mtbel, just pop us your Roots and Rain link
https://www.rootsandrain.com/

Plus the photos of you on that rigid bike winning. Anything else is overkill after all!

all of the above is 100% true. you want me to lie and say it isn’t because you have trouble believing any of it? how odd 😕
Just incase you’re not clear, the “Only” 20mph was in comparison to my fastest 10min average.

likewise with my thoughts on every comment you direct towards me, why not just accept you might be wrong and move on?

Because I’ve taken an instant disliking to you. I don’t believe you, and your refusal to prove me wrong is adequate vindication in my mind to continue thinking you’re full of crap.

If I’m wrong then I apologise. But I’m not taking your word for anything, that would be daft. What was the last race you won?

Edit: sorry, derailed this thread sufficiently, I’m off now.

I ride for 13 weeks every day just to get to where I keep my bike locked up.. then I tow an angry African bull elephant backwards up Mt Everest before stoppying all the way back home at 100mph.. And that is all before I start work every morning

So you two need to stop bickering

Thanks Yunki.

can you wait for me at the door and walk me to my bike so these horrid bullies don’t get me?

only if you let me hold your hand 😳

I have a 10 mile road journey which is actually horrible on the mtb. Or I have a mile to ride cheeky, pretty nice cheeky actually but if caught I will feel the wrath of the village.

I used to live 100yrds from the start of a Malvern off road trail.

Now I live in the bog lands below the hills I have to do a little bit of road work (3miles one way, 2.5miles the other), but it’s mainly on v quiet lanes and no through roads. I dont mind it, even on the SS MTB as it’s a nice warm up for 10-15mins before having to crank it up the side of the hills which would be brutal to do stone cold.

I cant remember the last time I took the bike in the car to ride somewhere. Probably Nant yr Arian a few years ago.

There is something so turgid about riding an mtb with off road tyres on the road for any great distance – especially if you are used to riding the same route on a road bike.

This. My MTB is reasonably road worthy (it’s a hardtail with not overly sticky tyres) but I really don’t like riding on the road on it.

My nearest trails are 3 miles away and I really, really don’t like that ride. I’d sooner do 400 metres to the train station and use that to get to Cannock though even that is a faff.

These things are all very contributory as to why I don’t use my MTB very much any more.

TBH I don’t mind MTBing on the road, I did 23 miles or so on Sat, only taking in 1 small 300m trail, simply because it was better than driving into town, I had some spare time to kill and I like riding… It was lovely. OK, so it’s slower than the equivalent road bike.. but that doesn’t make it a bad thing.

I’m lucky that my trails are less than a mile from my door now, when I move house again in 4 weeks, they’re back to being 100m.

However, I often use other trails that are 4-5 miles away as my start point.

I technically could ride off road from the door but it’s not the most inspiring ride. To get to the good stuff is about 25 mins on the bike. It ok to ride but TBH I’d rather throw the bike in the car and have an extra 40 mins trail riding. The car is usually set up for bike carrying so it is fast to load up.

15 minutes on the road gets me from home to the trails on the Malverns. It’s up all the way, then up some more..

My trails are 7 miles away on road. I’ll do this most Sundays to get the mileage in. I won’t bother on a mid week night ride as I haven’t got the time. It takes about 30-40 mins, which is fine on the way, but can be a chore on way back. On a drier day, I’ll take the off road route which will take another 15-30 mins

You can make as many excuses for them as you want but it seems to me a lot of folk simply aren’t fit or strong enough.

If you read my post I’m not making excuses. I am in favour of riding my MTB to trails, I do it all the time.

them

have a coffee 😉

We’ve a bridleway that starts at the house but it’s quite short, very muddy at this time of year and doesn’t really lead anywhere. A couple of miles of hilly road will get me to the next set of bridleways that can be linked up to form reasonable loops.

After that it’s six miles or so of road, depending on how I feel or time available or whether I want the miles I’ll either ride this or use the car.

Moving house at the end of the week .. finally ! so luckily I’ve got some trails a stone throw away which is also the start to a strava segment so mission there ! .. joking aside normally the decent trails like Thrunton Woods and Chopwell are bout 30/40 mins drive away

have a coffee

Ah yes.. I have a coffee now, I see it 🙂

When I was in 6th form college I used to ride 10 miles to the woods and back – no choice. That now seems to be my benchmark for acceptable distance.

Most of the trails near me are part of a network, rather than a self contained area. There is a small one of those that’s probably 30 mins away by bike, or about 45 by trail. Sometimes I’ll ride straight there if I want to do two laps of my ‘training’ loop, sometimes I’ll ride there on the trails and only do one or half.

