Hi There
Matt here from Singletrack - I was just wondering how many of you do the above? Or a combo of both? - Do you live in a city centre , or the flats of Lincolnshire but still have great riding that you've made or found ? Is there a good scene ? Do you mix up Singletrack with a session at the skatepark ? Have you built your own shore?
I'd love to hear from you - you can either reply here or mail me ;]
Cheers
Matt
Kinda related, I remember a few years ago starting a thread about urban Singletrack .... You know the sneaky few metres you use on waste land/between housing estates/trading estates. Was pre hack though
I put slicks on my inbred for riding in cities (Calgary, London)
makes travelling the same distances more fun if you can go down steps, on/off curbs etc. Theres a lot of stupid stuff to do in london if you put your mind to it
Rather that than a boris bike
some fun stuff under spaghetti junction in brum along the tow paths etc... thats probably more 'ghetto' than 'urban' though.
Haven't ridden it in a couple of years though.
We've built our own shore(s) a couple of times but it got ripped down.
Got a small patch of industrial wasteland that we have to make do with for "freeride".
spent all day yesterday shredding round town on the mtb and bmx riding anything i could really....bit of skate park...tescos stair manual to looks of horror at 38 year old man on a bmx descending their stairs. Good day was had. It all counts in my book, riding is riding.
Aaaahhh, memories of yooof.
I used to do a lot of urban biking in both Bracknell and Milton Keynes. It was a great way of keeping biking over the winter without needing to wash the bike.
MK has some decent runs down various steps and drops off walls.
I have also built a skinny in the back garden once - just to practice norf shore balancing. And I also made a couple of wooden ramps that we used to take to Tescos car park and practice jumping.
I go on the basis that bike skills can be learnt and honed anywhere - not just on the trail. And lazy night rides around city centres can be great fun.
I do like to look out the urban single track and have found a fair bit around edinburgh
Maybe ten years ago. Curiously I don't really see anyone in York anymore. Just the two little BMX parks really. I see the odd hardcore bike around on the road but not in the places we used to ride. I always wonder what they get upto.
Our Roman walls have been here thousands of years and should remain a lot longer. There's a few stretches ranging from 5-11ft at the section around Victoria Bar where you test your bottle:
[url= 
]transitions from the Bar Walls[/url]
ps. the entranceways to the walkways say "no dogs" nothing about bikes 🙂
Many other places to drop off round the Bar walls. Some are hidden, some are highly exposed in main trunk areas onto ornamental grass we couldn't afford the criminal damage records for.
If you want to bring a load of loonies up for a photo shoot, I'll come watch. We've even had BMX racers go off the walls round here for the lulz and I remember a drunken Boxing Day ride once where I completely squared a wheel on a hardtails. If I had a proper fork and a 3pce crankset I'd consider doing it again one day before I die.
We have a staircase coming off the Millenium Bridge here (built like a bicycle wheel, 'spokes' and all) but it's wooden and slows you down too much and has been known to break a few frames.
Get in touch with the http://www.urbanextremistuk.co.uk/ gang - they do all sorts.
have ridden urban areas all my life. I find it weird any bike rider wouldn't.
Often try to liven up the commute home by lengthening it and squeezing in whatever short bits of dirt I can. Odd little bit of properly urban stuff too.
slainte 😀 rob
Dr s****
Mk lad here too and it's pretty good if you know where to ride, the city centres great for a bmx or trialsy mountain bike. We just need a mahoosive skate park now and were there.
gw, same here. i remmeber the old stw london street rides etc...
Living in Lincolnshire and liking mountain biking means searching out the best riding, perhaps more than most counties. I ride with a local group (LAMB - Louth area mountain bikers) who over the years have put some great farm track/green lane trails together, and with careful planning we can usually climb/descend 500m in a 3 hour ride. Nothing too technical though. To get around this, in between trips to Wales, Scotland etc, we've been building a little skills type area/ mini trail, outside of a half acre wild flower meadow. There is a "rockery", North shore section, table top and a see-saw, and soon to be finished berm/switchback/skinny section called "hissing sid". We have tried to make 3 different ways around each corner to maximize what can be done. Its small but lets us keep on top of the skills needed when riding everywhere else!
i've been on a couple of stw forum london rides that were all about concrete, steps, ramps and drops. excellent fun, including one comedic incident in a slippery playground...
