I work in Brum/Wolves (not through choice)and I think I'd quite possibly kill myself if I lived there.
Thankfully I drive home to the Peak District every evening.
Bike Forum
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Where`s the worst place to live , in cycling terms ??
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Posted 2 years ago #
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And East Anglia is pretty good for off road biking as it happens.....
No it isn't. There is very little interesting riding to be had round here. I have to travel at least 3hrs most weekends to ride anything remotely technical.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Mars. Low gravity is a plus and you get the longest straight descent in the solar system from the top of olympus mons, but the atmosphere's not so good.
Ah, see what I did there? Atmosphere. Yes.
Posted 2 years ago # -
You've got to learn to make use of what you've got. I bet a lot of people berating where they live could probably find some excellent stuff if they looked a bit harder, or diversify. It doesn't all have to be north shore or 2000m descents. Personally I think I live in a fantastic place (East Lancashire) for all forms of cycling which is why I don't mind staying despite the town being a shit hole.
If I'm not feeling hugely energetic I can head south onto the Cheshire plain for some easy road riding, if I want local offroad there's more trails than you can shake a stick at, still not ridden them all after living here for 14 years. The West Pennine moors are less than ten miles away. Wales, the Lakes and the peaks are an hours drive away and the velodrome is just a 30 minute nip down the East Lancs. Sweet!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Ha ha......East Anglia has some great riding.......ha ha ha.....
Perhaps it does, but not near Peterborough. It's pretty cack.
60 miles to Thetford forest
over 1.5 hrs to Cannock
2hrs to Hope
About 3hrs to most Welsh trail centresGot an OS map of the surrounding area near me and there's not a lot on it.
Oh and London has HUGE hills compared to out here in the fenny fenlands.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I think Venice is the best answer so far!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Even if I didn't ride I couldn't live anywhere flat - I'd find it so bland.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Can vouch for Peterborough and Cambridgeshire as utter poop.
But for road riding it's not bad with viliages and country lanes.
No hills to train on though unless you find one to repeat on.
There is a mild forest trail to the west of Peterboough nobody seems to mention...
Posted 2 years ago # -
Another vote for Lincolnshire, it's rather flat around these parts.
Posted 2 years ago # -
do you just rate your riding on how far it is from a trail centre?
stumpyjon
Northamptonshire is a big area,us in North/East Northants really enjoy our riding. We have some some great place's to play, and a large amount of varied trails to play on, and a thriving local race scene.Posted 2 years ago # -
Another vote for Peterborough, flat flat flat !! more fun on the road bike.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I found Birmingham itself shite (obviously), but you've got a good selection of riding within an hour 1/2 (Peak District, Cannock Chase, Long Mynd and the like, Forest of Dean etc...) and within those choices plenty of XC, DH and **** about so it wasn't all bad. So if you could remove Birmingham and replace it with a football and chav free zone then it could be a good centre.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I think the votes for Kent are a bit unfair - either that, or the two previous posters never picked up an OS map. By South East standards there's actually loads of pretty good riding there if you know where to look - I think I read somewhere that Kent has more miles of bridleway than any other county apart from Yorkshire. True, it's lacking in super technical rocky descents, but if woody singletrack is your thing there's stacks. The trails are also virtually empty and refreshingly free of the "all gear and no idea" crowds you get in say Surrey.
I spent 3 years living in Holland, and that really was poo for mountain biking - obviously great for general pootling about, and the cycle path network is fantastic, but apart from the serious roadie contingent, to most Dutch people a bike is a form of transport and nothing else. While the infrastructure is totally bike friendly It's also incredibly overcrowded - virtually impossible to get up any serious turn of speed on the cycle trail network as it's packed with all ages from 8 to 80, all of them on identical 3 speed bikes and refusing to break into a sweat.
Love it as I do, I think one of the most frustrating parts of the country to be a mountain biker is probably north Pembrokeshire - virtually no bridleway network and surrounded by incredible coastal singletrack, but virtually none of it legal!
Posted 2 years ago # -
Lincolnshire (and probably other places named on here) isn't all bad. The south is very flat and dull (and the riding is pretty poor too
) but in the north, around the wolds there are some decent tracks. OK nothing to compare with the peaks or scotland, but reasonable enough - see http://www.louthnet.com/LAMB for some ideas around louth.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Another vote for P'Boro. I do more running these days....
Posted 2 years ago # -
Hong Kong - (email received from Hong Kong Mountain bike Association)
Dear HKMBA Members,
In the past three weeks there has been a loud exchange of opinions in the letters to the editor published by the South China Morning Post complaining about this "vocal minortity" wanting more trails opened and how we should be denied our request because we are "vandalizing" the environment, causing erosion, terrorizing elderly hikers and the best accusation of all --- we are engaging in "planned law breaking" because riders plan to ride unauthorized trails, like Kap Lung, in advance. Its all BS, but sadly the general public does not know that.
