Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 188 total)
  • Do you like trail centres?
  • whitestone
    Free Member

    I don’t and I don’t know why.

    Following on from the traditional XC thread I got to wondering why I avoid trail centres. And it is active avoidance to the point of preferring to not ride than visit one.

    Technicality: not really, I’ll do technical trails elsewhere that are as hard or harder than stuff at TCs. I tend not to want to do jumps or get air though.

    Fear: (possibly tied to technicality) but unlikely. I climbed to a high level for thirty years and was quite content to push on into situations where a mistake meant serious injury or death.

    Crowds: even with a full car park once you get going you are unlikely to see many people unless you stop or come across a group that’s stopped. You might hear a few whoops and shouts but that’s about it.

    I was trying to think of an analogy, maybe McDonalds vs a pub lunch – I’ve been in a McDonald’s exactly three times in my life – then I realised that nothing’s that bad. Perhaps climbing on climbing walls vs natural crags is better.

    Note for those that can’t read: I’m not saying TCs are no good, I’m saying that I don’t like them. Two completely different things, don’t conflate them.

    So why should I like, or grow to like them? What do you like about them that keeps you going back?

    jam-bo
    Full Member

    i like them but not enough to make a particular effort to go to any. if I’m passing one then I’ll try and stop off.

    bit like burger king.

    Sandwich
    Full Member

    Useful in the depth of foul winter weather (wet and warm enough not to be frozen) when an armoured trail won’t be a bog. Also stops the natural stuff being churned to 10m wide motorways as the mincers avoid the wet in the middle of the trail.

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    chiefgrooveguru
    Full Member

    I tend not to want to do jumps or get air though

    Maybe your subconscious is embarassed about that? 😉 There are a lot of trail centre trails where it’s impossible to stay glued to the ground unless you’re riding rather slowly, so many are built for easy flow with lots of berms to carry speed and rollers to pump and air.

    wors
    Full Member

    I went to Gisburn with my son yesterday as he wanted to ride some berms and jumps etc, we had a great time. For my normal riding though I have some great trails pretty much from my doorstep, so I wouldn’t normally drive to a trail centre. I have nothing against them, if one was in riding distance to where I live then I would probably incorporate it into a ride.

    spawnofyorkshire
    Full Member

    Yes and no. I’ve had some really fun TC rides and they’re great for introducing people to MTB’s, however my favourite rides have all been on ‘natural’ trails.

    Lawmanmx
    Free Member

    i like C-y-b 🙂

    ton
    Full Member

    loved em to bits when my lad was growing up. from the age of 12 to 16 we rode every one that was open in the uk.
    Laggan and Newcastleton were his faves for some reason. I loved Brechfa.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    I love (some of) them.

    Swinley for example serves a purpose as somewhere I can ride locally without having to spend an equal amount of time afterwards cleaning the bike in winter. It’s one up from the turbo or road rides (I quite enjoy trainer road and clubruns, but variety is nice).

    Cannock is a bit like Swinley, and near my parents.

    Dalby I couldn’t stand, it just doesn’t work. It’s like all the worst bits of natural riding (long ploddy sections with no real challenge, not making the absolute most of the climb/decent) mixed with the worst of trail centers (no view, paying to ride, busy).

    Glentress on the other hand is amazing. The trails just flow perfectly, I’m not an amazing rider (quite happy on jumps/drops/rocks/corners but not amazing and nothing bigger than a foot or two in the air) but even I found myself flying through the air, hipping jumps, drifting corners, because every feature just seemed to be sized perfectly for the speed you’d be going at, just switch your brain off and keep the speed up. Yes Scotland is amazing for ‘proper’ riding too, but I can see why a lot of people quite happily drive 8 hours to get there and only ride GT.

    They’re also great for taking beginners round. Someone has already thought through the difficulty level of the trail, all the features have decent sight lines and the penalties for failure are rarely too bad and you don’t have the added stress of navigating or them worrying about miles, just tell them it’s 15 miles and there’s 30 trail posts, then they can see exactly how far there is to go.

    jam-bo
    Full Member

    loved em to bits when my lad was growing up. from the age of 12 to 16 we rode every one that was open in the uk.

    I can see now my boy is getting riding then trail centres might feature more strongly in my riding. You know what exactly you are going to get, 100% rideable, no boggy HAB etc and a cafe at the end to refuel him.

    IHN
    Full Member

    it is active avoidance to the point of preferring to not ride than visit one.

    +1

    To be honest, I can understand why people do like them more easily than I can describe why I don’t, but I don’t. Different strokes for different folks.

    deanfbm
    Free Member

    I like riding my bike, generally doesn’t matter where, TC’s aren’t my favourite, but I’m on my bike so like it.

    The stuff I do detest are “faux” bike park style bits, basically jumps which are rubbish and simply don’t work *BPW* cough like a blown out blue trail, well rubbish jumps in general.

