If I’m right in the city centre, how hard is it to get out and ride? I’m assuming road is my best option?

You’re in Birmingham? UK? Wow!

You’re so close I could probably see you from here. Will you be wearing the outfit?

Not now you said that, no.

Canals FTW.

Fasands of em’

If your in the city centre then you can head out via the canals to Sandwell Valley where there’s a small set of trails, canals will also get you most of the way to the Lickey Hills/Clent though the train might be the quicker option.

Most of the towpaths are in pretty good condition as they have been covered in tarmac and gritted.

molgrips – Member

Not now you said that, no.

Relax, Get yourself to the cinema or something, take the night off.
😉

Anything worth doing in Clent?

Other option is to stay near the airport or maybe Solihull else and road ride from there.

Train to Cannock is about 50 minutes from New Street…

Birmingham, Gods own country and the finest city in the land…

Off road, in one direction you have Lickey, Clent, Kinver and a bit further, Wyre Forest. Further still in Malvern. All have a good chunk of interesting stuff though a guide is useful to get the best from them.
The other direction gives you Sutton Park and Cannock. You can also get into the peak District within an hour.
Canals are plentiful too, you can spend days exploring them, the Stourport Ring is a good starter.
You can do all of the above with a combination of trains and road work though obviously a car will be helpful too.

On the road you have plenty of choice again. I tend to head towards Worcestershire as it’s the area I know but there is also interesting stuff north into Stafforshire or east into Warwickshire.

Road from the door I’d head out through harborne and down through Barnet green out towards alvechurch, back in through cotteridge when you’ve had enough. Easy loop between 30 and 100k and once your out of the centre it’s quite pleasant. My other favourite is up to Cannock and around and down again gives around a 90k ride but you have to ride a bit further on busy roads to get out.

For a good winter mtb loop train drive or ride out to clent hills, there’s a couple of safe parking areas and fairly weatherproof routes. Google clent hills winter circuit or I can post a gpx? Look out for noshing off in the woods and you’ll surprise a few people in parked cars with your lights….

Canals link really well, you can shoot up to the Sandwell valley trails easily from the centre, and there’s a cracking cheeky descent on the way back. Just be careful on the canals this time of year there’s been a few issues recentley with some of the more unsavoury inhabitants of Birmingham.

Sutton Park with the CX bike for the win!

You can also get into the peak District within an hour.

I’m only staying there during the week, I don’t want to travel far for an after work spin.

Quite (ish) roads out of the centre are useful to know about.

GPXes most welcome for road or off-road – email in profile ta 🙂 Not sure I fancy canal towpaths, I need to get a move on to train and that seems to be rather difficult on towpaths in my experience.

Jump on the cross city line from New Street to Redditch and alight at Barnt Green (~30mins) and you’re at the bottom end of the Lickey Hills. A fair bit of cheeky riding in the hills plus country trails and canals…

lickeys are 30 mins by train from New St, straight off the train and into the woods, there’s a few of us locals who can show you around & know the best cake stops pubs if its after work

Client for climbs, Sutton Park for all round XC funsies

Quite (ish) roads out of the centre are useful to know about.

Always a challenge that!

The side of Brum I know best involves a train to either Hagley/Stourbridge Junction or Barnt Green to really avoid the heavy stuff.

This isn’t a bad road route out of Brum, he route is here and forms a part of my commute so I know it well. Get to 5 Ways island (top of Broad Street, there’s no easy way of getting here sadly) and head down Calthorpe Road passed the Botanical Gardens, join Augustus Road then swing a left onto Gillhurst Road. Follow Ridgeacre Road, a bit of jiggling then join Spies Land and Manor Lane. This will spit you our at the bottom of Manor Way, a left at the bottle will get you into Romsley which is rather pleasant and will also open up the rest of Worcestershire. From there you can basically go and get lost, the south east has Clent, Chaddesley Corbet, and out to Worcester and Droitwich, the north east has lots of more hilly stuff towards Highley, Kinver and the eastern edge of Wolverhampton.

For road stuff I’d be more than happy to show you a few routes.

It might be best to get a train out when it’s busy, then ride all the way in given it’ll be later.

I’ll accept any offers of guiding, I think road might be best for me so I will drop you a line lunge.

