[Closed] Would you/do you live somewhere with rubbish riding?

I have a map of the UK in my head with "no go" areas due to crap access to the outdoors for riding and hills.

I moved to the Fens from Bristol last year. It's been a great move apart from the riding, even the road biking is nowhere as good. Thetford and Woburn aren't too far which aren't too bad but I miss riding from my door.

No I wouldn't.
It was an active decision to live where I do based on the presence of hills.
We were offered a house in the flatlands around York for silly money, but just couldn't bring ourselves to go there.

I do. It's a bit rubbish but I've never lived anywhere with good riding so MTBing has always been something that involves loading up the car and driving for 1 hour + each way.

If I moved from the middle of the peaks to here then I'm sure I'd hate it, but it's easier to live without something that I've never had.

I've been out twice in the two years I've lived here. It's very flat, footpaths and bridleways are just around the edge of fields, not thorugh woods or anything. And it's muddy. It's always muddy. Not in a fun-slippy-slidey manner, just in a "oh, I've got 15lbs of clay stuck to each wheel. In fact, my front wheel isn't even spinning any more, it's just sliding forwards, propelled by the disc of mud on the back".

There is a local riding group but they all seem to ride singlespeeds and rigids so i suspect that's the only way to make the local riding interesting.

I'm with cheers_drive, i've just moved to the Fens as well, surprised by the number of mountain bikers i've met bearing in mind the riding is rubbish.

I moved from Surrey and had Ash Ranges, Tunnel Hill, Swinley all on my doorstep. So i do miss quality riding and my old bike club a lot, but on the flip side, for the same price of my 2 bedroom flat in Surrey, we have a 3 bed house with big garden in Norfolk and we are near the in-laws so child care costs have halfed and i no longer have a 128 mile round commute on the M25 every day which is a huge plus.

So as much as i really miss quality riding, my family came first (a with it my sanity a bit)

A lot of Cheshire is very flat and it has one of the lowest levels of bridleways per square mile (or however they calculate it) of any county in England, which makes it a bit dull for riding round.

But (and this is a BIG BUT) it is perfectly placed for accessing so many other areas of the UK for excellent riding I don't mind in the slightest, especially as I moved here from Brum and it's a whole load better than living in a huge urban conurbation like that.

@cheers_drive, where abouts in the Fens are you??

Sure I would - riding's important, but it's a million miles behind one or two other considerations in life.

Besides, human beings are infinitely adaptable - that's why we run the show here on planet earth. Just look at how many people are happy to ride the Surrey Hills - people can adjust to turning the pedals over anything - just need some trees and a yard of grass.

Nope. Its one of the main reasons I live where I do

Some pictures snapped on my commute home from the office:

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How the hell anyone lives in somewhere like central London is completely beyond me. What kind of existence is that? 😉

Where are you based binners (roughly)?

I live in Hull, so the local riding is pretty rubbish - it's flat. But I can be on some nice country lanes on the road bike in half an hour, and it's only an hour and a half to the Peak, Sheffield, the Moors and Dalby amongst others, and not much further to the Pennines and the Dales, then not much further than THAT to the Lakes... The fact that I have to drive to have a nice day mountain biking is offset that I can live in a nice house, near my friends for about half the cost of most places 😀

That said, if (when) we do move, it will likely be to somewhere with better hill access.

I'm in Ramsbottom fella. I can head straight out of my door and get some fantastic, really varied loops in over the moors, including Cragg and Lee quarry. Basically; I'm spoilt rotten 😀 This is at the bottom of my last 3 mile descent before home….

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^^Norveners with their pissy crappy beer^^

Pfft.

😉

I do. North London (shove it Binners). Although I can get to decent riding in under an hour so it's not a total loss.
For what it's worth prior to this my local riding was the North Yorks Moors, then Hamsterley and around Durham, then Grenoside (Steve Peat's patch).
I plan on being closer to the trails with my next move...

Looks spot on, but then I can't grumble with the White Peak/Matlock etc from my doorstep and Dark Peak half an hour in the car

Off up Greno woods next Sunday brakes for a bit of BPW practice

A lot of Cheshire is very flat and it has one of the lowest levels of bridleways per square mile (or however they calculate it) of any county in England, which makes it a bit dull for riding round.

