsters in places, but there’s loads of off piste stuff in there. It’s worth exploring if you have time – just keep your eye open for little paths leading off the fire road network. If not, find the ‘bmx/bike park’ area, and within about 200m there’s a mini downhill area with several different lines that’s worth a play (the routes for this start on a 2m high wooden ramp structure, which can normally be seen from the adjacent blue route in the winter when leaves are off the trees). The hamsters on the red normally ride straight past the mini DH area, as it takes them a few metres off the marked trail – so the trail surface tend to hold up well in there.

HTH…..& have fun!:)

Yep do a couple of laps, the dh park is a pretty good, and well worth a good few go’s,but also the red trail that goes past the dh park, is my fave bit of the red trail.

Fat fingered double post.

That bit of Where you don’t turn into the park bit beside it is also my favourite bit of the trail closely followed by that bit near the end of a similar gradient,

11-12 and then 18-19…..they hold up well in this weather.

But there is no questioning the fact that Sherwood is muddy!! It is less muddy now than it was a week ago……by quite a way……but it is still muddy……

Be great once the freeze come in for a 2 hour fitness blast…….

It’s not real mud though, it’s the sort of mud you can brush off and use to make mortar when it’s dried. It’s never THAT deep that you’ll be up to your bolt-throughs. Not been for ages though, so can’t vouch for up to date conditions. You could always ride the old train track to Bilsthorpe and back if you’re fed up with mud, and I do mean back, because, well, it’s Bilsthorpe. There are plenty of sandy bridleways about if you want an XC or CX type ride though.

There is some axle deep black peaty stuff if want it…..

….but it is fairly isolated so no biggie….

Last week it was not fun…..this week it is…..it dries out rapidly!

+1 for off-piste Pines. As said earlier its pretty easy to find and usually less muddy/ puddly than the red route in wet weather, although some of the trails in the smaller plantations are getting cut up at the moment.
If you check out the bridleways/ footpaths around the Mansfield area you can link up loads of relatively worthwhile stuff especially around the Maun Valley or over near West Notts College.

If you pick up Route 654 up at the back of the Bike Park and ride through Bilsthorpe you can pick it up again and ride all the way to Southwell off road. With a nice pub at the end too!

You can ride all the way to Derby pretty much off road all the way, but I don’t think we’ve ever found the same route twice. And you are knackered when you get back!

Don’t do the route in the mag. It’s stupidly out of date (doesn’t include the 10 year old by pass) plus the route goes through horsey country it axel deep and no fun when they’ve been out in the rain.

Sound like its worth a read then?

Thoroughly enjoyed my blip around the pines, couple of big puddles and loads of ice!! ‘DH’ area was a good laugh and a bit different to the rest of the pines. Thanks for the advise!