I’m sure we’ve all got somewhere that you’ve had that thought? Places that are perfect for a bike park, well situated and maybe in need of some investment.

What ye got?

I give you the Lowther hills.

A closed tarmac climb of nigh on 1000′, really well drained undeveloped moorland (apart from the ski centre), SUW for the XCers, 15 mins off M74, 45 from Glasgow, a pedal from Drumlanrig, not far from AE either.

A town desperate for some form, any form of jobs, currently in the process of buying the surrounding land, perfect for a Dales bike centre style set up, fantastic road cycling, gravel aplenty, it really is a no brainier.

The potential is bloody massive, it really is, so easy to compare to inners.

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Lovely wee afternoon up in the Lowthers, hardly seen a soul, and stunning views.

A post shared by Greg Bowie (@ayrshirealps) on Aug 2, 2020 at 9:52am PDT

Goyt Valley, Derbyshire.

HERE

A one way tarmac climb up the middle with a load of trails off to each side. There is SOME riding there – Forestry Commission have largely been fairly accommodating with some built DH trails and in many respects it keeps the MTBers off to one side out the way of the walkers (popular tourist destination) but there’s always been a bit of an uneasy peace.

British Cycling approached the landowners with a request for the Olympic XC team to use some of the trails for training in the run up to the London Olympics and got a flat no. But the area has such potential and some defined MTB trails and segregated walking trails would really help it. Could do with a cafe hut down there too, that’d be nice.

Kinnoul hill – I know it’s littered with trails, but a few signs, a few separations lower down of walkers and riders. You could have a city centre trail head near the station and park (as they do for the Enduro) rather than the car park half way up.

Callander & Aberfoyle area are crying out for full on MTB, gravel and road routes to be marked and mapped, and again some separation from walking trails.

Imo, most trail centres and rides should now focus on rides from train stations, cities and towns. A few exceptions to keep up rural tourism.

Imo, most trail centres and rides should now focus on rides from train stations, cities and towns.

Agree completely. But the conundrum is that it is these places where people resist trail building/use, as it’s where they do their local walks.

Glentress 😉

Lowther in the middle of winter is a truely grim place/freezer to be

Aberfoyle would make a huge amount of sense, but only if I’m being selfish. It’s busy enough as it is, but could do with more work to really make it a smaller version of the Golfie (with less grip and shinier rocks)

Pentlands – not sure what happened to the plans for the old Lothianburn gold course. Plans went silent

There’s a place in North Wiltshire…

Holden Hill in Devon could be the next FOD, but over the years they’ve never managed to get their plan sorted. There’s a lot of space and a lot of drop but somehow it’s never worked out.

It’s Forestry Commission as well I believe.

Also there must be somewhere around Bath that could become a Bike park or Trail centre

Goyt Valley, Derbyshire.

Interesting, are the current trails proper DH? Worth visiting? (circa 1 hour drive). It appears there’s a decent drop in height.

Goyt Valley, Derbyshire.

Yup would be ideal but won’t happen. Both the gamekeeper and on-site land-manager hate mountain bikers, so won’t do anything other than hamper any kind of change.

The low hanging fruit has been done but not exhausted! There’s about 4-5 woods (not as easily accessible/harder work) that have nothing in them at all. There’s a ridge line that runs the full length of Fernilee Reservoir from “The Street” but would need a lot of labour. You could have a trail network that would span from Shining Tor to Taxal with BPW style multi-splits at halfway and two thirds points.

The recently felled sections are prime for about 3 straight through trails from the top, dual slalom line through the ferns (which are about to die off), splitting to about 3-4 alternates midway down, all merging to a traverse, connecting the strip of woods (similar to Cascadias Tushy, maybe 2 lines in there) out to the bottom road. It would be fairly unobtrusive, decent length runs with alternate lines, in a quiet part of the forest where you only see the odd person, on a sunny day when the car parks are full.

A lot of graft though!

I can think of many, many places that would be perfect that are currently golf courses. 😉

There has been much talk of developing some sort of hub in the Aviemore/Glenmore area. It’s been on the DMBinS plans for a couple of years and got as far as an ideas meeting last year with lots of the locals inputting suggestions to what could be done. Think a combination of bike-park trails and some signposted “natural” routes. The creation of a local Trail Association has helped as it already has a good relationship with local landowners and forestry etc.

There is also a possibility of some sort of trails coming off the Northern Corries in the area currently owned by HIE for skiing. Unlikely it would be from the plateau area but possibly in the Ciste or lower in Coire Cas, from the half-way station. A run from there down to Glenmore would require the co-operation of FLS too but isn’t impossible.

Rivington/ horwich, Wigan/haigh hall.

Both got LOADS of potential. When will councils realise that if you want outside visitors to spend money in your town and if you want to avoid bike/hiker conflict,,, Just build a few proper tracks FFS.

That all sounds perfectly reasonable until you learn how just many folk refuse even to pay for parking at the likes of Glentress.

