I'm thinking of visiting Dalby on the way to or from a weekend at the Dales bike centre (or possibly as a bad weather fallback option). The info on the FC website seems fairly basic so I'd be grateful if someone could fill me in on what the trails are like and how long to budget timewise (mixed group at a social pace). Practical stuff like where to park & what it costs would be helpful too.
Cheers in advance
£7 per car to get in [that may have gone onto the winter rate of £4 now]
Just park in the car park by the visitors centre
The red route is a blast 24miles, 3 - 4 hours at social pace, the last 1/3rd is the best IMO
The black is more of a natural surface [mud] can be done along with the red by just dropping into a section when you want
There's a jumpy park thing about a 1/3rd the way round - if you're into that sort of thing
You get the best from it by attacking the sections
Loads of other [locals only] stuff but most of it's nothing special
certainly worth a visit
Dont bother, it's really quite dull and uninspiring. Even with the new bits.The long loop will have you reaching for the cyanide pills ! Cafe is expensive too. pluss you have to pay to drive in o the private road.
Went in Summer - thought it was excellent, and IMO was the equal of the trails at Afan, and was slightly more varied in terms of terrain. Not sure what it would be like at this time of the year. £7 parking charge is a bit of a pain.
Is there a trail map online anywhere? How sheltered is it in bad weather (better than being on the top of Great Pinseat I'd wager, but how much)?
It's ok. But nothing more.
There is a lot of singletrack in the trees, a couple of open sections of fire road linking it up. You start up with a series of short climbs and descents, it flattens out in the middle third and then the final third gets hilly again.
Its mostly nicely built singletrack, some of the steeper descents are slightly wider, there is the odd climb that is breaking up and getting a bit trickier. Its a good trail centre.
Some people like it, some don't.
I love it although not had the chance to visit since right at the start of the year. I used to ride there loads before all the 'official' stuff was built so the change its made is brilliant. That said, its also great to ride the old natural stuff and mix and match the two now as the old stuff doesn't really get touched anymore...
Most of its pretty well sheltered, there are just a couple of sections after Cross Cliffe which is quite open on the edge of a ridge and a long fire-road blast shortly afterwards - the rest is very much sheltered.
Singletraction are the volunteer builders and their map is [url= 
]found on their website here.[/url] along with other information. There are plenty of escape routes by bridleway if necessary. Map looks fairly up to date to me butinfo also available at visitors centre or the Purple Mountain Bikeshop near it.
[url= ]map here on singletraction[/url]
[img] [/img]
Cheers folks. Just had a leaf through old mags and found the article in ST 36 too, think we might well be paying a visit.
Me and my riding buddies love it, we always have a good day when we make the trip. Its the best trail centre in England IMO. Like has been said elsewhere start by the shop and the last 3rd is prob the best (after the long forest road yomp).
Love the panini's at the cafe too. 😀
Think Dalby is boring?
RIde it on a hardtail - I got to that stage with one of my full suss bikes and switched to a HT for a bit of fun. In fact Dalby rides so much better to me on a hardtail that I'd only think of taking a full susser now for the new stuff we're currently building.
Now, on to the subject of building - we will be up at White Cliffs for a dig day next Sunday (15th) and would love to see some new faces if at all possible. We're building a new black optional descent and the sooner we get it finished the sooner you lot can ride it and rave/moan/whinge/giggle/cry* about it! Shameless plug I know 😆
*Delete as necessary.
More info about the dig day can be found [url= http://singletraction.frankencrank.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2983 ]HERE[/url]
I enojoyed it on the HT. Some of the black bits were a bit beyond me at the time and I didn't enjoy them but overall it flows well. You can cut through and do little loops of it again. The skills area is a laugh as well.
Quite enjoyed it, but it had a bit of a plodding quality about it.
If memory serves, there's not much that's very technically challenging, beside a few natural sections on the black options.
Is it built by the same team as TNF at Grizedale? Felt very similar to what I've ridden of that in places.
Don't do it on a hardtail!
It's no quicker or easier on a full suss but it's a damn site more comfortable. There are a lot of sections made up with small fist size stones (I'm guessing these are used because the natural soil is quite sandy, although I'm sure Col would put me right), and I find my back is breaking towards the end.
We bash round the red in about two and a half hours, if we're not hanging around - some of the blacks are worth exploring, some of them are a bit pointless really (probably the older black bits).
Overall, it's a pretty good ride. I hate the snaking, raised stone sections to get through boggy areas - there seems to be a few of them and they drive me mad. Personally, I wish it was about half an hour shorter. I'll bash out 60-100 miles on the road bike quite happily, but normally towards the end of the red at Dalby I want to sell my bike...
Despite the £7 charge, I reckon it's worth doing if you're close to passing.
Agree with iamtheresurrection, I find that last few miles where you seem to be going very slightly up hill a pain, to say the least!
Pently of photos in my Facebook gallery incase you wanna see what it looks like.
The fist sized rocks have been used where there has been need of an armoured trail due to erosion, soil type, bogginess etc. Yes they are a pain on a hardtail, but I still stand by my own opinion that riding Dalby on a hardtail is fun. Being local though, I can tailor my ride using older and cheeky trails to avoid the worst of these sections.
A lot of the stuff SingletrAction is building is trying to be more natural, such as the new section at Crosscliffe - 90% of which was hand dug with no machinery - not an easy task! I do agree with the section that is a gradual climb being a long draggy pain, I hate that section too, but the payoff of the rather excellent singletrack descent back to the visitors centre more than makes up for it. If you've got the fitness left, before heading out into the meadow and down to the carpark, hang a left and then take a short climb back up the tarmac road and do it all over again 😉
Those raised bits that snake through the boggy sections aren't too bad if you go at them 'hell for leather'
I've been off on them a few times now 🙂
mtbcol : For me i think its more a case with me (for the last sections) of riding an over the top 6" bike at Dalby, with being very local too, no matter when i go its never get any easier! lol. As for the trail builiding, i keep meaning to come along to them, but recently I've been busy 🙁 Is it always the second sunday of the month?
