[Closed] FoD 20th Feb, anyone joining in?

I'll see if I can be free, be good to meet up after years of chatting **** on here and chat motorbikes if nothing else! 😂

excellent, indeed it would mate... 100%.

If the weather isn’t shyte, I’ll probably be about. I’m not riding anything in the cycle centre though 😆

HEy if you can show us better stuff, i'm all in... I will need to be back at roughly the right time though as i can't phone the lad... I will leave him with a wallet though to get hot chocolate and pizza just in case 😀

Just tell the lad you’re away to ride bitch gap, nuns chuff and hairy gash and you’ll be back by 1 😁

Might be up for this as well depending on the severity of the off piste you might be riding. 2.5hr drive for me so a long way to go to end up in hospital, I could just jump off the garage roof here and have the same result 🙂

Might be up for this as well depending on the severity of the off piste you might be riding.

As you may have seen in my other posts, i'm no jump/DH god that's for sure.

I don’t ride a huge amount of the stuff over the road from the cycle centre around the Rubber Duck climb, as it’s generally a bit haggard & tame.

If I’m over that way it tends to be around Bixslade quarry (tramway trails) which are less ridden, but steeper & harder (but not too bad really).

Happy to show people around, although it’s hard to judge what people will consider too much or ok. At the end of the day if something is a bit OTT, that’s fine, it’s not a race 🙂

Even if the weather is shyte, I’ll probably be about. I’m not riding anything in the cycle centre though

FTFM.

@hob-nob

Bixslade quarry (tramway trails) which are less ridden, but steeper & harder (but not too bad really).

Is that the stuff opposite Nun's Chuff and Cliffhanger?

How long to pedal there from car park? Don't forget, we don't all have any idea at all where you're on about.

Annoyingly this weekend would have been a perfect excuse as my plans for kiboshed this morning.
Next Sunday I'd need to be leaving at 1pm 🙁

I'm tempted to come along - but I've no idea what im doing that weekend, and it may be weather dependent 🙂

doomanic
Full Member

Bixslade quarry (tramway trails) which are less ridden, but steeper & harder (but not too bad really).

Is that the stuff opposite Nun’s Chuff and Cliffhanger?

It's the stuff that's across the valley from those, you either go up the horrible climb by the side of the RSPB site, or through the Bix Slade / Spion Kop Quarry, there's a path at the top that then puts you at the top of that hill. The steep rocky ones can be lethal in the wet, so i'd say check the weather before hitting those for the first time, my favourite, and pretty easy one is the one that starts at the end of the quarry fence at the top, you see the path, follow it round the fence and you hit the trail, the next one along that has the two start points is my least favourite as i have a low bottom bracket!

From the trail centre, it's 15-20 minutes, you can head up rubber duck and do one of the tracks down to save fireroading it all.

I wouldn't say all the stuff at wastelands is tame, you can hit the ones that end at the road next to the colliery, they have some nice gap jumps and rocky bits, they start down the next turn from Hairy Snatch heading towards the road.

Lol I'm scared now, you know this isn't Megavalanche or death race 2000?

@weeksy my main concern is hitting a hairy snatch, it didn't end well last time. I might be safer playing on Launchpad and Sheepskull 🙂

I've got no issues with that John. I wasn't planning on going home in an ambulance just to prove something. The Sheepskull sort of stuff and the stuff me and @joebristol rode a couple of weeks ago was tech enough but fun enough too for sure. Even the Enduro trails like Elephant Man.

There's loads over there, the steep stuff by the quarry is probably best to do first time in a nice dry summer day, as a couple of them are a fair bit steeper and looser than sheepskull or hairy snatch, i doubt you'll have the time to do them all over in wastelands, if you're heading from the centre you've got Y2K and Elephant Man to play with if you want as well on the way, and the calmer ones at wastelands.

Personally i prefer sticking around Lydney Woods or over Parkend on a weekend, bit quieter if you know where to park!

Parkend I love but I'd have to get there and get back which by the time I park etc would lose 30 min riding time

When were you last there? I was up on the 23rd of Jan on a coaching session, wasn't the same day was it?

Yup. He was being coached by Wye Mtb that day 1-4

You need an ebike to get around the forest ;o)

Damn straight you do, it's a hilly bugger. But I don't have one. Well, technically I do, but I ain't riding it.

@weeksy

I’ve got no issues with that John. I wasn’t planning on going home in an ambulance just to prove something. The Sheepskull sort of stuff and the stuff me and @joebristol rode a couple of weeks ago was tech enough but fun enough too for sure. Even the Enduro trails like Elephant Man.

We did either Elephant Man or Y2K (not sure which) and then did a few of the runs in the Rubber Duck area. The harder one may have been Black Gold or it may have been a slight variation off it. That one chute bit with the rut down the middle and roots sticking out seemed fairly hard to me!

Thanks for info mate. You making it?

I don’t think I can make that weekend - if that changes I will as always love a bit of FOD off piste. The wife has ordered some over complicated pergola thing with shaded slats that twist round and I have to build it / get it screwed into the patio 🤷‍♂️

Hoping to get out this coming weekend to make up for a weekend off - going to get up at the crack of dawn and do a Risca explore I think as I’ve never strayed past the official Cwmcarn trails.

