it was mentioned on another thread about northern england not being as gnarly and to " come down south for some proper stuff" WHAT!!! is this a joke! dartmoor! ha! the facts are there, lake district, hebbers, wharnecliffe, steve peat, yorkshire man! admit southern softies, we're much more hardcore then yow!! 😆

Let me just pull up a chair for this… 😆

jon rambo is a legend. 😀

No what we don't realise is that mountain biking is actually all about finding a 30 metre slope in some tiny woods on the outskirts of London, building a small drop off on it and giving it an extreme sounding name like 'The Dominator trail' – then riding it over and over again because there's nowhere else to go. 😛

Are you on the Olympic design team grum?

Having lived in the Peaks and near Swinley I know which I prefer for moutainbiking.

You can keep your 20ft wide unpaved motorways you think of as trails, I'll keep the singletrack 🙂

thisisnotaspoon… so which is it, swinley or peaks?

Yes that's right. I'm forever wishing I had some bleak windswept treeless rockfest of a Godforsaken moor to battle over, with some fizzy bitter to look forward to at the end. 🙂

Instead, all we got is the most wooded county in the land.

spot on john! he's not a troll, he's a shredder! like it cos its true! 😆

Tis true – the trails down here are awful, you best stay oop Norf and not trouble us yocals with your sophistication.

Now, how to convince you the same about our beaches . . .. . .

Once this thread is done I am commisioning Jon McRambo for teh Scotch version

Myabe the northeners can call it as it is "Mountain Biking" and the southerners can call it "Low Gentle Slope Biking" Just an idea… 😆

Yes, down south = dartmoor

and

dartmoor = down south

It's pretty crowded on this here moor.

How far North to move from gnar to uber gnar?

Swinley 🙂

There's bits I like about the North, the M1 and the M6 southbound I think are my favourite trails :p

In all seriousnes, there are some good trails in the North, Warncliffe, Blacka Moor, bits of Grizedale, the switchbacks coming down of cut Gate, etc but we're talking isolated bits of trail that sometimes take a 2 hour ride to get to the top of.

Swinley or the Surrey Hills has more quality singletrack each than the North of Englnd had in total. And you can do a 20mile ride entirely on the kind of trails you'd slog for 2 hours to get to up north just to ride the kilometer of singletrack at the end!

'aint no mountains in the peak district…………

No what we don't realise is that mountain biking is actually all about finding a 30 metre slope in some tiny woods on the outskirts of London, building a small drop off on it and giving it an extreme sounding name like 'The Dominator trail' – then riding it over and over again because there's nowhere else to go.

What like "The beast" which consists of a load of rocks and a grand total of 2 corners?

You're right there absoltly no single track up north. None in the peaks none in west yorkshire, none in th north penines, non in the north york moors, none in the yorkshire dales, definitely non in scotand (especially the cairngorms and none in the lakes; there are also no hills, no rocks and no roots just northerners and industrial wasteland.

TJ posted some film of Northern Mountain biking the other week, a descent so gnarly (straight double track) that the riders were sitting down…Rad.

And Still one of them managed to fall off….

You guys opp Norf rock, respect….

Having not riden "ooop norf" i cant comment, but i do love Swinley….. 3rd ride there consisted of 13 miles of singletrack, longest time spent on a fire-road was cutting across it to get back on more singletrack, since then i've only found one of those sections again!

cant believe i've lived here for 4-5 years and didnt realise what was on my doorstep.

Most of you Northerners wouldn't know what to do with a decent bit of singletrack if it came up and punched you in the face.

The North is a barren, cold, damp, windswept, cultural wasteland with all the charm of a molten lead enema.

Our terrain is so much better than yours that it's almost laughable that you should think otherwise. You can't try and include Scotland in your definition of the North either as that is a different country FFS.

all any one up north has to remind you of is http://elbry.blogspot.com/

jools…….you forgot to add, full of unemployed benefit scroungers

In all seriousnes, there are some good trails in the North, Warncliffe, Blacka Moor, bits of Grizedale, the switchbacks coming down of cut Gate, etc but we're talking isolated bits of trail that sometimes take a 2 hour ride to get to the top of.

