On holiday down this way next week and will be doing some family rides in New Forest, but may get the chance to head out on my own too.
Anywhere particularly good I should head for?
All advice gratefully recieved.
Anyone?
[url= http://www.charliethebikemonger.com/page39.htm ]maps in red down page from stw linky dinky[/url]
Cheers guys!
The Purbecks were in the back of my mind as the only route I'd heard of, but it looks like a bit of travel time.
The north shore stuff looks really close to where I'm staying but may be too rad for me, especially since I'll have my XC HT for baby carrying.
You could ride the [url= http://www.dorsetforyou.com/castlemantrailway ]Castleman Trailway[/url] into Poole. It's between an hour and 15 an hour and 45 mins ride depending on the exact route, (about 15 miles from Ringwood to Poole). It's mostly flat, fast fire road type riding which could easily be done on a road bike with chunky tyres.
Having got there, have an ice cream, wonder around the quay and appreciate the motorised 2 wheelers if you go on a Tuesday evening. Then turn around and go back.
If you are out for a short ride then [url= http://www.moors-valley.co.uk/ ]Moors Valley Country Park[/url] are putting in some nice singletrack at the moment and it is really close to Ringwood, you can either go in the main entrance or come up the back alley as it were off the Castleman Trailway (They have some quite cool technical bits in one area including some half finished 'North Shore' and a pump track, or there are just miles and miles of forest roads with intersecting singletrack. But still very flat.
If you want long and fast with some good lung burning then the above will provide you with the opportunity, but as I have said it is all flat.
Loads and loads of riding if you head out over to the purbecks, although for some reason I haven't actually done more than a 2 hr ride myself yet! But there is loads to do here and the riding is apparently epic! Although still one for the short travel bikes to keep it interesting.
If your that kinda a guy the local club [url= http://www.dorsetroughriders.com/ ]Dorset Rough Riders[/url] do a lot of rides in the local vicinity - check out the calendar for details.
If you go further afield to west Dorset/east Devon border there are some proper epic distance rides you can do, but there is between an hour and an hour half's driving to get you there from Ringwood.
[url= http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mountain-Guide-Dorset-Colin-Dennis/dp/0948153873 ]This book by Colin Dennis[/url] is pretty good, I have it and have done a few of the rides, but I would very much advise sitting down with an appropriate OS Map or GPS and working through the route first, some of it is a bit confusing if you miss a junction (I found it hard to use whilst cycling so would strongly suggest using a GPS and setting his co-ords as waypoints.)
I hope this helps.
Dom
Marvellous, thanks for that.
My local pal suggested Moors Valley so I'll check that out as I'm actually staying in Three Legged Cross near Verwood, so can probably ride from my door.
🙂
You definitely can, although it will probably start off with a bit of a road ride.... At the moment I can't mentally work out how you'd get to Morrs Valley Country Park without doing some road miles... but there must be a route!
There is good riding there, I live just down the road from 3x in West Moors and ride in and around there a lot in the evenings.
Where exactly is the pump track and northshore etc located in Moors Valley, tried looking on google maps and on the web for directions but can't see it anywhere. Thinking of going for a look in the next couple of days.
motivforz, come off the A31 at the B3081 turnoff. It's signposted Verwood/Matchams. You want to head for Verwood. You'll go past a brick house on your right at a right hand bend in the road, keep an eye out for a Forest Commission car park just up ahead on your left (if you miss it, there's another one just up the hill).
From the car park follow the gravel track around and to the right - you will see the bike park up ahead.
Coolio, cheers for that, will probably head up there tomorrow as its so close. Any extortionate car park charges I should be aware of like moors valley?
I don't think Moors Valley is the cheapest place to park, and the roads local don't really lend themselves to random parking (although as I live close I don't drive there so may be wrong!)
But that said, if you are using their facilities.........
Well I only got a few rides in Moors Valley in the end, two with family and one solo taking in the bike park.
Quite interesting there. Pump track was fun, but hard work. Does anyone make it round without pedalling?
Bit of big step in difficulty between the easier wooden features and the bigger ones too, though all nice and wide.
🙂
pump track isn't all that in my opinion, i think the local's keep altering it as more of a circular jump track. The woodworks great though, nice and progressive but i still can't do skinnies!
Yeah I forgot about those, bottled them myself too.
The singletrack they're putting in through the park looked good too. Would have been perfect for my newbie wife if it was open.
id heard rumours of it being planned, didn't know they'd actually started. That's good to hear about
Did they say when it might open?
Looks finished and signs say it's bedding in. No waymarking.
Rode a bit by accident (honest) and although not at all technical it was quite pleasant and had a bit of flow.
it's only half hour to the chain ferry by car from where you'll be staying then you'll be in my neck of the woods (purbecks), there's also wareham forest just past poole, moors valley is great for a family day out riding but only has about 5 mile of singletrack and the rest is flat fire road but you are in the new forest there and there's more forest all around for a bit of exploring.