All Mountain Trail Centre's?

A trail centre is always going to a canal path with “features”.

God people do spout some shit on here.

God people do spout some shit on here.

Got a better description of what a bog standard trail centre is?

So of you were to have a DH event and a freeride event on the same course, you’d judge DH on time and freeride on points for flamboyance?

Simple answer is yes. (though a freeride event would be very dull on a DH track)

Long answer is that you haven’t grasped the concept of freeride. DH – having one goal, get down the hill as fast as possible. Freeride – entertaining yourself in whatever way you fancy, but normally involves going big and getting loose, important thing is that there is no right or wrong.

God people do spout some shit on here.

Actually, it’s a fair point. Most trail centres are a bit like that, easy and well surfaced followed by short tech sections.

What trail centres are you riding? None of the welsh trail centres could remotely be described like that. At all.

I tend to do my jaunts on the Welsh ones frequently,does one not think they are AM type centres?

all on my Ibis mojo i might add 8)

Sorry fairhurst, I was replying to spin.
I make no judgement on what is or isn’t AM. I rode stuff in Squamish and whistler described as XC which was hairier than anything outside of DH in the UK so these labels are a nonsense IMHO.

What trail centres are you riding? None of the welsh trail centres could remotely be described like that. At all.

I’d put Dalbeattie, Kirroughtree, Golspie and Laggan in that bracket of ones I’ve ridden recently. This is in comparison to natural riding where difficulties are often more sustained.

So Dalbeattie can be described as a canal path with features?
I’m calling bollocks.

So Dalbeattie can be described as a canal path with features?
I’m calling bollocks.

Fair dos.

If they’re so easy, why are you riding trail centres so much? You’ve ridden 4 “recently”

I dunno but a lot of trail centres seem to be wideish paths followed by a few short singletrack sections then say two set pieces. Gisburn springs to mind as a stunning example of this.

CYB leaves me cold. There’s not a section that I remember fondly.

Glentress does have some memorable bits though that FLOW.

If they’re so easy, why are you riding trail centres so much? You’ve ridden 4 “recently”

Because I’m independently wealthy and can afford to tour the world riding wherever and whatever I like. 😉

I didn’t say they were ‘easy’ just that most centres were of the format: well surfaced section – tech feature – well surfaced section. Natural riding is different cos its err, natural. I like both I just thought that the person who got slated for the canal path comment actually had a point.

When did “mountains” get a 50% downgrade to 1000ft? A mountain is 2000ft in the UK. So those on AM bikes in the Peaks feeling so smug better be careful to stick to Kinder or Bleaklow or there’ll be hell to pay 😉

If you are at 500ft near the foot of a mountain would you be worse off on an XC bike than someone at 600ft on hill riding a AM bikes? It’s bloody complicated.

They are all bikes – some are better at some stuff than others – they are all good – and all probably better at what they do then me so frankly its immaterial as far as I’m concerned!

If it helps – Golspie was the trail centre I have been to that I felt most incapable of riding so probably the most AM.

I have fond memories of Spooky Woods as an ultimate bit of trail.

and Wow what a climb up there!

Natural trails

Whats that then a trail made be a wild dear

i saw this guy, right, who was on a comencal meta 5.5 with 6″ forks, and he rode up and down dumyat and finished with those trails in woods. i rode dumyat and the same trails, yeah, and i was on an inbred with 4″ forks, right, so i guess he was doing all-mountain, and i was just trail-riding.

A good summary of all the trails not at trals centres

“Canal path without features”

HaHaaaa! I love that. What the hell is all this BS anyway. Just grab a bike. Any bike…….& go riding.

If the bike you ride makes you smile then it happy days!!!

How can you not see that Fairhurst is a piss taker of the highest order. Blatantly a WUM

When did “mountains” get a 50% downgrade to 1000ft?

Apologies for this. It was a genuine mistake and only in my head trying to justify the purchase of my All Mountain bike.

Natural trails

Whats that then a trail made be a wild dear

Generally created by man on a horse, or footpaths 😉

“All Mountain” defined by the following characteristics;
On site car park for ones Audi.
On site cafe serving Lattes.
Collective of middle aged men riding expensive bikes for upto a few hours whilst wearing a few hunderd quids worth of gear.

Yup CYB is all mountain..

CYB leaves me cold. There’s not a section that I remember fondly.

Seriously? I like pretty much all of the singletrack/DH sections on the MBR I think they are so much fun. What don’t you like about it? Is it not hard enough?

Blimey – I cycled up (on a ‘road’ – in the loosest French meaning of the word) Mont Bouquet (629m) and descended (off-road – down a lairy pile of babies heads) on my hardtail.

