A friend of mine has said let’s go riding there, he’s based near there whereas for me it’s a 2 hour drive each way.

Usual riding spots are fod, Hopton etc.

Is it worth a trip there or will i find it boring?

If you like peddling, It’s awesome – faster you go, better it is.  Remember, It’s in the south, there is nothing up or down of note.

The 2 hour drive will be more fun than Swinley!

If you enjoy flatish rides with no real features then its great or if your a novice and want to get used to riding offroad its ideal

If your heading down this way then go to Surrey Hills, much better riding, lots of unofficial trails for varying degrees of skill or head to Wiltshire and hit up Windhill

It’s great, I really enjoyed it and it’s relatively long but I dunno if it’s worth a 4hr round trip.

I think the above is a little harsh on Swinley. My usual riding spots are Cwmcarn / A bit of Forest of Dean / Leigh Woods / Flyup 417 / Windhill / BPW etc.

Swinley isn’t exactly like any of those. It doesn’t have huge big climbs and descents but I find it quite entertaining. I’ll drive there from Bristol to ride with a mate and enjoy it every time. There is a bit of pedalling but there are some nice berms and yumps although nothing really technical.

I’ve been to Swinley maybe 5 times and I’m still happy to ride there a couple of times a year.

Depends what you want. If you’re in it for the downs then swinley is not the place for you, if you can pedal till you puke it’s perfect.

It’s not even worth a half-hour round trip, let alone four.. So many people seem to love the place, but I just don’t get it. There’s far, far better riding – Tunnel Hill (the bits that are still open), Hindhead/Devil’s Punchbowl, Surrey Hills, etc. If your idea of a good ride is following 20k of polished yellow stones with minimal natural features, crack on..

Snoozefest xc trailcenter designed for roadies. Dont waste your time.

If you like peddling, It’s awesome – faster you go, better it is.

This gets said a lot. It’s not true, all that happens is that you spend less time being bored.  I rode Swinley for the first time a few weeks ago (on my Genesis Vagabond, basically a rigid, drop bar 29er) There was nothing that I needed a bigger bike for and the Strava segments I looked at show me comfortably in the top 10%. If I’d been going any faster I guess I’d be a pro. 😂 If you like wiggling pointlessly around trees, you’ll enjoy it.

I’m amazed that people go there in preference to the Surrey Hills. (Looking forward to going there this week. )

It’s not even worth a half-hour round trip, let alone four.. So many people seem to love the place, but I just don’t get it. There’s far, far better riding – Tunnel Hill (the bits that are still open), Hindhead/Devil’s Punchbowl, Surrey Hills, etc. If your idea of a good ride is following 20k of polished yellow stones with minimal natural features, crack on..

This.

If I was a (riding distance) local then I might feel different. But 2 hours? Absolutely not. Go the extra 30 minutes to Peaslake and ride there instead.

I’ve been to Swinley once this year for the Swinduro last weekend, and even that was dull to race!

It’s a tedious, contrived waste of time.  You’ll be driving past much better riding to get there.  I don’t mind flat but I kinda want my flat trail centres to go places instead of twisting and turning aimlessly around the same bland bit of woodland block.

I rode it on my stooge and never felt underbiked, I could have gone quicker but it wouldn’t have improved the entertainment. I’d have been bored to tears on the proper bike.  Given Surrey hills are maybe 30minutes further away I’d go there every time.

Hmmm fairly damming replies for swinley then! I’ll find somewhere else to go.

Thanks all.

 the Strava segments I looked at show me comfortably in the top 10%.

Swoons. Swoons HARD.

I quite enjoy it, it’s not super technical or anything but has some fun bits. If you’re on a 160mm slack machine then obviously it’s all a bit tame but if you want some financial needs doing view pedaling as a chore then it’s fine.

Does your mate have to travel to ride with you? Your getting close to 2 hrs to get to FOD from swinley.

i am local to swinley, and whilst it is not the best place I have ever ridden, it is not terrible. It is a quite fun loop, to be honest I can’t see what makes it significantly worse than the red and blue at the FOD or Cannock. It’s not afan or Brechin though.

Why dontbyou go, have a laugh with your mate, have a beer afterwards and make your own mind up.

If I lived where you did, I wouldn’t drive two hours just to ride there.  But ,visiting  your mate and riding somewhere local to him sounds ok ,for the crack at least . For a change . Once every few years maybe. Ask him to learn the Surrey Hills, the riding there is excellent.

Its riding a bike with a mate, whats the worst that can happen?

I’m local to it and it’s great for fitness and there’s little chance of being run over (although an ebiker managed to hit me on an overtake) so it’s a win. Would I drive two hours, probably not but if it was to meet a mate I would.

