Ive had enough of London & the SE - its sh1te for biking & cr@p for enjoying the Great Outdoors. The flip side is if its happening, its happening in London (not saying anywhere else doesnt have its own hip scene but our nations Capital does have a certain pizazz other places dont). I like the buzz of a city but would love to be able to access fresh air a little more easily but still not end up living with a bunch or rednex..Where on God's luvverrrllyy planet should I go? Where would you go?
Edinburgh. Nowt like it - itsw a capital city so has that buzz. Not as friendly ans wegiestan tho. Easy access by bike to some offroading. an hours drive takes you to more MTBing than you can shake a stick at, a couple of hours drive and you are right in the mountains
Bristol. You have the local trails over in Ashton court, Leigh woods etc.. then the Mendips, Cotswolds, Qunatocks, Exmoor, South Wales, Mid Wales all within a two hour drive.
Loads going on music wise and lots of brilliant restaurants. If you need to visit mates in the SE it isn't that far away.
Manchester is good for city stuff, easy access to the outdoors (Peaks, Lakes, North Wales, Calderdale) and central location for access to lots of places - Dartmoor is a 4hr drive, Glentress is the same.
What's all this 4hr drive nonsense. I'm 10 min to the middle of Sheffield on the hack bike in one direction, 20 min in the car to the Peak.
wegiestan = what???
Leeds is where its at, a compact city centre with masses of bars restaurants etc, and woodland trails 5 minutes from the city centre, plus theres the dales and north york moors, but its the local woodland trails within the city that are best.
Swindon
within 20 mins on a mtb from town centre you are on top of the
Marlborough downs or in a car 1hour to Brecon.
Bristol is great too, but the Marlborough downs will take some beating in the South West!
Hmmm I think Scotland wld be too cold & oh way too dark in the Winter! Bristol sounds good..What about further afield? Somewhere a little warmer? With a few 8) 8) 8) perhaps?
[i]What's all this 4hr drive nonsense.[/i]
I'm simply saying that access to either end of the country is only 4-5hrs drive while there's plenty of riding close by. I like living fairly centrally.
San Francisco - Marin County is a bridge away.
The Lake District?
I usually cycle from my door to Grizedale forest, but theres lots of good riding all over the spot.
However, theres no 'hip' scenes to speak of (hipsters are all bellends anyway arent they?)
racing_ralph - Memberwegiestan = what???
Glasgow - sorry
Sheffield is next after Edinburgh. Not such a nice city but not bad, good riding from your doorstep. A long way to trailcentres tho
I used to live in manchester and I would say iyt is poor. The urban sprawl is huge so it is hard to cycle out of it to find countryside
Second Manchester.
Loads of trendy, hip places ( which I never visit but have heard about).
The lovely Cheshire country lanes for roadies.
The hills of Rivi and there's loads of off road stuff near us in Stockport, 11 miles away.
Just done an evening ride ( in the Peaks)with the girlies, the trails are dry and dusty-whoop, whoop.
T.J was that before the bomb?
Not the Lakes - great riding and scene but we don't want this sort of rubbish:
not end up living with a bunch or rednex
Glasgow - sorrySheffield is next after Edinburgh. Not such a nice city but not bad, good riding from your doorstep.[b] A long way to trailcentres tho[/b]
I used to live in manchester and I would say iyt is poor. The urban sprawl is huge so it is hard to cycle out of it to find countryside
You say that like it is a bad thing.
Box - chill dude..No insult intended ok?
TandemJeremy wrote
[i]Not as friendly ans [b]wegiestan[/b] tho.[/i]
um, what are you getting at with that exactly? feel free to ***k off. idiot.
Bunnyhop - before and after 🙂 I was there 10 yrs.
Manchester -The urban sprawl is just huge. I can cycle anywhere in Edinburgh within 40 mins and be in fields in 15 mins by cycle. real countryside with hills and stuff in less than an hour and I live right on the North of the city in Leith.
