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Lets be fair though it's whatever floats your boat. Now this weekend we are going for some knarly concrete cow and rounabout action and we're heading straight for the big MK!!
Question is what tyres for knarly Concrete Cow and Roundabout riding
and Doncaster to the south
Nahh. Just cut Doncaster out, and sink it in the North Sea,
Milton Keynes is 100% the south. if not its south midlands,
it's flippin' not... it's pure North; everyone knows that North begins at the North Downs that's why they've got NORTH in their name...
but then coming from Sussex I would say that 🙂
glenp - Member
Great example kaya - that looks great fun. But it doesn't look better. All rocks, no trees - each to their own, but I likes me trees.
I don't think it's any better just different, I was brought up in the dark peaks and moved to the east coast for the surf. But there was the added bonus of the north Yorkshire moors being on my door step as well.
Sorry for no pictures of trees but I don't normally stop in the woods 😆
Grum - is going up and down big hills all you enjoy about biking?
Not all no but I've always loved mountains (or big hills if you prefer 😉 ) - like I said I would quite like some more twisty woodland singletrack with jumps etc up here though.
Go South
get a suntan
It never rains up here, it's a myth - don't you know there's a drought in the North West? 😛
Grum, yes I saw that today on the news and did notice last week that all the little tarns etc in the Lakes were very dry.
Not the norm though!!
MK is a good few hours north of here. Anywhere north of Newbury is north to me. 😕
To be fair i'd live anywhere and i'm sure the riding would be good enough. If it's not all that there's always the bmx or roadbike.
If riding is so good down south why did they base singletrack towers UP NORTH ?
I expect the offices were cheap to rent because no one wants to be there
Living near Caerphilly I'm smack in the middle of some excellent natural welsh terrain, 5 miles from cwmcarn and within 10 miles of 4or5 of the dragon downhill courses.
I've worked in London on and off over the last 10 years. I've ridden trails in south downs & the chilterns on a par with my local natural trails. My favourite is a figure of 8 killer loop that appeared in MBR about 10 years ago. Starts from the checkers pub in prestwood.
Ah the great North/South Divide.
In the North - ale, ferrets, flat caps, wind, rain, coal and massive slag heaps to ride down.
In the South - fizzy beer, baseball caps, scorching sun, droughts and massive slags to ride.
Such a contrast.
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I'm actually hoping that 13thfloormonk will organise a Forum Ride. 😉
Will certainly sort out the men from the boys. 🙄
Scotland for me next year. 8)
[s]My ASBO will be spent[/s]
Riding in the South isn't crap.
It's just twee.
I hear they've resurfaced Richmond Park and all the gnarly stuff has been sanitised. Sad news if it's true 😉
I envy all you guys who need 500sq miles of countryside to play in...As a south Westerner, there is lots to play in, much within riding distance and I havnt seen a fraction of it, yet...no time!
The north is clearly better. People should move there for the riding!
Unfortunately I can't for personal reasons so will have to suffer the trails down here. 😥
Have a look at the clips here
[url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-tbc-wednesday-night-ride-this-week-the-movie ]TBc ride in the pentlands[/url] if you havent already.
that will give you some idea of what we have within riding distance of Edinburgh. This is not some fantastic area that we have to drive to - this is just the local trails,
Druidh, i get the point, but that is quite possibly the worst photoshopping ever 🙂
but a more polished version would be an excellent ad for the Scottish tourist board
TJ, a video of a flat doubletrack absolutely packed with riders isn't going to help your case much in the mountains/no mountains argument, but it looks fun all the same
I used to live about a 3 mile ride from Grizedale, apparently some of the best riding in england round here. I wouldnt know for sure because Ive never really ridden anywhere else
Rd - did you miss the bits in the woods? Those vids show the variety of riding available in an average / mediocre area of Scotland
I didn't watch all 9 minutes, but even the bits I did watch are longer than my local stuff, so still jealous!
Riding in the south is not crap - there is some good stuff to be had .... and it still doesn't compare with places like the Peak District etc - since there is simply not the height or terrain, in that way, down south.
I wouldn't want to ride in the north because Tandem Jeremy lives there.
