Ciaran path – first few hundred metres, good stuff, but that’s it.

Sticks pass – nothing techy really, miles behind dollywagon.

Very disappointing.

Kinlochleven enduro trails….a rutted mess.

Coed Y Brenin.
No idea why, just don’t click with the place.

Colwyd/Crafnant.
Just way beyond my ability in places.

Blade at Afan.

Cross Border Trail, from Kielder.
I love that area but just didn’t get the ‘out there’ remoteness that was mentioned. I’ll try it again soon.

Yeah I felt the same about the Ciaran path, it’s an uphill downhill. Very pretty and a nice loop with the devil’s staircase but apart from a few hundred flowing metres it just felt like battering over baby heads and pedalling downhill for some reason.

Glentress.. Utter meh.

Basically all as crap as the worst bits of Cannock, with none of Cannock’s flow or good bits. Washed out, eroded, braking bumps, dull.

Bloody long way to travel (from S. England) for that.

Ponale, Riva del Garda. it’s just a road. albeit with a nice view….

Jacobs ladder, a straight down. CyB too, not a fan.

Blade is great if you turn right after helter skelter and give two sections of blade a miss

A-Line.

Literally have no idea how people come here and ride it 90% of the time.

I think I’ve ridden it 3 times in a total of 5 weeks out here. It never fails to disappoint.

Are you going fast enough?

I assume so, I can hid the backside of every jump? Never done it on a DH bike though, am I missing out?

I think I just prefer stuff that looks like it isn’t made in a CGI studio.

Give me the valley trails any day.

Dalbeattie for me. Singletrack in to rock feature in to singletrack in to rock feature, repeat. No flow and no scenery either

Ben Dampf circuit. Too much bog slogging and the only flowy bit is when you hit the trees 500mtrs from the end.

Edit – and Wales.

Doethie Valley. More bog slogging.

Glentress black, the definition of meh!

Not surprised by the number of trail centres in these comments. Never travel for trail centres, they’re always going to be a bit meh. Seek out the wild stuff and ye shall be rewarded

Trail centres I’ve ridden are CyB, Llandegla, Afan, Cwmcarn and Nant y Arian, all a bit meh if you ask me, there for a purpose, would rather go hunting real trails be it Dartmoor, Exmoor, Q’s or Lakes, not done any Scottish trail centres yet though so won’t pass comment on those

Glentress, it was alright, but massively over hyped. Maybe I was doing it wrong.

Inners xc was brill though. Need to go back without the wife and find all the other stuff that you lot go on about.

Edit: I disagree, trail centres are great, as is riding natural stuff.

Spooky Wood at Glentress, can’t stand it.

Glentress, it was alright, but massively over hyped. Maybe I was doing it wrong.

If you just followed the signs then yes you were doing it wrong 😉

+1 on colwyd loop.

Sodden slog, huge tarmac descent and the only really good bit was the descent back to Capel curig from crafnant.

Did Ben dampf again a couple of months ago.

Yes it is a slog and my god that climb goes on a bit, but I thought all of the descent was excellent.

Top bit much more challenging than I had remembered actually.

tenacious_doug – Member
If you just followed the signs then yes you were doing it wrong 😉

I figured as much, when I come back I’ll make sure I find a guide 😀

chakaping – Member

+1 on colwyd loop.

Sodden slog, huge tarmac descent and the only really good bit was the descent back to Capel curig from crafnant.

Very nearly did this a few weeks back, glad we went and did Cadair Idris instead.

gisburn forest seemed to be lots of climbing with not much reward. hully gully was great though

Glen Tilt. Nice scenery, absolute zero fun factor. Oh, and, Dalbeattie; snooze, repeat.

Llandegla – it all seems to be uphill and the amount of litter there was unreal.

Cannock – all slippery cobbles and braking bumps. Hideous

Rangers path on snowdon.

Dare I say Longmynd?

A lot of boring/demanding ups, and a lot of fast, but fairly featureless downs, where just maintaining your vision is the biggest challenge on a hardtail.

I’ve only been a couple of times, and need to explore more, but I haven’t found it to be the amazing place all the mags make out, yet.

BUT I live fairly close and can ride on hills anytime.

I’m not suprized that pretty much every complaint regarding mostly trail centers has mention of “The only good bit.”
I don’t see how you can go out and ride a trail someone else has broken their balls to build for you, then bitch about it.
If you don’t like the sloggy bits, you’re probably not fit enough!
If you don’t think there is enough reward for your climbing. You probably aren’t fit enough.
If you don’t get the “Flow of the trail.” You’re probably a crap rider.
Some trails are built better than others. I’ll grant you that, but your task is to go out there and make it all flat (figuratively.) If you’re struggling to do that or think it isn’t fun and challenging. You aren’t trying hard enough and/or are going to slow because, I can assure you, even the easiest trail gets harder the faster you go. So, you should go back the couch and quit slowing me down on “The good bit.”

Anything in the peak district

Dare I say Longmynd?

Yes. Only been once and I did enjoy Minton Batch and the grassy, swoopy descent at the other end, but overall it was a bit of a disappointment.

I suspect it would be much better with some cheeky local knowledge though – a bit like Rivington.

Live within a few hundred yards of Steel City, hate it. I’m not the fastest downhill rider I admit 🙂

Minton Batch I have to agree is good, I’ve not seen anything else similar yet though.

Definitely Dalbeattie, have stayed in the area several times, riding the Stanes and natural and every time I end up asking why did I bother with Dalbeattie .
Some of the posts here are a bit sweeping though. The question asked was about trails but several people have dissed whole areas! Surely they haven’t ridden every trail in those areas?

I’ve been to trail centres where I’ve been a bit “Mleh” but never not enjoyed a day on my bike.

Minton Batch. Just dull.

Minton Batch. Just dull.

*raises eyebrows*

Do you usually not like flowy singletrack then?

Every trail centre I’ve ever been to. I just don’t like ’em. I can see why people do, but I don’t.

Its just dull, with no interesting features apart from two small rock outcrops.