Reading last month MRB issue, they were advertising their next issue with 5 natural rides you can bolt on a trail center. I guess that issue is out now, can somebody share these rides with me?
thank you!
What a great idea for an article
Should see said 'natural' rides eroded, covered in litter and generally less natural.
Thanks MBR.
Should see said 'natural' rides eroded, covered in litter and generally less natural.Thanks MBR.
quite right, how dare they make a wider variety of mountain biking more readily available to the masses!
How many people do you reckon follow the route guides in bike mags?
I'd be surprised if each one hit double figures.
Should see said 'natural' rides eroded, covered in litter and generally less natural.
From my small experience, majority of trail centre riders stick to the well signposted tracks and don't really dare going out into the "wild".
On our local mbr route they tell you to go the wrong way.
We had to practically plead with some riders who asked for route confirmation who were slogging up the best singletrack in town to ride it the proper way, ie downhill.
No ,they were quite happy sticking to their little paper route planner.
MBR did one at cannock a few years ago, still don't really see anyone away from the Donkey.
I wouldn't worry about it, trail centres are popular because they require no navigation and are generally packed with riding per minute, the sort of people that would go away from them regularly would do it anyway sooner or later, most wont bother.
+1 often been a bit tempted by the ad up in the Afan cafe for guided off-piste rides in the area. Might not need that now 🙂What a great idea for an article
MBR is on Readly IIRC. Could sign up for the free trial if so.I guess that issue is out now, can somebody share these rides with me?
DMBinS (or their forebears) had that idea a few years ago. The plan was to have a couple of "out there" routes per trail centre that would encourage folk to explore and let them build up some experience without committing to the Cairngorms or Torridon. Some rudimentary signposting, route guides, escape routes etc. It never took off - probably because DMBinS talk a good game but don't seem to accomplish much. There's certainly a case to be made for spreading any leisure expenditure a bit more widely in some areas but it's also true that many folk are happy with the surety of trail centres.
It's out now, but the routes are natural ones you can ride the next day as part of a weekend - not just extending trail centre loops.
Ride 1 - Nevis range day 1, day 2 they have as Cirian Path, Kinlochleven
Ride 2, cwmcarn, then Blorenge, Abergavenny
Ride 3, cannock chase trail centre, then following day Wildboarclough Peak District
Ride 4, Coed y Brenin, next day Pont Scethin
Ride 5 Whinlatter then next day Borrowash
So it's trail centre one day, ride a natural trail somewhere nearby the next day. The article has links to routes. Dont expect much, it's only a little double page spread with brief details.
Nant yr Arian is probably the best example of this, fairly natural trails anyway, but the big loops are wild with some sculpted sections thrown in.
A lot do their own routes out of/incorporating Coed y Brenin too.
I don't know how I ever managed to survive in the "wild" given there were no trail centres or graded routes when I started on this caper.
Thanks Stuc - with the exception of 1 and 3, i've already did all of them! (but still worth doing them again) I'm glad i asked. I was hoping something different. I know MBUK did publish one extended Brechfa which did look good. Then Coed Llandegla has a good one sending you out toward Llangollen.
Next day? Is there really a day of trail centre riding at Cannock or Whinlatter? (multiple laps I guess)
Is there really a day of trail centre riding at Cannock or Whinlatter?
Twice round Cannock's red is 50 miles - that's a pretty reasonable day's ride. If you do once round and then venture off-piste in the afternoon, you're still not going to be short-changed for a day.
Although, as I've mentioned once or twice before, everyone is different and last time I was at Cannock, some of the riders I saw looked like they were going to drop dead before they'd done the first 5 miles 🙂
MBUK now post all of their routes to Viewranger:
http://my.viewranger.com/user/details/727299
Shame MBR don't do the same really :-/
Edit: yes they do!
http://www.mbr.co.uk/routes
(but not the ones referenced in this post)
Had a check of their "Five best Yorkshire rides" in excitement and I've ridden them all loads of times previously. Oh well, they must be good 🙂
You can use whinlatter very usefully to get up on to grisedale pike
Marin Trail and Penmachno both offer options to tag on some natural stuff.
Marin and tag on Llyn Cowlyd, or there is a way to link Marin to Penmachno (therefore avoiding the age old Marin vs Penmachno arguments!!!) but I've yet to do either so can't vouch for how well they work as loops.
MBR is on Readly IIRC. Could sign up for the free trial if so.
MBR is one of the many magazines that I can read online via my local library's website. If you like e-magazines then it is a good way to read them for free 8)
Pont Scethin. has anyone ridden that? been tempted many times but just looks boring so end up at Antur instead!
aye, when I were a lad we had to slog for miles over t'moor for a couple of metres of singletrack... Thing is if your expectation is that the whole world is covered in sculpted berms and carefully placed rock features then you might find 'natural' riding pretty dull, unless you accept it for what it is and enjoy the other benefits.
If there are links to the routes is anyone willing to post them up?
If there are links to the routes is anyone willing to post them up?
Sounds like they've tacked some "classic" routes onto trail centres to upcycle some old content, you will easily find the routes mentioned above online.
Degla and world's end. Cheeky.
aye, when I were a lad we had to slog for miles over t'moor for a couple of metres of singletrack... Thing is if your expectation is that the whole world is covered in sculpted berms and carefully placed rock features then you might find 'natural' riding pretty dull, unless you accept it for what it is and enjoy the other benefits.
certainly dont find natural riding dull, unless its just undulating nothingness. you need to be rewarded for your slogs - with a big dock off decent!! The Lakes never disappoint! Pont Scethin looks like it would! love to be proven wrong like...
I find sculpted berms and carefully placed rock features pretty dull, give me over-moor slogging any day.
Pont Scethin is basically two hills, up, down, up, down, can be ridden either way. Not techy or as high as the Lakes but great fun and nice and out the way with great views. I thought it was a cracking ride, and you'd have to be pretty jaded to think it was boring. Give it a go one day.
you need to be rewarded for your slogs
If you find riding your bike a slog I'd suggest you are doing it wrong.
Yes, I have seen several people out riding with a bike mag referring to the ride 'report' as their guide...in their defence they didn't appear to be properly aware of the outdoors (spent most of their time in trail centres, so the idea of not just following a route without looking/observing and making a choice was proving troublesome for them). They got round the ride but didn't expect most of the ride to be what it was.
DMBinS - I'm really not convinced about it all...they have some good ideas, but almost all of them never get developed or taken to 'deployment'. I have my suspicions as to why but have no real evidence to back up my thoughts, but it would be good to hear why so little seems to be done for people to see/use.
Aye, recycled rubbish. Ciaran path isn't even the best descent near kinlochleven, never mind that whole area.