Milton Keynes is in the midlands, however Wobourn is south of milton keynes and as Milton Keynes is the border Woborn is in the south.
"Riding in the South isn't crap. It's just twee"
I don't disagree with that actually. There definitely is a propensity for rides to finish a tea shoppes and rural pubbes. And all the better for it.
rOcKeTdOg - Member
Druidh, i get the point, but that is quite possibly the worst photoshopping ever
Really? It took me ages to get the sky that colour!
So let me get this right; that long straight moor land (I would call it a descent, but that's not doing descents justice is it?) un-technical double track is something you though was worthy of filming?
Christ on a horse, that's some dull shit. I'd need some large quanties of mind altering substances to call that "good riding"
I feel sorry for you, I really do.
cod Yorkshire ?trying too hard sound like a 'local' person
My comment was wasted on you.
I'm more Yorkshire than Yorkshire Pudding, you owd gimmer!
and rural pubbes.
I hope that means pubs and not pubes or have you taken up dogging 😯
Sorry to dig this up, but I had a thought on this argument whilst I was battering my way down an Alp a couple of days ago (believe it or not!) which went something like this -
'They insist the North is better, but what they're really inferring is that this makes them better riders.'
Discuss...
🙂
So by inference you are thinking that you are a waaay better rider than north and south added together cos you're riding down an Alp?
I am betterer than you however cos I always ride wth my eyes closed innit.
I'm from the North, I live in the south and I'd kick your ass down an alp PP
but what they're really inferring is that this makes them better riders
not in the least - I just think we're lucky to have all this wonderful stuff to ride! We might get more practice at riding over really gnarly rocky stuff but miss out on the skillz needed for chalky singletrack or whatever...
I think there needs to be a North VS South STW Weekender.
That'l sort it.
That'l sort it.
Optimist.
'They insist the North is better, but what they're really inferring is that this makes them better riders.'
Yes, and they're correct. 😛
But really, I reckon obviously if you ride it all the time then you will be better at steeper, rockier stuff - but I would like to be better at jumping and whatnot.
Could all you nice people start going on your hols to the South then please instead of blocking up our roads. Or at least go to Wrexham, it's the next nest thing to the South. Scotland is rubbish for riding. Stay away. You have been warned. Oh, and if you do come up this year, you may find the midges somewhat less annoying than all the "Out of Africa" pisstaking you will have to endure. Message ends
I do think Northeren riders have a skewed view of what Southern riding is, perhaps exacerbated by not actually coming down South to ride, and lets be honest here, if you had the Dales, or the Peaks to play in, would you be in a massive rush?
Which is a shame, I can do anything from 10 to 100 miles in the Chilterns, and do endless treeless vistas, cool shady woods with snaking singletrack that goes on and on for miles, techy steep drops, and killer climbs, not meet a soul, see wildlife from massive birds of prey to deer, and so on and on.
[i]but what they're really inferring is that this makes them better riders[/i]
Which is odd, as of all the Northern rides I've shown around the Chilterns, most of them can't cope particularly well with woods, and the twisty turn-y singletrack that we have. but blatting down a rocky straight double track is a piece of cake
If the truth be told I don't care if the North is better or not. I like what I ride and it's good enough for me.
What is a far more pressing matter is why they can get chips with gravy and I can't and also why they seem happier than us South Easters despite the lack of civilization North of Hemel.
"I think there needs to be a North VS South STW Weekender."
I would be an opportunity to make some new friends, and maybe dispel a few myths.
[url= http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/psa-stw-mendip-ride-2010-sunday-15th-august ]Mendip forum ride - 15th August LINKY[/url]
Special guest Northern riders are extra specially welcome.
Well I've ridden the North, the South and Wales plenty. That must make me uber-all-round rider 🙂
Agreed about the different skills tho. Getting good speed out of say Swinley twisty singletrack is quite hard, as is blatting something rocky at speed.
buzzlightyear,
I would love to come but its on the list with SSUK for things i can't do because of a Wedding.
I do think Northeren riders have a skewed view of what Southern riding is
And then you go and generalise that all the riding up north is rocky doubletrack 😉
There's been little to prove otherwise though! Halfway through the video TJ linked too I've seen nothing but doubletrack on open heathland, it looks incredibly dull!