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vickypea - MemberLlandegla ... What's not to like?
the enormous boring climb at the start?
i understand that time/money is usually limited, and building singletrack descents linked with existing forest roads is 'efficient', but wow, it makes for a boring ride.
(time spent climbing is bound to be at least 70% of any hilly ride, if not more. It helps if that +70% is entertaining)
The singletrack climb up to the Buzzards nest at Glentress is superb, i'd happily climb like that for hours. Easy gradient, corners, occasional swoopy bits, views, optional skinnies, ace.
[quote=helpful1 ]It has to be Whistler and the mega for me. [b]Never been, probably never will.[/b] Just spent far too many hours in the company of Whistler/Mega bores.
has this thread just jumped the octopus...
I really bloody fast, trust me. It's simply that this thread does not in any way live up to my expectations. I've read a lot of classic literature in my time from Jayne Eyre through to Five Go To Blillycock Hill - one of the true greats of modern writing - and this thread just doesn't compare. Maybe it's fundamentally unrealistic pitching STW against Enid Blyton? I don't know...
Comedy gold!
Worse I've had like this most recently was trails round Santa Cruz. Over there for work, took the bike, pretty bloody dull to be honest. Lots of riding I could do on a cross bike quite happily for 2 minutes of twisty stuff. Everything was just so spread out and not linked together well at all.
Other than that, Afan (I don't like riding next to drops on my side like that after a few previous incidents) and Glentress (Ok, but just felt it a bit over-hyped, preferred places like laggan wolftrax)
@gardron
If you rode places like Wilder Ranch, then yeah, wide open double track which is mostly rideable on a cross bike. Ride those tracks for the big open views...
Would like to see a cross bike going down Braille though - The area in demo forest/Soquel is some of the best riding I've done. You just need to get some way out of town on old roads to find it.
I've just booked a weekend in Moab, riding slickrock and Whole Enchilada, so having some second thoughts but will do it as its so different from the riding i normally do...
helpful1 - MemberIt has to be Whistler and the mega for me. Never been, probably never will. Just spent far too many hours in the company of Whistler/Mega bores.
Perhaps.... it's just that is THAT good that people can't stop bleating on about it? (hint, it's probably not)
I'll try to be fair though I have been to Whistler and actually when it comes to Whistler Bike Park it is very good fun, but it's not MTB nirvana.
First time visitors who've previously enjoyed the delights of say... Morzine might be shocked to discover that the park is only serviced by 2 lifts (might be 3 now) that are one-above-the-other.
80% of the park is serviced by the first lift and as you might imagine it's VERY busy and the queue can be very long.
Compared the huge multi-valley even multi-country huge expanse of lift-accessed trail in PDS, it's tiny.
Lift passes cost about the same per-day as they do per-week in the Alps.
There are lots of trails outside of the park, but you'll need to earn your descents, which is fine, but it's less smiles per hour compared to lift-accessed stuff and you are on Holiday..
Trails in the park are by and large VERY wide and VERY smooth, if you think a UK Trail Centre is too groomed, you ain't seen nothing yet. They make it easy to go VERY fast, which is a lot of fun, but our chalet had 15%-20% of riders looking at spending the rest of their holiday on the sofa full of pain meds and hoping their insurance would pay off their credit card bills.
It's very expensive to get to, stay at and eat and drink. When the local riders are having their stuff sent over the from same place in Northern Ireland we are, you know it's on the pricy side!
It does get ALL the Hype and whilst I enjoyed my trip there a hell of a lot, I don't think it can live up to it fully. I'd happily go back, but IMHO if I was given a choice between a week in Whistler or a week in PDS I'd be equally happy with either, but it costs a couple of hundred quid to go to the Alps and thousands to go to Whistler and the trip is hell. 14 hour flight, followed by a couple of hours on the road and the sort of hellish jetlag you only get going East to West. Not that driving to the Alps is easy, but EasyJet only takes an hour.
Oh, and Dalby Forest is lame and hysterically overpriced compared to anything in Wales.
Odd comment considering its free?
Gisburn features highly on my list of over-rated trails. Any type of biking is good and man made trails are great but theres just something about Gisburn I really don't get. You've got stuff like Homebaked which is excellent and apparently Hully Gully is great when its not blown to pieces but the rest of it almost without exception is totally and utterly pants. Just loads and loads and loads of featureless motorway smooth singletrack broken up by fire-road and the stuff up towards the cragg which (unless they're rebuilt it all) looks like the set from a WW1 war film in the trenches.