But (and this is a BIG BUT) it is perfectly placed for accessing so many other areas of the UK for excellent riding I don't mind in the slightest,

This..

I too live in the Cheshire [s]Plane..[/s] Plain, thanksfully have a car and a fuel card, so can happily drive out to better spots at the weekend..

Off up Greno woods next Sunday brakes for a bit of BPW practice

is BPW wet and muddy all the time too? 🙂

@scud -Ely

In the week yes, Lonjons not that inspiring TBH, sometimes it's ok but in the main it's a bit of a pain.
However I substitute that with trips home on the coast to make up for it.

Used to live in Bristol.
Saw the light and defected from Road Cycling to Mountainbiking, and at about the same time took up skiing too.
Then promptly moved to the Netherlands!

At least I moved to Germany 4 years later 🙂 But it's disappointing having to ride a whole 7 minutes on a few back streets to get to the forest 😉

Not been up Greno before (done loads up Wharncliffe), but I've heard Greno holds up to the weather a bit better than Wharny

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Should I stop it now? 😆

I'd move to the tweed valley in an instant if I didn't work in Glasgow.

Yeah I live in the East Midlands, hence why I bought a road bike! Still not sure how I got into MTB living here to be honest. Got loads of skateparks though hence why I got a bmx again. I wouldn't move any further east as the nearest good trails are Woburn which is still a good 40 minute drive from me. Would love to move up north or more west towards wales.

I hope to never have to live in London or a big city, have a nice easy commute to MK which is fine for me as I work on the outskirts so never have to venture into a city unless I want to!

No, my last move was because it had more accessible riding from the door, sacrificed a garage for it!

The reason I ride mountain bikes is because of where I live and grew up (hills and woodlands all around), this must be the case for a large percentage of MTB-ers I guess. I can't imagine I would have even got into mountain biking if I lived in a flat feature-less environment like London or Norfolk! If I had to up-sticks and relocate one of the main criteria would be good local riding.

brakes - Member

I do. North London (shove it Binners). Although I can get to decent riding in under an hour so it's not a total loss.
For what it's worth prior to this my local riding was the North Yorks Moors, then Hamsterley and around Durham, then Grenoside (Steve Peat's patch).
I plan on being closer to the trails with my next move...

Typical that I spend my youth in Co. Durham with the Dales & Moors on the doorstep and the Lakes an hour away. Its only when I moved to London that I discovered mountain biking. Up until that point I though all geography south of the Peak District was crap. Since riding mtb I've discovered that the North Downs, South Downs, Kent, Sussex, Surrey Hills, Woburn are interesting and at least I'm not living in the Fens. Its also quicker getting from SE London to the Alps than NW Scotland.

I'm in now Colchester. It is unbelievably flat! Really miss the big hills.

Should I stop it now?

Post as many pictures of bleak featureless moorland double track as you like, I'm not bothered!

Personally I'm not sure I would, unless there were some truly irresistible reasons to go.

Born a lived all my life in Wales so not really been a concern. But now when looking at jobs I think about it, if I am going to uproot my family and move somewhere it better have some good riding about.

Just one last piece of bleak featureless moorland double track, in my back yard, just for you njee 😀

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Its shiiiiiiite living round here!

In York here, so it's about an hours drive to get to the hills which is a bit of a pain. Its a similar distance to get to the moors, dales or sherwood pines so atleast its not all the same.

Can't get much flatter than the Vale of York. My 7 mile commute has an altitude change of 16ft.
I grew up exploring the forestry/moors outside Scarborough and have lived in Sheffield, so I miss the hills.
Wouldn't move though. Area and people are lovely and we're only 2 miles wobbly ride from one of the best CAMRA real ale pubs in Yorkshire (Ferry Boat Arms in Thorganby).

Moved from North Wales to Nottingham just over a year ago. I've hardly ridden the last 3 months. I would move back in an instant, but she wants to stay in Notts as she prefers city life.

Post as many pictures of bleak featureless moorland double track as you like, I'm not bothered!