The AFCD have acknowledged recently to the HKMBA and other government departments that the only complaints that they have on record about mountain biking comes from the media. So these letters only give them more ammunition to deny our requests for better and more trails.
Therefore we urge you to stay on the legal trails, keep your shovels at home, abide by the code set out in our Share the Trails campaign and be especially patient and polite when you do encounter hikers.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Penicuik,it's a nightmare gt 20mins inners 25mins pentlands on my door step ae1hr away
Posted 2 years ago # -
A lighthouse?
Posted 2 years ago # -
Anywhere that's not Wales
Don't call me biased...
Posted 2 years ago # -
[quote]Actually Northamptonshire is pretty bad, no hills, loads of riding around muddy field boundaries.
+1 and I'd add that there is a lot of clay-based soil around here too
'Plumz has a point (it doesn't stop me) but the grass is always greener etc etc, wouldn't mind moving to the Alps actually 
Luckily, we're off to deepest Welsh Wales next week where there are rocks and hills and something called DRAINAGE, which might be useful if the weather forcast is right....
Posted 2 years ago # -
Anglesey?
Posted 2 years ago # -
As SprocketJockey says ^^, if you're in Kent and can't find any decent riding you're obviously not looking very hard. OK certain parts have fewer bridleways than other but there's usually something.
We used to ride from Crystal Palace out to Kent/Surrey quite regularly and within about 6 miles from Palace you can be offroad. Even easier if you get the train out halfway.As for the OP, I'd say that Widnes/Liverpool would get my vote for a) being generally shit and b) having no decent MTBing within an easy ride.
Posted 2 years ago # -
I would say London is GASH! Easy to say that when I lived their for 5 years and now my local trails are the Peaks, Wharncliff, Hebden Bridge to name a few
Posted 2 years ago # -
Kent was a joke :-). Fenlands has to be the worst.
London is pretty rubbish because you have to drive for 30-45 mins to get to the good riding, and 2 hours to get to the very good riding
Posted 2 years ago # -
Try Salford. It's frightening.
Posted 2 years ago # -
south pembrokeshire is even worse than north pembs!
Posted 2 years ago # -
as jon said rossendale is also bobbins really not worth coming to reasons are -
you can't ride out of your door onto moorland trails including long distance ones
you cant be at lee quarry and others nearly as good in 10 mins
you cant ride over into calderdale for more but very different trails
you cant be in north wales, derbyshire or the lakes in 2 hrs
you cant get to gisburn or the yorkshire dales in under an hour
there are no decent decents as its all uphill
it has no good pubs with good beer and they all hate mtbers
yep all in all really crap
gPosted 2 years ago # -
sheez, the way some people are talking its as if you may as well give up biking altogether unless you live in the middle of a frickin mountain range.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Leicestershire is pretty crap, actually.
1 hour's drive to Cannock, same again to Sherwood... A bit longer to the peaks... Ok, that's only an hour or so to some good rides, but locally it's just footpaths and "Git orf moi laaand!", and the cyclepaths are full of glass from the local chavs' saturday night bottle recycling scheme. I sympathise with whoever it was who lives in Lincolnshire though...Posted 2 years ago # -
Yet another one for peterborough, cack for mtb but nice network of cycle paths in parts.
Posted 2 years ago # -
Having lived in both Suffolk and Cambridgeshire I can confirm that East Anglia is pretty dull from a cycling point of view, but not totally devoid of the odd spot to ride, plus there is always the option to drive somewhere more interesting to go riding or racing…
Cycling is what you make of it, if you live somewhere flat build some jumps, or go explore your local woodland… There is always someone worse off than you, so why bother whinging…
Posted 2 years ago # -
I grew up and started mountain biking in Peterborough.
Yes it's crap, but theres so little else to do there that biking was still the best option
Most of the interesting stuff centered around old quarrys and forests to the north west (stamford way), but those all involved a 15 mile road ride to get there. There are at least a few small hills that way too.
West Yorkshire is a distinct improvement, however.
Posted 2 years ago # -
ditto crazy-jockey and sprocket-legs - some pretty decent riding in Kent if you look around a bit
Posted 2 years ago # -
Derby isn't great if you don't drive, especially t'Southside. Then again it could be worse (imagines living in Southern Lincolnshire <shudders>).
Posted 2 years ago # -
Derby isn't great if you don't drive, especially t'Southside.
Get your OS map out! It's pretty easy to ride out to proper hills and singletrack without really touching roads! My folks live in Hayfield (edge of the Peak District), and admittedly Derby isn't quite up to Peak District standards, but I spent a few years in Derby and soon had plenty of decent routes sussed.
Posted 2 years ago #
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