Stoke-on-Trent, The Trentham estate, the bit between the golf course and the M6.

I’ve said it before: I think Clyde Muirsheil needs some trails. The area south of population centres (Greenock) would, surely, be hugely welcome and big benefit to locals and ‘tourists’ alike.

Its got a lot of perfectly sized hills that are crying out for trails.

Dunkeld already has a mishmash of natural and semi professionally built trails. An effort to build a proper trailhead with decent facilities would raise the game even further. Given that it’s on a sleeper route and there are the full range of accommodation options in the town and around, it would be perfect for development.

More of South Wales. Keep it coming.

Woburn back woods..?

I’ve said it before: I think Clyde Muirsheil needs some trails.

Oooh, good call.

It’s a great location given its proximity to Glasgow, but it’s not half boggy. Would take a lot of work.

Kerry.

Sennybridge training area has huge swathes of land that barely gets touched in favour of the more popular areas of it. Could easily fit a whole load of stuff in there. Bits of the estate get used for hillclimbs so there is some precedent

That all sounds perfectly reasonable until you learn how just many folk refuse even to pay for parking at the likes of Glentress

So true.

£20k camper, £5k eBike and £150 7mesh jacket means they are now skint to be fair.

Also there must be somewhere around Bath that could become a Bike park or Trail centre

Already there, do as many runs as you want by just taking the Park and ride bus to Lansdown…

Cardiff… well since local lock down. We must be the only County in South Wales without one!

Slightly more seriously, we’ve got plenty of MTB places in South Wales now, but if I had to complain, it’s that we’ve lacked a bit of vision. We’ve got the space and hills (if not the elevation) to build something to rival PDS. I guess if anyone knew BPW was going to be as successful as it’s been, they might have picked a larger site.

Also there must be somewhere around Bath that could become a Bike park

Isn’t Windhill bikepark near Bath?

In North Wales, either Llanberis or Bethesda. Both have had interest and I hear there was some advanced discussion for Llanberis. For Bethesda especially, there’s a good-to-go model in Antur Stiniog. Access and uplift is already in place if the Zip World side was chosen.

Be lovely to see some development at Rivi – some work on the San Marino descent and a different way back up, it’s already a busy area round there though, and the landowners don’t really seem that keen.

@P-Jay agree – there’s so much land here that’s really not being used for much else, there’s easy access to the top and bottom of the hills, it’s easy for everyone to get to from wherever, and it’s easy to get people out to hospital when they break themselves. You can even come by train.

The Bedwas colliery site would be a great start. It’s just derelict land now.

Not on the scale of inners but I think there are lots of possibilities for small bike parks (think windhill) all over the south / southwest. There are many area with better topography than Windhill in the same rough area of North / centeal Dorset, east Somerset etcc that could be very popular

There are many area with better topography than Windhill in the same rough area of North / centeal Dorset,

North Dorset already has Okeford Hill bikepark.

There used to be official DH trails at Melbury Abbas too and they ran races etc. https://www.facebook.com/melburyabbasDH/

Lowther in the middle of winter is a truely grim place/freezer to be

True, but same can be said of all the other 7 stanes once they get harvested.

I’d purposefully suggested this area, as it’s not in a forest, no harvesting, no closures due to another woodland disease, and much easier to plan and build descents.

From Lowther hill down to the village is north facing, so generally sheltered.

Considering how busy Swinley and Cannock get, having decent trail options near where people live is what will grow MTB, ,muxh as I love Wales and The Peak, they’re really not ‘day trip’ destinations for a huge chunk of the UK population.

I’m always struck by how good a shortish Red/Blue loop from Ashridge monument could be, making good use of the elevation Tom’s hill gives, starting and finishing in the (excellent) Brownlow cafe, going down the side of the hill away from the popular walkers paths.

It would need to be pretty well surfaced as Ashridge mud is a special kind of claggy horridness but with it’s proximity to the M25/A41 it would be hugely popular.

Arguably that’s a good reason not to do it, area’s busy enough already and the wealthy older locals may object, the National Trust are sadly nowhere near as pro-MTB as the FC.

The Peak, they’re really not ‘day trip’ destinations for a huge chunk of the UK population.

er – right in the middle of manchester,sheffield, leeds , birmingham ,derby, nottingham- I’d say its perfectly positioned for a big chunk of the uk population

North Dorset already has Okeford Hill bikepark.

Yeah, I haven’t made it there yet but it’s opening times are only weekends makes it hard

Problem with England is so much is off limits. Large chunks of woodlands on steep hills and fenced off as part of a big estate. Fair amount like that in Devon outside of Dartmoor. When I moved to Surrey I was quite surprised how much is accessible.

Getting bike parks and trail centres built though requires a lot of work and land owner willing to open up the land, and then is it open to general public or private park. Easier maybe where there is already public access but then you’ve got the battle with walking groups and conservationists.

+1 there needs to be the unofficial first really to build the local scene.

I suppose the big question is who is going to play for all these special playgrounds for mtbs?