Sorry if this has already been mentioned (i couldn’t see it anywhere) But clayton vale mountain bike trails are being officially opened tomorrow!
all sorts of stuff going on including free bike hire, stunt demonstrations, trail tour etc.

Should be a good day out if the weather holds up;)

here’s more info:
claytonvaletrails.org
http://www.nationalcyclingcentre.com/p/mtb-trails-2

Went today for a ride round and the trails are pretty good, a moderate / blue trail which is flowy and a Red that’s pretty steep uphill, few rock gardens and drop offs.

Pretty tight bends on the red so watch out going downhill.

I got talking with a guy who works at the velodrome who told me that they had done a reccy first thing and found wire across the trails ” at chin height ” according to him, also I saw some teens on the trails themselves on a moped 😯

Some of the signs had gone missing as well.

More permanent signs will be going up soon.

It’s early days so hopefully these issues with vandalism will stop over the next few months as its a good place for everyone to cycle, from experienced riders, to families.

we popped over at about 1pm to have a bit of a ride around, and tbh i’ve got mixed feelings about the place.
the trails are good fun, as simmy said the blue flows really nicely. i don’t think the red climbs were all that steep really though (and i’m not much of a climber at all) but i agree some of the berms/rollers etc are quite close together so you’ve got to watch your speed carefully on parts of it.
HOWEVER… the missing signage was a big minus. people riding the wrong way round parts of it, some of the intersections being difficult to tell which way the trail was meant to carry on and the above mentioned wire across the trail- well, i’ll think twice about going there much, and definitely not going to be riding it alone (which to be honest is a real shame as it’s been put together really nicely and is pretty close to where i live so would be convenient for a quick blast if i didn’t have time to go far).

I popped over the other week on a weekday and parked at the velodrome. There was a police car in the in the car park when I arrived and a Renault scenic with the entire back window missing. I didnt see the cop or I’d have asked what had been taken but I’m guessing that a bike had been dragged out while the owners were in the shop or cafe.

As for the trails I’d echo herbivores comments. Great to have new trails locally and once the signage is sorted and the idiots start to leave it alone it will be good fun.

@simmy, the wire across the trails is a horrible thought, I’ve heard about people doing this at Dovestone reservoir. As far as motorbikes and vehicle theft goes, I think we need to remember where we are and where the trails have just been built! they’re in the middle of clayton an newton heath, not the most desirable areas in north mcr.

Just another note on bikes left in cars, I think this is partly the owners own fault, lock it up even if its in the car, A simple wire lock should be enough to put off most opportunists.

I’m wondering how long it’s going to be before the local rifraf start to realise how much some of these bikes we’re riding are worth?!

I pick up my new bike this weekend and couldn’t wait to take it for a run around the vale but i’m starting to think twice about it now. I didn’t care when i was riding a 500 quid hard tail but a brand new 2k full sus might be a bit more tempting for them specially if your on you own:(

Hmmmm…

Hopefully the police or pcso’s will add the new trails to the beat, they have the bikes so i guess it makes sense.

The trails are getting quite a bit of attention now so shouldn’t be long until there’s regular weekend meets etc, safety in numbers for those worried about going alone;)

Oh also forgot to say, the direction of the trails is clockwise apart from a section on the clayton side which runs counter clockwise for a while, here’s a map with direction arrows HERE!

Been a few times now and quite a fan – wire across the trail doesn’t sound good. Guess a slow warm-up lap may be in order if this is happening.
The trail makes the most sense to me as an xc blast. Doesn’t appear to lend itself to easy jumping, throwing the bike around as it’s quite tight through the trees. No doubt you can do this but you’d need to make sure you don’t overcook it – would be easy to end up in the shrubbery.

One steepish drop in particular at the E end of the course seems like a bit of a pre-jump affair, tight landing onto a RH berm (orange trail BP01 on se7en’s link above). Launching off here could be interesting.

yeah, i got the basic idea of how the trail went but at some of the intersections, without any signage in there it was hard to know which one was the dark blue continuing and which one was the red (not a problem for me but my gf didn’t want to do the red sections and was a bit confused at times). and the guys coming the wrong way up the last bit of the red; well, it wasn’t really their fault there was no sign there but to be honest it was kind of obvious to me that they were going the wrong direction up it (they weren’t wearing helmets and had tracksuits on though, so possibly weren’t that used to how trails are meant to look/ride?)

One steepish drop in particular at the E end of the course seems like a bit of a pre-jump affair, tight landing onto a RH berm (orange trail BP01 on se7en’s link above). Launching off here could be interesting.

I found this section a good few weeks ago now and seen the jump/dropoff in question, its even got a little kicker at the top but tbh the RH berm looks way to tight to get any decent air, get that wrong and you’re defo in the trees! lol..
I took some pic’s of it last time i was there coz i plan on hitting that bit this weekend, it’s all pretty much DH and has plenty of rollers and other potential jumps etc, I think this orange section is a freeride/DH/dirt-jump section! looks more appealing to me than some of the other trails. The black section is okay but only worth 2 or 3 runs before you get bored of it and the bottom is so tight you literal have to get off your bike to get round it(I don’t think they got that bit right tbh!) 😉

Those drop offs are brill (red ‘R04’ on the map?). You just pump your way to them then off/only one needs you over the front for a sharp left 😯

Love the flow.