Yeah it will be more of a drag on a 6" bouncer. I've stupidly done the red on a 8" bouncer when riding some of the bigger stuff hidden in the forest (living in Pickering gives me plenty of time to explore both Dalby and Cropton forests for fun stuff to ride 😉 ), and that section pretty much killed me. I just use the section now as a slow ride to save energy for the final sections back to the carpark.
SingletrAction Dalby dig days ae usually the 3rd Sunday of the month, depending on othe rcommitments of keyholders.
Do it on a singlespeed HT and make sure you snap your saddle rails about 3 miles in so you have to stand up all the way.
Like I did.
Still thought it was a bit dull.
One more question: are there changing facilities or is it a bare-arses-in-carpark job?
MrGreedy : Theres toilets etc in the vistors centre, and a cafe for post ride food in the courtyard behind the bike shop.
Never been on any of the black sections, is there any sudden drop off's that i should look out for or is it all rideable just like the red route
Cheers
Theres a nice drop off on the newer section, just after Dixons...
When I said "is there any sudden drop off's that i should look out for" what i should have typed was
Is there any sudden drop off's that have the option to go over or go around on my first run so i know what to expect for the next time around
not that i will be doing any of that big air lark
If I'm thinking of the same drop, teetosugars, its a little poorly designed. About 5ft drop to flat fireroad, which aside from bike/skills/balls isn't a problem, but you're dropping blind into a section of both the red and green routes.
On a 120mm marin FS (known to have high BB), with a 19mm fork taller than standard, bigger tires and a 32T bashring to prop the BB clearance up it [i]still[/i] clipped the lip ..
There's two roughly 4-5ft drops, both on to fire road and pretty close to each other. Done them on the single speed, done 'em on the Five, almost bailed half way down the second one on the first loop of SSUK (apparently I almost landed on a marshal and at 16st that's bad). It's rollable. Huck it if you want. Haven't done them with the child seat yet - the first one is definitely doable with a LOCT and a 3.5 year old; the second I'm not sure.
james - MemberIf I'm thinking of the same drop, teetosugars, its a little poorly designed. About 5ft drop to flat fireroad,
Yup, thats the one...
Didn't know it was there, until it was too late.. 😳
and i am guessing the northshore sections will be like ice when wet also
The drops onto the fireroad are completely rollable, and they're nothing compared to the new Worry Gill drop.
It was first used in the British XC round last year and has been reworked to give a steeper drop and narrower roll in.
Brilliant to ride, but you certainly want to get off and look at it first, it's easy to go over the bars if you'r not careful.
Forget the Northshore (you can't really call it that as its pretty much ground level) around Dixons Hollow as its slippery, but the boardwalk dscents further up on the black are completely ridable.
I like Dalby.
Not at all like the Whites Level though.
Mostly sheltered, but the exposed sections are just that.
I think you can short-cut the middle section if you're uninspired by it.
HT no quicker than a FS, possibly slower. Done it on both. Less beat-up on the FS perhaps.
Worth a visit? Most definitely.
About 2:30 if you're not sight-seeing.
The big drop off that I can think of at the top of that steep decent about 2/3 way 'round is not big if you ride around it!
I like Dalby...
[url=
video gives you a look at some of the bits[/url]
Been today went down the black downhill by mistake !!!
oh and the "north shore" was not a good idea so we back tracked
Met a few people and had a laugh
Need to get fitter for next time
Maccy D's on the way home and beer to finish
Just need to clean the bike now
Peaks on Sunday !!!
Yeah the black downhill is intersting isn't it 😉 I really should get up there and do a bit of tidying and reworking of some of the features.
The big drop off that I can think of at the top of that steep decent about 2/3 way 'round is not big if you ride around it!
I think you're talking about the rock step at the top of Whitecliffs section. It's only about a foot high in the middle and even lower on the left.
There's too many shortcuts and alternative lines appearing round features we worked hard to put in 👿 You build a nice singletrack section only to find a few months later its as wide as a motorway because people are too lazy to ride the existing trail 👿 We get asked to put technical features in suitable for a red grade, which we do, then people ride round them. And then they say the trails boring!
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Ride up on the moors in day light and use Dalby on a night time. It puts a new twist to it, Especially round by gigglebie cafe( not spelt right) with the dogs.
Col are they packing in the bike shop after they got some bikes nicked.
[img] 
?t=1258100711[/img]
Its better at night
Dalby is friggin' awesome if you like charging singletrack. I love it. Best of all, they built it half an hour from my house.
It's really well-drained too.
I never go anywhere else.
I never go anywhere else.
I don't know why, but I find this quite sad
🙁
Mistercrud - I was thinking exactly the same thing, the faster you go at it, the better it is!
@ Mtbcol the features are great, I ride there a lot over winter thanks the hard work! 😉
Thumbs up from me.
Need to get digging but with a 2 and 5 year old I only get to go out on a night time.
I Love it! Been loads of times. Its fantastic when the weather is wet (this weekends forcast) as the worst you get is wheel spray. Perfect route for a 29er! I can see why some people would call it boring if you ride full sus.
Matthew
Last year I went and plugged the postcode into my Sat Nav.
Leaving Pickering on the Whitby road the GPS told me to turn right down a lane (apparently we were only 1 mile form the carpark) and the lane was full of signs saying "Don't believe your GPS - this is a dead end - it won't take you to Dalby".
It only took us another hour to get there.
🙄
You do know there's big signs in Pickering directing you to Dalby don't you?