Things like this highlight how differently MTBers approach MTBing. For some people (not saying people on this thread) it’s the new golf – a day out in your rep car with your £5k bike and having an activity day with your mates – which isn’t a bad thing in itself. For some people it’s something you’ve always done; on whatever bike you have, whatever trails are available. For some it’s about speed and thrills, others it’s about a pootle; for some it’s 6 hours in the wilderness, some it’s 5 hours in a big loop, some it’s a 2 hour blast. It really is pretty diverse.

I think it depends where you come from – middle aged hobby; dyed-in-the-wool cyclist, dyed-in-the-wool outdoor person; hooligan thrill seeking youth (possibly grown up 🙂 )

Things like this highlight how differently MTBers approach MTBing. For some people (not saying people on this thread) it’s the new golf – a day out in your rep car with your £5k bike and having an activity day with your mates – which isn’t a bad thing in itself.

I know someone who lives less than 3 miles from the trails, and couldn’t comprehend riding there. Drives, every time. Does a <10 mile ride, drives home. Decent enough rider too, not a beginner or owt. I find that utter madness, not least it will take longer to put everything in the car than it would to just ride, and I personally like doing a few extra miles.

I see a short road ride to the trails as a nice warm up.

I see a short road ride to the trails as a nice warm up.

Quite. I couldnt hit Mount Malvern on the SS cold without hurting.
I used to live opposite Tank Quarry and the first climb out of North Hill Car Park was a git given Id only turned the cranks over a dozen times before you head straight up. Id prefer to ride around on the road to St James school and go up from the back after a warm up instead.

Things like this highlight how differently MTBers approach MTBing. For some people (not saying people on this thread) it’s the new golf – a day out in your rep car with your £5k bike and having an activity day with your mates – which isn’t a bad thing in itself.

Good point, the beauty of the car is that when in the UK in 20/30 rides I’d never ride the same place twice.

I often spend 30 minutes or so riding to the “good trails” and might only spend an hour or two before heading back (which is mostly downhill to be honest). I used to detest the thought of wasting all that riding time on road, but when I got over myself it opened up some really good riding. Happy days 😀

Or you could do what I did on Sunday, ride 20 miles to the local trails, ride 10 minutes of singletrack before tearing a tyre then have to ride home on the rim.

I envy those in the Peaks/Lakes and so on who have amazing riding out the door. My brother can be in the Peaks within 15 minutes of riding, or an hour in the car takes him to even better riding. I don’t resent driving somewhere if that somewhere has decent trails. What I do resent is having to fight the M25 to get somewhere, only for it to be busy as hell or the riding be mediocre.

i envy those in the Peaks/Lakes and so on who have amazing riding out the door

What I do resent is having to fight the M25 to get somewhere

I was brought up in the Peak District and made a very conscious decision that living there was more important to me than career-hunting in the SE.

then I tow an angry African bull elephant backwards up Mt Everest

Everesting the Elephant?

45mins – 1hr ride is about the point at which I take the car, I sometimes ride out to the trails, ~10 miles there depending on which local spot I’m going to, Dartmoor is only (a hilly) 15 miles way but I drive if going there to maximise bikey-fun-time. Always end up taking the car if the GF is coming too though.

If I’m on a real time limit a road ride form my door is a better option, or a muck about in the woods just out of town, but only limited trails there.

upto 5miles sounds reasonable. I can get offroad within about half a mile but the tracks are tame and take so much longer to get to the good stuff I normally ride 3-4miles up the road instead. Good for winter pootles tho.

In other circumstances I guess I’d evaluate time taken to ride to the trailhead vs loading the car up*, driving there, unloading bike and assembling and then the same again for return leg, and just do whichever took the least time.

*TBF if I was feeling lazy I’d discount the original load up/end unload at home, they could potentially be done the night before/day after.

t-p 26 – Member
Singletrack 5 minutes from the door, after 1/2 mile of tarmac as well. DH trail finishes 10 yards from house, got to love the rural life

Or, singletrack 5 mins from the door, after a quick pootle through the park. long downhill trail starts 100 yards from the house.

got to love the city* life 😉

(*you’ve just got the pick the right city)

I’ve always ridden the 3.25 mile 1000 ft climb from home to the top of the Quantocks (takes around 25 mins), makes me laugh when I see bikers up there faffing with their bikes for longer than it’s taken me to ride up from the village.
Only takes me 8 minutes to ride back down though.

Same as Donk TBH
I can offroad within 5 mins riding but its pointless. I rarely see any cars on the back road anyway.
i do offroad all the way home though

What I find is that , despite it being 5 miles away its actually quicker to ride than take wheels of, load car, drive, unload bike re build bike and then ride.

Downside is you ride the same stuff over and over but thankfully there is enough variety to [just] keep me happy

As an ex roadie the drive to ride somewhere still grates a little.