I'd be up for this, happy with whatever FoD off-piste stuff throws up.

I guess we better firm up a plan then guys...

10am at the fence next to the cafe... i'll be on a dark Whyte G170 with pink pedals. I won't be wearing a pretty bow in my hair or a rose though. 🙂

Just to clarify, while i need to be back at 1pm to chat to coach and pick up the lad, that doesn't mean we cannot ride after... would be interesting to see him and hob-nob together on something like sheepskull, i thnk he could learn a lot from trying to chase hob-nob.

Mini hijack - don't suppose anyone can point me in the direction of the above mentioned trails could they? I can't see them on trail forks and off the back of this and my cancelled plans I've booked a b&b in coleford for tomorrow and Saturday night

You'd really enjoy the riding just by the pub called the fountain Inn. I could kinda talk you through it but try Strava Heatmap from there

Grand thank you! Fountain pub roughly where 😅

Is that the stuff opposite Nun’s Chuff and Cliffhanger?

Kind of. Further up the valley though (opposite inbetweener/alien). They don’t officially ‘exist’ so as not to attract attention from the forestry.

It’s the stuff that’s across the valley from those, you either go up the horrible climb by the side of the RSPB site, or through the Bix Slade / Spion Kop Quarry

Or up the tramway and left, it’s probably the most mellow way up. The other climbs are dirty, on anything other than an ebike, especially if you are riding a few of the trails on that hill.

FWIW, I think they pretty much ride well all year round, other than total slop or frozen ground, as they don’t get the sun.

I’ll confirm pending the weather nearer the time if I’ll be out and what I am going to ride.

Mini hijack – don’t suppose anyone can point me in the direction of the above mentioned trails could they? I can’t see them on trail forks

Google Mary Rose Young pottery. They are in the woods over the road. Go into the fire road & turn right up the hill, keep aiming for the peak and you will see a load of the trails on the right. Most are easy flow trails, there is a load of hidden steep stuff there again.

Ok, so if you're looking at fountain, the railway is on your left. Look right, up the road veer left and go up 600m. The woods there on your left are where you'll find them.

http://myforestcottage.co.uk/

Right by there I'd say mate.

Google Mary Rose Young pottery. They are in the woods over the road. Go into the fire road & turn right up the hill, keep aiming for the peak and you will see a load of the trails on the right. Most are easy flow trails, there is a load of hidden steep stuff there again.

That's the location for the Doeys (and other) stuff isn't it, the big yellow outlined cottage, you've got the full nagshead reserve to get through to reach the steep stuff by Bix Slade?

although, it's the beauty of FoD, stuff everywhere, probably also a negative just now due to the amount of building that's going on outside of the unofficially maintained stuff.

Cheers for the pointers folks. Fingers crossed the weather isn't too abominable!

excellent, indeed it would mate… 100%.

Will try and be there... Warning you now though, I'll be on an eBike... Not so much cos I want to, but for the forseeable it's the only chance I have to ride sadly! Knee issues... But at least I can still ride with an eBike. 👍🏻

If the weather isn’t shyte, I’ll probably be about. I’m not riding anything in the cycle centre though 😆

Sentiment echoed... 😂

Plenty of stuff within 15min pedal of Pedalabikeaway well worth riding though weeksy... 👍🏻

I don't care what people bring, at places like FoD i can totally understand an Ebike, put it this way, if everyone meeting that day brought one, i'd be bringing the wifes for sure 🙂 ... 🙂 It'd just be nice to spend the day out having some fun, some laughs and maybe finding a few new trails 🙂

Staunton is the place. So much new stuff gone in here the past 12 months, plus all the original stuff.

Yeah, Staunton is nice in summer, it does seem to be the first place in FoD that gets really boggy in bad weather, that or shutcastle

The trails by the Tramway were well slick last Saturday hope it gets better all rideable just not a lot of speed compared too the week before when the Bluebell/Dowies trails etc were ACE.

Rode out of Parkend on Sunday past after biblical rains and did most of the trails both sides of the tramway talked about above and all three C.E.R.Y.S trails. Was no problem with grip or slop, but boy were we minging by the end of the day. The girls in the cafe in Parkend insisted it was fine to sit own. We all left an inch of mud on our chairs 🙂

If I wasn't away on that weekend I would have joined you. So much to do there and for all abilities.

You don't have to do this, but if you like a crazy drop for your adrenalin then one of our group finally did this one!!

Is that the bit at the bottom of CERIS 1, was at that the week before last and it looked a bit drier then, 3 looked like it hadn't been ridden in a while!

I do like a mess about over that side though, going upwards towards ellwood then over to the stuff at fetter.

Can't remember which name goes with which trail any more to be honest and they have all been removed from Strava now. It is the one from the RSPB carpark that finishes with 2 parallel drops into a quarry. That drop is on the left wall of said quarry when looking from the top of the normal drop ins