Hm Solihull next week though, might be able to get some road biking in.

Avoid canals neat Aston. Cyclist getting attacked and pushed in 🙁

Just go for a pint instead.
For heavens sake man.

I wonder if I’d be better off staying in Solihull where I am now, and getting the train in. Just had a decent quiet ride on ok roads.. in the dark.. scenery might’ve been nice I couldn’t really tell.

Solihull is fine, nice town, not much to do in the evening but it is a little further out of the conurbation.

I guess it depends on what you want from your stay. When I stay away with work I tend to like a bit to do in the evenings, music venues, nice bars, that kind of thing so you’re not just stuck in your room every night, that’s why I’d suggest central Brum.

However, if riding is the priority then Solihull could work though I might be tempted to go even further out, Bromsgrove or Kidderminster and open up the Worcestershire country lanes a bit.

Yes riding will be the priority…I thought the 15 min train journey was decent, would not want much longer. The roads were nice and quiet, but to be fair it was 9pm..

Solihull is ok for road riding, I tend to go up to knowle, then head towards hockley via lapworth, earlswood lakes, red ditch, studley, back through Henley then Warwick then home. Not too hilly but some nice roads that way.

Get the train out to Droitwich or Worcester and give yourself a nice ride back.

I have nothing helpful to add to this discussion except to say that if you do this

Get the train out to Droitwich or Worcester and give yourself a nice ride back

,

make sure you poke your head into the Catholic church in Droitwich. Unless my memory deceives me, the mosaics in there, which cover every square inch of the place, are astounding. Like the church has been airlifted from Ravenna and dropped in the Midlands.

Did not know that and I pass it on the way to and from work every single day!

Thinking again, with riding the priority I would either stay near Dorrige which is 1 stop further up the line from Soliull to open up Warwickshire a bit or Droitwich/Kidderminster. It’ll add 15 mins to your journey home but the roads will be quieter, more picturesque and generally more pleasant to ride on.

I went through Dorrige, it seemed nice.

Problem is I have a limited choice of hotel. I’ll investigate it though ta.

Planned a nice looking 50k route according to some of the suggestions on here – just realised I forgot to bring my GPS. Shit.

Can someone local take me on a ride this week? 🙂

Your an hour or so from Cannock. Take the train to Rugeley & your 5-10 mins from the trails.
It’s a slop fest right now, (where isn’t), but if you do fancy off road, & we get a dry couple of days, it’s not a bad couple of hours riding.

Be careful if your out on the Canals though mate.
I accompanied my 10yr old in Nov, when he did a 25 mile charity canal ride, finishing in the centre of Brum. Light was fading fast, & we passed some pretty iffy places on the North side of the city. Then I had a flat. That was a quick tube swap, I can tell you.

How long are you there for ?

Happy to meet you off the train & drag you round Cannock for a few hours if your still around in a few weeks.

Road isn’t my thing though.

From Solihull you can get a good 50k route to Stratford and back on the road bike. I would recommend doing that when the evenings are a bit lighter – but that might be just me being over-cautious.

I’m probably heading over kinver after work on Wednesday night. I have heard its a mud bath but should be able to find a suitable route. At this time of year it’s a better option than clent, wyre forest etc.

Thanks for the offers of off-road but I’ve got the roadie with me. I will be here for a long time so some mtbing will certainly happen.

Where’s the closest sizeable road hill I can use for some hill rep training?

Have you got a definition of sizeable?
Here’s a few off the top of my head – Rose Hill in the Lickeys, Primrose Hill in Kings Norton, Weatheroak Hill in Weatheroak.
Russell Rd is one nearer to the city centre, a few hundred meters from the Edgebaston Cricket ground.

That Edgebaston one looks good for a short workout.

Also perhaps Bromsgrove Road south from Halesowen up towards Romsley.

Barr Beacon isn’t far away from the city, it’s on my way home in fact. Probably 25 mins from the city centre in traffic.

Rose hill is probably the easiest & longest, romsley & st kenelms pass at clent are also nice sustained climbs, the latter being the quietest, rose hill the busiest
In fact, halesowen-romsley-madeley heath-clent-halesowen would be a nice loop with two sizeable climbs