I thought that rather than being hyped Keilder was generally accepted to be a bit crap?

You may be right, I’ve taken my info from biased sources. And, I love that area for it’s solitude (the Borders above, not IN Kielder) so was easily convinced.

I like a lot of trails mentioned here but one area stands out – The Long Mynd. If you think the descents are featureless you need to open a map and have a look. The great descents are easy to spot!

On the trail centre thing, I think for me it’s just that there’s not really much non-trail centre wise that has a lot of hype I think is meh. All tends to be good.

Trail centres big up things themselves to sell the place whereas outside of them it’s the riders that do and generally it’s justified.

I think a lot of the dislike for some trails comes from people being grossly over biked. Obviously you’re going to think some smooth swoopy ST is a bit meh if you’re on a 180mm bike.

scotroutes – Member – Quote
Anything round Aviemore and the Cairngorms. A few hundred miles of forest track interspersed with little bits of interest. You could ride all day and never even find a pub.

[quote]thepurist – Member – Quote
Not sure if Scotroutes is being entirely honest..[/quote]

Sort of. As per Spins comments, lots of folk seem to turn up massively over-biked (I appreciate that may be their only bike) and then ride round the forest trails. I can imagine that many of them are completely under-whelmed by their experience.

But yes – you really could ride all day and not pass a pub 😆

Hear the main drag of the Peak getting seriously over-hyped by some – Edale, Hope, Ladybower etc. Not ‘meh’, it’s obviously good, but the limitations are equally obvious. Little singletrack, no trees, under-bridlewayed and guaranteed verbal on the footpaths.

When tracks like potato alley and screaming mile are celebrated descents, it tells you there’s a bit of a quality issue. They wouldn’t even be named in other places, it would be ‘that farm track on the left’, that no one rides anyway because there’s some singletrack on the right.

Without wanting to take the thread off at a tangent, one thing I always liked about mountain biking was the getting away from it all nature of rides.

When I lived up in Leeds it was more often than not around NY moors, Nidderdale, Lakes and other places that were definitely out in the middle of nowhere.

Fast forward 20 years and I’m now in the midlands. Cannock and Sherwood are frequented often and whilst they are enjoyable they don’t exactly get away from very much.

Maybe most here are of a similar ilk and like the feeling of being in remote spots with nothing but the air and hills for company. Trail centres are never going to give that whilst remaining on the marked trails.

All riding is good to me, including trail centres although sometimes said centres try that little bit too hard to be the most gnarly you tube video.

CyB is probably one that doesn’t really do it for me as it is just too rocky but that’s a personal thing. I love LLandegla and the Marin trail which others don’t, but my best riding is /was around Ramsgill and Pateley Bridge oop North. 🙂

A lot of the legal stuff in the Peak is rubbish,just dead straight rocky wide cart tracks. There is some good stuff as well,just not sure its legal.

The off piste stuff at Haldon, some people on here talk like it’s the holly grail. Most of it is pap.

I used to ride Glentress loads but hadn’t been in a couple of years. Went a few weeks ago, early Sunday. I was in a right bad mood at the end of my hour and 10 min drive there when I had to queue for 10 mins for a car park ticket…..,indeed I nearly about turned and drove back to local natural stuff around Mugdock. Ended up glad I didn’t. Yes, it was mobbed up to Buzzards Nest, but after that I hardly saw a soul the whole way round the black. It was great fun, probably moreso than I remembered it. Next time I’ll try and miss the car park queue though….

@twonks We spent this weekend on a long(ish) ride through the Dales keeping to bridleways as much as possible. The number of mountain bikers we saw over the time we were out? Seven. Didn’t see a huge number of tyre tracks either.

Scotroutes i recently did the tour of the Cairngorms and was pleasantly surprised to find the route way better than anticipated, the singletrack sections were fantastic and all natural, well apart from a short 100m section approaching Tarf, i was like noooo water bars, the bastards have been busy, but luckily, they seem to have given up, the thing that ruins a ride out in the wilds for me, is the overly engineered stone highways that are being built everywhere in the gorms.

Wow Sticks Pass getting a slating never thought I would hear that!! maybe you need to bang Seldom Seen on the end!

