Finding 'new' trails

Went out today & thought i’d try to find the beginning of a trail* i’d seen a couple of riders descending the last time i was in that area. Missed it completely so carried on & eventually came to the bottom, only thing for it was to head up the trail to see where it started.
Fantastic! OK, it involved a lot of stop/start and pushing & the occasional carry because the although it looks like its a fantastic & technical downhill route its a pig if you’re heading upwards.
I love finding new (to me) stuff, i’d wondered about this one for a while but as its a wee bit cheeky* its definitely not one for a sunny weekend. Couple of points that i know damn well i can’t ride down but i’m looking forward to giving it a go 🙂

*i.e. not a bridleway..

Love exploring!

I can’t believe i’d never seen the beginning of the trail, but its hardly more than a faint mark on the moorland grass & it butts up to the original trail were its a little technical so easy to miss i suppose.
Must admit its changed my understanding of the local geography, never knew this little hidden clough even existed.

Found a cheeky trail last year in the same way, at the bottom wondering where that went up to, a bit of hike-a-bike later cracking little trail.

Bit disappointed in the end as it was a bridleway 😕 that I had ridden past loads of time as the entrance was overgrown and a year on it still is 😳

Love exploring too. Sometimes putting off folk behind me when my neck swivels rounds and I jam on the brakes “I wonder where that goes/comes from”.. Some gems have been found, sometimes just sheep / deer trails..

I have done the opposite though, wondered where a trail went & ended up on a featureless moor stood in a peat bog..

I generally dislike strava, but it’s awesome for finding cheeky trails just like this.

Yup also love finding new stuff, it can be difficult though if you’re with others and have a route planned or if you start down the new path say off a hill summit, will it play out better than the downhill you already had planned off that top, how long do you keep going on it hoping it’ll get better.

‘Nothing ventured, nothing gained’ is my motto for trail finding, along with ‘if you can’t find it, cut it’.

The trails over Calderdale are made by Yorkshiremen following sheep 😉

Mendip trails are mainly started by badgers

I love finding new trails and usually end up starting at the end in the same way as you OP. What I don’t successfully do is ever manage to link up all of the bits I find ever again into a loop…so it’s like finding everything all over again.

Balls double post

Ahhh… Badgers….

See what might be a trail, prepare my best “oh sorry, i think i’m a bit lost” speech & smile, and tallyho, off i go…….. 😉

The Strava heatmap gives most of them away.

And Lo! I post on here about finding something new then the very same evening I turn a page in the latest issue to find its a double page spread in the bike review!

I’ve been exploring the trails around Woburn the past week, found some awesome bits of singletrack. The one near the church is so good, probably better than most of the stuff in the bike park area actually! Definitely goes on for longer as well.

Iv been exploring over the Long Mynd recently (via Strava and other sites). Loads of cheeky stuff to explore. I love it when you find enough decent stuff to make a great loop – not far off that at the moment.

love riding new trails. 🙂

I’m always looking for those ‘new’ trails, that different path, either when out riding or even if I’m driving somewher. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. In fact I feel a story coming on:

Driving to my dad’s old place I spotted a downhill track that disappeared off the main rd. I thought next ride I’ll check that out. Sure enough it was a decent ride but at the bottom it led to some woods so I carried on. Inside there I followed the edge of a lake to a farm track. Feeling perhaps I shouldn’t be there I headed back but could not find the original track. All the others led me round in circles to either the farm or an empty field!

After about 20 mins of riding round I thought I’d found it, only to enter a clearing and find a moss covered tin shelter with a (very clean and tidy) white garden chair outside. It was seriously creepy!

Anyway, I kept attempting to retrace my route and found it eventually. Turns out I’d had to duck under trees and through a chicane of bushes that covered the trail when looking for the other direction. Doh!

Amazing how quick you find it when you feel someone is watching you though!

good fun coming up with names for em too!

missed the strava heatmap thing but i’ve just had a look at the woods in my area and they’re lit up like Beijing from the ISS at night 😀 i’ll be busy over summer…

but my favorite way to find trails is spot the exits/track the tyre prints (like a pretend north american indian trail tracker!). out on sunday me and a pal just rode up a path i’ve seen on my commute to be greeted with a nice wooded area with lots of singletrack making a figure of 8 loop, plus a line with a few small-mid size jumps and one beast of a drop into a bomb hole which must have been a part of a mine. about 7mins ride from my door! 🙂

Found a belter at the weekend, cutting original route short due to overenthusiastic planning so just looking on the map for a more direct detour from the route than we’d started.
Turned out to be three quarters of a mile of tech at an average 31% decline 😀

I love finding new stuff and the walk up from the bottom is probably the most common method. I also go on shop rides as people build stuff all the time (deliberately very well hidden) and its very useful to see people ride stuff which at first looks impossible.

Finding new (to you) trails is one of the great joys of mountainbiking. I reckon on about a 1 in 10 return rate for every hopeful bit of singletrack I spot turns into something decent.