I’m surprised you can’t find what you want in the Forest of Dean.

Cwm Carn is your nearest place for a resonably long descent.

There’s a good amount of riding on the Cotswold Scarp. Map in here:
http://www.mbswindon.co.uk/ride-painswick-standish-cranham-bigfoot-mbc/

Also talk to Cheltenham Trails Group on Facebook and possibly the MBSwindon facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/mbswindon/?fref=ts

West Woods over towards Marlborough has a load of trails in it.

The Forest of Dean is great, but it’s normally over an hour away, depending on traffic, as is Cwm Carn, and If I’ve got, say half a day for riding, I ideally don’t want to spend 2 hours travelling.
For an all-day trip they’re perfect though!

Those routes on Swindon MTB will be really useful though – thanks!!

Well if you want some techy training ride lecky then xc it to Cranham via Birdlip wood.The most technical around Cranham is the Portway runs which have abit of everything.The fastest trails are the portway ones.Cranham in general is not as quick as the FOD trails much tighter and shorter.