Used to have a little play in London on midsummers night with a mate
[img] https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-PMDmPdIdmMQ/T3qxFVSK8qI/AAAAAAAABNg/IY0NQzyseCA/s400/IMG_8931.JPG [/img][img] https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oKnt84GkRs8/TgjnxpbcjRI/AAAAAAAAABg/v-OaYDW7rFg/s400/IMG_8925.JP G" target="_blank">
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-PMDmPdIdmMQ/T3qxFVSK8qI/AAAAAAAABNg/IY0NQzyseCA/s400/IMG_8931.JPG [/img][img] https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oKnt84GkRs8/TgjnxpbcjRI/AAAAAAAAABg/v-OaYDW7rFg/s400/IMG_8925.JP G"/> [/img]
St Ives in Cornwall is brilliant, loads of steeps, steps and drops and getting chased round the wheelchair access to the Tate by security guards.
Luxembourg is quite good for that. There's single and doubletrack surrounding the centre but some paved "singletrack" (some fun little switchback-y footpaths, some cobbled, lots of concrete as there's a lot of new build areas) too so rides to and from the natural stuff are more fun. Even the stuff around the city winds around the motorway bridges and more urban areas so there's a real counterpoint of man-made with the trails.
Used to do a bit of riding round Edinburgh and now I'm in Midlothian there's often a bit of urban riding done to link up the woods.
We go sometimes on Sunday morning (as it's too busy otherwise) into Edinburgh to ride stairs and steps and back to Arthur's Seat for some singletrack stuff there. Then usually back home to Musselburgh via the steps into Duddingston...
Yessssa!
Missed the last train from waterloo 1 night after some drinks and had my trusty old stumpy ht, only took a nod in direction of the esculator and I was on it!
London is littered with all sorts of cool things. Check out Wandsworth roundabout.
Earlsfields speed bumps. Richmond park at night with no lights.
Hampstead heath.
If only dropper seat posts were around back then.
Now I live in surrey hills... with kids...
Big Ad.
[s]post 23 glitch[/s]
well that didnt work.
there's supposed to be a post between this one and BigAd's one.
Wher'd it go?
It was Spam
Not at the minute but love street bmxing in cities/towns. It's all about the long fast feeble grinds on low ledges 😀
I ride with an group that does 'normal XC' night rides every week. We do 'Alleying' urban rides several times each year. The format of Alleying is a well organised and pre-planned 20-30 mile urban night ride, at tempo, using alleys, service roads, car parks, precincts, wasteland, subways, parks, church yards, multi-storey car parks, etc. The routes are circular, much like XC rides, but without any loose surfaces. Optimum conditions are a dry and warm night, starting at twilight. Roads are avoided, and only used where absolutely necessary to link 'trails'. It's fast and furious riding, with constant hard accelerating and braking. Your wits definitely need to be about you, otherwise surface changes, kerbs, bollards and other street furniture could spell disaster. We work blocks of flats and supermarket foyers into the mix - which is all very naughty! Steps, banks, drops and any other fun features are included where possible as 'bottle tests' for the following group. 6-10 evenly matched riders is best to maintain a good speed and uninterrupted flow. The weapon of choice is a rigid steel singlespeed mtb, with slick tyres and a 55" gear. Intimate local knowledge is vital, and the leader uses this to plan the route carefully in advance. Our area is blessed with miles of alleys around housing estates, and plenty of rear service roads behind terraces of houses. There are also plenty of pedestrian precincts and other hard surfaced thoroughfares that are not roads. Putting together a decent 30 mile route is no problem. We've developed an entire faux lore and tradition of Alleying in the five years since we started it. The language of alleying is French (for the leader's commands and warnings), and pseudo rules and conventions are constantly hinted at to bemuse newcomers and amuse regulars - a bit like the 'Mornington Crescent' game in Radio 4's 'I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'. Alleying is the best fun you'll ever have on two wheels and would make a great mag article. PM me if you want to visit and experience the thrill.
davepalk
Welcome to the forum.
Honestly - its great to see such enthusiasm! I am going to be very very cheeky (but positive I hope) - you (and others) may hate me for this- I'm going to repost your post with some paragraphs that us non LeMonde readers will find easier - apologies. When I post in your neck of the woods pleas feel free to improve a 80%+ post into an excellent post (or slap me in the face!)
So:
I ride with an group that does 'normal XC' night rides every week. We do 'Alleying' urban rides several times each year.
