Low quality trails Vs time in car & high quality trails?

Alternatively, riding the same trails week in week out would do my nut in

this is it. I generally ride twice/three times a week and I have ridden .every. .track. in. every. single. direction. from my house and sick of them all.. lol. That said I never ever regret going out and even a shit ride is better than no ride.

I wish I could have that course a 10 min ride from me, would be on it loads.

I can only assume you are a dogger or a ned with a pit bull 😆

I can find some reasonable stuff from 10 minutes ride from my door. Although bits of it can be a mudfest once the horsey mob have been through.

I can drive 10 minutes to Cathkin Braes but its only really worth going there if the local stuff is totally trashed.

An hour to Glentress / Tweed Valley or Ae and Drumlanrig

If I’ve got the time (and the permission!) I’d always rather drive to good trails for a proper day out. For quick blast or night riding I’m happy with the local stuff. Getting out on the bike is getting out on the bike!

@jam Bo, Exmoor is correct. I’m sure I’ll get over to the quantocks sometime, but still finding new trails here. Plenty to explore.

I can only assume you are a dogger or a ned with a pit bull

29er roll over can deal with both those obstacles 😛

My local trails become a muddy mess in the winter so often take the option to do a little trail repair work at this time of year instead of riding, hoping that the frost comes soon to harden them up.
If I want to ride, I jump in the car and head to better draining areas/bike park

I lived in taunton for 8 yrs, rode the quantocks 4-5 times a week.

made it to exmoor a handful of times…

Why do people put rules on themselves ? If the greatest 2 hour loop was 1 hour 5 mins from your house would you really not go . And for the sake of argument you can’t do it twice

I drive 30/40 mins from BoS to the quantocks to ride. the mendips is a tad closer, but the quantocks is miles better (IMO). have been getting into exploring the off piste stuff at haldon (a good hours drive or so). which is a safer bet when the weathers been iffy. (generally. ride round the blue, then red, keeping an eye open for trails that cross, then loop back in and go down/up them to find where they go)

When riding I’ve bumped into a group of lads who drive from weston (making it an hour trip) weekly to ride the quantocks over everything else..

btw jambo.. a lot of tox types I know (especially enduro types) are riding the hopcott area. i’m going to explore it myself soon. i’ve had a good briefing on ‘magic carpet ride’, ‘doris’, ‘maurice’ and other various trails there. just waiting for the right mates and the right weather combo to have an explore. its all off the leg of the macmillan way west (yes same one as on the quantocks) between dunster and dunkery beacon.

pete68 offered some helpful advice on here when i asked about exmoor before – he lives in minehead, so exmoor + hopcott are on his doorstep. talking of which.. pete68.. how did your wheel get killed? saw the pic on strava!

btw. you should really ride the quantocks! park at staple plain! and head south!

Part of MTB’ing, well cycling in general for me is the exploring aspect, so as much as I enjoy local rides from the door with the odd green lane, bridleway, cheeky bits etc, I get a bit bored and lack the inspiration to ride regularly, particularly now most of the offroad stuff is claggy as hell. I’ve got FoD, Hopton, NyA within an hour, but also hate putting the bike rack on and all the hassle of wet and muddy clothes post ride, having to get changed, put all the kit away in the dark when I get home etc. Really just struggling for any motivation to ride at all just now.

Perhaps I need a new bike………..

@canopy lots of riders up hopcott since the enduro in September. So many tracks up there. Some a bit out of my comfort zone. I usually do a loop out towards dunkery then a bit of exploring hopcott.
A rider I went out with a couple of weeks ago rides the quantocks regularly and is going to do a ride from either staple plain or crocombe gate for a few of us.
My back wheel was tried a couple of weeks ago but I think the nipple had seized meaning the spoke twisted. Just went ping yesterday. Got a good ride lined up for Sunday too which looks unlikely now.

If the greatest 2 hour loop was 1 hour 5 mins from your house would you really not go .

I’d just ride it slightly slower. 😀

It’s not a hard and fast rule, but if the driving is more than the riding, I’d have to question just how good the ride was to justify it.

As an example, I wouldn’t normally drive to the Lakes, ride round Whinlatter, then drive home…

fifeandy – Member
(Cathkin XC course is a 10 minute ride or 5 minute drive, but it’s barely worth it….)

I wish I could have that course a 10 min ride from me, would be on it loads.

I don’t quite have the nobeer level of hatred of the course 🙂 It’s great for an hour or so on a dreich winters day, so in that regard I do go there a fair bit, but it’s a bit samey after a while !