And Dollywagon where is the fun in that stuttering down steps for 500 metres mleh!

Others have already mentioned it, but Blade is my pick.

Utterly shit. Every time you felt it was getting it’s groove on, it would hit a gate, or a bitchy climb that killed all momentum and flow. Almost like it was designed for people with dropper posts. As in, “ooh, here we go! *Drops post* Woop, woo oh bugger. *Raises post* Bitchandmoanupaclimb. Repeat.”

Stainburn. Not my cup ‘o’ tea, I don’t really ‘do’ trail centres anyway. (Have done GT a few times, Dalby, Kielder & Dalbeattie) I can see their attraction to people who can’t read maps & like a quick blast but compared to the open spaces of the Dales, North Pennines, Peaks, Scotland etc, theyr’e all a bit Meh to me.

The Quiraing on Skye. There is almost nowt to it, just a few bits of singletrack. Completely not worth the journey unless you are doing a completely out of context and misleading MBR article.

Mind blowing scenery though.

The Gap at Brecon, is just long and boring – I was told it was a cycling nirvana that trail centre tarts like me could never reach with our manicured sign posted trails, it went on forever then it ended.

Skyline at Afan I was told it was a real challenge of technicality, but it is pointlessly long, there are sections which are just there for the sake of adding 10k for bragging rights, you ride off on a fire road, it meanders about for a bit and returns you back from whence you came only facing in a different direction. The only technical bit is the end, I won’t miss it.

Oh, this one took the biscuit!

Not a trail per-se but an event – Passports, it’s poo – there I said it.

80kms of glorious single track and DH trails all linked by chair access and feed stations full of local cuisine – balls, it’s 80kms of fire road climbs, fire road descents, fire road descents, fire road descents, fire road descents, ooo a bit of single-track, oh it was 200m long, fire road descent, ooo a DH track, oh we’re going the other way… Down the fire road. God I’m bored, and tired, how long is left? 40k? Oh **** that, where’s the next lift, 5kms up the fire road. Oh a feed station! Seems all these little towns ‘enjoy’ the same cuisine – spuds in sun congealed mayo, garlic sausage in garlic sauce with extra garlic and melted lumps of chocolate all covered in flies – 3hours later oh this is a fun bit!!! Because we’re back in Morzine, this is the same trail we rode yesterday – are we doing the last 3km to finish? Are we balls, I’m going to the pub to get drunk enough that I never remember this again – not even 3 pints of Mutzig would free me of it.

No one’s said it yet so I’ll put my hand up and be the heretic. San Marino.

Penmachno has no flow (WTH does that mean anyway)? You can ride whole sections of it without touching the brakes, how much flow do you want?

I’ve gone right off San Marino this last year, really needs a bit of sensitive remedial work on the bottom half and then it’ll be fun again.

For those who didn’t get on with the Ciaran Path, try it just once more. I hated it after my first crack at it, found it a real slog and a lot of work. But I went back this year after a five year gap and expected to hate it and you know what, when you expect those little ups to he there and are in the right gear, it’s really good. Honest.

As for bad trails that are hyped-

Almost all Welsh trail centres that are all work, no play. Cwmcarn is ok, Penmachno is good, the rest are grim.

Stakes Pass, in fact, anything in Langdale.

Gisburn.

Garburn Pass.

Ae is awful.

Stob Ban

Mabie is mostly bad.

I think those complaining most about Glentress are either locals or people who had it on a pedestal before they went- I used to live by it and ride it all the time and thought it was lame. Then I moved to where the trails are actually mediocre and realised that actually, for what it is, Glentress is really rather good. Not excellent, not a 500 mile round trip worth of good, but pretty good especially to have on your doorstep for a rainy day when you want to do bikes.

Generally i quite like trail centres as part of a mix, but i find Dalby pretty poor. Suffers from a lack of available height gain, however I thought dalbeattie suffered similarly but made much better use of the terrain (I liked dalbeattie overall!)

Oh, and Calderdale. Great if they are your local trails but jot worth a drive.

