Viewing 40 posts - 321 through 360 (of 367 total)
  • Why do people think Southern England riding is crap?
  • MrWoppit
    Free Member

    I can't believe this is still going – it's got more legs on it than the much-entertaining former religious argy-bargy thread…

    MrWoppit
    Free Member

    I can't believe this is still running. It's got more legs on it than the vastly entertaining religious argy-bargy thread of fond memory…

    Edit: Oops

    buzz-lightyear
    Free Member

    "Southerners – could any of your rides be described as 'epic'?"

    Not much "epic". Arguably a bad weather day on Dartmoor is epic. Otherwise I'm quite liking the "twee" description.

    Bad rock music analogy: Northern riding is like stadium rock, Southern riding is like alternative rock 😀

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    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    Njee – another vid for you. Not worth watching the whole thing perhaps as its not a great vid ( apologies to whoever filmed it) but it gives a flavour of some more of the local pentlands riding. Remember all teh pentladns is ridable to from the city – no car required

    shortcut
    Full Member

    What makes a ride epic?

    grumm
    Free Member

    epic – very imposing or impressive; surpassing the ordinary

    Doing the Mega was pretty epic to me – there are a few bits of riding in the Lakes that remind me of some of that. Piddling around in some woods on a 50m high hill isn't quite as epic imo. 😛

    njee20
    Free Member

    There is a lot of variety and good trails – but my point was that is not the best of around here – its just an average.

    Yes, and it looks it. You keep bigging up the 'local' thing, which is a bit daft, when a lot of riding in the South, which in my eyes beats the crap out of that, can be done in under an hour from central London, with no car.

    I can't believe I've involved myself with this discussion, it's pointless! There's a massive variety of riding in a tiny area in the UK, as long as you like your local riding does it matter!?

    whippersnapper
    Free Member

    my turn to join this pointless conversation.

    I thought 'mountain' biking was about just going out and exploring (both terrain and your abilities) and hopefully having some fun on the way. Each ride brings something different.

    grumm
    Free Member

    I can't believe I've involved myself with this discussion, it's pointless!

    I thought it was basically the thing known as 'banter'…

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    Njee. we are at cross purposes. I wasn't at anypoint trying to say my local riding was better. I was trying to show the variety of my local riding. I wouldn't claim this is the best riding in Scotland by a long way – but its less than ten miles from the city centre, has a variety of riding from woodsy singletrack to open moorland to built DH style tracks.

    I don't think there is anything within an hour of London by bike that has the variety of riding.

    buzz-lightyear
    Free Member

    Between 200 and 500m hills around here. But not epic in comparison with The Lakes. But then the Lakes are quite twee in comparison with The Highlands.


    hilldodger
    Free Member

    What makes a ride epic?

    One that let's you delude yourself that you're 1000s of miles from civilisation in the 'back country' 😉

    molgrips
    Free Member

    I went riding in the Pentlands once – a long time ago. All I can remember is a ludicrously steep arse-on-the-back-tyre thrutch down a mountainside, where I was absolutely sure I was going over the bars and not hitting the ground for another 100m, and an absolutely brilliant balls-out super fast double track descent down a valley back to the burgh.

    Riding's changed a bit since then of course, but it was fun nonetheless 🙂

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    Epic rides
    and the rest of the installments

    hilldodger
    Free Member

    I don't think there is anything within an hour of London by bike that has the variety of riding

    within 20-30 mins bike ride of my house (and easily an hour from SW London) I could make an all day route that took in Wisley jumps, miles of heathland trails, endless wooded singletrack, sandy lakeside, sharp rooty hills as techy as you like, bit of urban radness, and some cheeky woodwork.

    Pretty much the only thing 'we' don't have is rocks – thing I personally don't like about the northern trails usually posted here is the big loooong, almost straight, treeless sections like Buzz's first picture.

    I prefer not to be able to see further ahead than the next bend, have lots of gradient/surface changes and above all, trees – lots of them.
    I ride for the riding not the scenic experience !!

