Not been before, and thinking of driving up for a night or so betwixt Christmas and New Year..

Are the trails all weather- do they get badly affected by either mud or ice?
Can I err sleep in the carpark-got a campervan, can I just parkup on day 1 and not leave? Are there showeres? Not too concerned by the potential cold. If not, where's the closest halfway decent hotels- I hate b&b's.

Google will sort you out with accommodation – there's plenty and expensive over the Xmas period of course.
Look at Pickering, Thornton Le Dale, Malton (15mins away) as is Kirby Moorside and Helmsley.
B&B will be a better bet.

Remember that BM have their annual ride there from 10:30-ish on the 28th.

It can be slippery when frozen due to the rock and stone used in the trail building. No idea about showers – maybe have a look at the Forestry web site. Don't know what's open there and when – again look up Purple Mountain who operate the café and bike shop.

I'll be there most days. Give me shout when you know when you'll be there and we'll try and hook up. It's about a 3hr ride without the snow!

How far you driving?

I've been a long time fan of Dalby but went up last weekend and almost died of boredom. Only did the new red from the visitor centre to Dixons Hollow but there seems to be very little flow in the trail (the first descent after Go-Ape does actually go down but you feel knackered by the end of it because of all the little rise and falls). There is work going on with some sections to just flatten the trail off, making it feel like more of a footpath than a red graded bike trail – theres even one section just before Dixons Hollow which used to be alright – no flow at all but rocky and made you think (a little) – theres now a completely flat bypass to the first bit – its like a blue/green option on a red graded trail.

Didn't bother with the rest, just sacked it off and took fire-roads back apart from one bit of the old red which was excellent. Au natural almost.

Like I said, used to love it but it sent me to sleep. Trail centres are meant to offer a decent alternative to natural riding – offer more bang for your buck but I believe there is MUCH better natural riding within easy range of Dalby.

In terms of your other questions, yep – sometimes theres LOADS of ice. We used to ride it the day after boxing day every year.

Don't think you can park up and not leave – there aren't any showers I'm aware of either. There is a camp site at the entrance to Dalby and one just after the visitor centre though.

Davey Boy – you rode a very small amount of the trail. The rest of it is excellent – the section you rode is quite hard going, perhaps if you rode it more you'd be less knackered? Jokes… The rest of the red was varied, enjoyable and challenging in places. Worth the trip? Possibly – I was there for the NPS and SSUK and both those courses used off-piste stuff as well as marked routes – there is a lot to find round Dalby…

I used to live in York and for the last few years have had a season pass – the number of times I've done the full red probably outnumbers a lot of people on here so I know what the rest of its like. Just seems to me that they're making the descents easier and leaving what I think are the crap bits, erm, crap. If people can't ride a few rocks on a red graded route they shouldn't be there – certainly shouldn't be time and money being spent on easier bypass sections.

The off-piste/old red is better than the new purpose built stuff in some cases. And now I read that the black/old Pace DH at the top end of the lake is getting demolished to make a new red descent (the current red desecent there is sh*t enough, why make another?!).

By the way, I fully appreciate whats been done there, I just think that as time has gone on, the sections that could be revisited and made better are being overlooked in favour of taming down some of the more technical bits.

My fear is that it'll become worse than Llandegla – BMX track smooth but without the speed and flow that Llandegla has.

Dalby ? Always full of single speed freaks and good mates ridding and taking the #iss out of each other when I’ve been there !!!!! even the head forest guys rides In there most weeks. All seems a bit weird, good mates, ridding hard but still larking about ? Freaks I tell you !!!!! 😉

http://www.bigbearbikes.co.uk/
I think they have accommodation

Thanks, have spoken to bigbearbikes- conditions at the moment seem marginal and there's more snow forecast – might have to hold off making a decision for a few days.

http://www.metoffice.com/weather/uk/yh/scarborough_forecast_weather.html