The format of Alleying is a well organised and pre-planned 20-30 mile urban night ride, at tempo, using alleys, service roads, car parks, precincts, wasteland, subways, parks, church yards, multi-storey car parks, etc.
The routes are circular, much like XC rides, but without any loose surfaces. Optimum conditions are a dry and warm night, starting at twilight.
Roads are avoided, and only used where absolutely necessary to link 'trails'. It's fast and furious riding, with constant hard accelerating and braking. Your wits definitely need to be about you, otherwise surface changes, kerbs, bollards and other street furniture could spell disaster.
We work blocks of flats and supermarket foyers into the mix - which is all very naughty!
Steps, banks, drops and any other fun features are included where possible as 'bottle tests' for the following group.
6-10 evenly matched riders is best to maintain a good speed and uninterrupted flow. The weapon of choice is a rigid steel singlespeed mtb, with slick tyres and a 55" gear.
Intimate local knowledge is vital, and the leader uses this to plan the route carefully in advance. Our area is blessed with miles of alleys around housing estates, and plenty of rear service roads behind terraces of houses.
There are also plenty of pedestrian precincts and other hard surfaced thoroughfares that are not roads. Putting together a decent 30 mile route is no problem. We've developed an entire faux lore and tradition of Alleying in the five years since we started it.
The language of alleying is French (for the leader's commands and warnings), and pseudo rules and conventions are constantly hinted at to bemuse newcomers and amuse regulars - a bit like the 'Mornington Crescent' game in Radio 4's 'I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue'.
Alleying is the best fun you'll ever have on two wheels and would make a great mag article. PM me if you want to visit and experience the thrill.
New here. Sorry.
I got carried away, and was writing at the frantic pace of an Alleying ride!
You're right. It's better like that, with some spaces. Thanks for improving it.
really?
The guys post was possibly the most interesting I've read on here in the last couple of years and you criticise him for not splitting each sentence into a new paragraph?
WTF's that all about?
Half the posts on here these days are sent from phones and littered with poor spelling, punctuation and grammar.. are you going to spend the rest of the night making them 100% too?
No Hate BTW, more pity :/
Nooooo - dont apologise - god!
One of us will roll up in France and put "les paragraphs" where they shouldn't ever be!
It's just more familiar in English divided into thought sized chunks - French newspapers are the opposite - as are lots of other languages.
Reading it without paragraphs gave me eye-strain and a headache.
Sounds like a perfect excuse for another niche bike, should fit in well here then..
Thanks so much for all of that ;]
Some of you may be (mis)quoted in the next issue!
We had a great scene in edinburgh for a while. (probably still do, I'm just not a part of it...).
Spent ages seeking out flights of stairs to batter down or occasionally gap. The best were Waterstone Close leading to the bottom of Cockburn St. nice and wide and fairly shallow, you could loft off the top set, land midway down, then just hold on for dear life for the next two sets. Impressed the drunks at the bottom no end.
There is also an excellent and fairly dramatic 6'ish stair gap at dynamic earth, slightly skitey run in but nice long run out. Kudos to the out of puff security guard from the hotel nearby who had been sent by his manager to approach the three big lads in body armour and full face helmets to apologetically ask us to leave.
Our favourite though was the Waverley train station flower bed gap. You had to climb up onto the roof of the shopping centre, get in a few swift pedal strokes, then gap the pavement landing on the flower bed on the other side. Dead easy but lots of fun.
Was brilliant when you could leave your flat at 10pm and return at midnight or later having spent two or three hours ragging about the city. 8)
We regularly mix up our normal woods riding with our 'Urban Run' which uses paths, rivers bank etc to link up various small corpses and wooded areas around town (Clevedon - North Somerset). None of these are worth riding by themselves and often have only 1 fun descent, but add them all together and we can do a great 1 1/2 blast round town. Its amazing how many short, sweet sections of singletrack you can find running along side roads that I'm sure most people don't even notice are there. Through in a few sets of steps, some very tight & twisty footpaths (I know, I know!) and even a north shore style narrow wall that separates 2 parts of an outdoor boating/swimming lake with 6ft deep sea water on either side of a foot wide, rutted and worn wall to focus the mind, and its great fun and a little different to the normal blast through the woods.
Lived in London for four years, but regularly used to ride 'urban offroad'... just used a pair of Schwalbe marathon tyres for grip and puncture resistance!
