Hi, I am a mountain biker based in Oxford and would really like to find some new places apart from boars hill and occasionally going to croft trail in Swindon. I have heard that there are many trails on the Ridgeway and in the Chilterns but I haven't found any routes online so I would have no idea where to go. As I'm 15 its a lot easier if the routes are possible to get to by train as of course, I can't drive. Also if there are any groups that I could tag along with a friend that would be great.
Hello.
There's lots of good cross country riding in and around the Cotswolds, which is kind of local to you. Not sure if it's what you're after.
I'm not sure on the train route options for getting amongst it from Oxford, but I'm sure there are some routes possible.
Have a look at this for a bit of a start.
https://m.pinkbike.com/u/bubbleless/blog/cotswold-mountain-biking-routes.html
Good luck finding something and happy riding 👊
I grew up around Wantage, so know/knew the area well. There's miles of xc stuff in the Chilterns and around the Ridgeway/Downs. Bear in mind that both areas get VERY claggy during the winter.
Use Strava to look for obvious routes and trails.
Local shops will normally have group rides that will welcome new riders. I cut my MTB teeth as a 14/15 yr old on shop rides. MTBers tend to be a friendly bunch.
We used to ride quite a lot over Shotover way going towards Wheatley. Not sure what's up there now, but 20 years ago there was plenty of hidden singletrack and some jumpy stuff.
Is the FoD doable by train? When we could drive we used to go riding there every month or so.
The chilterns is hardly a mecca for technical riding, but have a look for stuff like the badlands sportive and Wildwood sportive, they're 75% off road and at 45-50miles make for a good long day out. They miss some of the 'good' stuff by being CX biassed but once you know the area you can start exploring. Both routes are probably within a £5 train journey of Oxford.
My advice having grown up in the Midlands nowhere near any noteworthy riding would be:
1) Enjoy what's local, it might not look like the biking on pink bike but if you compare your local riding to Whistler you'll always be miserable. Enduro is where the hype machine is focussed, but that doesn't make ragging a rigid singlespeed arround the bridleways any less fun.
2) Join clubs/groups. Once you've been there a while blag lifts to weekends away. MTBers on the whole are social and like to help out and share the fun.
Train to Didcot will get you within a few of miles of the Ridgeway for routes heading toward Swindon or change at Didcot for a train to Goring to link up with the Ridgeway heading east by getting on Grims Ditch at Wallingford. All a bit CX rather than trails. Flyup247 is an easy cycle from Cheltenham station for some better trail action.
Oh, and you can get a train to within a couple of miles of Swinley (get the train from Reading to Martins Heron). Probably the best bet for a day out.
as mentioned, come down to goring\streatley. From goring you can head up to the children's (Christmas common way) and from streatley you can head up the ridgeway. Once at Compton there's vast amounts of byways and bridleways.
Ridesonair in Wallingford or mountainmania in didcot used to do evening rides in the summer. Not sure if they still do
When I lived there we had a mountain biking group and went to Swinley (via train) a lot, Aston Hill (that must have been a train too, but a long journey).
I still miss my little loop around shotover though.
The rides around the chilterns tend to be more fun than technical from memory.
Go and explore Shotover. There are lots of little trails through the woods and an increasing number of jumps in the Eastern corner. I’m there a couple of times a week, but usually early mornings before work.
Get the train to Goring, get an OS map and do some exploring. Head East from there. This time of year its pretty muddy and not that good in the Chilterns. But when it either freezes or drys out, there are lots of good trails round there.
You dont need a route, just an OS map and a sense of adventure. Look at the map and make up a circular route with bail out options. Simple and way more exciting than some prewritten route.