Repack - Edinburgh has nmore sunshine than almost anywhere in the UK. East coast and a microclimate. Ok so its often a cold easterly wind with it. As for darkness - its made up for by the summer. 22 hours of daylight. I have just put the house lights on now.
Proteus - just and Edinburgh / Glasgow rivalry joke that misfired - chill man! I lived in Glasgow as well and I think they are the friendliest folk around.
Bristol is a great place to ride, but the worst place to own a bike right now, if you want to keep hold of it.
Christchurch
riding like this http://www.mountainbikingnewzealand.co.nz/2009/05/01/last-of-the-summer-mountain-biking-craigieburn/
I used to live in Bradford and was surrounded by some great riding, I've been in the Chablais, Haute Savoie, 10 years now and prefer it to Bradford, winter and summer, socially etc I think Bradford had better curries though. [url= http://www.chaletgeorge.com/ ]Some pictures and stuff here[/url].
LOL at Swindon and Leeds
Dull middle of the road and nowhere near the action in terms of culture of cycling
Another vote for Bristol from a Londoner who made the move 6 years ago.
I didn't want to live in the sticks but also wanted to have the good things cities offer. Bristol has it all and is great for riding. Mtbing is a 15 min ride away and Wales, mendips, etc are all close for a change of scene. For the road, it's excellent. Out on country roads in 10 mins and you can mix and match flat or hilly to suit.
I can't recommend it enough.
I think you misjudged the tone of my post.
I'm not turning MrAngry, just that it sounds like you're best off where you are, unless you've a liking of moonshine, chewing bacca and squeeling pigs.
No misjudging proteus though!
I used to live in manchester and I would say iyt is poor. The urban sprawl is huge so it is hard to cycle out of it to find countryside
you really didn't bother looking around much did you?
Manchester of course
Christchurchriding like this http://www.mountainbikingnewzealand.co.nz/2009/05/01/last-of-the-summer-mountain-biking-craigieburn/
It's hardly a city though is it? And for 'culture', you have to like small NZ bands, artists etc. as nothing else ever comes there.
In England, Sheffield is the obvious place, although like all provincial cities, it doesn't have the same level of culture as London, but you have to compromise that to get the outdoorsy stuff.
Personally, I gave up compromising, and am now living in Derbyshire (Belper to be exact). Yes I have to travel for any decent culture, but that was the same when I lived in Nottingham, and here my nearest decent ride starts approximately 10 minutes on a bike away.
Joe
SWANSEA!!!!!!!!
it has a beach...good night life...and 3 brillient trail centres close by and kilvey hill in swansea...only downside is the welsh...
terrahawk - Member[i] I used to live in manchester and I would say iyt is poor. The urban sprawl is huge so it is hard to cycle out of it to find countryside[/i]
you really didn't bother looking around much did you?
Actually I did - I lived there ten years, cycling all that time. I lived in whalley range. there was not much decent riding without driving that I could find. From where I was only the south was at all accessible within riding distance. A bit in Cheshire and a bit around the Goyt (?) valley and that way. Nothing like what I have available here in Edinburgh.
From my house here in Leith I can go south, east or west all offroad out into the countryside within less than an hour cycling without going on roads. I couldn't do that from Whalley Range.
Charlie, are you over here in the uk now?
Scotland, has it all. I'm in Fife, just over the Forth from Edinburgh. There are miles and miles of trails from my doorstep, and many more still to find. An hour and I'm in Pitlochry, another 45 mins and Aviemore in the middle of the Cairngorms.
Dark nights in winter mean longer night rides. Flip side in summer means it stays light longer too.
Jacqui P has been to stay, come up, you'll love it.
MC
Come on, BOULDER, COLORADO cannot be beaten! why do you think the IMBA are based there, along with a load of pro race teams! I can ride 28 miles of singletrack from town alone! 300 days of sunshine and its a 'real' city to boot....
Nice one Box but prefer Single Malt! TJ really? Wow..But surely come the Winter its dark early or have I got it all back 2 front?
San Fran would be great but its a hell of a long way from the Motherland..Im thinking the Alps - maybe the Pyrenees? Barcelona? Or the Alps? Nr Geneva?