Sounds like a perfect excuse for another niche bike
No need, bmxes are already the perfect bike for this kind of riding. Although they are singlespeed, rigid, steel and don't have 26" wheels so there's that..
BMXs are only good if you are not a lanky person. I bought one for use on the loal skate park, but it was pretty much impossible to get on with (i'm 6'5"). I should have bought something like an Identity Dr. Jekyll or a cheap Saracen jump bike instead.
Back to London though. I used to love trying to beat people between stations when on my bike. You get to see so much more of the capital that way and it's a lot more fun, even if the dispatch riders swear at you for stopping at red lights. Kings Cross to Victoria is awesome.
I believe Chris Doyle is over 6ft and he does pretty well on a bmx!
Or has shore in their back garden?
IIRC (hazily), [i]MBUK[/i] did a feature on this. Something about improving your skills in your own back garden - & illustrated by Zak Brant Tempest riding over some ladders on a re-sprayed Fat Chance? 😉
There's a local urban loop I do almost every week - great in the winter when its muddy everywhere...
[img]
[img]
[img] http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3706151820737&set=a.3706145220572.2167524.1483785165&type=3 [/img]
Rivierabike do a cracking descent to a lunch stop.
The trail ends, a mile of road, then these stunning Italian alleys. Steep steps covered by tunnel archways and weaving and dropping between houses. All in beautiful golden brick that looked 700 years old.
Pretty sweet.
[img] 
[/img]
Pigna (?), Italy.
And yes - that it the 'trail', the black hole ahead down & right 😀
urban routes rule. esp. in the winter in the dark. Nothing quite like a singletrack buzz in solitude and darkness followed in short succession by passing the busy chippy, kebab shops and folk about the town 🙂
It has been known for a group of 15 or so to hit the car parks, parks, alleys, steps, paddling pools, streams, bridges and underpasses of Basingstoke. With some single track thrown in for good measure.
It makes a change from the regular single track.
And yes - we do occasionally get asked to move on!
i have a few urban routes i follow from work to home. I'm always looking for new stuff to ride in burnley that will improve my technique on the trails. as my ride home tends to be my training run. so far i ride steep canal tow paths, steps, sloping subways. you are only limited by your own imagination with urban riding.
We do a nice mix of urban and singletrack here in Wellington, i have been meaning to document one of them. We have a loop we do which takes in the delights of some splendid urban features and runs with lush singletrack in the cities hills. I'll get onto it next time we head that way.
Living in the Yorkshire Dales I only have 2 steps out of the garden, drop off the kerb then short Tarmac dash to the field which leads on to a bridleway! Followed by a track up through the woods up on to moor tops.
However back in the day I stayed with some mates at Liverpool in their Uni days, home made shore on the flat roof followed by 9 flights of stairs to the street- more frantic than an urban loop but still good fun!
I remember there being a load of stair and alley (with bits of woodland) all over durham. I quite liked the stairs all over the park behind the station, then dropping from the station to the riverside.
Cheeky stuff through between the uni resisdence buildings was good too.
North Shore in the back garden?
Field at the back count?
Got a 5-ish metre drop mini 'bike park' of sorts with a load of lines to choose which seem to be always evolving. Berms, wallride, drops, floor-level skinnies, ladder drops, drops, kickers, hips, gaps, rock slabs and roll downs, all quite small scale as originally built (with digger help) around XC/trail bikes. Seems to gettign bigger as bikes have got bigger
Got pics somewhere?
no need for "urban mountain biking" where I live in NW London??
this is 10 minutes from my house...
[img] 
[/img]
[img] 
[/img]
😯BikeStyle_Billy - Member
...link up various small corpses...
Used to have a few downhill routes that were pretty much tarmac through the colleges of Durham University. Mary's was a favourite. Made more fun by the fact you had to be fast and not crash as you didn't want to be caught. Neil of SSC showed me the way...
Now live in Newcastle and there's plenty of urban riding using the hill to the quayside offers plenty of stairs and drops. Good for extending the commute, a quick blast on an evening or staying clean in winter while still doing a bit of riding.
Some of our club rides occasionally stay urban but steep stairs aren't all that friendly to beginners and if you miss them out and the drops then it isn't as exciting.