All mountain biking is shit! As I’m just so ****ing GGGGNAAAR, n shit, it’s all just, like, SOOOOOOOO boring,,so I’ve given it all up and started paragliding, naked, off cliffs, while wrestling an alligator instead

Actually, can’t believe no one’s mentioned it yet….

The woods behind Nationwide in Swindon.

wordnumb – Member – Quote
Behind Nationwide in Swindon, it’s been hyped here to no end but I couldn’t really see what the fuss is… oh, all right, it was too technical for me so I just went home again rather than risk it. Better to live to ride another day than burn out in glory.

DAMMIT!

😀

I would also add that those that find the rocky double track in the Peak less preferable to groomed singletrack have probably had a taste bypass. Rocks > singletrack. Both together is better, but I don’t find the description “singletrack” to be a marker of trail quality. See Cannock as an example.

CaptainFlashheart » Actually, can’t believe no one’s mentioned it yet….
The woods behind Nationwide in Swindon.

The irony is that they are riding well at the moment. I think they live up to the hype

Interesting to see people mentioning Dalbeattie, AE and Mabie. I’ve never heard them get any hype as they’re not quite as much fun as GT or Kirrie. I wouldn’t say they’re bad either, just different styles of trail.

So basically the Uk is shite for riding.

Some staggering suggestions in here.

I’ve got no expectations of any trail in the UK now, don’t know if that’s a good thing or not 😐

Find it odd that people who obviously hate ‘fake’ riding even bother going to a trail centre in the first place let alone then slate it. Takes all sorts I guess 🙂 Personally I just love being on my bike and I make the most of wherever I end up.

However, Swinley forest I find a bit odd. The Blue run as an intro to the place has been built in such a way that any amount of moisture on the curved, smooth stoned surface will have your tyres sliding all over the place! The only time I felt comfortable on it is when I took my Fatbike there! Very over engineered feeling about the Blue trail but I quite like the Red as that feels more like the origins of the place. Having said that, I still go back and ride the place as its somewhere I can meet up with a certain group of mates and be out on my bike so win win.

Surprised to see Blade mentioned a few times so far, I love it. Rode it last summer a few months after it opened and really enjoyed it. Went back a couple of weeks ago and ended up riding it in the pi$$img rain and had a great time, loved it even more. Yes there are climbs on some of the sections but I strangely like working for my fun and if I get knackered on them I put that down to my lack of fitness. Can’t wait to go back next month.

Sometimes though a ride experience can change for the better or worse depending on a number of variables. For me the climb out of Skyline cafe, think it’s called Whites climb, was an experience I didn’t want to repeat again after I rode it last year. Must of stopped too long for lunch and eaten the wrong food or something as the climb up was horrible, couldn’t mentally warm up and get into any kind of rhythm and I was messing up every little rock section and putting my feet down. By the time I got the the first fire road I was fuming at myself and the rest of the climb I just wanted to forget. Wasn’t a nice experience and the next day we found an alternative way up using some fire roads. Did it again recently and was dreading it. The climb itself was fine but I found myself peddle striking about a dozen times on the way up which had me stopping a lot but I just got on with it and semi enjoyed the climb. Did it again the next day but stuck 10psi more in my shock and left it in Climb mode to raise the BB and not one peddle strike, loved it. I’m actually looking forward to doing it again next month so that has gone from hate it, meh, to loved it in three rides.

I guess I just easily amused with my long travel 29’er full sus, lol. Any day out on the bike is better than a day in the office in my book.

Oh, this one took the biscuit!

Not a trail per-se but an event – Passports, it’s poo – there I said it.

80kms of glorious single track and DH trails all linked by chair access and feed stations full of local cuisine – balls, it’s 80kms of fire road climbs, fire road descents, fire road descents, fire road descents, fire road descents, ooo a bit of single-track, oh it was 200m long, fire road descent, ooo a DH track, oh we’re going the other way… Down the fire road. God I’m bored, and tired, how long is left? 40k? Oh **** that, where’s the next lift, 5kms up the fire road. Oh a feed station! Seems all these little towns ‘enjoy’ the same cuisine – spuds in sun congealed mayo, garlic sausage in garlic sauce with extra garlic and melted lumps of chocolate all covered in flies – 3hours later oh this is a fun bit!!! Because we’re back in Morzine, this is the same trail we rode yesterday – are we doing the last 3km to finish? Are we balls, I’m going to the pub to get drunk enough that I never remember this again – not even 3 pints of Mutzig would free me of it.

