Hey guys and gals.
I'm due to spend a week in Malvern for work..
I plan to take the bike with me for some evening loops. I cant go too far away as I'll be oncall, so need to get back sharpish if needed. I have some routes planned that essentially loop the ridges but nothing further away.
I'm trying to decide if I take the hardtail or monstercross bike.
The monstercross/gravel option is a Mason Bokeh with 2inch knobblies.
Any advice on this area, will I die if I take the trusty Bokeh ?
I use either hardtail or 2.1 XC tyres rigid/gravel this time of year depending on whether exploring more widely, taking in the Commons, bridleways, etc or just enjoying a winch and plummet up on the hills.
You won’t die if you take care, it's all pretty tame* but the hardtail is more fun in most situations.
*Not counting the barbed-wire traps of late. Keep eyes peeled. Good news is it’s pretty dry now. Shhhhh...don’t wish to agitate the raingods
Gravel bike all day long. 2" knobblies might be overkill to be honest. 40mm semi slicks if its dry would be spot on.
Nice.... Cheers for the advice..
Yeah I'll be sticking to the more obvious routes as I'm not local and cant afford to get lost if I get called back in.
OK, I'll go for 47mm 650b dry tyres on the Bokeh then... Sweet!
I checked out some videos last night.. Looks like some lush fast open trails down from the top..
Yep, your choice of bike sounds good for the Malverns. The northern end by Worcester beacon is dryer but busier with walkers. The southern end, towards Midsomer hill is quieter but muddier. I was up there on Wednesday, mostly dry trails and no barbed wire! Hope you have a great time.
+1 for monstercross, suits the majority of trails here. We're at the north end of the hills, and things have recovered well after the nonstop deluge. Most trails are short and link together into a good network, so if you do get called back its quick to drop off the 'right' side of the hill and road blast back into town.
Sweet!
The Mason it is then.
Im staying in Malvern right next to where I can get onto the trail on the right hand side of the 'north' hill, so I can get back to my laptop quick sharp if needed..
The weather looks ace for next week too, whoop whoop.. !!
Great views up there just do not ride on a sunny weekend mega busy with walkers I like using a full suss up there so you can hammer down the peaks bit heavy to get back up over them but you can ride from Hollybush end to other end and back in a couple of hours good work out on the climbs.
I'll be there from Tuesday to Thursday evening and will ride in the evenings so hopefully will miss the walkers.
I've got my route sorted, bike is ready, I'm ready to roll.
Let's just hope that this mega network migration goes smooth, or I'll be stuck onsite all week with no option to ride.. 🙁
I got out for a long loop on the last day of my trip.
The migration took all my spare time but I set the alarm for 430am on the last morning.
The Monstercross was an excellent choice with only a couple of nasty short rocky downhill sections that I bottled it on. I'm sure there are many trails to bypass them though. Other than that it was an excellent ride looping both ridges and a little add on loop of British Camp at the south end.
Ohh and that short road section 'Happy Valley' ! To start with. ****!