    You like what you like, you don’t like what you don’t like, it’s fine.

    Mister-P
    Free Member

    I like them. I live in quite a flat part of the country so if I want hills I have to drive. If I’m going to drive somewhere I want to have an idea of what riding I’m going to get. Some may think that is lazy MTBing and they are probably right. But I’ve never been disappointed.

    wobbliscott
    Free Member

    not sure why the hang up on trail centres. I don’t really thing any differently about them than natural stuff – I just ride what I fancy at the time. If I feel like something more challenging and technical i’ll head for natural stuff, but sometimes I fancy a nice fast flowy trail and natural trails tend not to flow as well as a man made trail. There is something metronomic and relaxing about a fast flowy trail which sometimes is what I fancy that day. If i’m in a more gnar mood then i’ll go natural.

    I also tend to ride trail centres if the weather is crap. I just feel that going out onto natural trails while the ground is wet and boggy is going to cut up the trail more and cause more erosion.

    Relax it’s all good riding. Different horses for courses – or maybe the other way round in this case.

    zilog6128
    Full Member

    Maybe your subconscious is embarassed about that?

    +1
    OP is scared (subconsciously?) that some Gnarwal will laugh at him rolling a jumpy bit, then run off with his girl.

    In which case he should relax, it doesn’t happen that often.

    mrlebowski
    Free Member

    I think they are pretty good.

    Back in the day the best we had was cheeky trails & bridleways that in the winter got churned into a12″ deep bog which makes for some bloody grim riding…

    Now there’s all year trails, it’s sign-posted, there’s a cafe & car park – what’s not to like?

    Yeah, there’s a time & a place for going off into the ulu with a map but you can’t beat a TC for smiles per miles IMHO.

    andywoodall
    Free Member

    I just like riding my bike. Sometimes that’s at a trail centre, somewhere its just ‘natural’.

    A more in depth answer is that some trail centres blur the lines between the traditional model (somewhere like Llandegla for example) and the more natural great outdoors, I’m thinking here Nant yr Arian.

    I confess, if there is a group of us, and we want to get out and ride without over thinking anything, I find a visit to Llandegla hits the spot, but then I have good local trails also, and its perfectly possibly to do the same without much difficulty. Maybe we just love the burgers and cake.

    esselgruntfuttock
    Free Member

    Trails centres aren’t for me.
    I don’t know if it’s because I started riding before they came along & I haven’t ‘adapted’ to the flat out riding I think you have to do to get the most out of them, or that I simply prefer being in the middle of nowhere with a map & seeking out natural trails.

    ads678
    Full Member

    Horses for courses innit. No reason you should or shouldn’t like them.

    I don’t get why people actively dislike them though, a bit like McDonald’s, if you don’t like it don’t go, but don’t bang on about it like it makes you better person for not liking or not going. (This bit is not aimed at the op, just generalising).

    I like trail centres, natural riding, pub lunches, al a carte dining and McDonalds sometimes.

    hammerite
    Free Member

    Our natural trails round here are a bit boring. Miles and miles of flat bridleway around the edges of fields. A brief but fun jaunt in a woods every so often. For me going to a trail centre makes going to ride a different/new area more accessible. If I’ve got a 3-4 hour round trip I can’t be stopping every few hundred metres to check a map and see if I’m going the right way (although that’s what I’m going to do this weekend!).

    Of course that’s not a reason for you to like trail centres. If you’ve got good natural riding on your doorstep then no reason to bother with trail centres.

    jekkyl
    Full Member

    The thing I like about trail centres is that you’re ‘constantly engaged,’ you constantly have to be aware what’s ahead of you, what’s coming up and be thinking of how to tackle it. With natural rides you are engaged but much less so, long flat out bits of track with some grassy ruts or some rocks or whatnot are good but not as engaging as trail centres.

    MoreCashThanDash
    Full Member

    I’m a nontechnical, wheels on the ground redsocked mountain biker. Most of my riding is bridleway bashing which I can do on a CX if I wanted to.

    I do like easy trail centres though, Scottish blues, the red at Sherwood Pines. Don’t have to think of a route, usually dried in poor weather, café to hand.

    I’d like a burlier skills compensator and some coaching to try my hand at some proper reds, but can’t do it often enough to justify the cost.

    fifeandy
    Free Member

    Yes, I like them a lot.
    They are a known quantity if you like – when you turn up to ride a red grade trail you can have a reasonable expectation of what you’ll find. No swamps, no paths that disappear into impenetrable gorse bushes, no hike-a-bike, no gates/styles.
    Add that they are actually designed for MTB’ing and generally things flow quite nicely in a way that is rare on natural trails.

    Obviously not all TC’s are born equal, but anywhere with onsite changing, cafe, bike shop/hire really just combine to make it an easy day out.