    Anyway, it seems like the northerners like their trails and we like ours so it's all good eh 😀

    joolsburger
    Free Member

    Chalk counts as a rock HD so we have that covered too.

    brassneck
    Full Member

    Till it gets mildly damp and completely frictionless.. it's practically a lubricant then.

    buzz-lightyear
    Free Member

    IMO. The high moors of Dartmoor and Exmoor (my top pic) have something in common with northern moors. But all the singletrack infested wooded combes are more southern in character. Being on limestone and quite hilly, Mendip (lower pic) seems reminiscent of Derbyshire.
    It's a compelling mix; we just lack epic, rocky mountains. The Brecon Beacons is the nearest riding for an epic feel – about 1.5 hours drive from Bristol.

    adstick
    Free Member

    Yep, the north has 'epic' fair enough.

    Down south we have 'corners' 😉

    grumm
    Free Member

    Pretty much the only thing 'we' don't have is rocks

    Or mountains – as in 'mountain biking'. 😛

    Another point – singletrack is over rated imo – most of the time I'd rather have line choices and be able to do the same trail a slightly different way every time rather than just riding on a rail. 😉

    adstick
    Free Member

    You're not riding the right singletrack then.

    EDIT: You going to be at your brother's in July? Bring your bike and you can show me some 'mountain biking'

    PeterPoddy
    Free Member

    singletrack is over rated imo –

    And underated IMO.

    Which goes to show, yet again, it's all just opinion. Nowt more. 🙂

    freeridenick
    Free Member

    You can't beat surrey hills dusty singletrack on your home patch
    you can't beat some epic rock fest in the Lakes on a sweet road trip.

    I love both 8)

    Those are my two favorite places to ride in England

    alexxx
    Free Member

    I cant believe a thread with the topic title is 9 pages long…. I live in the heart of the Lakes, you cant tell me Southern riding is better.

    Im not saying its bad just different but I know where I'd prefer to ride all year long….

    the alps.

    grumm
    Free Member

    EDIT: You going to be at your brother's in July? Bring your bike and you can show me some 'mountain biking'

    Yes and yes. 🙂

    Ben Lomond is just down the road. Looks ok.


    http://www.mbr.co.uk/routes/uk_trails/Riding_Ben_Lomond_Big_Mountains_gallery_article_286334.html

    adstick
    Free Member

    Nice. I'll definitely bring my new bike then!

    TandemJeremy
    Free Member

    All riding is good. I like all types of riding ( bar DH tracks)

    I love the easy access to a huge variety of riding I can get within an hours riding of my home.

    I don not believe that there are any places where the wide variety of riding can be ridden to from a city.

    However some of the best riding I have ever done is down south. Partly for the intensity of it.

    Singlespeed_Shep
    Free Member

    This thread is ace, its gone from North vs South to my local trail is better than yours.

    buzz-lightyear
    Free Member

    I thought it was universally accepted that name "Mountain Bike" was pure marketing hype: "In 1979 Fisher and some partners started a company. They called it Mountain Bikes".

    grumm
    Free Member

    Nice. I'll definitely bring my new bike then!

    Ooh what you got? Is it suitable for dull rocky doubletrack? 😉

    PeterPoddy
    Free Member

    Buzz, I do believe that at one point, MTBs came close to being called 'Muddy Foxes' (Also see: Hoover, Jeep, Sellotape, etc) I remember reading that somewhere in the dim and distant past, I think. 🙂

    adstick
    Free Member

    A 'thoroughly unsuitable for the lack of mountain biking in the south' SX Trail. It'll be fun to take it up a mountain for the first time. Good preparation for Canada in August.

    adstick
    Free Member

    In my early biking days they were called both MTB and ATB. MTB stuck.

    buzz-lightyear
    Free Member

    That Lomond track looks great! I hiked up it ages ago before I got into this game. I like how relatively unchallenging walking tracks can be such interesting cycling tracks.

    hilldodger
    Free Member

    In my early biking days they were called both MTB and ATB.

    I always thought that MTB initials were derived from Multi Terrain Bike rather than MounTain Bike

    hilldodger
    Free Member

    DP 😳

    nickc
    Full Member

    thrutch

    Must make an effort to use this word more, it's great

    LOLing at Brassneck…That's so true…

    That Ben Lomond descent looks fun.

    grumm
    Free Member

    Good preparation for Canada in August.

    Bastard. 😡

    simonfbarnes
    Free Member



    the end

    Ming the Merciless
    Free Member

    LOCAL piccies

    and

Viewing 40 posts - 321 through 360 (of 367 total)

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