Do we have two Repacks on here? One is Charlie Kelly of Fat Tyre Flyer fame. Seems there is one in London too.
Kitz_Chris - MemberCome on, BOULDER, COLORADO cannot be beaten! why do you think the IMBA are based there, along with a load of pro race teams! I can ride 28 miles of singletrack from town alone! 300 days of sunshine and its a 'real' city to boot....
Wow! 28 whole miles of Singletrack.....
Anyroadup - forget Scotchland. It's rainy and cold. It gets dark early in the winter, there's no culture unless you like banging heads together after an old firm match. The roads are full of potholes. There's no bridleays. Life expectancy is crap and it's full of spongers living off the generosity of their southern neighbours.
So far I found Bristol great for local technical training trails, close to Wales and Road Riding is a roadies dream!
Also the people in Bristol are either really friendly or don't want to speak at all.
Luckily most of the riders are friendly.
Bristol?
I guess it has the advantage of being the best place in the UK to buy cheap, secondhand components from "a guy down the pub".
C'mon, anyone not voting for Sheffield doesn't know what they're missing 😆
I live on the South side, a 15min ride to the city centre, but only 5mins to Dark Peak trails.
Live round Hunters Bar area & you can be offroad from your doorstep & culture next to the trailhead. Sorted.
here!
The Highlands.
1. Has got actual mountains.
2. At midsummer it's still light enough to ride at midnight
3. In winter we get short days, but more chance of snow and ice, which is mega fun. Apparently, illuminating devices are now commonly available.
4. You will be in the spiritual centre of the country. More distilleries than you can poke a stick at.
5. Did I mention we have actual mountains and hardly anyone on them?
Otherwise go to Oz where it's warm 🙂
Scotland.
Don't move down here in the SW unless you can drive a tractor, milk a goat, indentify a cow(believe me some city people can't, i've seen it)
If you can do all those and do move to the SW take note...we move at a very slow pace, if you expect things to happen at a click of finger, it probably won't,
Do not bring city talk with you (pirate speech only)
When in villages, do speak to everyone you meet, if there's and old lady leaning on the front gate and you start a conversation, there's a good chance you be offered in for a cake and a nice cup of tea,
Don't bitch and moan about cows and cow poo (if you know what one looks like) on the roads, it's quite normal and it means milk will be available for you from the shops (milk comes from cows)
Do not bring your chelsea tractor with you, it will get dirty!
Do Not pick wild flowers..
and finally
Do enjoy Scotland
Sheffield.
FACT - I was born there
FACT - So was Peaty
FACT - So were the Arctic Monkeys
FACT - So were Reverand & The Makers
FACT - So were Milburn
FACT - It's the home of the Leadmill
FACT - It's a fantastic University City
FACT - The Peak District is next to it
FACT - It has Wharncliffe
FACT - It's 20 miles from my current hometown of Matlock
FACT - It's home to Sheffield United. We are Blades and we're going to Wembley. COME ON YOU RED AND WHITE WIIIIIIZZZZAAARRRDS!!!!!!
Wellington, NZ - sort of. OK its culture but not as you know it, good restaurants and lovely lovely lovely singletrack and lots of it. And hills, loads of those b astards as well. But no ice rink - we were discussing this last night, i think theres one in Dunedin. Anyhoo, nice place, good weather sometimes and realyl not very many people.
Or Edinburgh.
Come on, BOULDER, COLORADO cannot be beaten! why do you think the IMBA are based there, along with a load of pro race teams! I can ride 28 miles of singletrack from town alone! 300 days of sunshine and its a 'real' city to boot....
I've been to Boulder.
It's not a "real" city.
And my biking needs are likely to be different from "a load of pro race teams!".
But it's a nice enough wander up to the "natural ampitheatre" where U2 rocked out.
Wouldn't want to live there though.
No Ice rink in Welly Col?? Heck, we have even got one of those things in little old Christchurch!
