FOD Verderers Trail with young kids

I’m currently on holiday/melting in wales with the family and have been thinking about trying to go for a ride with littleginge (5 and a 1/2 now) round one of the trials in the Forest of Dean at some point.

Back home I can can happily take him round the blue trails at Thetford without any issue but I wasn’t sure if this would still be the case on the Verderers Trail at the FOD. I’ve not been round any of the trails myself to slow me to use my own judgment so was wondering if anyone here can compare the trails at FOD and Thetford. Or, alternatively, let me know how you’ve gotten on trying it out with younger kids.

The family trail there is the back up option but from the descriptions I’ve read it doesn’t exactly sound like there would be anything there to excite even a five year old. So don’t know if it’s worth the trip.

To be honest I wouldn’t want to be taking my little kids around the Verderers. There are some climbs that they might get a bit disheartened on and some bits are super swoopy fast so you might get other riders coming up on you a bit quicker than you might want.

Whereabouts in Wales are you?

I’ve seen kids that small (and smaller) on Verderers, you might need to tow them up the hills, or walk but the descents will be fine.

The family trail is just hard pack, I took my twins around it in their trailer last year when they were just 2. This summer we’ll be doing Verderers with the on Kids Ride Shotgun seats if that helps you decide (on my hardtail).

I’m sure your kid will love it. If someone comes up behind you, they’ll just have to wait until it’s polite and safe to overtake, the same as with any other slower rider.

Did I mention he’ll probably love it. Just give him a tow, push or walk up hills if needed.
And if he doesn’t like it you can easily bail out down most of the fire roads back to the car park and treat him to a cake or ice cream

There are some climbs that they might get a bit disheartened on and some bits are super swoopy fast so you might get other riders coming up on you a bit quicker than you might want.

That was my worry with this trail vs our usual ones.

We’re somewhere between Monmouth and Abergavenny so not too far from plenty of places I’d be happy to head out to but probably not so well catered for if I want to take the kid out too.

You don’t have to ride the whole trail, jus5 do the first bit and then come back along the main fire road if he doesn’t like it. Or potter around the bottom of some of the other trails/tracks there. They all come out in pretty much the same place.

You could just session the bottom bits to build his confidence as well.

My mate just put up a video of his 6 year old step daughter doing all of Verderers so it’s absolutely doable. I guess it depends on how much experience yours has.

I used to take my kids there a fair bit when they were smaller, its ace. It has also been refurbished so smoother and minimal braking bumps now. We used to just take our time, push when they needed to and stop and snack when they ran out of energy. Other riders were always polite and gave us plenty of room with most of them encouraging the kids as they went past.

Good point from hooli. It’s super smooth at the moment so even the steeper, swoopy bits are very easy. Still takes a bit of commitment and it’s quite a bit of climbing for small legs. As already mentioned, it’s easy to cut it short or session sections. You can also play on the pump track and new coaching lines

Slight aside but is it doable on a gravel bike? Im guessing it will be as its rated blue!

Going on holiday there in about 4 weeks but not taking the mountain bike as only want to take one and the gravel bike will let me get out and about quicker when I get some free time but having the option to ride there, do the trail and ride back might be quite nice of an evening.

Took my 9 year old on it a few months back, she really enjoyed it. We went early so all the mtbers were still in bed, had the place to ourselves.

Bit OT but that vid of 6 yr old Scarlett is great.

She’s lacking a bit of strength to keep the bike under control, which is a given being so young but, her body position going from seated to standing to attack position is awesome to see at such a young age.

Wonder if it is taught or instinct as she looks far smoother than a lot of adults 🤣

We went round a couple of weeks ago with our 9 year old and 4 year old (on the Shotgun) and despite a couple of minor offs, had a great time. One thing I would point out is that kids can vary in ability and confidence pretty wildly so ultimately, only you can judge whether it is likely to be manageable. My eldest came to cycling fairly late and is comparable to the girl in the video, I gather she rides a lot and seems to be very talented for her age.

Well it looks like we are on for heading over tomorrow morning and based mostly on the video @tetrode posted I think we will at least give the first few sections a go. Not convinced we will make it all the way round as there looks to be a fair bit more sustained defending than we’re used to (surprise) but worth a shot before heading for the family trail.

Agree with comments above. All I would say having ridden Thetford years back and riding fod regularly the real difference is the gradient.

That is going to cause two problems, tiredness because of the climbs and a bit a of adjustment to the braking and maybe some reservation initially if it looks steeper etc on the descents.

There is a skills area near the pump track and also a shorter track for four wheelers which is fun also.

As others hAve mentioned you can shorten the loop via some fireroads, but need map etc as not signposted.

Meant to add, it doesn’t mean it’s impossible and the fireroads do give some options to cut short if it does cause any issues.

So, I think it turned out to be a partial success.

We started out in the blue trail but didn’t get too far as the climbs near the start we’re just a little bit too steep for littleginge’s legs with the stock gearing on his Carrera abyss and we don’t have anything like a tow rope as it isn’t needed at home. So we ended up heading back down to the pump track for a bit before heading out on a shorter loop of the family trail.

On the limited selection of descents we managed to try he did much better than I expected with none of the trepidation he sometimes has at home. Probably because he hasn’t crashed, at speed, on these trails before like he has done on some of the more interesting bits of blue at Thetford.

At the end of the ride I seemed to have a very happy and tired kid, so a good day out.

On a gravel bike? Strewth yes. I use it on my commute with 30mm road tyres, mudguards and a saddle bag. Sometimes the fixed as well.

I’m heading to the FoD with my 6YO in a couple weeks – thanks for the vid, tips and write ups, really helpful!

I think we’ll be doing the same as above – pump/skills area, green route mooch and then reward cake. I’ve only just bought her a geared MTB but she has decent stamina on the flat. I think a steep hill could quickly put a pin in her enthusiasm, so won’t be pushing too hard too soon.

She also does body position well but will likely get psyched out by ‘steep’ descents.

We live in S.Manc so was going to get her on the blue at Phillips Park as prep hopefully.

FOD plan also includes daughter being picked up by her mum then me doing blue/red + ride home (hr I think but need to cross the Wye somewhere – canoe, perhaps? 😉

We regularly holiday in the FOD and my kids all did the blue at that age so long as they can climb and buy and a comfortable going a a bit of speed they’ll be fine. There no drop offs and everything can be rollled, just take your time and plenty of sweets as rewards/bribes. I’ve seen kids as young as 4 on it. Edit didn’t see it didn’t work out it’s a nice place to spend some time anyhow

As others have said there is a ‘get out’ onto the forest track if the first section of blue is too much.
There are also little blue sections along the family trail for trying out skills.