Hi
Moving up to Derby in a couple of weeks for University, and of course gunna take my bike up. Just wondering if anyone knew of any good trails just on the outskirts of Derby or easy ones to get to from the city centre without a car? Of course there is the Peak District that i will defiantly have to explore. Any help/info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Dom
Can't believe none of the Derby-ites have replied to you yet!
Not much really technical riding close to Derby - there is the BMX track if you want to brush up your skills at Alvaston Park.
Going north-ish from Derby, there are quite a few bridle paths out Quarndon/Kedleston way and up towards Ambergate/Belper/Chevin. Easy to ride to from the Uni end of town.
If you have a car or take the train, Matlock is only half an hour away, and you will get out towards Chatsworth on a decent ride from there, but lots of stuff around Ambergate/Cromford/Crich, all good apparently, some cheeky, though I don't ride or know that area.
South-ish the mag had some routes for Ticknall a while back, but I'm not sure what is actually there.
West-ish - towards Ashbourne/Subury is not great for riding off road, according to a mat ewho lived that way
East-ish there is a good range of cyclepaths and towpaths and Sustrans routes that can get you over to Ilkeston and into the heart of Nottingham traffic free. Great fun if you just want to spin your legs, if the trails are claggy or if you fancy an evening beer at a waterside pub.
Also Sustrans/cyclepath options can get you onto the High Peak and Tissington trails, neary forgot.
North-eastish takes you to the mountain biking mecca that is Ilkeston (no local bias on here). To my surprise - I'm not a local originally - there is a lot of decent bridleway bashing around here - we have a couple of regular local 20 mile loops, one towards Strelley and Nottingham, one around Breadsall and Drum Hill. We can link them up to make a big day out if we want. There were a few jumps at Drum Hill but they have been flattened.
Put a shout out when you get here and there are a lot of guys around who will be able to help in more detail or take you out if you want some guided highlights.
Hi dom - what swadey said basically!
North of Derby there's some good trails at Drum Hill/Coxbench which is about your closest decent stuff.
And there's some great cheeky stuff at Ambergate/Crich Chase/Cromford (Black Rocks).
It only costs £4 or so to get from Derby to Ambergate on the branch line train, so you can have some fun in the woods and then ride back to Derby.
There's plenty of bridleways to link together for some XC riding south of Derby around Ticknall area. There's a regular Monday night ride from the John Thompson pub in Ingleby from 6.30pm. Usually a quick pace but gets you fit lol!
Otherwise, as above 
There are regular Tuesday night rides organised by the DVATC around the ambergate area and further a field. Check out the website for details http://www.dvatc.co.uk
Great, thanks very much guys. Once i've recovered from freshers fortnight i will defiantly have to do some exploring. Swadey i'll let you know when im up North. Be good to get a couple of locals perspectives of the riding, local knowledge is awesome 
If you get the train out to Matlock, you can do tons of great rides out round Darley Dale, Bakewell, Monsal Head etc. Easy to put together a 50 miler or more starting from the train station. I've also done loops from there back down to Duffield (easy ride into Derby / has a train station too), some of it is naughty bad, but most people round here ride them anyway, and there are lots of lovely bits.
Lovely big hills too - you can easily clock up thousands of feet of climbing in a ride!
http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?lnk=http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~jqm/Long_Matlock.gpx is a very nice ride taking in loads of great stuff and 1800m of ascent, starting from Matlock train station.
Joe
Get yourself a local and get them to show you Ambergate
Thanks, looks like train could solve get me a lot of places. I'm just guna see what i can find also around Derby. for just the odd evening ride after Uni etc...
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