Thinking of going down on Sunday for a go at this, talk of dust is luring me from the West Midlands.

I’ve had a quick look at the trail map, and it seems a lap of the Verderers’ Trail, then onto Freeminers, then, do it all again would be the thing to do?

Or is there something lurking in the woods we should know about? What is the area like for just finding stuff, and more importantly not getting lost?

There is also this enduro route mentioned with talk of GPS, . . we aren’t really GPS types, it’s a big wood isn’t it, ffs, how hard can it be? 😀

Cheers

Take an OS map and a compass. Ride round till your legs drop off. Its all brilliant, and dry at the moment.

If you start somewhere other than the trail center parking is free, then plot a course to there, so you do some natural stuff as well as the trail center stuff.

tah,… any advice on which spot is best to park at?

os map and compass . . lol . . .i can imagine the ribbing i would get

Pretty sure there’s a miniDH race there on Sunday so it could be rammed…
This would be the best place to start from tho: http://www.pedalabikeaway.co.uk/

You should go exploring, especially if you’re travelling down from oop north to visit. I reckon the options are:

1. Stick to the named trails – you wont get lost and they’re good fun but you’ll miss loads of cool stuff.

2. Explore – The primary biking area is bounded by 4 roads so as above, cycle til yer legs drop off – eventually you’ll hit a road and use an iphone/map/compass/local/astronav to figure out which road it is and turn round and head back to base.

3. See if a local can help show you around the best bits.

For something more organised check out the Fountain Inn website as it contents quite a good map of the area and some of the downhill trails (which are quite good fun and no too scary) – even for an southern pansy like me.

Some of the best trails seem to be a local secret – a bit like the cola recipe and the Colonel’s secret mix of spices…

Let us know how you get on anyway!

EDIT: If there is a MiniDH race then the downhill runs are probably best avoided – although I can’t imagine they’ll all be in use.

thanks all, very helpful.

For Sunday:

Yes, there is a DH event, I think they’re using The Good, The Bad, The Ugly trail which is fairly central behind Pedalabikeaway Centre (and crosses the ‘push up’ route).

There is a road closure on Sunday morning between 08.00 and 10.30 on the B4226 between Speech House and Cannop Crossroads so best to approach from the A4136 Monmouth road between those hours.

The trails are great at the moment, very little mud around.

As said above, within the four roads bounding the area behind Pedalabikeaway there is a lot of good riding. Beyond those roads there is even more great riding but you really need a guide to find the best of it.

EDIT: Oh, and the parking charge at Pedalabikeaway contributes towards the MTB facilities in FoD 8)