What kind of MTB riding is here and hereabouts and what are the fun ground conditions this time of year-sandy grippy or drifty slippy?
Ta.

Not lived there for over 10 years but muddy and gloopy at the moment I’d expect. Nothing particularly gnarrr but lots of nice old xc style riding west of Wycombe and over towards Henley. Mbuk had a route in this month. Another option is Aston Hill over by Wendover.

i think (and everyone’s different…) it’s better west, up by Chrismas Common etc, or further west still (north wessex downs).

It’ll be wet chalk now. Gets everywhere. If it doesn’t, you’ll slip on it

Cheers Jeffl,I’ve had a brief look on strava etc and seems most rides are west of High Wycombe-I’ve got family in south west of there and was looking at options for future rides .

South west of HW?

There’s plenty of riding round Henley / Hambleden and it’s not too gloopy. All quite old school XC but bits n pieces of steeper stuff

As the others have said loads of lovely xc style riding in the woods around Christmas Common and towards Henley plus some good fast descents if you hunt around. Even some lumpy jumpy stuff lurking. Unfortunately will be a boggy hideous mess until next year now. I reckon quite a few of the trails would actually be perfect for a gravel bike.

Much like others have said, plenty of decent XC type riding.

But at the moment is a chalky mess. Irritatingly it sticks to absolutely everything but offers absolutely no grip

Not checked but I imagine The Ridgeway is rideable

Thanks for the info and and advice,I’m looking forward to sliding around there soon.Cheers.

Im near Penn and everything is currently soaked through. Aston Hill is my usual and that’s a mud fest at this time of year.

Went for a ride last weekend NE of there, Ashridge Estate and around. Good fun trails, but the funnest ones, that would be swoopy, rooty hardpack in the dry are slippy as hell and most of the roots are running in the wrong direction! Still fun, just a different sort of fun. It’s a great feeling when you start getting a feel for riding the slides.

I imagine the novelty might wear off after a while, though. I don’t know how much I’d be up for twice weekly helpings of riding and sluicing off bike and kit if they were my local trails.

It was great until a couple of weeks ago – now it’s a mudfest all over the Chilterns. If you want to avoid the mud, Swinley or Woburn are the closest alternatives.

Anyone remember ‘where Red Kites Fly’ in the old forum. That detailed a great little 36 miler in that area.

There’s a pretty comprehensive Strava here

Chilterns

actually you cant see it – so ignore this

Have a look for the CX sportives in that area on Strava, Badlands is high Wycombe to Henley sort of area and the other is north of reading. It misses out on what little tech stuff there is but gives you an idea of the longer distance paths you can use to like the various woods together with.

Then just get and OS map out and go explore, there’s a lot of fantastic riding to be had IF you manage your expectations that it’s not going to be the Lake District! You can do mile after mile of rural bridleways and ‘gravel’ type stuff with nice views. But for technical fun you need to head elsewhere or take up dirtjumping (loads of big trails arround).

Once again thanks for all the input peeps,I’m certainly used to riding in mud as I do it for around 5 months each year here in Kent.Plenty to have a look at there by the sound of it.