    Gilles
    Full Member

    I like them because i can ride natural stuffs nearby and use their cafe for a break.

    IHN
    Full Member

    Trails centres aren’t for me.
    I don’t know if it’s because I started riding before they came along & I haven’t ‘adapted’ to the flat out riding I think you have to do to get the most out of them, or that I simply prefer being in the middle of nowhere with a map & seeking out natural trails.

    +1 to this too.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    If I’ve got a 3-4 hour round trip I can’t be stopping every few hundred metres to check a map and see if I’m going the right way (although that’s what I’m going to do this weekend!).

    Agree entirely, if I’m off for a weekends bikepacking somewhere new I’ve no issue with taking it easy, plodding along with the map bungeed to the stem, stopping at every junction and generally enjoying the experience. And I’m probably on a bike that suits that (rigid, XC geometry, maybe even singlespeed).

    If I’ve got 4 hours to spare in the morning and I’m on a 120-150mm travel ‘Gnarpoon’ I want to ride 40miles with as much climbing and descending as my legs can stand followed by cake and coffee and drive home in time for an afternoon trip to IKEA / Hell. Trail centers are just good riding. I’ve no different opinion of them to a guidebook route in the Lake District, Peak, Wales etc.

    Same with sailing, I’d much rather go down to the coast and sail round the Isle of White battling whatever nature throws at that idea. If I can’t do that then 2 hours of tactical racing round a gravel pit in the shadow of the M4 on a Sunday morning followed by a beer in the club house fills the boat shaped hole in my weekend.

    ton
    Full Member

    done a few uplifts at trail centers over the years. Ae, Revolution, Inners are cracking.

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    We’re all different, I don’t know why it’s difficult for some folks to accept this.

    Frinstance, I have never, ever once decided to ride somewher because it has

    onsite changing, cafe, bike shop/hire

    – I go to places for the quality of riding, or what I fancy that day, or where mates want to go.

    YMMV

    neilsonwheels
    Free Member

    If it involves riding a bike then it’s all good as far as I am concerned.

    IHN
    Full Member

    The thing I like about trail centres is that you’re ‘constantly engaged,’ you constantly have to be aware what’s ahead of you, what’s coming up and be thinking of how to tackle it. With natural rides you are engaged but much less so, long flat out bits of track with some grassy ruts or some rocks or whatnot are good but not as engaging as trail centres.

    This hits the nail on the head for me; I don’t want to be constantly engaged. I want to look at the scenery, think about stuff as I ride along, chat to the people I’m with, all whilst riding along on my bike. Trail centres are all about the riding, and less about the other stuff, and it’s the other stuff that makes it for me.

    esselgruntfuttock
    Free Member

    With natural rides you are engaged but much less so, long flat out bits of track with some grassy ruts or some rocks or whatnot are good but not as engaging as trail centres.

    This is true but it depends on why your’e out on the bike in the 1st place. For me It’s about just being ‘out’, so I’m engaging with the whole outdoors thing. I could be whizzing down some rocky descent but I might stop just to look at a view & get the binocs out if I see something.
    Trail centres are great for encouraging kids to get out that’s for sure. My lad rides Hamsterley a lot but he still loves doing natural stuff with me. He says It’s like being out with a speedier David Attenborough!

    Beaten by IHN!

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    My reasons
    1. no views generally does not feel like a big day out in the mountains
    2. the rocky /technical sections make me laugh as they are all rollable on a shopping bike
    3.The ones in the lakes are not that great
    4. I have to drive past great natural riding to get to them

    The thing I like about trail centres is that you’re ‘constantly engaged,’ you constantly have to be aware what’s ahead of you, what’s coming up and be thinking of how to tackle it.

    the think is in a trail centre it has been risk assessed and signed off. Most climbs are anything but engaging as its death by bland fire road and if its red everything is roll able and plenty of black as well] IMHO the last thing you need to do is actually pay attention to what is coming up next or how to tackle it [ dont brake will cover 99% of what you encounter]. In nature literally anything could come up that may or may not be rideable and you actually need more skill to ride natural than trail

    TBH i dont see what it matters I like natural you like trail centres

    I dont care what other people want to ride it is their choice and I respect it

    I also generally do uplifts when I go to trail centres as I just view them as large BMX tracks

    YMMV

    tomhoward
    Full Member

    I think they are brilliant because I like nothing more than sneering and looking down my nose at people who ride them and enjoy them. Plus it keeps them all off the long bridleway climbing slogs that lead to nice big wide bridleway descents and 68 yards of singletrack that’s miles away from civilisation. You know, ‘pure’ mountain biking.

    everything is roll able

    Ride it faster/better. It’s possible to ride A-line in whistler (a black trail) without your wheels leaving the ground. Do a google image search for it and you struggle to find a pic of a bike in contact with the trail.