I live a couple of miles from Brechfa, and mountainbiking was one of the reasons I moved here. I couldn't live in a town.

"Would you/do you live somewhere with rubbish riding?" - I doubt it, but not just because of mountainbiking.

Recently moved from the Chilterns to the Isle of Wight. I've sacrificed having Aston Hill within a few miles and loads of great cheeky trail within seconds of being out my front door, to being able to surf within a 30 minute drive (OK, it's nearer 40 minutes with traffic) and having to ride for 20 minutes to hit my first piece of decent singletrack.

I would lie if I said I didn't miss the access I previously enjoyed, but there's still good riding and a good scene where I am know so can't moan too much.

Would I move somewhere with no easy access to trails? Not on your nelly.

I live in Leicestershire and whilst the vast majority of Leicestershire is awful, my little corner is actually alright.

However virtually all the interesting riding is cheeky.

I have a big hilly country park 15 mins from my door, which is generally rideable year round though I'm avoiding it at the moment.

On the far side of that park, I have a wood lovely woodsy singletrack, that's OK most of the year.
5 mins ride from my door there is another wood that is a great in the summer but is a quagmire some of the time.

Beyond that there are lots of dull bridleways around the edges of fields and lots of Sustrans tracks of varying type and quality.

There is also the moderately entertaining Hicks Lodge 20mins drive away (or a couple of hours spin on Sustrans route 63)

You can also get into the Peaks or Cannock within an hour and to Long Mynd in 90 mins.

Yes, I would.

I used to hunt for jobs etc only in places with good riding nearby when i was in my 20's.

However, this all change after yet another redundancy a few years back, followed by a failed relationship.

Suddenly MTBing didn't seem so important, so MTBing is on the back burner for a while. Need to get on top of my career and relationship first, and that means living in the best place for those things as a first priority. I decided to think about long term happiness rather than what i'll be doing at the weekend.

Oh, and as an aside, about five minutes either direction from the door these days and I'm out of the village and in to the hills. Haven't had time to get out and explore properly as yet, though. 😳

I have a big hilly country park 15 mins from my door, which is generally rideable year round though I'm avoiding it at the moment.

We're past rutting season aren't we? Or are the rangers out in force?

We're past rutting season aren't we? Or are the rangers out in force?

It's wet as ****! Give it a couple of dry-ish weeks and I'll be back in there...

For my own sanity, if I lived somewhere miles from decent riding I'd take up a different hobby.

Calderdale. Its rubbish - wished I lived somewhere with decent riding like the Lakes or the Scottish Borders.

I wouldn't. Here's a taster of a cracking loop from the front door.
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Cannock - rubbish as too many polished pebbles. 😀

Didn't have a choice but hated living in inner Birmingham. Things are looking up as have just moved to the NW Alps copyright RocketDog, who pretty sure I saw out on his bike recently looking a tad knackered after Xmas. When we stop getting told where to live by the MOD will certainly never liver where the riding is poor.

I live on the edge of the new forest - I reckon that's worse than living with no riding - it's the ultimate tease. Lots of open forest with tracks, but it's ALL SO FLAT and the locals think bikes are the devil.

We have lordswood 10 minute drive from my house, and GECP about 40 minutes away. So not all bad.

I have heard there are good loops on the other side of the NF (Bournemouth way) but that doesn't count as i'll need a car to get there. Stuff on the doorstep is rubbish.

My brother lives in the middle of Ashdown Forest.

There is no legal off road riding bar a couple of bridleways that go straight through. There are rangers who enforce it.

I couldn't live there, tbh.

The accessibility of *some* good riding has been a guiding factor of where we've lived. Currently just outside Dundee, and the from-the-door MTB is a bit limited but the road riding is outstanding. We can afford a house with garden/garage round here too, which is a bonus.

Chilterns for me as well back in the day. In fact Mr Jazz and I shared a few rides before he decided to move to, basically, France 🙂 When we moved - rubbish schools/too close to london/etc - it was definitely a quality of life rather than job motivation. Ended up equidistant between Malvern Hills and Forest of Dean which is nice.