Real shame as a) its relatively local to me and b) the good bits are really good. The bits inbetween just seem to have been built in a rush with little thought.
Hmmm, interesting.
Since moving to the North West just over a year ago from Northern Ireland, most of what I have ridden here has been underwhelming. I came from natural, woodland trials. Completely different grip levels and completely different trial layout. I'm yet to find a place I want to ride every week.
I agree on Glentress to be honest, but any time I visit it's with a group of mates and it's much more about the criac than the trials. Inners on the other hand is one of my favourite places.
Someone find me some great natural woodland trials in the North West please.
Bike Park Wales in general.
Some nice bits of trail but so disappointing to find myself at the bottom waiting for a bus after 10 mins on the bike. Not my idea of bike riding.
dbukdbuk - Member
Bike Park Wales in general.Some nice bits of trail but so disappointing to find myself at the bottom waiting for a bus after 10 mins on the bike. Not my idea of bike riding.
The waiting is pretty poor, considering the buses are often sat just up the road.
BPW is good, although would like to see some more challenging tracks or option lines. Uninterrupted runs from top to bottom makes it more interesting/harder
Cut Gate. Perhaps I was expecting the holy grail given all the praise it gets, but my whelm was well and truly undered.
Hey Colin, drop me a line. Will show you some stuff you'll enjoy as promised.
🙂
Someone find me some great natural woodland trials in the North West please.
The trouble with the northwest is that much of it is moorland where all the trees were cut down 1000 years ago. What trails there are usually short sections in patches of woodland that are often highly cheeky. Hebden's the best place I know. There's a group of us ride there most Thursday nights if you fancy joining us: [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/heptonstallhebden-bridge-riders ]http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/heptonstallhebden-bridge-riders[/url]
dbukdbuk - MemberBike Park Wales in general.
Some nice bits of trail but so disappointing to find myself at the bottom waiting for a bus after 10 mins on the bike. Not my idea of bike riding.
I think that's always going to be the case with UK gravity parks, I've certainly not found the buses at Antur or Cwmcarn to be any better.
The fact they have to use the same road to go up as well as down and it's not always wide enough for 2 to pass explains the bit of a dance they do.
Personally I like it there, but it's a 20 min drive for me so not so much of an 'occasion' as someone who's spent a few hours getting there or come down for the weekend.
I know the people who run it have always dreamed of opening a chair lift, they even caused a huge fuss when they first launched their FB page and it showed a pic of riders on a lift, but it's a very small hill for a chair lift.
Cannock Chase, id rather a road ride....!
Miserable bunch of wizards sleeves, esp like the rather ride on the road bit. What for the buzz of nearly getting killed by some fat bint in a people mover? Most of this thread sounds like spoiled kids unhappy with their Christmas pressies.
Someone find me some great natural woodland trials in the North West please.
When you say North West, where do you mean? To me the North West (of England) is Cumbria and at a push a few bits just over the Yorkshire border, which if you know where to look has all sorts of natural woodland descents but they are not as well known as the equally stunning natural mountain and valley riding.
Lift passes cost about the same per-day as they do per-week in the Alps.
£22 a week? thats bloody good value!!
It's very expensive to get to, stay at and eat and drink. When the local riders are having their stuff sent over the from same place in Northern Ireland we are, you know it's on the pricy side!
$2CAD to £1GBP its cheap at the moment
There are lots of trails outside of the park, but you'll need to earn your descents, which is fine, but it's less smiles per hour compared to lift-accessed stuff and you are on Holiday..
Yes you are. A [i]riding[/i] holiday
Trails in the park are by and large VERY wide and VERY smooth, if you think a UK Trail Centre is too groomed, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Go during/after crankworx. aint no smooth trails then.
Yeah I understand the Cut Gate thing. As a local I have been riding it for a lot of years and was very surprised to see it raved about in mags and on forums. I certainly wouldn't travel further than the 20mins it takes me to get there and I don't even do that very often.
dbukdbuk - MemberSome nice bits of trail but so disappointing to find myself at the bottom waiting for a bus after 10 mins on the bike. Not my idea of bike riding.
You do know you don't have to take the bus, right 😆
When you say North West, where do you mean?
I currently live just outside Oldham.
By the way, my thoughts on the trials I've ridden should be taken very lightly. On the whole I love riding my bike anywhere.
I really liked a lot of Cut Gate, but it never really seemed to get going as much as it promised.
Better than "meh" IMO though.
There's loads of ace riding near Oldham if you look. Dovestones and Blackstone Edge are great (with a bit of cheek thrown in).