    kimbers
    Full Member

    trail centres are great when you have limited time and/or dont know the area

    also good for a social meet up as they are relatively accessible, often have a cafe, skills sections etc

    also very good for winter as they are often surfaced & repaired when off piste stuff can be a boggy soul destroying mess!

    they have their place but they arent everything, can be very busy, and too sanitised, the best trails ive ridden arent on a trail centre

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    the think is in a trail centre it has been risk assessed and signed off. Most climbs are anything but engaging as its death by bland fire road and if its red everything is roll able and plenty of black as well] IMHO the last thing you need to do is actually pay attention to what is coming up next or how to tackle it [ dont brake will cover 99% of what you encounter]. In nature literally anything could come up that may or may not be rideable and you actually need more skill to ride natural than trail

    On the other hand, unless you’re riding something cheeky/illegal or man-made (in which case, isn’t it just the same as a trail center just without a cafe), any natural bridleway in principle has to passable by a horse, which makes it somewhat less technical.

    P-Jay
    Free Member

    Love ’em.

    Living in Cardiff, 6 months after buying a bike I discovered these places where you could turn up and for a couple quid parking you could ride trails when you knew where you were going and you weren’t going to end up hub deep in mud or trying to lift a bike over a barbwire fence as a farmer screamed at you for all the crimes any cyclist had ever committed ever – it was frankly disheartening to learn that not every town/city in the UK had a handful of TCs at its outskirts.

    It was probably 10 years of ever increasing thrill seeking that I actually started looking for non-TC stuff to ride and I love that too, but it’s a lot less ‘efficient’ it’s a rare day when I’m not leaving the house with a deadline in mind and a half dozen other things to do that day – it’s a gamble to head up to Brecon or even Caerphilly and wander into the woods hoping to find something to ride – sometimes it’s just a subline ribbon of trail that goes on for miles and ends at a pub, sometimes it’s an endless sequence of dead ends, access issues and mud.

    In 13 years of visiting TCs I’ve only every encountered ‘attitude’ a couple of times – every time bar one I’ve gone to Cannock (I don’t know what it is with that place) and once at Afan when this strange man strode the length of the carpark to politely tell my mate his lovely new bike was in fact crap – not in general, but each park specifically – he especially disliked the forks for some reason.

    I’ve never been told my jumping is crap (well other than by my mates) and once I did the most embarrassing thing ever, and not a single soul took the piss – I strode confidently from the uplift Bus and Cwmcarn and headed down the Mojo first (back then we tried to race the bus or you might miss it) and headed down to find a new line I’d never ridden before, unknown to me the ENTIRE bus followed us, took on this new line and immediately knew it wasn’t my cup of tea, deep rut, tight tress either side, full of roots but I kept going to the end – the end was a 2ft drop into the middle of as turn on the main line, 10 years later I still don’t know how you’re meant to ride it – not a clue, but people do – I hit the panic brake, sliiiiiiiiide stop, phew, 5 seconds later sliiiiiiiiiiiiide “donk” as my mate front tyre hit my rear sliiiiiiiiiide “donk” as another ride hit him, “donk” “donk” “donk” “donk” “donk” “donk” “donk” “donk” “donk” “donk” “donk” “donk” “donk” as 16 of us (including Fionn Griffiths and a few Mojo riders) came to a stop so the fat lad at the front could work out how to ride a bike – seems everyone wanted to try this new line the lad in the bus had been talking about, that’s probably how I’d managed to get out the gate first. Still no one took the piss, which was nice.

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    It’s possible to ride A-line in whistler (a black trail

    Whilst I am not up to speed on terminology is that not more freeline than trail centre?
    Obvs the phrase trail centre covers many things – heck you could call red bull rampage a trail centre if you wanted to but i am sure you understand the point i was making in reference to the majority of UK trail centres that we are likely to ride.

    mrlebowski
    Free Member

    Most climbs are anything but engaging as its death by bland fire road

    I can think of 3 TC’s where that’s not the case, & that’s just ones I know: Cwmcarn, Glyncorwg, Brecfa.

    JY, I feel perhaps you’ve lucked out on your choice of TC’s.

    Likewise the reds & blacks – go faster, you’ll soon be using your brakes!

    But yeah, horses for courses.

    iainc
    Full Member

    Nobeerinthefridge – Member
    We’re all different, I don’t know why it’s difficult for some folks to accept this.

    ….next thing you’ll be acknowledging the virtues of the xc course at Cathkin… 🙂

    joefm
    Full Member

    Bridleways are boring except for scenery. I think there is some confusion with what natural trails are. Some clearly think its a bridleway. Others must be thinking of local made steep single tracks like Dyfi

    Trail centres don’t require much thinking about.
    Good for when conditions elsewhere are terrible but generally I avoid.

    Prefer it steep and natural or local dug single tracks where I’m forced to think about line choice (not boring bridleways).

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