Do you ? I didn't know that ! The only place we could decide there was an ice rink was Dunners although i vaguely thought there was one in central otago somewhere as well ? Anyway no we don't have one but we have the water whirler so there 😛
[i]FACT - So were the Arctic Monkeys[/i]
Hahahah good enough reason to avoid the place - a bunch of skinny spotty kids with gash songs about people that beat up hookers etc....
Yeh Col, Naseby now has an indoor curling rink I think... quite a recent thing!
Tekapo has an outdoor skating rink, and there are a number of other unofficial skating rinks around the South Island... if you know where to find them and the weather has been cold enough!
I have to say that if it is in the UK then Inverness would be a great place to live. Aviemore 20mins, Golspie 40mins, Glasgow / Edinburgh 2hrs and all the natural riding you could ever want. Also, looking at the number of trail centres (if that's your bag) then you've got Laggan, Golspie, Balblair, Learnie and that dodgy shore one down loch ness and another one on loch ness I can't remember all within 40mins. For culture, well I don't know that much about that apart from bands and loads of descent bands play inverness. In fact recently I was out in inverness and I was surprised how many of the pubs had really good live bands playing. Oh yeah and what we don't tell you lot down sauf is that it's one of the driest places in the country...
Sheffield's the other choice but that'd be for climbing and it's miles from any snow or sea.
If it's not in the UK then out of all the places I've been it'd have to be here in the Basque Country. Loads of culture with San Sebastion, Bilbao and Biarritz next door and there's loads of mountais rising straight from the surf like this:
[img] 
?v=0[/img]
I live by the beach and from my house I've got the choice of 2 mountains over 1000m's and half a dozen of about 600m's without getting in the car. You don't get the unbroken sun of the south but the climate's good for me. Oh yeah and the Basque girls are hot! (Have to say that!!)
I'll second the Basque country, not just for the mountain biking, the road riding is damn good too, loads of quiet back roads that go thru lovely villages with spectacular views. I moved here partly for the mountain biking but half my riding is on the road now.
What were the odds of two people in the basque country posting consecutively?
Hey Mark! We've still never met up for that ride! Did you get the granizo last night? Mental here, about the size of golf balls and they've broken some tiles on the roof and smashed the neighbours outside table!
Not that bad round here, only the size of marbles. Thinking of heading over to Hondarribia for a weekend soon, i´ll let you know.
Nice
End of thread...
Sheffield:
Sunshine - dry side of the pennines, it realy is true!
whats this 20 min to the peaks by car nonsense? Broomhill->Hunters Bar->Parks (cheeky tastik) -> Peaks Thats 20 minutes ridning form the city center!
Culture- more live music than you could shake a stick at! Theater, etc etc etc
Bolehills, indoor dream and a propper skate park for the winter.
Miles from trail centers? Yup, an they'r miles from the good riding!
Steve and Tracey both come from that neck of the woods.
Very green city, parks everywhere, lots of properly old trees in the streets, not just token saplings in pedestrianised areas.
If i could find a job there there is nowhere i'd rather live!
Has anybody mentioned Calderdale yet?
Surely one of the finest areas in the country.....
innsbruck, salzburg, bregenz on lake constance.
prehaps not the biggest cities in the world but nestled between big hills, or mountains if you will, and generally very pretty. FM4 radio is top notch and a very good reason for living in austria (half german, half english and proper tunes - not like normal germanic radio). big hearty food. snow in winter, 35 degrees in summer.
proper transport links. buses run on time and are scheduled to meet up with arriving trains.
clean and open countryside.
i want to move back to bregenz.
Another vote for Bristol - I live near the middle of the city, but can be out on great trails in a 15 min ride. Buy a decent lock though!
BFITH - Member
Has anybody mentioned Calderdale yet?
Surely one of the finest areas in the country.....
Agreed - its good riding, but the locals do tend to point at planes, and wave at tractors.
Everything TheArtistFormerlyKnownAsSTR says about Sheff is true, apart from Milburn and The Blunts, who are both equally embarrasing.
Basque country looks good - I remember finishing a trip across the Pyrenees there & thinking what a cool place..I also remember the cider, just... 😕