Do there need to be mountains? Flyup 417 in Gloucester has little in terms of elevation but seems to be doing pretty well.
I’ve said it before: I think Clyde Muirsheil needs some trails. The area south of population centres (Greenock) would, surely, be hugely welcome and big benefit to locals and ‘tourists’ alike.
Its got a lot of perfectly sized hills that are crying out for trails.
Definitely - I sometimes take a wee spin up to Windy Hill or Misty Law for an hour or so & every time it annoys me to ride back down the road (even if it is at warp speed), not necessarily proper trailcentre runs but something rideable off road at least...
Assuming we’re discussing mountain biking here, where are the mountains near Greater London?
You don't need mountains for mountain biking, silly!
All of which combined have less than 3 million people, so roughly a third of the population of Greater London on it’s own.
My original point stands.
Greater Manchester alone has a population of 2.8 million
I suppose the big question is who is going to play for all these special playgrounds for mtbs?
The EU! Oh wait. The Brexit windfall from leaving the EU! Oh wait... All the people holidaying in the UK after Corona virus...
I suppose the big question is who is going to play for all these special playgrounds for mtbs?
https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/placestoride
There's a £15 million legacy fund from the UCI World Championships which is still open. Needs match funding, so it's not exactly free money, but the idea that there's absolutely nothing out there for MTB is a bit misleading.
I’m always struck by how good a shortish Red/Blue loop from Ashridge monument could be, making good use of the elevation Tom’s hill gives, starting and finishing in the (excellent) Brownlow cafe, going down the side of the hill away from the popular walkers paths.
Good call.
I use to live in Bucks and there's loads of riding all along that ridge, from Dunstable thru to the M40. But putting something on the Monument-Albury slope would be good winch & plummet.
Assuming we’re discussing mountain biking here, where are the mountains near Greater London?
Which is more important for cycling, mountains, or people?
Scotland gets masses of investment as it ticks tourism boxes.
Swinley get's sod all investment as it's just enough to keep the hoards from spreading out into the SSSI's.
Back when Swinley first got official trails there was some daft stat floating around that it got more visitors in the opening week than Glentress gets in a year. but it doesn't tick a return o investment box for someone as you don't "visit" Swinley, you just live near it.
Same story in the Surrey Hills, absolutely heaving, but the development is just enough to try and contain it rather than meet any sort of demand.
All of which combined have less than 3 million people, so roughly a third of the population of Greater London on it’s own.
My original point stands.
You said
they’re really not ‘day trip’ destinations for a huge chunk of the UK population.
I'm just countering that they really are day trip destinations for a huge chunk of the UK population.
greater manchester = 2.8million
west midlands = 5.9 million
east midlands = 4.8 million
south yorkshire = 1.4 million
TOTAL = 14.9 million plus all the others who arent included in those numbers above , but who are still within an hours drive.
I suspect what you meant was that the peak is not really a day trip destination for people who dont live near it - which is obvious really .
The peak is crying out for some kind of trail centre or bike park , especially given that its in the middle of a vast chunk of the UK population and has the terrain to make a fantastic one, but it'll never happen because the walkers (and their lobby) wont allow it on 'their' land
I'm not sure crying out for a trail centre is the right thing...maybe crying out for some waymarked signage to help direct bikers around would be better.
I'm well aware that MTB has changed since the early days and a lot of people want the simplicity of a trail centre (do we run the risk of ghetto-ising mountain biking with more designated area?), plenty others like just jumping on a bike and following their noses, exploring the hills, countryside or not afraid to join a few areas of singletrack up with some road miles in between. For the former, they want more of those, for the latter, they don't really need anything else.
So depending on who is arguing the case with the people who make the decisions, it may work in favour of former or latter. And the most important starter would be to address the land access rules in England and Wales as they do seem rather out of date and not really helping.
Either way, some more signposting would probably go a long way for most people...and signage probably costs a lot less than building something specific.
Lots of old quarries in the Peak that could be re-purposed into a trail centre
It won't happen though due to Draconian NP planning and NIMBYs
I’m not sure crying out for a trail centre is the right thing…maybe crying out for some waymarked signage to help direct bikers around would be better.
I think where you live is important too. Some area have loads of good natural trails due to a combination of what row currently exist, local scene and topology.
Others really benefit from some form of trail center if they are lacking in the above.
This is without going into the different types of riding of more jumpy Vs explorey
Mortimer Forest, Ludlow (already got Hopton)
Edit - Wales blew it big time when they backed down on access changes (despite what's said - TPTB will make sure it never gets further, serious attention for a generation).
It doesn't have to be trail centers.
There are plenty of people whose idea of "Mountain Biking" is pottering along an easy path with a bit of scenery thrown in.
90% of people aren't looking for the next Golfie or BPW. More development of existing trail networks to turn them into scenic routes and loops might be all that's needed.
Something like the French do with VTT routes dotted all over the place
It doesn’t have to be trail centers.
Agreed.
90% of people aren’t looking for the next Golfie or BPW
Disagree, impossible to quantify for obvious reasons, but the vast majority of people I ride with aren't really particularly bothered about riding big loops, it's all about the downs. Bike Park Lowthers would do me, no need for uplift or lifts, as we'll all be on ebikes. 🙂
It doesn’t have to be trail centers.
There are plenty of people whose idea of “Mountain Biking” is pottering along an easy path with a bit of scenery thrown in.
90% of people aren’t looking for the next Golfie or BPW. More development of existing trail networks to turn them into scenic routes and loops might be all that’s needed.
Something like the French do with VTT routes dotted all over the place
As referenced above, this is part of the idea around an Aviemore/Glenmore hub. There is a good network of routes, it's just that most tourists (and uninformed locals) stick to the same few honeypots. Letting folk get a better idea of what it's like to get further afield might spur more onto longer rides too.
Down south, New Forest. Might have an issue with the locals though
Glentrool is perhaps a good example of a VTT route. Mind you not everywhere has Galloway forest as a backdrop
The peak is crying out for some kind of trail centre or bike park , especially given that its in the middle of a vast chunk of the UK population and has the terrain to make a fantastic one, but it’ll never happen because the walkers (and their lobby) wont allow it on ‘their’ land
I was going to write this yesterday and then thought it'd get a load of responses saying that the Peak District is stuffed with trails, ride those.
Well it is and isn't - there are some very well known trails (The Beast, Cavedale, Jacob's Ladder etc) but there's actually a rather sparse "network" and the trails that do exist are mostly wide rock/rubble-strewn trails, many with lots of gates.
It's either one end of the scale (rocky, rubbly, fast, technical) or the other (flat, smooth, old railway line), there's very little in between and certainly extremely limited flowing singletrack!
Might also address some of the parking issues in Hope, Edale and Hayfield which are the three Peaks locations that everyone seems to head towards.