Could you post grid references and directions to those trails please, I've been driving down south to ride every weekend, but if there are actually half-decent trails within reach of the Peaks District, it'd be good to know where they are. I guess even an area as unpromising as northern England must have the odd reasonable bit.

and no-one has even mentioned Exmoor and the Quantocks yet….

Swinley or the Surrey Hills has more quality singletrack each than the North of Englnd had in total.

I ride at Swinley a lot and that simply ain't true.

Having lived in the Peaks and near Swinley I know which I prefer for moutainbiking.

Me too. The Peaks easily.

BUT

A lot of the locals know that within a few miles of Swinley is far, far better riding. 🙂

Having not riden "ooop norf" i cant comment, but i do love Swinley….. 3rd ride there consisted of 13 miles of singletrack, longest time spent on a fire-road was cutting across it to get back on more singletrack, since then i've only found one of those sections again!

cant believe i've lived here for 4-5 years and didnt realise what was on my doorstep.

Mate, Swinley is pants these days. Where do you live? If you fancy it, I can take you for a ride on waaaaaaay better trails than that. SIngletrack that's still actually SINGLE for a start! 🙂

'aint no mountains in the peak district…………

What like "The beast" which consists of a load of rocks and a grand total of 2 corners?

Wouldn't know – I've never ridden in the Peak District – that's down south. 🙂

ok im in liverpool this weekend i have a sunday morning pass where should i go

llandegla is my fav at the moment – its nearby and i cant get lost

but any other tips

id consider taking the dh bike if there were any uplift services nearby

if i get no replies ill know that the DH runs at swinley are the pinacle of english extreme gnar biking

I must have missed the DH run at Swinley.

sandhurst for my sins….. i'm up for it at some point, need to work on my bike-fitness for a while first… that ride was a killer as i've only been riding about 2-3 months after a 15 year gap. still not able to handle much more than 10miles (with a lot of stops) at the mo due to a busted shoulder and a social life organised behind my back by the vagina.

I think he means the bits near the jump gulley Mark…. But yeah, point taken 🙂

Phil – Drop me an email (in profile) if you fancy a ride sometime. I'm sure I can organise a nice relaxed ride. I don't do fast anyway. 🙂

Myabe the northeners can call it as it is "Mountain Biking" and the southerners can call it "Low Gentle Slope Biking"

Just discussing this with a mate and he suggested,

>>
northern – Hill Riding
Scottish – Mountain Riding
Southern – Slope riding
Welsh – Sheep riding
<<

I, however, am refraining from comment.

so southerners are harder because they are

not able to handle much more than 10miles (with a lot of stops)

😆

Yes Dartmoor is really crowded.
As for Exmoor and the Quantocks, they don't really exist, they are just figments of journalist's imaginations.

well theres this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5ckIWH825g

but this is what i was talking about

Alex222…. i never claimed to be harder, and i also made a point of saying "Having not riden "ooop norf" i cant comment"

using a beginner who hasnt riden for 15 years (or done pretty much any exercise in those 15 years) as an example of southern riders is like saying all northeners are short, overweight, missing half their teeth, on benefits, sporting a massive beer belly and the IQ of a reporter for the daily sport…. this is my experience of northeners from touring… 😉

Jedi lives darn sarf – damn mincer 😉

Kimbers, If by DH you mean 'going down a bit of a hill for 30 seconds or so', rather than the usual sense of DH – then yeah I suppose that's a DH trail. 😉

Of course oop north it would barely qualify as a hummock let along a hill…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyDEWfvBF0w – There is around another 3/4 mile or so of singletrack trail prior to this so a good 10-15 minutes heading down all the way. I'd say that is a hill.

This has been done to death.

There IS plenty of great riding down South. It's not mountainous, but it's cracking.

Plenty of great riding up North too. And west. Sadly not east tho 😉

Aren't we lucky 🙂