Quite true P- Jay, the event was hyped to me by friends for years until I got to go. It just seemed endless french fire road descents into small villages.
I am sure that there is lots of really good stuff in the area, but the PPDS just seems to avoid it. 😕

The irony is that they are riding well at the moment. I think they live up to the hype

At this rate people are going to start believing Swindon actually exists.

Temtiwr trail at coed y brenin. Way too rocky and had no flow to any of the singletrack. The climb in the middle was a double wide and pretty dull. I was also underwhelmed by the long mynd. I think being from the south east, riding singletrack without winding through trees is an odd experience.

Moab Slickrock trail

Before we moved, it was only about a 6 hour drive for me, but having done it once, that was enough (Porcupine Rim, Poison Spider and several other Moab area trails much better). Have only tried a couple of trail centers and it was just all too “groomed” for my taste. I can see the appeal, but just not for me.

Utterly shit. Every time you felt it was getting it’s groove on, it would hit a gate, or a bitchy climb that killed all momentum and flow. Almost like it was designed for people with dropper posts. As in, “ooh, here we go! *Drops post* Woop, woo oh bugger. *Raises post* Bitchandmoanupaclimb. Repeat.”

Similar at Swinley. Height is lost(not a lot of height in the first place) far too quickly in pursuit of the “woop”, then a climb back out. Particularly on the blue. Perhaps I’m being old fashioned, I presume this is what’s called the open trail design, but the trail doesn’t flow.

Both the blade trail and the stuff at Swinley were designed and built by the same people.

P-Jay – Member
The Gap at Brecon, is just long and boring – I was told it was a cycling nirvana that trail centre tarts like me could never reach with our manicured sign posted trails, it went on forever then it ended.

Did it few weeks back with the opposite approach thinking it’s probably a simple dull xc bridleway pootle. SDW with a bigger hill. Far from it. Sure it’s still technically bridleway, but fantastic scenery and one hell of a rocky descent. Loved it. Day before was another Afan day and while I enjoyed Blade, the Gap Ride was far better.

Reminded me of a similar one did in the Lakes (off piste round Grizedale) with crazy loose rock bridleways.

Andy_Sweet – Member
The off piste stuff at Haldon, some people on here talk like it’s the holly grail. Most of it is pap.

It’s not that amazing but give them credit. Compared to the official stuff which is tripe, it’s awesome 😉

P-Jay – Member
Oh, this one took the biscuit!

Not a trail per-se but an event – Passports, it’s poo – there I said it.

It’s an introductory Alpine riding event, not a DH event. Lift assisted xc-ish with a degree of technicality in parts that would make it beyond a lot of leisurely trail centre riders in the UK 😉 . The French would grade it at blue probably. Would be a trail centre black in the UK.

However yes if you’re expecting tonnes of singletrack gnarly DH-ish / bike park descents, then not going to be it. Still though the descents are bloody fast even on the smooth stuff (and if they’re not then your brakes have probably boiled).

Besides that, it’s just a taster. The thing is about the weekend or week you spend there. A day to do the event and then go have a play. It’s Morzine, and then there are the bike parks in each place. Plus you’ve got some awesome off-piste (highly recommend Col de Cou).

I do agree the food is pap, but it’s what you get for an event barely more than the price of a lift pass.

p.s. route varies per year. The rooty descent from Super Morzine one year was much better than the route they took the following year I did it.

There’s a few for me…

Penmancho being one. It was full and featureless and not much fn in a gritty Welsh day.

Glentress black just seems like a slog aside form one section (The Bitch). Love the blue and red there though.

Ae. Just dull aside from the last descent.

Still not 100% on BPW. Loved it the first time but was a but meh the second time.

But equally I guess I really like the of the trails not rated on here like CYB, Stiniog. ‘Degla black buts are good but I don’t enjoy the red trail there much.