Hyped trails that you found a bit meh

Another vote for Doethie Valley.

I’ve tried it a few times over the years on different route variations and on different bikes but it’s just a fireroad slog to get to one shortish bit of singletrack that’s usually a bog in parts. I’ve tried to like it, as I love a proper ‘out there’ ride where you don’t see a soul all day, but it always leaves me cold. Thankfully Cwm Rhaeadr is just down the road so the day has never been wasted!

RE: BPW haters: Don’t forget that you’re probably riding the descents enough times in one day that would take a few weeks visiting other places so you’re going to become over-familiar with them quickly. It’s why I only go once every 2-3 months despite living 20 miles away.

Whistler.

As for the Long Mynd, judging by the photos I see these days, people are just doing it all wrong. All I see is ENDURO WARRIORS riding $10,000 plastic ‘destroyer of worlds’ type bikes. Of course riding along **** sheep trails is going to be a bit boring! Do it properly (and a lot cheaper) and buy some old Kona with a 60mm travel fork and then the trails will come alive!

Bali, sorry no particular trail, its looked good on the brochures and magazine articles but I found it all a bit dull, lots on so so singletrack, the views were spectacular at times but the riding just was not long, technical or flowy enough to make it feel worthwhile.

In fairness I suspect this was the guides fault so happy to go again if sponsored.

As for the Long Mynd, judging by the photos I see these days, people are just doing it all wrong. All I see is ENDURO WARRIORS riding $10,000 plastic ‘destroyer of worlds’ type bikes. Of course riding along **** sheep trails is going to be a bit boring! Do it properly (and a lot cheaper) and buy some old Kona with a 60mm travel fork and then the trails will come alive!

I rode it on an 80mm lightweight xc ht and was still underwhelmed. Nice scenery and a nice day out but the riding itself was dissapoinying. Sorry if you’re offended that some people don’t like the same trails as you. And I’m not even saying I didn’t like them, just that they didn’t live up to the hype… Far from it! Won’t be in a rush to go back

Ae. Just dull aside from the last descent

I’ve voiced that opinion on here a few times and got properly shot down. I even went back and rode it again in case I’d missed something or it had changed. I hadn’t and it hadn’t.

Blade gets my vote – If you love climbs I’m sure it’s lovely but I thought it was pants even the last bit which was just the best of a bad bunch.

I don’t think a lot of you are commenting on this because the trail is genuinely crap.

I think a lot of you can’t handle the trails and so think its crap.

The woods behind Nationwide in Swindon

The irony is, much as I am the hater of man-made stuff, the one exception I’d make is the Croft Trail; it’s a fun little loop.

I think a lot of you can’t handle the trails and so think its crap.

I’ll hold my hands up to that being a factor in my dislike of trail centres; they’re all about the gnaar, and I’m a bit of a mincer. They’re just not the type of riding I enjoy.

Whilst trail centres are not for me I understand they have a place for many people. Alot of (voluntary) hard work has gone in to creating them and to slag them off on this thread is a pretty rubbish thing to do.

The only ride I’ve ever came away from thinking “that was rubbish” was a route singletrack published around bakewell
They succeeded in sending you round everything DCC have sanitised. It was crap.
We only did it as an alternative to our normal bakewell loop….

whatnobeer – Member
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.

Ae is way better than GT. Never mind the crappy red route, there are so many trails cut into the forests and pretty much all of them are superb. Tight, steep, twisty, rocky, muddy, rooty tech fests. GT has a few but not as good.

Spin – Member
Ae. Just dull aside from the last descent
I’ve voiced that opinion on here a few times and got properly shot down. I even went back and rode it again in case I’d missed something or it had changed. I hadn’t and it hadn’t.

Yes, you really had missed something. I guarantee it.

Inners red..takes forever to ride up it for what appears to be very little in the way of downhill, other than minch moor and caddon bank.

@glasdowan See my post about this from yesterday:

What folk are disliking about Ae (and other trail centres) are the marked trails not the secret *local* ones. If the secret trails are so good then get the FC to include them in the marked trail network.

Blimey..! 😯

You know, I must be easily pleased.

Most of my riding is the Peak District and I love it – if you think it’s just eroded fire roads then you obviously don’t know many routes. I’ve also ridden natural trails in the Lake District and Wales- all great riding. As for trail centres, I’ve ridden at Llandegla, Coed y Brenin, Gisburn, Cragg
Grizedale, Cragg and Lee Quarries, Afan, Ae, Mabie, Kirroughtree and really enjoyed all of them. The only slight disappointment was Dalby Forest- we made a special trip over there and although it was a nice enough ride, it was way too tame to warrant a red grading.
Some folks are a bit too hard to please, it seems

I enjoy being on my bike no matter what the trail is.

