Anyone got any advice? Is it worth a visit (only coming from Preston) I’ve read that it’s just a few short loops either side of the road? Do i need to get a map out and plan a route, or is it all quite obvious? Is there anything else i can tag on whilst there to make it longer (the techier and steeper the better) Will it be a boggy mess this time of year?

Cheers

The stuff on the car park side is obvious man made trails. The other side of the road, there are loads of unofficial natural trails off the track from the top. Deff worth a trip IMO.

It’s lovely up there at the moment. I don’t enjoy the trail centre side, trail forks paints a good picture of the other side of the road. It if it rains heavily it will get boggy though. There are a couple of 1.30 – 2 min downs, a ton of 20-30 second ones and some singletrack xc type stuff to have a snoop around. All quite condensed. If you get to the mast, you can’t go wrong.

Easily enough to fill a couple of hours if you find everything above the road as long as you don’t mind repeating the same couple of climbs
As said above trails forks covers a lot of it but it’s not a big area so the rear can be found quite easily

If you’re coming all the way from Preston maybe do a few hours at Stainburn and then drive to Ilkley Moor and check that out while you’re over this way.

Yeah Ilkley moor has some great trail as well.

Stainburn is a good run but, worth a trip from Preston? I guess that will very much depend on your preferences.
I enjoy a blast up there after work for an hour or so but from the office its 15 minutes (or 115 at 5pm) in the car or 40 on the bike. It barely feels worth the 40 minute drive from home.
Definitely worth heading in if you’re in the area mind.

Please don’t ride Ilkley if it’s wet it ruins the tracks

I think if I’d driven 1.5 hours from Preston I’d be disappointed when I got there. Its really somewhere for a bit of a play if you’re local (I’m 45 minutes away and it doesn’t really feature on my radar).

For the off-piste stuff I’d recommend a combination of trail forks and Guy Kesteven’s Youtube guides.

If you want a bit of xc to tack on then it’s an easy ride to the Fewston mountain bike trail which was built but has never really been promoted. There’s a few bits and pieces in Timble woods too but the hardest route is still blocked in places by a couple of trees.

It’s about the same to Wharny. I’d choose there over Stainburn every time.

More trails for you to find something you like.

Stainburn is quite close to me, the rock roll is good fun just when you think you might die… but I found that you really have to have a well setup suspension to really enjoy the full tracks on the trail centre side as they are BUMPY! The black is pretty techy at parts too and the climb back up if you’re inside the trees is techy and if you’re going straight up the track, is steep as hell!

The top of the road is brilliant though, some great off piste tracks, properly wild if too wet though!

Wouldn’t travel too far for it, I would for Gisburn though for example, love that place and can’t wait to go back!

Brilliant, thanks for all the replies, looks good on the video (but i doubt its that dusty at the monet!) I’ll head over and have an explore.

I usually park at swinston/frewston and do a mixture of stainburn and timble along with a run of the yorkshire water trail.