Riding in the Forest of Dean for the first time tomorrow. Any useful tips appreciated.
Trail Centre or off-piste, I know nothing about the latter other than it's boggy in winter.
The cafe does good food.
If you use the uplift push up track you can cut into the awesome descent at the end of the blue trail.
The uplift combined with the dh runs are really good fun, not full on dh, they are more dh lite. Not sure about this time of year though, probably a slippy root fest.
Don't feed the boarses.
It's awesome! There's so much riding there; the Verderers Trail (Blue) is a nice mostly man made route with an awesome descent back to the cafe at the end. The Freeminers (Red) has a lot of natural singletrack but will be a slopfest after the weather we've had recently. Swallowvallets (DH) is good, but as previously mentioned will be a slick root fest with the exception of Countdown and Launchpad which are rideable in any conditions. They're not exactly taxing but the are good fun and it's possible to get some serious speed towards the bottom but like any DH run you should do a sighting run before pushing too hard.
It's hard to know where to begin with the off-piste. If you have Trailforks, take a look for Dowies and Shutcastle. They're a couple of miles away from the centre but easily accessible.
Thanks all. Seems like there are plenty of trails to look out for!!
I moved here this time last year and it is amazing. I cycle straight out my garage and am on the old railway line that used to go through Lydbrook.
There is something for every kind of cyclist. Being an ex time trialer I stick to the faster tracks.
It can get very busy at weekends and also on school holidays but you can avoid that once you know your way around.
Be prepared to get wet this weekend though. I was out yesterday and came back wet and muddy!
Really looking forward to seeing it for myself. I'm expecting to get wet but I've got suitable gear so don't mind too much!! Hoping to get out quite early (for me) to maybe beat some of the busyness.
Lots of greasy leaf litter on the off-piste trails at the moment, making them even harder to find.
Strava heat maps and segment search is a good way to find the starts of local trails.
Peeing down in West Dean at the moment, glad I got out yesterday.
Have only done the marked blue and red trails and whilst decent (blue particularly) have to say wasn’t overly taken. Much prefer Cwm Carn.
Need to explore the off piste.
I’ve never thought about comparing the marked trails at FOD (blue / red) and Cwmcarn. I think I’d take Cwmcarn everyday of the week if I could only have one or the other.
But i think that’s missing the point of FOD - there’s also all the DH trails and I’m told lots of good off piste stuff. I haven’t got round to riding any of it yet but will in time.
Probably too late, but lotsa info [url= https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/is-the-forest-of-dean-worth-it-for-a-weekend-riding-trip/ ]here[/url]
Definitely Joebristol, just haven’t explored as it’s quite a drive from home...
It's raining and dark at the moment.
Went to flyup 417 today for a couple of hours. Wet and flicky mud that goes everywhere but actually nothing meaningful in terms of slop. Someone I know went to FOD off piste and their bike is absolutely plastered in mud!
Depends where you ride ‘off piste’ dowies won’t be too bad at all. In fact handle wet weather well. Mallards/staple edge will be pretty horrific. Staunton I should imagine would be lethal.
im in FOD tomorrow riding off piste stuff so will report back
Thanks all. I ended up doing various parts of the blue & red, some of the downhill trails and a couple of trails that seemed to sort of exist here and there. The rain largely held off which was a bonus and the leaf cover certainly made some of the trails interesting!! I’ll have to make a return trip sometime to track down some of the off piste stuff.
They are all related.
Make sure you leave before the Sun goes down.
Stay off the moors & stick to the roads.
Someone I know went to FOD off piste and their bike is absolutely plastered in mud!
Mallards/staple edge will be pretty horrific
It was wet, slippery and soft in places, but bloody good fun though. As Joe says my bike does need a clean now. Pretty standard for uk winter riding.
Don’t get down there often enough but I love riding there. I don’t ride the man made trails much, I prefer bimbling around the quieter bits on the Fatty. FoD is our family re-set break. The kids have asked if we can spend a week of our summer hols there next year !!!