However in answer to the OPs questions, Spooky Woods descent at Glentress fell way short of my expectations. I cant see myself riding it again now i know other trails in the area.

Hyped by people who think they can ride, by people who think the Orange 5 is the best bike available.

whitestone – Member
@glasdowan See my post about this from yesterday:

What folk are disliking about Ae (and other trail centres) are the marked trails not the secret *local* ones. If the secret trails are so good then get the FC to include them in the marked trail network.

This will never happen as the serious trails used by those who ride in all of these trail centres are way too far outside the FC trail guidelines! No hardpark, too steep/loose etc. Not to mention the fact it’s a damn good thing they’re not on the maps as they probably wouldn’t stand up well to several times more traffic each day.

All I was saying is that referring to a location such as ‘Ae’ doesn’t just mean the trails that the FC have put on some random map, it includes the whole trail network. Many people go to these places and spend most of their day off the map stuff. Last time I was at Ae I did 30km of riding and didn’t do one piece of map descent. These trails aren’t the quiet obscure minority secrets…they are the bread and butter of mtb-ing in the woods.

So basically the Uk is shite for riding.

Some staggering suggestions in here.

Yeah, all the ones mentioned on here that I’ve done, I’ve absolutely loved. Maybe I like riding too much (cos I don’t get to do it enough!)

any route map from MBR and MBUK

too many roads and bridleways

For me, the standout disappointment was the Portal/Poison Spider Trail in Moab. Slither and push your way up sand trap after sandtrap, a nice short techy bit of singletrack to the ‘amazing’ bit…which is actually a few hundred metres of singletrack clinging to the edge of a shear 800ft drop – not really worth riding ‘just in case’ – it’s not hard to ride particularly but one wrong wobble/slip = certain death drop. Then the down is a load of slick rock interspersed with piles of rocks to clatter/hop/ walk over. Got to the bottom thinking, “did we miss a turn or something – what the hell was all the fuss about?”

I’ve never been back and I don’t recommend it to anyone. I don’t stop people going up there but if you’ve only a few days/weeks in Moab to ride, there are so many other better trails.

I don’t think there is such a thing as a bad trail.

Clearly the only thing that’s hyped in this thread are the poster’s own perceptions of their abilities. All they need to enjoy the trails is a significant injection of speed.

Last time I was at Ae I did 30km of riding and didn’t do one piece of map descent. These trails aren’t the quiet obscure minority secrets…they are the bread and butter of mtb-ing in the woods.

Not to mention the fact it’s a damn good thing they’re not on the maps as they probably wouldn’t stand up well to several times more traffic each day

Not sure how those two statements stack up.

‘Hyped’ probably only applies to when it was opened, but Lee Quarry has never done anything for me.
Original Cragg Quarry didn’t improve it either. The newer Cragg Quarry is much better though and I’ll probably be back at some point.

Generally though – riding any of these trails beats most other activities for me – it’s only the drive distance which induces the ‘disappointment’ if you think you could have had a better time locally.

@glasdowan

I understand what you are saying about the sustainability of the unmarked trails but you have basically reinforced the point about there being two trail networks: one for those “in the know” and the mapped trails.

I’m an atypical trail centre user as I hardly ever use them. I’ve been to Ae. Once. It’s quite a way from darkest Yorkshire. For another visit, I’ve a choice: ride the mapped routes thus reinforcing the reasons why I don’t use trail centres or spend the day checking out every potential trail/track that I come across. I’d probably enjoy the latter but many wouldn’t. I also suspect that many of these trails are traditional tracks that weren’t designed for mountain biking with maybe a few little adjustments.

I recall a couple of MBUK routes that seemed to have been put together in a pub but never ridden before inclusion in the magazine. (“Save yourselves! The muds got me – I’m a gonner! Keep walking for a several miles and you might find the track. Tell Pinky I’m fond of her and Jeffers can have the Alvis.)

Red trail at Dalby forest:

Boring, ‘technical’ features amounted to regular slate intrusions which scrubbed off speed, but held little interest.

Found the surface a bit slow too, perhaps because on a hardtail found hard to maintain momentum – seemed to be peddling the whole way.

Gisburn, just seems like I’m doing it backwards.

whitestone – Member

I also suspect that many of these trails are traditional tracks that weren’t designed for mountain biking with maybe a few little adjustments.

