Who knows anything about it? Specifically, who knows where I should go for a ride on it?
Going to be staying somewhere near Douglas, and will only have a bike to get around, so not too far from there ideally.
other side of the island, but the end to end is great.
If you think of a Douglas-Ramsey-Peel-Douglas sort of triangle, then all the best stuff is in those hills.
When are you over?
Check out the forum there. There are Tuesday and Thursday rides, and normally weekend ones organised.
Also:
http://www.gov.im/tourism/activities/events/mountainbiking.xml
Cheers guys.
Over the weekend after next (not sure exactly which days - my girlfriend's running the IOM marathon and I'm tagging along for a/the ride).
I've seen those links, ta. Wondered if anyone had any suggestions really!
Disagree with the comment re: Douglas, peel, Ramsey triangle having the best riding.
Surely the best is all south of St johns? Either way I'd suggest tapping up a bit of local knowledge via the forum as a lot of the best riding is hidden away in the plantations.
They're a very friendly bunch who (ime) welcome anyone on club rides.
Enjoy, if you get the weather it's a fabulous place to ride, stunning in places.
So - good riding between Douglas, Peel and Ramsey - I've got a map, any tracks in particular?
Ditto for the south stuff. Do you mean the built stuff in the plantions?
The built stuff in the plantations is pretty pants if you meanthe trail in south barrule (sp?) as it's very short. I was meaning more the cheeky paths that won't be on many maps.
Crag - Member
Surely the best is all south of St johns?
No, it's not..... 😛
If you look on the maps, all the green ways across the mountains are marked and can be ridden. There is good riding up north around Ramsey and good stuff down south. A lot of the riding requires you to join up areas so tagging along on the organised rides might be a better idea. They usually have groups for different abilities.
The cheeky stuff is far better than any of the waymarked trails, other than heading off over fields with bulls in you can pretty much go anywhere you like. But don't tell anyone I said so 😀
Group rides meet at south barrule plantation car park (just south west of foxdale, signs marked 'mtb trails' lead you there) on a tuesday night at 6.30pm. This group often spilts in to two as there is often 20+ riders turning up. On a thursday night there are two rides. A slower ride goes from the car park at the north east corner of archallagan plantation(just south west of Crosby) and a fast paced ride leaves the car park of sulby reservoir. Both are half six departure. Bring lights and cake.
There are also club rides going out on a sunday, meeting times and places vary, go to http://www.manxmtb.com/forum/ for more info
Yes, what Rob and Shred said really - there is a shedload of good riding but a lot of it is "local knowledge" type stuff, the kind of thing that, even if you make your way to the main plantations, green lanes etc you could easily just pass by, without the benefit of someone to point it out to you.
On the occasions that I venture "down south" I still discover trails that I didn't know existed, and I've lived here all my life (so a bloody long time then..).
Cheers for all the advice! Sadly, I don't know exactly when I'm going to be riding as I'm with my girlfriend and won't be around for the organised rides, so joining the locals will probably only happen by chance.
So I'm thinking of doing one of these three from the IoM website:
[url= http://www.gov.im/lib/docs/tourism/Activities/stlukesloop.pdf ]St Lukes[/url]
or
[url= http://www.gov.im/lib/docs/tourism/Activities/hells8.pdf ]Hell's 8[/url]
The St Lukes one is closer, starting from Douglas, whereas the Hell's 8 one just looks fun on a map 😯
This[url= http://www.gov.im/lib/docs/tourism/Activities/legburner.pdf ]"Leg Burner"[/url] also seemed ok.
Which would you recommend? Any improvements I can make on them? I was thinking of extending the ASt Lukes one down past Barroose farm as it seems to be recommended.
St Lukes is a good ride. The climb is quite rutted from motorbikes, but most of it is ridable.
Hells 8 is also quite fun, but short. Takes in part of the End2End course. The first descent through Ballagh plantation goes straight down a very steep, rocky green way. There are other routes down which aren't as extreme.
Leg Burner is also a nice route but the climb right at the start out of Glen Maye can be a bike of a bike hike.
All of these will have opportunities to extend the ride if you want to
Cheers Shred,
Just checked where I'm staying and it's in a campsite in Laxey, so I think the St Lukes ride is a goer, with the Hell's 8 if I have any more time. Cheers for your help!
Shred - Member
Hells 8 is also quite fun, but short. Takes in part of the End2End course. The first descent through Ballagh plantation goes straight down a very steep, rocky green way. There are other routes down which aren't as extreme.
Hardly that extreme or steep but, agreed, there are more fun ways down.
Look to your right (behind the fence) as you go through the top plantation gate and you'll pick up some nice singletrack that'll take you right around the western perimeter and down to the bottom.
In fact, you could happily spend a whole day playing around in Tholt-y-Will and Ballaugh plantations and the surrounding hills.