Does this mean that I’ve been breaking the law? Clearly I was foolish attempting such a feat at that altitude (2069ft up) on such unsuitable machinery..

I shall have to sell the kids and buy a full-sus long travel thingumywhatsit to address this foolhardy, naive behaviour. Forgive me. 🙄

Ride where you can, when you can. Difficulty / enjoyment is surely in the eye of the beholder?

Hmm… I would say definitely coed-y-brenin! to me all mountain has to be rough enough to have to use a full suss. Coed-y-brenin fits that bill nicely. I took a close friend there last week and he was gob smacked at how technical it was! In the end he ended up just riding the blue route. I am working my way up to the black, slowly but surely 😀
I’m sure the pros will be able to ride the blacks, but I’m more than happy to be able ride all mountain, i’ll let you all know how scotland goes.

The ‘Black’ trails at CyB arnt that hard they are good fun tho. We took beginners on BSOs round last year and they enjoyed it so much new (proper) bikes were purchased and they enjoyed it even more this year.

rupertpostlethwaite – Member

Hmm… I would say definitely coed-y-brenin! to me all mountain has to be rough enough to have to use a full suss.

Um. I do love CYB, but no.

“he was gob smacked at how technical it was”

It’s fair to say I was impressed by the degree of armouring and glad of the comfort afforded by rear suspension. But were there really many sections that made you stop and go “hmm, I’m scared”?

Ayers rock and the rock gardens on the black at Laggan scared me because I’d never seen anything quite like them on a built trail before.

Stuff like that, within and without trail centres, is probably more fun on a slack bike. But you still need to pedal up so that’s my concept of AM. The new DH trails at Blaenau may qualify as AM it there is a route to pedal up.

I thought Blaenau was supposed to be a DH park type affair.

I think we all know what the OP means. He wants to know which trail centre is most like riding a real mountain and it’s a fair question.

Personally I don’t really like trail centres that much, which confuses me as many of the trails are actually great. The natural (non trail centre) riding does it for me as it’s more about adventure and riding stuff not designed for bikes. I think it’s a mindset thing, a feeling of remoteness and being close to nature.

You know what to expect at trail centres but riding in wilder areas can spring up more surprises. Go to Glentress and you know that at some point you’re going to see some bell end do a bunny hop or something in the car park then look around to see how many people saw his amazing skills.

Kirroughtree black is probably the closest thing to a mountain I’ve ridden at a trail centre. I’d still much rather ride my local trails though even if they are a bit thin on the ground and limited at times.

Ayers rock and the rock gardens on the black at Laggan scared me because I’d never seen anything quite like them on a built trail before.

A few years ago I approached them on a borrowed full suspension bike and thought ‘how does anyone ride that?’

In the last few months I’ve done it clean on a fully rigid bike. It’s a great trail to test your self on and measure your progress.

Laggan does sound like an AM experience,and is on my list to tick off!

what about trying sherwood pines?

Laggan also gives yo a fair bit of the “out in the mountains” feel as well as a fair degree of technical difficulty and its not as manicured as some.

Laggan is a very pleasant day out.

Going back to the original question, I would agree that CyB is the most “all mountain” centre in Wales because it’s the rockiest, and the less skilled rider like me would definitely be better off on a FS bike there. But it’s still pretty tame compared to proper mountains and easily doable on a HT (pack some spare tubes though).

I suppose Brechfa and Llandegla could be classed as a “canal path with features”, apart from the hills. The others are mostly pretty smooth too, which is nice when on a HT.

Looking at google its fookin miles awayfrom me!

A trail centre is always going to a canal path with “features”.

Amen Bruddah.

More or less all the trail centres I’ve been to have been smooth paths followed interrupted by ‘Technical Trail Features’ (TTFs for short) or a tight switchback in case someone picks up an unsafe amount of speed. CyB is the worst offender in my mind – I hated it. I’m surprised people think it’s technically difficult, perhaps I should have been more impressed by my girlfriend when she rode all of the MBR trail on her second time out on a mountain bike 😆

Everything I hate about trail centres is the exact opposite in the peak district. Calling the peak district a trail centre? Just… no.

Everything I hate about trail centres is the exact opposite in the peak district.

I beg to differ. Ride from the Woodbine cafe along nice smooth trails/bits of road, up to the top of the ‘Beast’. That’s like a smooth bit before a tech section. Then go on the road to the bottom of Hagg farm; Ooh look, another smooth bit followed by a tech section. Repeat ad nauseam, finishing with a nice descent, perhaps down Cavedale and ride to the car park…

The over familiarity of the Peak is exactly like a trail centre, right down to the silly names…

Peaks? You don’t see sights like this at Trail Centres

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🙄