If you don’t enjoy Swinley you’re too slow.  No question.

If you are fit enough to go flat out the whole way it’s absolutely brilliant.  Well – parts of blue go on a bit but that’s not a deal breaker.  I love it.  Faster and faster each time, and a bigger and bigger grin.

If you’re a better rider than me then the blue is full of big jumps requiring serious commitment – just look for berms you can take straight off and hit the trail as it snakes back around.  I’m sure I saw a video of one of these but I cannot find it now.

However, Surrey Hills is also good.  TBH I’m not sure what better riding you’d be driving past from FoD area!

If you’re on a 160mm slack machine then obviously it’s all a bit tame

More fun on a bigger bike IMO.  Bigger tyres, brakes, wider bar etc means more speeeed.

I think Swinley is more of a fun and varied route than freeminers at FOD just about. But then I’m not a massive fan of roots.

More fun on a bigger bike IMO.  Bigger tyres, brakes, wider bar etc means more speeeed.

Brakes not not so much.

If you don’t enjoy Swinley you’re too slow.  No question.

If you are fit enough to go flat out the whole way it’s absolutely brilliant.  Well – parts of blue go on a bit but that’s not a deal breaker.  I love it.  Faster and faster each time, and a bigger and bigger grin.

If you’re a better rider than me then the blue is full of big jumps requiring serious commitment – just look for berms you can take straight off and hit the trail as it snakes back around.  I’m sure I saw a video of one of these but I cannot find it now.

Guess i’m too slow then.

Also, confused as to where the big jumps are on the blue (or red for that matter). On R15 or R25 even if you double up a couple of the rollers they are 15/20ft max. Not work 20km of tedium for some not very big jumps.

I don’t think I’d drive 2 hours to ride Swinley alone. But I drive 2 hours to visit my mate and we ride canal paths and round flat fields and it’s a pleasure to be out on my bike with my mate. If he lived near Swinley that’d be great! cos I enjoy riding there and I enjoy getting out on my bike with my mate. I dunno why you’d have to ask really.

I used to go there a lot years back as I lived about twenty minutes away, is it very different since they put marked, rated trails in?

I used to enjoy it as I knew it like the back of my hand, could spend a couple of hours bimbling round and not go on the same bit of track twice.

I’m a local. I can see why people might not like it and it’s a bit of a Marmite place. If you’re meeting a mate then I’d say it’s worth riding it and making up your own mind. Maybe if he knows it well he can guide you on the non trail centre bits?

(Lol at top 10% of Strava swooning)

<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”> is it very different since they put marked, rated trails in?</span>

Its similar, but there are blue/red posts at the start of the runs. The jump gully has gone. Last time I was there they were mucking about with babymaker and the labyrinth, so if those go, it really wouldn’t be worth the occasional trip I do now.

Its pretty much an exercise in riding hard until you vomit. Slower than that and its dull. If your vomiting pace is still slow then its dull.

Also loving the idea that a 20ft gap at a trail center isn’t big or testing enough. I’ve never got my tape measure out to check them, but then I can’t reliably make them either so its moot how long they are.

Its not Glentress, but at least it’s not Cannock or Dalby.

the Strava segments I looked at show me comfortably in the top 10%. If I’d been going any faster I guess I’d be a pro.

Come back when you break into the top 2000 or so then ey?

Swinley is a great place for just blasting around on a bike having fun, especially with mates. It ain’t the most technical, but it flows well, its a damned good work out if you push your pace a little, and if folk can’t enjoy themselves there I’m not really sure we “get” biking in the same way. No, it doesn’t have much techy stuff, though “apparently” there is some nice off piste stuff if you nose about. Of course I wouldn’t know about that, or how to get to it after turning right somewhere near Red 6 and past a green metal bench into Crowthorne Woods, as obviously nobody would ride off piste, when its apparently frowned upon.

Happy to agree that Surrey Hills offers far more variety and techy stuff if that’s your bag, and I do prefer it, but it does annoy me when folk diss Swinley as if its boring. How can riding a bike near your limit both physically and technically, with a bunch of mates for several hours and the associated banter that comes with friends, be boring?

Worth the 2 hour drive from most of Southern England, especially once the mud arrives everywhere else.

The cafe is rubbish, and the parking a pain in the arse on a busy weekend though.

Also loving the idea that a 20ft gap at a trail center isn’t big or testing enough. I’ve never got my tape measure out to check them, but then I can’t reliably make them either so its moot how long they are.