There’s a BW/Green lane right by the door but it gets very sloppy at this time of year. While there are bits of BW close by, linking them together takes a bit of work even with some cheeky stuff. We could ride up into the Dales but there’d be about an hour of riding if you tried to avoid roads and have a very convoluted route to get there. Alternatively put bikes in car, drive fifteen minutes and do a decent loop.

Nearest trail centre is Gisburn which is about 40mins drive, not been in two years. Staveley is about 1hr15mins steady drive and can get a good ride in, look at some bike porn in Wheelbase and maybe visit some relatives. Swaledale is similar timewise, the Peak (Hope Valley) is a couple of hours as is Keswick.

@canopy lots of riders up hopcott since the enduro in September. So many tracks up there. Some a bit out of my comfort zone. I usually do a loop out towards dunkery then a bit of exploring hopcott.

thats prob what got them there then! there’s a strong chance of a race series visiting there next year too as i know a group showed some series organisers around. guess they’re there training up to get a home turf advantage for themselves.. 🙂

i won’t know whats out of my comfort zone til i’m there 🙂 i’m not into the gnarly bits myself.

A rider I went out with a couple of weeks ago rides the quantocks regularly and is going to do a ride from either staple plain or crocombe gate for a few of us.

sounds like a plan. staple plain start means you get to do weacombe at the end but CPG means you’ve got more options. i guess he’ll have a good idea of what you guys like! its hard to recommend when theres so much variety and choice.

My back wheel was tried a couple of weeks ago but I think the nipple had seized meaning the spoke twisted. Just went ping yesterday. Got a good ride lined up for Sunday too which looks unlikely now.

boo 🙁 there’s a mechanic who’s great with wheels over near bridgwater, bit of a mission for you from there though?

Variety is the spice of life. I’m pretty spoiled 😀 with loads of good and varied riding from the door and Afan 40 mins away. Generally prefer to ride from the door but nice to mix things up.

For me, driving to the trails isn’t the problem – time away from home is

Most of my riding is at night once the kids are asleep, if I drive somewhere then I’m eating into that riding time. So I’d rather ride straight from my house, as getting out is better than not, than drive somewhere, even if it’s only 30 minutes away. All in, the riding is bridleway style bashing and fairly tame, still good though

I aim at twice a week locally from home on the Chilterns, weekend to either Aston or Chicksands, once per month an over night in the Peaks

I’d explore my local trails more if that was the situation (or move)

I don’t quite have the nobeer level of hatred of the course

Hatred not the right word, More like Apathy…

Depends what you want out of your riding. I personally am looking for trails that will challenge me as I struggle and strive to improve ever closer to the state of radness. If I was just going to continually loop my local ‘low quality’ trails then I may as well go to the local gym. I tend to drive 30 to 45 mins but my ride is shorter as they are more challenging, hillier, so i’m knackered after 1.5 to 2hrs of riding but with a big smile on my face and a big slug of adrenaline surging though me.

My answer to this question was get a different hobby. I live in Milton Keynes and with the exception of Woburn (which despite its reputation I just never really liked that much) there is nothing significant to ride that doesn’t take a long drive to reach.

Still ride bikes (and lurk on these forums) bit have moved on to new interests as a result of the above.

I do about 80%+ of my riding from the front door, a mixture of road and mtb. I think some of this is about accepting a compromise about where you live and what kind of rider you want to be. It took me a while to accept that in West Berks the riding is mainly XC and so I have embraced that and make the most of my local trails on an appropriate bike. In my mind I want to be riding rocky trails in mountains, but i’ve realised that to a degree I just can’t have that no matter how much driving to places I do. I do make a few visits a year to Wales for this kind of riding, but by embracing the nature of my local trails it is more satisfying to be riding from the door than to be sitting in a car chasing an ideal that will ultimately allude me.

This isn’t to criticise those that drive all the time to trails, but to show that accepting a compromise is one way of enjoying ‘low[er] quality’ trails. Mould your attitude and bike to the local conditions. Riding is still better than going to a Gym.

The only trails within rideable distance from my door are Pollock park, which are really not worth bothering and even Cathkins Brae is a 20 min drive from sunny Paisley. If I wanna ride, gotta drive…but if I want to climb, I’ve got to get in the car also.

The only trails within rideable distance from my door are Pollock park, which are really not worth bothering and even Cathkins Brae is a 20 min drive from sunny Paisley. If I wanna ride, gotta drive…but if I want to climb, I’ve got to get in the car also.

