An impending move to cambridge makes me think my beautiful whyte e-120 might start gathering dust. Any good riding advice or should I just be prepared for long drives north to get my fix?

road bike and a nice light hardtail? There must be local trails round there… and Thetford and its wealth of trails is only just down the road!

Chicksands and thetford are under an hr away. I’d say thats your best bet.

There’s not a vast amount locally – the Roman Road from the Gogs out to Linton is about it, plus some field edge stuff. In summer it’s quite nice in a oldskool xc linda way. In winter? Pigging horrible. Chalky clayey sludgey nastiness. 2hr ride = 3hr bike clean.

Cherry Hinton quarry and Harlton Clunchpit (great word that) fine for dicking around in.

(note – all this info is about 15yrs out of date….)

Thetford, Chicksands and Woburn are not far away.

Despite Cambridge being a major “cycling city”, for decent off-road biking, its all about the car:

Thetford is half an hour’s drive on a good day.
Chicksands/Rowney Warren about an hour.
North Downs & Chilterns about 90 mins.
South Peak about 2 hours.

Locally, head south. Its mainly farm tracks, often plodding around the fields (horribly clay-ey when its wet). I did manage to come up with something half decent when I lived there, but it was far from exciting.

+1 for the roman road to Linton in fact

Certainly no need for full-sus bike, rigid 29er SS would be ideal for mile-munching and mud resistance.

Not sure you’re allowed in Cherry Hinton Quarry any more (last time I rode there was about 1987), AIUI it’s now a nature reserve….

But yes, long drives are where it’s at. There’s a good road riding scene and lot’s of lovely quiet B roads to the South and East.

There are bi-weekly night rides on local BWs:

http://pub3.bravenet.com/forum/static/show.php?usernum=222603484&frmid=16&msgid=0#bn-forum-1-1-222603484/16

and a local MTB club:

http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/Mutts-Nutts/

I don’t think the riding/cleaning ratio is worth it in winter and I tend to stick on the road for the majority of my riding and just head to Thetford once a week.

BTW Hope is a < 3 hour drive away….

Cheers guys

Conclusions:
– I’m buying myself a nice van
– It’s time to get the road bike back on the road

And will check out the other route suggestions