Poetic licence much? It’s not a 20ft ‘gap jump’, it’s not even a 20ft table, there is literally just a couple of points on some of the trails where you can double up some rollers if you’re reasonably competent and can carry some speed at features.

it’s not even a 20ft table, there is literally just a couple of points

You are literally not looking hard enough.

There are at least 3 rollers on the blue that are double-able if you have sufficient skill (not that I have). More on the red, esp. down from the clubhouse

The hub have serveral ride outs with locals who can show you the features if you’re keen.

That said, I rarely go in the summer, it’s chockablock. Would I drive 4 hours to ride on my own? Def not. Meeting a mate, definitely.

Can’t think of any on the blue, where are they? As I said above there’s a handful on the (official) red, there is the one on babymaker which has been eroded down over the years & is a lot smaller now, but that’s it. There’s a few reasonable jumps in the camel area, but nothing official (yet).

I quite like it there for a flat out ride.  it’s not very mate friendly not many points to chat unless you are both the same fitness or one of you waits about.

I travel an hour maybe once a year for a quick spin.  and I used to have a couple of strava top tens (get me)

the labyrinth section is brilliant.  the first time you are through it I was like ‘where the **** am I’ some of the strava times through there are incredibly fast I’m not even close flat out and it’s not the legs or lungs holding me back.

worth it for a one off is say.

I prefer FOD but haven’t been for some years now

Who the **** wants to ride 20ft doubles anyway? I’m not really into big pointless features.

I work all over the country and take my bike with me and still like a lap of Swinley.

Can’t think of any on the blue, where are they?

Couple before Stickler  5, 6 or 7 I think, then there’s one or two on 14.

There’s one on red 25 too, but the lad I saw doing it was going a lot faster than I’d be comfortable with (esp after the lad that died there).

Edit:

I think this is 14, but haven’t been for a while.

This is labelled as 14

If you do it enough you can start shaving seconds off the various bits. I got quite good at riding Labyrinth on the rigid bike I was bringing at the time.  Not a particularly great trail, but I really enjoyed learning it well enough to memorise lines at specific spots to nail it.

How can riding a bike near your limit both physically and technically, with a bunch of mates for several hours and the associated banter that comes with friends, be boring?

I personally generally prefer trails with an un-artificial surface where the technicality comes from the trail itself, not having to go flat out to make it interesting. Plus I don’t ride with friends, am not really into “banter” and typically ride places and times that give me a good chance of avoiding people, not being amongst crowds of them.

I actually really liked “old” Swinley, before all the surfaced waymarked trails got put in as you could pretty much make up your own loop, and it wasn’t all that busy. The original Whole Nine Yards trail was great..

If you are fit enough to go flat out the whole way it’s absolutely brilliant.

this is true – if you keep a solid pace up for the whole blue/red circuit then it is decent. If you’ve ridden tunnel hill with the trolls you will get the idea, the tracks they ride are often hardly present and boring if you rode them slow, but at their pace it is all a blast.

I personally generally prefer trails with an un-artificial surface where the technicality comes from the trail itself, not having to go flat out to make it interesting.

By that token, Brands Hatch or the IoM TT or the Nurburgring are dull as ditchwater, if you went round them at 30 mph.

Surely the point is that you do go fast and make it interesting.

Don’t get me wrong, different folks have different strokes, and maybe super nadgery steep technical is your thing, but to write Swinley off because it isn’t your thing is wholly incorrect.

I don’t like super steep technical, can’t ride it, don’t enjoy it, therefore the Alps are shit? Or me?

I actually really liked “old” Swinley, before all the surfaced waymarked trails got put in as you could pretty much make up your own loop, and it wasn’t all that busy. The original Whole Nine Yards trail was great..

Yup  🙁

I do the odd ride over there during the week (ride from Bagshot when working there).  I take my CX bike as it makes it a bit more interesting.

I wouldn’t go anywhere near the place at the weekends.

By that token, Brands Hatch or the IoM TT or the Nurburgring are dull as ditchwater, if you went round them at 30 mph.

Surely the point is that you do go fast and make it interesting.

Don’t get me wrong, different folks have different strokes, and maybe super nadgery steep technical is your thing, but to write Swinley off because it isn’t your thing is wholly incorrect.

I don’t like super steep technical, can’t ride it, don’t enjoy it, therefore the Alps are shit? Or me?

Absolutely… I simply cannot grasp how people don’t enjoy it…

I enjoy BPW, i enjoy Afan…. Does that mean i cannot enjoy Swinley ? Hell no, it’s a bloody fabulous afternoon/morning out. It’s 45 mins each way for me and worth every minute.

Some of the loamy winter/autumn rides there have been highlights of my riding for most years. Yes, they’re years i’ve also been to Morzine, Andalucia etc..