I’ve been up there a few evenings already- so far I’ve spotted a young couple having sex on the edge of the trail. I shouted ‘get in!’ and he grinned whereas she made a grab for her bra in panic

I’ve spoken to a fair few bikers/walkers round there who weren’t on posh bikes. The dog walkers – a few of them seem to be the ones with the issues (hence the dog mess on trails and odd looks). Its an ex-rubbish tip(?) ffs.

Oh and the two British Cycling blokes- I said hello but because I wasn’t wearing a helmet and had tracksuit bottoms tucked into my socks they probably thought I was a scally

I said hello but because I wasn’t wearing a helmet and had tracksuit bottoms tucked into my socks they probably thought I was a scally

you are, aren’t you?

if you’re going over early saturday morning, gis a shout and i’ll probably come over for an hour or so…

Those drop offs are brill (red ‘R04’ on the map?). You just pump your way to them then off/only one needs you over the front for a sharp left

I agree, that section is pretty good:)

Its an ex-rubbish tip(?) ffs.

I dont know where you got that it’s never been a tip! it used to have a hospital, and several industrial buildings on the site many moons ago, that’s what all the red ground up brick is on the clayton side(maybe a fly tip! lol..)

its probably the dog walkers who are putting the cloths lines across the trails! 😕

In a fair few bits (bottom right corner 4 squares): http://claytonvaletrails.org/images/claytonvaletrails.org_trail_map.jpg

I dug around in the side of the trail and theres a fair few medical cast-bottles for medicines so possible! In that area- there is a great deal of buried glass. So maybe its where they tipped it all when they knocked down the buildings?

I’ve stored a few of the complete bottles- quite nice.

xherbivorex – I was going to pop down Sunday as Sat am is my big Peaks ride of the weekend. Depends on weather.

@hora, yea probably, I found some good bottles too, really old, couldn’t be bothered lugging them home though 8)

If either of you are down there this weekend keep you eye out for an idiot being air lifted of the orange section, coz that’ll be me 😀 🙄

I was going to pop down Sunday as Sat am is my big Peaks ride of the weekend. Depends on weather.

can’t do sunday, it’s our first race of the year so i’ll be at lee quarry from 7am marking a course out!

@se7en983

I mentioned the Moped to the lady who runs the Mountain Bike section at the velodrome ( can’t recall her name ) who told me to tell the PCSO and GMP who was there.

Apparently, they have an off road section who have crossers, who can chase the kids on mopeds, but the cars etc, even if they got onto the estate, can’t chase them I case they lose control.

We have all been young and daft so I can understand that, but its a shame because I’m really put off going back again as I’ve been twice and both times met up with motorbikes etc.

The wire across the trails is more of a worry and should be treated as attempted murder.

Apparently, they have an off road section who have crossers

that’s true they do have them but i never seen or heard of it ever happening. in fact i’ve never even seen it happen on all these police chase shows on tv, they seem to use the helicopters first!

The police have never seemed to care what goes on on the vale, thats why the kids go there, hopefully the police will get involved a bit more now, i guess they’ll have to if there’s enough reports filed.

are you aware that the trails have been designed so motorbikes can’t get round them? (apparently), doesn’t stop them trying tho! 🙄

can’t do sunday, it’s our first race of the year so i’ll be at lee quarry from 7am marking a course out!

@xherbivorex – is this race a spectator event and if so when is it?? also where would one look for such news on events there?

Have they bothered to clean up the broken glass and all the other crap from the side of the trail?

I’m keen to take the missus round the blue route but not if it still looks like a rubbish dump. She’s new to riding and there’s a good chance she may come off the bike, if she’s gonna come off into a shit load of glass I’ll give it a miss.

I’ve been 4 times now, enjoyed it each time. I must admit I’ve been on my own 3 times and once with the gf, never saw any wire anywhere and only once have I seen crossers although they were not on the actual trail. Overall I think it’s a nicely flowing run although some sections randomly go from being excellent fast flowing stuff to crank graunching agony of up hills. As others have said will be much better once is better signposted as I dunno about the rest of you posters but I’m not so good at memorising maps of forests! My only other suggestion would be to hold some events there and get a bit of a following! It’ll be getting a battering from me all summer, you’ll probably see me there every tues and weds through the day!

is this race a spectator event and if so when is it?? also where would one look for such news on events there?

oops, only just seen this, sorry!

our race series is the brownbacks races, the next one is on July 7th. spectators welcome; volunteer marshals even more welcome!

^^ The Manchester Midweek Mountainbike Madness series (or whatever its called) is having a round there this summer I think… unless the route won’t make use of the trails?

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/90359/Midweek-MTB-madness-Round-4

Finally popped out to the trails today. It is very nice isn’t it. Perfect little XC venue for training. Will make a nice difference to heading out to HTN land every evening for some hills.