Another follow request here Russ. I’m just starting to explore the FOD off piste stuff (Dowies, Shutcastle) so be good to pick up some more pointers.

No problems chaps

Si, I live inTewkesbury so happy to ride with you. Nothing local to the town but we could head over the FOD and do some off piste stuff

Perfect, thanks very much for the offer. I was debating between the gravel bike or the mountain bike to entertain me in the evenings – looks like the decision is made! I’ll drop you a line next month…

I love FoD. Much prefer the natural feel over BPW.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people criticise something they’re getting for free.

We had similar at Revs on Friday with our group.
Me and a couple of others loved the natural feel to a lot of the tracks, the others preferred the BPW-esque hardpack stuff.
I really like FoD as the roots etc are a real test but I need to get out and do some of the other stuff away from the centre but it’s tricky when you only have limited riding time.

Russyh, do you mind if I follow you too? If not, how do I find you?

There looked to be some man made flowing trails down the left hand side of the hill but we never found how to get to the top of them. And loads of jump runs that we could see, but again not easily find the start of the runs.

I was there on friday,& as you did saw some trails in the distance and actually used my bike to ride in the general direction of them until i found a way to access them. Just like the old days i rode cross country! Without an uplift or a sign post to follow! It’ll never catch on these days i know but sometimes you just have to pedal a bit harder to reap the rewards

Russyh, do you mind if I follow you too? If not, how do I find you?

You are more than welcome to. Emails in my profile just search me via that.

Maybe we could arrange a STW group ride. I would always recommend people utilise the services of some of the local guided rides. As I know some great bits but really only scratching the surface tonne honest! But I’m happy to lead a group of people. I have a great little route near the centre which encorporates some of the old enduro trail, red and a great alternative descent back to the trail centre. It’s about 11 miles and we quite often ride it in the evenings. Can get a bit sloppy in the winter months but as it drys out it’s a ripper.

Sounds good to me. I have found the few well known obvious off piste areas (Dowies, Bluebell, Shutcastle), it’s all the other little bits and how to link them up that’s eluding me.

That’s no problem, our loop from the cycle centre to dowies and shutcastle has a number of other little trails. So gives a great ride out.

Thanks for the route russyh, loved it, didnt stray too far off course either, garmin isnt a big fan of crossing over and backtracking, but all seemed to work out, the new descent at the end is pretty full on though, i may have gone around a couple of bits, ahem.

My pleasure. Got to say it was the first time i had hit that trail, Y2k next to it is one of my favourites.

Maybe we could arrange a STW group ride. I would always recommend people utilise the services of some of the local guided rides. As I know some great bits but really only scratching the surface tonne honest! But I’m happy to lead a group of people. I have a great little route near the centre which encorporates some of the old enduro trail, red and a great alternative descent back to the trail centre. It’s about 11 miles and we quite often ride it in the evenings. Can get a bit sloppy in the winter months but as it drys out it’s a ripper

D’you know, back in the early days of STW, some 13/14 maybe more years ago now, we had a series of STW weekends in the FoD. Bunk house accommodation opposite a pub, morris dancers, food and drink into the wee hours and the sort of guide carlsburg would probably have provided.

I’ve only been to forest of dean maybe 3 or 4 times and enjoyed it, I am only over the bridge in Somerset so Id be up for a ride if one was organised.

I like FOD.

I need to do some exploring because there are so many trails – even just off the push up path for the DH tracks.

I’m quite happy playing on the blue / red trails for a bit then heading off to the DH runs. Makes for quite a nice day out for me.

Russyh – have requested to follow you on Strava, hope that’s ok. I know my way around the FoD to a degree but interested in finding some new routes – Cheers !

Have also requested to follow you Russ, Need to find some new routes in FOD too.

Requested to follow you as well Russ, I’m in FoD this weekend so would be good to explore beyond the usual DH without being totally blind