My favourite at the minute is the high level walkway around the library and the spiral staircase outside the Liang gallery
Our weekday club rides are mostly joining up the local woods with urban stuff thrown in
A lot of the rides are geared around endi g up in the city centre for a play on the cathedral/uni steps, bridges and subways
If you can avoid the chavs and drunks your doing well and the diners in Nandos get a good show when someone bins it at the bottoms of the stairs 8)
"Mary's was a favourite. Made more fun by the fact you had to be fast and not crash as you didn't want to be caught"
I think every other club ride when I was there must have started through marys without a hitch, though as you say we didnt hang about ..
It was Josephone Butlers Mound (down the side) we got chased off for, and dropping off the garden borders in Hild Bede we got told to move on
Ahhh marys steps..... (misty reminiscence)
I loved the drop route down through hilde bede, was sweet. the park up by the station was pretty epic in terms of urban drops.
James, get some piccies up of your field as it looks now, im interested to see progress?
I'm allways pretty stoked to ride the more urban stuff here in Whistler. Its just awesome nailing a line, especially at 3am when the place is really deserted. You can't beat the trails though.
Alright then nolongertitusrider
not shore in back garden, but in a field to the back
Cant find all I thought there were but a few:
[img] 
[/img]
[img] 
[/img]
[img] 
[/img]
Had a great ride around Bromsgrove last week
Alley ways, steps and singletrack
Glad i cut bars down on SS 29er from 790 to 750 was a bit tight.
8)
When I used to live in the Midlands there was plenty of urban riding from:
toxic waste tips with a sulpherous smell between the M54 and the canal was full of doubles drops and chutes
Dudley Castle
Wolverhampton 21 locks is a great canal ride - not at all flat - same goes for bits around Dudley/Brierly Hill
canal network into Brum - and the bit round Spagehtti junction is interesting
darting through shopping centres and riding escalators being chased by security guards is fun
subway steps assaults, alleyways, ramps and drop offs are always good on the commute
Living up north now so have real countryside and the need to hit the concrete and towpath is less pressing. But a quick pedal up to Lancaster Castle and down the steps or down the steep field and jumps is a good test route for any bike fettling for me.
I'm tempted by this : http://www.lyonfreevtt.com/course-vtt-lyon/
as I've some friends who live nearby. Maybe not the full Enduro version though.
Another shout for Edinburghs facilities, particularly Carlton Hill down to London Rd. via whatever the long steps. Ooh and actually, Castle Hill to the gardens orArthur's Seat to the pond is good for summer-dawn-pre-tourist shenanigans.
I think it counts as urban cause it's in the middle of the city innit. All the Closes & Wynds off the Royal Mile to the Cowgate are also excellent but must be done pre-tourists-time. I don't expect miracles but stop photographing my fail.
Sorry, I'm a bit late to the party 😛
I've had some fun on a bike on campus at uni, either to liven up the ride to lectures or if I didn't fancy riding too far to get a fun ride!
[img] 
[/img]
[img] 
[/img]
[url= http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8010/7139767543_47d3ef64d7_o.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/58162507@N07/7139767543/ ]Urban Trails[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/58162507@N07/ ]SGMTB[/url], on Flickr
Loads of picture and tails if you want them.
Some cheeky trails included 😉
That's a great post by davepalk back there, thank you. Good thread.
In fact, its one that inspired me to grab my hardtail and head out into town yesterday evening. Was only riding for just under an hour, but what a revelation. For some reason, I found there was a more frenzied feel to my riding, as I tried to make the absolute most of anything fun I found.
I did find some fun too - a cheeky piece of slightly downhill concrete singletrack with some flow, loads of steps off the sea wall, short but sweet singletrack through the park, drops, as well as the parts I'd already spotted, like the mini-pump track.
I live in a small, flat coastal town but I only covered about 20% of it. The two quotes that stick in my mind from this thread are the ones about knowing your area intimitely and your only limit being your imagination. I love that, and the idea of applying them to my town.
Its not my local woods, of course, but there's a different kind of riding available that potentially provides just as much of a buzz imo. Especially when its pouring down and I need a fix.
Off out again as soon as it stops raining. 🙂
I'm in York and if I ride to work on the hardtail I string together bits and pieces of trails and stuff to make it a bit more interesting. I keep meaning to work out exactly how much of it is strictly legal and how much a touch cheeky for my own interest. But there's a nice bit of singletrack going into the city from the minnellium bridge which is good fun of a morning.
I did once ride down a set of stairs which go over the freight line which were a touch steeper than I anticipated. 😕