Are trail centres becoming the McDonalds of MTBing?

Up at Haldon, Forestry Commision trail centre near Exeter this evening, sat having a rest after a lap and a van pulls up and a couple of cars next to me with about 4 people going to use the trails. Off they go to use the toilets then get tickets to park. They come back “£3, to park what a f***ing rip-off” etc etc, on and on they went about it before they then to go and use the trails for a couple of hours all for the cost of less than a pint of beer and a lot less than what they excrete in to a urinal or later on to their shoes on Saturday nights.

Is it me or are trail centres becoming the MTB equivalent of McDonalds? They seem to have sprung up everywhere (even Cornwall has one), the menus are all pretty similar wherever you go, they’re designed for fast gratification but somehow overall they’re not very satisfying and they are becoming mostly populated by people like the ones above. What next, being driven to the top of a hill so you can coast your lardy arse down?

Not really.

Uplifts are great.

Nah – there Nando’s. Full of chickens. 😀

Trololol

Ooooooooofffff!

Minty chocolatey biscuit anyone?
Anyway OP, they’ve always been the McDonalds of mountainbiking. Maybe your tastes have just become a bit more sophisticated. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy one now and again though.

Viscount?

In fact – just stop. We can’t be having two McDonalds trolls in the same week. Wait your turn chap.

Lol nandos my favourite 😆

In fact – just stop. We can’t be having two McDonalds trolls in the same week. Wait your turn chap.

Paging Binners..

I though then it was going to be “i took my frineds child there with mine and they had such fun as they are only alowed track riding at home…”

Are trail centres vegan friendly?

anything that promotes and increases cycling is a good thing – people complain about paying parking everywhere but don’t have an issue spending X amount on their bike. Glentress is £5 for the day and I have no issue paying that unless Lewis turns into a grumpy wee shit lol

so long as the actual trails are worth it then paying a few bucks for parking ain’t an issue

so what are you doing there you lardy arse chavvy swearing douche bag.

or is that not you?

seems rather self centred post to me.
maybe worry less about what other people are doing and think more about what you want to do, is there are a reason you are not riding the same trail with friends, like the other lads?

Charlie Sheen has the answers
<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”//www.youtube.com/embed/H19uKs99vIw” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

Have they started handing out kids toys?

No one has ever said “Have a nice day”* to me.

*to be fair I’ve usually just screamed “get the f@#& out may you f@$£(@g morons”

On the way home from swinley I always treat myself to a box meal with gravy from the colonel.

Because I am worth it.

Real vegans do trail quests not trail centres.

Real vegans do trail quests not trail centres.

Do you have to dress up for a trail quest?

If you want to jambo, if you want to.

Are mountain bikers becoming the new whiney girls of whiney girldom.

To be honest I find mountain bike snobs more like McDonalds, pop up everywhere, sometimes 2 or 3 in one place, always sound the same. They seem to manage to describe things that will never exist and leave you hoping you never have to spend any time with them.

Quite like McDonalds. Masquerades as food/riding, but isn’t really.

But, from time to time, when we are passing we nip in for a quick fix. We immediately feel dirty and we don’t tell anyone, but we do it nonetheless.

I like maccy D’s and I like trail centres. I also like other food establishments and other types of riding.

McD’s always has ample parking, clean toilets and fresh relatively cheap coffee. What’s not to like.?

devbrix – Member

What next, being driven to the top of a hill so you can coast your lardy arse down?

Sort of comment often made by people who’ve not done an uplift tbh.

It’s just biking innit?

McDonalds do cheap, shit food. Trail centres often have genuinely testing interesting trails.

So in answer to the question…no!

God I hope not. I narrowly missed contracting new variant CJD in the early 90’s from eating burgers before becoming a veggie. Don’t say I’m at risk again after riding Spooky?

Viscount?

Mmmm haven’t had one of those in years, yum!

devbrix – Member
What next, being driven to the top of a hill so you can coast your lardy arse down?

Uplifted trail centres what a terrible idea… being able to do a huge amount of fun trails in a day without stressing.

McD’s always has ample parking, clean toilets and fresh relatively cheap coffee. What’s not to like.?

**** who just throw their litter out the car window expecting someone else to pick it up despite being parked directly in front of a bin.

God I hope not. I narrowly missed contracting new variant CJD in the early 90’s from eating burgers before becoming a veggie. Don’t say I’m at risk again after riding Spooky?

If you ate school dinners or hospital food in the 80s/90s it’s only a matter of time before your brain turns to Swiss cheese. 😀

If you ate school dinners or hospital food in the 80s/90s it’s only a matter of time before your brain turns to Swiss cheese.

The same can be said for the tablets and acid that was knocking around at the same time. 😯

The same can be said for the tablets and acid that was knocking around at the same time.

That was what my psychiatrist said when he diagnosed my split personality Disorder.

But I disagreed with him, and so did I. 😀

At lease they paid the parking, unlike certain people at a certain trail centre that park on a residential street just outside the carpark to avoid paying towards the facilities they use on a regular basis.

It’s worth 75p each just to ride the skills course. My last trip there cost me a LOT more than £3. Didn’t have a mismatched Stans Crest on the front of one of their bikes did they? 😉

Snob.
Trail centres are great, especially in winter.
Minimal mud! Showers! Cafe!

To be fair I have a moan about the parking every time I drive up to Haldon..

I remember when it was all bloody fields and they used to pay us to go there..
So I park my car at my sister’s down the bottom of the hill and ride up.. That way not only do I get to ride back down to the bottom along St Andrews wotsit, but I also stand a good chance of getting some good vegan grub at the end of the ride, and a cuppa.. all for free just like in the olden days

I can’t recommend this course of action to everyone though as I’m sure some of you wouldn’t like the almond milk, or mouse milk or whatever it is that she puts in the tea.. and her kids are very irritating

. and her kids are very irritating

I am not surprised , Next time take them a happy meal, that will keep them quiet.

this thread needs a contribution from Ronald McDonald and the power of the internet finds this one:
(poss NSFW loud swearing)

£3 to park

They should go to Llandegla, £4.50! for frankly average trails

or whinlatter where’s it’s £5.80 for 4 hours iirc or a whooping £6.90 for all day.

I love natural trails and I also love trail centres, they’re loads of fun, lots of gnar, loads of swoopy crank spankingly good fun. But to continue the analogy No they’re not like McDonalds because they don’t deliver on their promises (the burger never looks like the picture) but trail centres do.