Biking in Liverpool

I’m accepted in uni in Liverpool for next year and wondering if there’s anywhere worthwhile going on my enduro or xc bike. Won’t have a car so I’ll rely on rail travel.
Cheers!

Delamere is about the closest. It’s not the best but there are are some good rides if you know where to look.

Other than that – trains over to Manchester and then on to Macclesfield I guess.

The nearest station to Llandegla is probably Wrexham so you’ll have a bit of a ride to Llandegla from there.

Can’t really think of anywhere else accessible by train though to be honest.

Oh, and congratulations in your Uni place.

Learn to wheelie on a BSO in tracky bottoms and faux leather shoes while holding a can of Tennents Super. You’ll have plenty of riding mates.

^ Dick.

There’s nowt really on the doorstep – big road scene though.
It is actually possible to get a train to Antur Siniog with a few changes – you’d need to really want to go though, take hours.

Up the coast there’s an impressive stretch of beach / sand dunes / pine forest – worth an explore. Starts at Hall Rd train station and stretches up to Ainsdale. You can have some fine rides here but there’s almost zero rights of way, NT area and rangers who will tell you to do one. Proper sandy as well – fat bike land.

Either way, don’t show up with a valuable bike to university halls on day one – theft can be an issue. Massive buildings, friends of friends of friends passing though etc. Bring it up once you’ve got the lie of the land on keeping it somewhere safe.

If you can’t get access to a vehicle I’d leave the MTB at home,the nearest places to Liverpool for mountain biking are Delamere,Llandegla or Rivington..
Get yourself a gravel/cx bike or even a fat bike, get down the cheshire lines & go on the beach.
There’s quite a lot of sustrans routes about & I think there’s similar stuff over on Wirral.
Formby

Crosby is similar but has Gormleys statues,’Another Place’

It’s flat man…

Grew up in Formby.

Cx bike all the way

What about Sheffield? Seems fairly accessable and some good looking spots?

I’m going off at a tangent here, but back in November, I popped up to Wirral to see family. They have the equivalent of “Boris bikes” around Liverpool, including a pickup point on the nice Sefton Park.

Why not ask here: https://www.facebook.com/LiverpoolUniversityCyclingClub/

Looks like they do organised trips.

Rivington isn’t too far from L’pool and you’ll be able to use your enduro bike there.

There’s some nice little tracks in Thurstaston and around the Wirral.
You could jump on a ferry or get the Wirral line to West Kirby then ride from there.

I went to Liverpool Uni about 20 years ago and took my bike. There are a few places to explore if you hop on a train, Otterspool park used to be good, as above there are some areas on the Wirral. But it’s not exactly enduro bike territory. A lot of the time I p1ssed about pretending to be Jez Avery (google him) on the waterfront.
What are you studying?

Here’s a couple of videos of my lad and his mates riding West Kirby into Thurstaston. They’ve built some cracking lines for Enduro/DH bikes, the camera flattens it all but some of the jumps are fairly big.

Thurstaston

West Kirby, Caldy & Thurstaston

What about Sheffield? Seems fairly accessable and some good looking spots?

May want to brush up on your Geography.

Another suggestion for Rivi/Winter Hill. Still a good 45min drive though/train up to Chorley area
Otherwise as above cx bike up towards Formby/Ormskirk there’s some descent wee trials-emphasis on the ‘wee’ though.

You could try the Woollybacks MTB Club. Lots of members from Liverpool, you would be most likely be able to catch a lift of someone on club rides all over.

University is great

there will be organised uni club rides I expect

http://livunicc.webs.com/mountain

What about Sheffield? Seems fairly accessible and some good looking spots?

If you want the Peak, in an hour and a half from Lime Street via one change in Manchester you can be in New Mills/Chinley/Whaley Bridge, where it’s on your doorstep.

But you’d be better off going to Sheffield Uni in the first place, that’s where all the best graduates come from 🙂

I’m from liverpool and as fair as rail goes I only ever bothered going to Delamere as most other options seemed like more effort than they’re worth. It is pretty crap as mtb goes around there sadly