Both a drive tho, local woods 15 mins away. Which gave me a superb opportunity to buy a cross bike 🙂

Born in the hills of Derbyshire. No intention of moving somewhere flat ever even when I'm too decrepit to ride MTBs.

Anyone else find themselves hating Binners? I am v. jealous of your commute to work!

I'd hedge a bet that those that state they would choose where to live purely upon the riding are either single or have other halves that ride themselves or are very understanding? I'd love to live somewhere like the Lakes or somewhere with an awesome view and outdoor sports scene, but life, work and young family mean i live in Norfolk, which can be beautiful in it's own way, but an MTB'ing mecca it ain't..

I live near Wigan,

Apart from North Wales, Guisburn, The Peak District all being an hour away, Rivington 20 minutes away, it's crap

It's always lashing down around here.

Great looking trails binners, but you certainly need better beer 😀

Living round Bath, riding's pretty good out the door and Wales, Exmoor and the Quantocks are all an hour away.

To answer the original question, no I couldn't, but that's also because if a place doesn't have good riding, it generally won't have the other things that are important to me and mine.

Live in Conwy, North Wales:
- excellent mtb straight out the door
- excellent road cycling straight out the door
- hike from front door up into the mountains, or along the beach
- kayaking, surfing, climbing and bouldering all on the doorstep

Good, interesting well paid job with only a 25min easy commute
Affordable housing (garden, bike room etc etc)
Great range of local shops and main high street stores
Theatre, cineworld, great pubs and local art galleries

Why live anywhere else 🙂

i'd have to agree with pieface, i would need a new hobby if i lived somewhere flat!!

can't complain about living in bristol it is ace for biking, not quite what binners has at doorstep, but pretty darn good and i can ride to some pretty epic spots from my house 😆

Moved a year ago from Midlothian to the East Neuk (corner) of Fife; quite limited off-road riding from the door but it has got me into road riding and have a cx bike on order - arguably all I'd need for riding pretty much everything in this area! Can't wait for Giant to get the TRP brake recall sorted...

I lived in Sheffield for a while so had the Peaks on my doorstep, then we moved near to Bristol and I worked in Cardiff so a post work blast around Cwmcarn was a regular thing and then at the weekends the Brecons.

Now I live in the south of the Netherlands, my ride last Sunday was 60km with 70m climbing and I think 6 of those were when I had to go upstairs to get some socks, the riding is a bit rubbish*. I can get to Limburg in an hour which has some hills and the Ardennes takes a bit longer though.

Edit: I can beat Binners for beers though!

* To be fair it's OK, just different, the ride above was started from my house and I never touched a road and although it's flat it's still engaging rooty terrain where you need to give it some pasty to get the most out of the trail. On group rides average speed of 30km/hr are the order of the day

The riding from my door in Prestwick is 'okay' decent enough to keep the wheels turning when I can't be arsed to drive somewhere to ride (seems to be on the increase in the last while, can't be arsed driving to the stanes any more). I'm 20 minutes by car, or about 75 mins by bike from some really good riding around Fairlie.

However, for weekends away, which are quite often, I'm 2.5 hours from aviemore and the same to the lakes, and slightly less to Glencoe.

Pretty happy in general.

I live with rubbish riding every day.

I live, and will live for the foreseeable future in London so trips out mountain biking have become very rare. Luckily tomorrow I'm moving to within half a mile of this
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Not quite flat but very featureless, ruddy good fun though.

Live in Urmston, the only "from the door" riding being the Trans Pennine Way, which is about five mins away. It's rubbish. Where I moved from, it would have been possible to ride home from work via the top of Lochnagar. Not that this was my commute to work, but I did the shoulder by Meikle Pap to imbibe some alcohol a few times.

Yes I know it's my fault.

Leicestershire is shite for legit riding. But it's ace for road riding.
I've pretty much pinpointed where BillOddie lives by his description. 😉

I had to move to Cambridgeshire in 2012; property prices means I'm in the Fens too. Only get to go mountain biking a handful of times a year, and always with a (hefty) drive. Spend loads more time on the road bike. But when I do ride mountain bikes, I make sure I make the most of it. 🙂

If there was an option, I wouldn't have moved here. But there wasn't. Life goes on.

