I have the morning to ride somewhere tomorrow on my SS 29er and don’t fancy wading through mud for the entire ride. Any local advice?

Guessing Clent, Wyre and Lickeys will be boggy and the Chase will be full of ‘full face helmet Strava chasing’ types so not necessarily a relaxing experience…

Any thoughts?

Malverns always clean as a whistle if you stay above the vale and out of Eastnor woods.

Clent high up will be ok, lickeys passable just, waseley fine but cheeky & full of walkers

Anyway SS 29er with suitable tyres is perfect for mud. I’ll be out on 4″ tyres though 🙂

Never riden the Malverns…is it easy to find routes?

Malverns are fairly straightforward fro a route finding point of view. Suggest parking at North Quarry car park and pop into Back on Track bikes ?
There are some footpath issues, but plenty ‘legal’ riding. Holds up well if ground is sodden elsewhere, can be a bit exposed, but that’s just hills.
BOT bikes have or had a couple of route suggestions on their website if my memory is correct.

I’d echo rOcKeTdOg, Clent will be fine if you stay high, it’s sandstone so drains well. I don’t think Cannock would be too full of Strava riders if it is wet either.

2 BOT routes here.

Cool, thanks all. Couple of ideas for tomorrow then. Need to get out somewhere!

The Pinkster – Member

2 BOT routes here.

Thanks Pinkster

Malvern as mentioned. Up the Worcestershire Beacon to the trig point from Great Malvern and along the ridge to the Herefordshire border. Loop back on some of the lines below the ridge and up to the Beacon trig point again and then down the Beacon to the town.

Expect a “talk” from one of the conservators, I always seem to get one when I ride there

Cannock off piste? Park at the car park opposite the entrance to the tackeroo campsite and cycle on that side of the road in the opposite direction to the campsite, loads of stuff down there, not particularly techy though.

Expect a “talk” from one of the conservators, I always seem to get one when I ride there

Someone must tip them off when youre going RD. In all the years of living and riding here Ive never “met” a conservator on the hills for a “word”.

Mind you, I generally ride at night so that might have something to do with it.

There’s only really two paths you need to be cautious of and can be avoided if there’s lots of walkers around
1) the footpath that runs parallel with the jubilee drive (contouring road on West side of hill running from West of England car park north as far as the wyche.
2) A short section of footpath North from black hills car park to the col where you can cross over to the Eastern side.

And dont ride on top of British Camp. BW runs around the eastern side.

Other than that, you’d have to be trying to avoid a bridleway.

All these rules become null and void after sunset or if its a rainy wednesday morning though 😉

Sounds good. As long as the beer is kept in check tonight then i’ll be the daft bugger on a SS rigid 29er chugging around tomorrow morning then!

SS rigid 29er

that’s all I ride round here, and I have to start from down on the boglands. If you start up at North Quarry you’ll already be 500’+ up! 🙂

Someone must tip them off when youre going RD. In all the years of living and riding here Ive never “met” a conservator on the hills for a “word”.

Twice I’ve had a guy in a pick up truck with conservator signs on it, come over to me in the car park & try to give me a card with a map showing the permitted paths for bicycles, all done in a very friendly manner I have to say

Nags Head for refueling 😉

http://www.nagsheadmalvern.co.uk/

Not a bad place to start and finish a ride in Malvern either

I was over clent on Wednesday night and it was horrible. Very muddy and very slippy on the wet leaves covering some of the best trails.

Twice I’ve had a guy in a pick up truck with conservator signs on it, come over to me in the car park & try to give me a card with a map showing the permitted paths for bicycles, all done in a very friendly manner I have to say

Same here.

andysredmini – Member
I was over clent on Wednesday night and it was horrible. Very muddy and very slippy on the wet leaves covering some of the best trails.

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Depends on your route 😉

It is muddy, I was there Thursday morning, so a few hours after you, but wasn’t too bad – need the right tool for the job though 😉

I think I’m just annoyed that the weather has finally turned. I have been over a few times over the last couple of weeks and it’s been bone dry and riding really well. I always hate riding this time of year. Takes a few rides to resign myself to the fact that if I want to ride it’s going to involve mud.

Thanks all. Roll on the Malvern ride tomorrow. Mud wear is ready!

Clent does drain pretty well on the upper half (very similar to Malverns) and is dry again after a day of no rain, but to get a decent ride you need to descend into the dirty depths of the lower slopes, and indeed cross to Wychbury

It’s unlikely to be one of the conservators, the elected or co opted group who have responsibility for the hills, but one of the wardens employed by the conservators. Generally speaking, if you are reasonable about where you go and are polite, I have found them very approachable and friendly. Except for a youngish woman who is a part time warden who does like to be a bit more officious and is usually encountered in the British camp car park area at the weekend.
Edit: even then if you keep smiling and are polite, she’ll eventually wander off and you can move on.

The snow gate keeper in the NW Alps lodge has informed me the winter snows are set to arrive this weekend, so all upper trails of the NW Alps will out of reach with the chairlifts and gates closed now til late spring. HTH. 😉

Lickey Hills seemed ok tonight – still got my rocket rons on 😀

The verdict:
Malverns were a lot of fun but wet and windy was an understatement!

Single speed good, Lungs bad!

Look forward to riding there again in slightly better conditions.

Expect a “talk” from one of the conservators, I always seem to get one when I ride there

Have yet to have that talk in 10 years of riding, one of the lucky ones?

But yeah it’s not too bad up here ever, you can get wet but no so muddy. Today was freaking wet!

I was thinking of you this morning cj, looking up to the hills in the low rain clouds 🙂

I got back to some decorating instead.

Same here ! I had put kit out to go ride this morning. There is something on the Malverns I’ve not done before and thought about a look.
That said saving riding til tomorrow. Lazy start today, big breakfast, few hours in the garage tidying up and fettling me bike.

I did a couple of hours around the lickeys until my waterproof socks needed emptying. Of course within 20 mins of getting home the sun came out & it hasn’t rained since

Haha….yeah the clouds were that low that I couldn’t see the hills until I was on them.

Think i brought quite a bit of the hills back with me in my socks and shoes…..Mrs CJR not impressed!

Still had a good few moments to stop and enjoy the views…stunning riding for sure. Just next time i’ll either bring gears or at least a 32:20 😆

Thanks for all of the advice guys. I’ll definitely be heading back over there soonish so if anyone fancies a ride and can do some guiding i’d be up for it.

Cheers

Chris

Very glad you had a good time!