d. CX bike and that farm track (and all the other otherwise non challenging boring psths you will inevitably discover) becomes part of the off road ride
Combine with c. (Sell xc mile muncher to fund bike d. Is now that machine)
Definately a 1st world problem!
Problem is that Swinley was about 7 miles away, now its 14. So thats 2.5hours roind trip before the good bits, 40miles isn't really "I'll be back for dinner" after work riding 🙁
North is Reading then Chilterns, which is good, but again it makes the good stuff at least an hour each way. South and west is a desert of off toad riding, its a warren of small lanes which are great on the road bike but mean what would have stayed a bridleway anywhere else is now tarmac.
Oddly enough drove to swinley for the first time in years at the weekend and actually enjoyed riding it and not being knackered! Although it did feel a little like cheating and really short!
Sharkattack
What about penshaw or beamish? They must be close to you if you're between choppers and hammers. Some good jumps there.
Waves... I am in Reading, you moved to South Berks or
Hampshire then?
TBF swinley isn't exactly Mecca for MTBing, there's obviously not the concentration of trails you get at a trail centre type location round this way, but you can string together a couple of hours riding with some cheeky local trails and winch up on to the Ridgeway for a trundle...
that said most of my riding does seem to be road and "gravel" at the moment...
Should have moved to the south east of Swinley 😛 . I suffer being sandwiched in between Surrey Hills and Tunnel Hill/Swinley/Minley/Caesars/Farnham/Frensham 😉
Some rideable from the house or a quick drive. Rogate 20 mins down the A3, hour up to Aston Hill or any of the Chilterns, not far from M4 to make it 2.5 to 3ish to FoD, Cwmcarn, Afan. Not far from Heathrow or Gatwick, or even the Channel Tunnel for trips to the Alps.
Yeah, sucks 😀
Just move again
Gravelcore. To the power of sick!
Another vote for CX type bike. It won't be as much fun off road as an MTB but sounds like road will make up majority of your miles if riding from your door.
Not as instant as buying a new bike but far more worthwhile...[img] 
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Move house.
If you've bought the house then you've learned an expensive lesson, if renting consider it a cheap one for when/if you do buy.
How long is the drive to the trails? Just ride for longer when you get there.
And you'll probably just get into road riding properly anyway if you're a committed rather than casual cyclist - it's often just the most convenient way of getting the job done.
It's not so much the driving that's the issue, I've a good bike rack and living 1 minute from the M4 it's the inability to get home and think "nothing on TV, I'll go for a hack round Swinley / chiltern / tunnlehill".
Just ordered some of those Nitefighter lights, and some new 18650 cells/case/charger for my smudge lumenator. Might have to invest in a dynamo and StVZO lights too if I'm spending a lot of time on the road.
if it makes you feel better i rode to work off road today - hit the trails 3 minutes from the door and finished up 10 minutes from the office.
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as they say - location location location.
1 min from M4? Shinfield, Spencers wood area? You're an hour or so pedalling to swinley then, break out the road iron and ride the nice quite lanes round this way. There are woods some minor cheeky to be had and plenty of candidate areas for digging in your own trails I reckon.
It's 5 miles ffs, just ride it.
Get an OS map and find the trails / ROW / RUPPs etc. If you can't find solace in riding a bike around the wonder that is the highways and byways of England then yes, give up and eat cake.
I moved away from trails. I explored and found some local riding and got out more on a road bike. It's ALL about exploring out from where you live on whatever bike works best.
Thankfully, I've not been in your situation but I have in the past cycled 10 miles on the road to get to better trails, making sure to put some serious hills in just so I really REALLY know I'm putting some extra miles in my legs..
Also recently, due to illness and injury and consequent lack of motivation, I've got into the habit of taking the long way round to the shops..
Living in an urban environment there's no end of high curbs, sharp hills, sets of steps and peculiar alleys to hoon around on.. Going out late at night, it's been possible to make the 10 minute round trip last a couple of hours, and has certainly helped get my mojo back
cookeaa - Member
1 min from M4? Shinfield, Spencers wood area?
8 miles to edge of Swinley? Various patches of woodland along the way that may have some paths through. I'd be heading to Eversley and then into Yateley, Minley, Hawley etc.
8 miles wouldn't be bad. I do that sometimes from the house to get to Tunnel Hill, though it's a quick blast down the canal. Similar riding to Surrey Hills, though takes longer thanks to big hill to climb to get there.
Just don't do what I did recently...
Drive to the start of my ride, go for a lovely ride. Arrive back home. Panic because the car isn't there.... then remember that you left it somewhere else 😳
8 miles to edge of Swinley?
He said he [u]was[/u] 7 miles from swinners and had moved a further 5, is south of Reading and within 1 minute of the M4 I took an educated guess at his rough location... Your right there are various patches of woodland in the area, not much developed for riding. Certainly nothing on a par with swinley, a couple of months ago sulham woods was torn up and the FC put up signs effectively prohibiting bikes...
There's got to be somewhere viable in the area, mortimer, Silchester ways perhaps?
