Classic Ride 145 – Manx Power

I’ve not been for the enduro, but went to do a rather fabulous triathlon (before Covid fhecked things for 2+ years).
116 miles on the road bike with 10,000 ft of climbing. The route was great, seeing the whole island, inc the Mountain Road, the coast road closed to cars between Douglas and Port Sodderick. Tholt y Will Glen, and who can’t like riding through a place called Kronk-y-Voddy.
(Oh and a cheeky off road run after that from the Point of Ayre, along the shingle beach, up North Barrule and more). (The force 7 gale on the race day meant the swim was binned, and did spice up the ride a bit more too).

What can I say… except What a fabulous place. Several stunning beaches and bays to swim at. Soft and sandy beach at Laxey, gorgeous glens, and the driving Waaaaaaaaay more considerate than in England.

We’ll be back with more time and more bikes next year.

The ice cream at Laxey sea front was lovely too 😍

You should have tried to contact some of the locals , there’s always people out on any day of the week who could have shown you around . They may well have also advised you that you are not alowed to ride up South Barrule so it was not responsible journalism to put that picture in the magazine .

I went last year to the Isle of Man and really enjoyed the place, the people, the beer and the cycling, we took this book

Mountain Biking on the Isle of Man

and this large scale map

Outdoor Leisure Map South – Isle of Man

there’s a north sheet as well as a south sheet, the one I bought had the whole island on the one reversible map, there’s also the excellent Harvey map

https://dash4it.co.uk/isle-of-man-superwalker..html

Plenty of great riding to be had 👍

cheers,

Keith

fantastic @chapelbay I’ll look forward to it 👍

all the best,

Keith

Bump

What a terrible article.

90% of it is about a poorly led ride by someone who clearly didn’t plan a suitable route or doesn’t know the trails – clearly not a suitable route to be linked to one of Komoot sponsored articles….

The route looks to be about 70% tarmac and appears to link together the closest thing that the Island has to trail centres.

Would you write a piece like this linked 3 of the 7 Stanes together on the roads??

Although i have never competed in the Manx Enduro, i understand from multiple riding pals that its one of the best and most challenging in the UK

The IOM has some incredible riding. As with anywhere in the world, the best riding is found by using some good local knowledge – surely if the route is rubbish, you would have focused on the Manx Enduro instead??

I thought pretty much this when I read the article. I get that Komoot pay Singletrack – and that helps keep the mag profitable, and hence exist – to promote their platform with an article linked to a route, but this doesn’t reflect well on either.

I’m sure the author of the guidebook above rode some routes that aren’t worth repeating, but presumably he didn’t put them in the book, and went and found some others!