I'm on the wrong side of the North Essex/Suffolk border and the bike riding around here is shocking, it is actually offensively bad. A real shame because the weather is exceedingly good compared to the rest of the UK.

Moving from lincs over to Shropshire so at least I won't have a massive hike to a hill!!

I live on the west coast of Norway. it sucks. too many mountains

8)

Only if the surf was good.

Liverpool. Brilliant place to live but utterly shite for mtb in terms of rideable stuff without driving due to the Cheshire plain. Having said that, 90 mins driving in most directions brings great stuff.

Sue_W is the winner for me, sea at the front (for me sea fishing) & hills at the back. Been to Conwy a couple of times & I reckon it would do me!
Darrell's in a better place for the fishing though so it might be a toss up.
Except the beer's probly cheaper in Conwy!

Personally, I wouldn't fancy living by the sea either - love visiting, wouldn't like living.

Oh - and North Wales is full of North Walians 😐

I live on the west coast of Norway. it sucks. too many mountain

What's the riding like over there? I fly to/over Norway (Oslo/Kristansund/Stavanger/Narvik/Tromso) most weeks and on a (rare) clear day the mountains look incredible, particularly around Kristiansund.

In March I will be moving to Yorkshire (new job) and am gutted to be leaving NE Scotland behind, some of the best riding in the UK in my opinion. Before my 8.5 years in Scotland I lived in the Lakes and before that lived/was brought up in North Yorkshire so have always been lucky to live somewhere really great for MTB.

Long time since I rode in Yorkshire but I can't see it living up to Scotland. Still, at least there will be some riding and the Lakes just up the road.

If I had a choice I would stay in Scotland or move back to the Lakes but you have to go where the work is.

I grew up in green south Wales, with some great (but not noted) local loops from my parents' house and late teenage / early twenties years spent in the Beacons, Afan and later Cwmcarn.

I've always been happy with the riding of my adoptive Bristol, but it really took-off when the Ashton Court and Leigh Woods trails were done a few years ago.

I live a ten minute ride from the trails and would find it very, very hard to move away now.

No but would move somewhere with slightly less good riding, to be closer to a beach and some decent surf

I am based in Suffolk, riding here isn't so bad with Thetford a 15 minute drive away. Driving anywhere else can be a PITA especially as friends who ride too are very scarce these days and generally can't be bothered.

Another (Englishman) here from North Wales. Mountain biking ace and road riding even better (right to roam would help). Tend to use the beaches on Anglesey. Lived in Central London for 7 years and don't think I could hack it now. How could I give up my lunch time ride around Pen y pass? Night life far from spectacular, but, well, you can't have it all... can you?

Uni' towns around Peaks and Lakes a possibility, but an international move is more likely. Never back to a place with crap riding.

I live in Southampton..... :-/

It could be worse, there are local trails in Lordswood and plenty within driving distance, though I find myself getting a bit of real mountain withdrawal after a month or two, having moved down from the highlands many years ago now....

To that end, planning the move back up to Edinburgh this year! 😀

One of the reasons I left the RAF was the likelihood that my next posting would take me from Scotland to East Anglia.....the thought makes me feel ill.
I now live and work in the north east of Scotland and have amazing riding locally, can be in the cairngorms in under an hour and can easily get to Torridon for a weekend away.

I do not regret leaving a good career in the slightest to stay where the riding is good.

A few comments about Grenoside on this thread. How is it? It's not too far from me (south of Huddersfield) and always looking for new rides!

There's some fairly decent riding on my doorstep but lots of mud at the minute. I would never live somewhere flat, it seems boring in every sense.

It depends on why you ride and what type of riding you do I guess.

I was brought up in West Lancs (flat as a pancake) but I was always out on my bike as a kid exploring paths, lanes, canals, farms, river banks, etc. I still love this type of riding now.

Every town is surrounded by countryside. You can have fresh air and solitude wherever you live. Yes you may have to drive somewhere to get an adrenaline fix though...

...but now I have some of the best riding in the country on my doorstep 🙂