Surely you can ride Pollock park on the way to Cathkin and on the way home again? That 20min drive is only ~1hr ride. The neds would be more of a deterrent than the distance.

Local always wins for us but we’re lucky enough to live on the East Durham coast so there’s some nice bits to ride about 10 minutes from our door and there are some really nice cheeky bits in some woods near us as well. If I want to ride anything a bit radgier I just look for steps to ride down 😆 Our nearest trail centre is Hamsters which is ok but not worth the hour’s drive just to ride my bike.

edit- although we both enjoy a lazy summer day’s mince around Kielder reservoir (30-odd miles, anticlockwise is the most fun) with a bag of sarnies and pork pies which is a couple of hours drive from us.

only ~1hr ride

You say only, i’m not fit enough to ride an hour each way to the trail and have anything in my legs to ride Cathkins. Pollock is just boring, and it’s always boggy.

Maybe one day i’ll take it upon myself to cycle to Cathkins, but I don’t really like cycling on the roads and ultimately I don’t mind getting in the car for an hour to get somewhere fun.But that’s just me.

And neds dont bother me, my bike isnt worth stealing

Is there not still some trails in Gleniffer Braes.

Granted they were nothing special when I lived in Paisley 10 years ago but okay for an hours ride.

Granted they were nothing special when I lived in Paisley 10 years ago but okay for an hours ride.

Aye, when I rode with Walkers cc we used to have a nighride up there regularly, it wasn’t bad, dunno whats there now though.

The only trails within rideable distance from my door are Pollock park, which are really not worth bothering and even Cathkins Brae is a 20 min drive from sunny Paisley. If I wanna ride, gotta drive…but if I want to climb, I’ve got to get in the car also.

You can’t be that far from Erskine bridge then, Old Kilpatricks have some good trails just over the bridge.

I just had a look on Memory Map… off with a knackered back so trying to entertain myself with plans for all the riding I can since we moved house….

15 mile circuit taking in Parkamoor from the door… that will do nicely 😉

To be honest though, before we moved almost all my riding necessitated some car time, which didn’t entirely bother me. There were local trail “bits” around the old place, but not enough to really bother with. I never really resented the time spent driving to somewhere better (it could be as little as 15 minutes) but it annoyed me I hadn’t checked out whether there were any local trails before I moved!

We only moved 10 minutes away, which puts us in range of some pretty good trails – but I will still keep the bike in the back of the van for playing elsewhere 😉

Nobeerinthefridge – Member
You can’t be that far from Erskine bridge then, Old Kilpatricks have some good trails just over the bridge.

Biggest problem with that plan is finding a place to park where you wont be broken into.

I consider myself lucky that I have:
Mudgock – 25mins away
Stirling – 30mins
Aberfoyle – 45mins
Tweed – 1hr 15 to 1hr 45 away
Dunkeld – 1hr 30

and so on. Variety is indeed good, and if I’m struggling for time I can jump on the road bike and have loads of good road routes nearby

Biggest problem with that plan is finding a place to park where you wont be broken into.

Paisley is only 7 miles from the bridge, 30 min pedal, a nice warm up for the climb.

I’ve parked in old kilpatrick, by the train station and never had an issue.

Never had an issue either, but been 3 times where cars in the area have been done over while i was riding

30mins would be a good warm up for **** Off Hill

^^^ oh, that climb ! Did it in the dark the other week, we rode from Bearsden so decent warm up. It was also easier when you can’t see the top, in the dark 🙂

There’s that word again ‘only‘, you are seriously under estimating my fatbastardness. According to maps its 11miles to Kilpatrick station, no chance im riding that, then that hill. I guess i’d rather take the car and save my legs for when the riding is fun.

I’ve yet to really explore Gleniffer Braes, but perhaps local knowledge is key to the best stuff.

I used to be pretty militant on this subject.. What the heck is the point of cycling if you’re gonna jump in the car to do it?

These days however I’m happy to drive up to an hour just for the variety but with Dartmoor, Exmoor, Haldon and the Quantocks all less than an hour away and Woodbury and the SW coast path on my doorstep I guess I’m spoilt for choice..

Any further than an hour and I’d be looking at an overnight stay and making a couple days of it though

Depends on mood for the day but over-riding principle

quality > quantity

I’ve become very lazy since moving house and almost always ride from the door. Having said that, the variety of trails locally is outstanding. However,I really must start exploring a little further afield again. As has already been mooted, I abhor the idea of spending more time driving than cycling. That’s why I took so long to do the Bearbones 200.