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Another vote for Peterborough, flat flat flat !! more fun on the road bike.
I found Birmingham itself shite (obviously), but you've got a good selection of riding within an hour 1/2 (Peak District, Cannock Chase, Long Mynd and the like, Forest of Dean etc...) and within those choices plenty of XC, DH and ****ing about so it wasn't all bad. So if you could remove Birmingham and replace it with a football and chav free zone then it could be a good centre.
I think the votes for Kent are a bit unfair - either that, or the two previous posters never picked up an OS map. By South East standards there's actually loads of pretty good riding there if you know where to look - I think I read somewhere that Kent has more miles of bridleway than any other county apart from Yorkshire. True, it's lacking in super technical rocky descents, but if woody singletrack is your thing there's stacks. The trails are also virtually empty and refreshingly free of the "all gear and no idea" crowds you get in say Surrey.
I spent 3 years living in Holland, and that really was poo for mountain biking - obviously great for general pootling about, and the cycle path network is fantastic, but apart from the serious roadie contingent, to most Dutch people a bike is a form of transport and nothing else. While the infrastructure is totally bike friendly It's also incredibly overcrowded - virtually impossible to get up any serious turn of speed on the cycle trail network as it's packed with all ages from 8 to 80, all of them on identical 3 speed bikes and refusing to break into a sweat.
Love it as I do, I think one of the most frustrating parts of the country to be a mountain biker is probably north Pembrokeshire - virtually no bridleway network and surrounded by incredible coastal singletrack, but virtually none of it legal!
Lincolnshire (and probably other places named on here) isn't all bad. The south is very flat and dull (and the riding is pretty poor too 😉 ) but in the north, around the wolds there are some decent tracks. OK nothing to compare with the peaks or scotland, but reasonable enough - see www.louthnet.com/LAMB for some ideas around louth.
Another vote for P'Boro. I do more running these days....
Hong Kong - (email received from Hong Kong Mountain bike Association)
Dear HKMBA Members,In the past three weeks there has been a loud exchange of opinions in the letters to the editor published by the South China Morning Post complaining about this "vocal minortity" wanting more trails opened and how we should be denied our request because we are "vandalizing" the environment, causing erosion, terrorizing elderly hikers and the best accusation of all --- we are engaging in "planned law breaking" because riders plan to ride unauthorized trails, like Kap Lung, in advance. Its all BS, but sadly the general public does not know that.
The AFCD have acknowledged recently to the HKMBA and other government departments that the only complaints that they have on record about mountain biking comes from the media. So these letters only give them more ammunition to deny our requests for better and more trails.
Therefore we urge you to stay on the legal trails, keep your shovels at home, abide by the code set out in our Share the Trails campaign and be especially patient and polite when you do encounter hikers.
Penicuik,it's a nightmare gt 20mins inners 25mins pentlands on my door step ae1hr away
A lighthouse?
Anywhere that's not [b]Wales[/b]
Don't call me biased...
Actually Northamptonshire is pretty bad, no hills, loads of riding around muddy field boundaries.+1 and I'd add that there is a lot of clay-based soil around here too 😐 'Plumz has a point (it doesn't stop me) but the grass is always greener etc etc, wouldn't mind moving to the Alps actually 😀
Luckily, we're off to deepest Welsh Wales next week where there are rocks and hills and something called DRAINAGE, which might be useful if the weather forcast is right.... 😀
Anglesey?
As SprocketJockey says ^^, if you're in Kent and can't find any decent riding you're obviously not looking very hard. OK certain parts have fewer bridleways than other but there's usually something.
We used to ride from Crystal Palace out to Kent/Surrey quite regularly and within about 6 miles from Palace you can be offroad. Even easier if you get the train out halfway.
As for the OP, I'd say that Widnes/Liverpool would get my vote for a) being generally shit and b) having no decent MTBing within an easy ride.
I would say London is GASH! Easy to say that when I lived their for 5 years and now my local trails are the Peaks, Wharncliff, Hebden Bridge to name a few
Kent was a joke :-). Fenlands has to be the worst.
London is pretty rubbish because you have to drive for 30-45 mins to get to the good riding, and 2 hours to get to the very good riding
Try Salford. It's frightening.
south pembrokeshire is even worse than north pembs!
as jon said rossendale is also bobbins really not worth coming to reasons are -
you can't ride out of your door onto moorland trails including long distance ones
you cant be at lee quarry and others nearly as good in 10 mins
you cant ride over into calderdale for more but very different trails
you cant be in north wales, derbyshire or the lakes in 2 hrs
you cant get to gisburn or the yorkshire dales in under an hour
there are no decent decents as its all uphill
it has no good pubs with good beer and they all hate mtbers
yep all in all really crap 😉
g
sheez, the way some people are talking its as if you may as well give up biking altogether unless you live in the middle of a frickin mountain range.
Leicestershire is pretty crap, actually.
1 hour's drive to Cannock, same again to Sherwood... A bit longer to the peaks... Ok, that's only an hour or so to some good rides, but locally it's just footpaths and "Git orf moi laaand!", and the cyclepaths are full of glass from the local chavs' saturday night bottle recycling scheme. I sympathise with whoever it was who lives in Lincolnshire though...
Yet another one for peterborough, cack for mtb but nice network of cycle paths in parts.
Having lived in both Suffolk and Cambridgeshire I can confirm that East Anglia is pretty dull from a cycling point of view, but not totally devoid of the odd spot to ride, plus there is always the option to drive somewhere more interesting to go riding or racing…
Cycling is what you make of it, if you live somewhere flat build some jumps, or go explore your local woodland… There is always someone worse off than you, so why bother whinging…
I grew up and started mountain biking in Peterborough.
Yes it's crap, but theres so little else to do there that biking was still the best option 🙂
Most of the interesting stuff centered around old quarrys and forests to the north west (stamford way), but those all involved a 15 mile road ride to get there. There are at least a few small hills that way too.
West Yorkshire is a distinct improvement, however.
ditto crazy-jockey and sprocket-legs - some pretty decent riding in Kent if you look around a bit
Derby isn't great if you don't drive, especially t'Southside. Then again it could be worse (imagines living in Southern Lincolnshire <shudders>).
Derby isn't great if you don't drive, especially t'Southside.
Get your OS map out! It's pretty easy to ride out to proper hills and singletrack without really touching roads! My folks live in Hayfield (edge of the Peak District), and admittedly Derby isn't quite up to Peak District standards, but I spent a few years in Derby and soon had plenty of decent routes sussed.
The whole of Australia,old Continent ,highest elevation 3000m ,but Mother nature left-some bumpy bits!!
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this is where i chose to live
Get your OS map out!
I have. If I lived to the North, things would be decidly better. However, if I wanted anything other than my local trail (Robin Wood etc which, tbh, I am v.bored of), I've got a 13mile round trip along the most direct route (main roads) to even get to, say, Breadsall/Drum Hill; 25mile round trip to the West Leake Hills (which I've not bothered with as all I've ever heard is that they're a quagmire).
Still, I've decided to learn to drive before my 40th next Feb so I should stop bitching about it all soon.
You live in an airplane? Schweet.
no one biting today
above post may not be strictly true g
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Problem is that is normally full of water.
There are good amounts of fun to be had in Sutton Park especially if you are willing to session areas. Its not exactly a big tech fest and isnt too good for long rides but it has quite a few small bits that are good for practiceing how fast you can hit them and a few short little bits to race your mates.
Plus you could get the train over and not worry about drink driving after a night ride.