Nope! 🙂 There are a group of guys local to most of the Scottish trail centres, and other known bike locations, who go out with mattocks and rakes and make some of the best riding in Scotland. I respect their work and hugely appreciate it. A lot of people don’t and still find room to moan about it, but these trails will never get the hype that magazines give official trails as they are often just kept ticking over under the radar. They are still the main aspect of our sport for many people I ride with, and use official trails often just as links to get between the best bits.

Some of these dug tracks are getting better known though, especially after inclusion in EWS races and so on. And I don’t think any of them belong in here because any hype they get is certainly lived up to!

Best idea, as always, is to follow your nose when you see tracks or exit skids 🙂

Mach 3
A few minutes of fun descent but the rest a waste of time.
(We had a go at Mach 1 and 2 but ended up getting the map out to find some cheeky trails)
Loved the sign telling you not to ride stuff in the wrong direction despite it being bridleway…

ndthornton – Member
any route map from MBR and MBUK

too many roads and bridleways

I don’t know about MBR/MBUK routes, but some bridleways are awesome. Just not the ones in the south east 😉

Looking at local stuff to me (south east) and Evans rides are a lot of bridleway stuff, I know the routes they’re using and that stuff would bore me to tears for an official or group ride. That said I quite enjoy exploring round farm tracks and bridleways (with odd cheeky footpath), but usually looking for something with singletrack potential and a descent or two. I try to make it part of a loop to go somewhere good to keep the ride off road as much as possible.

A bridleway in the Lakes or similar is another matter though.

Clearly the only thing that’s hyped in this thread are the poster’s own perceptions of their abilities. All they need to enjoy the trails is a significant injection of speed.

An MX bike wouldn’t make Penmachno interesting. though to be fair a jetski would be more useful there. Speed doesn’t make a crap trail interesting, it just gets it out of the way more quickly.

I thought the rule-of-thumb for MBR routes was to ride them in the opposite direction?

oh diddums. didn’t your nappy keep your botty dry?

on a serious note, what was it about Penmachno that you found dull, and where
do you ride that you do find interesting?

I like Dalbeattie but I’ve been going there since the ‘man made’ stuff was built so it does hold something special for my I guess. I still go fairly often and its usually fairly quiet, which is a good thing as I would hate to go on a trail with a constant stream of riders – I like to escape.

The only thing I don’t like is the amount of boardwalk – I just don’t get what’s so good about riding over planks covered in chicken wire.

And every time I go the widow maker brings back a lot of memories.

I’ve got a feeling if there was a thread “what trails have you ridden that lived up to their hype” all the same trails on this thread would be mentioned, just by different voices 😆

Well that’s just because your skills aren’t up to it and you’re not carrying enough speed. I bet you think the same about other awesome bike trails like the Sgùrr Dearg summit route.

I bet you think the same about other awesome bike trails like the Sgùrr Dearg summit route.

[pedant]I think quite a lot of the descent from Sgurr Dearg would be rideable. It would certainly be pretty easy to carry your bike to the top and back down. [/pedant]

The whole of the lake district is crap if you live down south I wouldn’t even bother driving up here bloody steep rocky nightmare.
NO SUCH THING AS A BAD BIKE RIDE

Ashton Court .
Never again.

Ok so its not exactly a hyped trail that had an expectation to live up to

but what I didnt expect was a long ,loose, ashphalt covered snake, with berms that almost let you corner quicker than thhe grip afforded by the aforementioned cinders.

A nice few rocky drops and steps near the end but pretty much 75% rubbish, unless its rained for 40 days and 40 nights

But then I still wouldnt go, I think either a session on a turbo or at a velodrome would actually be better

I’ve not been disappointed in any marked trails I’ve been too. Granted, I’ve only been to Wales, Lakes and SoE, but I’ve chosen the bike and what to expect from the trail before setting off. I mean I wouldnt go to Swinley expecting big descents. I wouldnt ride Mach/1/2/3 expecting loads of tech and I wouldnt go to the Lakes expecting groomed easily rideable climbs.
Each marked trail has its own characteristic and sometimes I fancy more of an XC epic ride (eg Syfidrin), or a rockfest, manmade trail (eg MBR)

Whistler.

I’ve seen you dismiss Whistler before, but I’m not sure why. The riding is superb. Everything from a huge bike park to ‘hard to flow’ tech, trails that are steep and loose, even lift accessible non bike park singletrack. The only thing it’s missing are trails that are similar to UK blues in difficulty for beginners and a big alpine trail. I can understand how particular trails may be over hyped, but the whole area?