If you were to split the country into mountain biking regions, how would you do it? What would your lines be? Where would you draw them? How would you draw them? How would you self identify e.g. I’m a rider from…

humour me.

Derbyshire

Swindon. (Woods sub-branch)

Chilterns

Our local Trail Association is Badenoch and Strathspey. I guess that’s specific enough.

Tweed Valley here.

I actually live 10 miles from the Tweed Valley but that’s what I say if I’m talking to another mountain biker because they’ve heard of that and not Wedale where I actually live

Central Highlands

The Mighty ‘Pines!

Dartmoor and exmoor.

Forest of Dean

Derbyshire Dales and the White Peak is my locality

SW England – Quantocks, Mendips, Exmoor, Dartmoor, and a host of local hotspots like Haldon, Gawton Woodbury, East Devon etc etc.

That is a pretty huge area in terms of square miles and could possibly be split into north and south.

Calderdale

Eastern Highlands.

Everything from Comrie Croft in the west, through Dunkeld and Pitlochry, to Strathmore and the Southern Cairngorms/Angus Glens, then Deeside and as far as Drumtochty.

Mine woods…

North Lakes

Peaks

Pennines

Wales N / S

lakes

tweedvalley

proper scotland

northeast

everywhere else..

Tayside I guess

Northern Highlands. Anything north of the Great Glen.

The south of England – confusing network of nadgery footpaths and bridleways and BOATS and things.

The north of England – eroded cart tracks across moorland

Scotland – delightful singletrack that requires you to drag your bike thru a bog to get to it

Wales – pot noodle miners paths

I’m a lapsed, practising manualist.

Near my house

Not near my house.

Simple

Where theres hills and mountains theres Mountain bikers ..   Not many 160mm front and backs around Lincolnshore 🙂

The Marches.  Takes in a load of Shropshire riding hotspots and lots of natural riding across the border in the Clywdian hills, Radnor forest, the Cambrian mountains etc.  Outside the area, but easily accessible from it are: FoD; Cannock; the trail centres in North and South Wales.

If I had to divide up the UK into MTB regions then, with a bit of wild generalization to avoid a silly long list I’d go with:

Northern Scotland / Highlands: Where the wild haggis roam.

Tweed Valley: Cool kids camp

The Lakes/Cumbria, lovely if it would only stop raining for 5 minutes

North Wales/Snowdonia, see above.

South Wales Valleys BPW/Trail Centre scene

Peak District/Yorkshire region, basically the cult of Peaty.

‘Central’ England, really just Cannock Chase in the midst of sweet FA else.

Chilterns: Stockbrokers on carbon XC bikes.

East Anglia: Fenduro!

North Downs/Surrey Hills – Basically the Tweed Valley but with even newer T6’s

Southdowns: Spiritual home of mint sauce.

South West: Cider in sport

I’m a rider from…

St Aidens nature reserve and Temple Newsem, Canal from Woodelsford to Leeds…..

I don’t think I’ve ridden my MTB since October last year!

Great list Hatter, gave me a couple of LOLs.

Just one thing. You missed out the awesome Shropshire (and mid-Wales borders) trails, would they go in with…

‘Central’ England, really just Cannock Chase in the midst of sweet FA else.

Oh, and does FoD get lumped in with the Valleys?

Mordor.

‘Central’ England, really just Cannock Chase in the midst of sweet FA else

Great list, apart from this shocker! Eastridge, Bucknell, Hopton, Bringewood – all home to an epic DH series and regular uplifts courtesy of Pearce Cycles.  Mortimer Forest, the Long Mynd, Caer Caradoc, Wrekin, Wyre Forest, Bury Ditches, etc. etc.

And you forgot Mid Wales! Dyfi forest? Macynthleth? Revs? Radnor? Cambrian mountains? Hafren etc.?

Mordor.

One does not simply ride into Mordor.

7 Stanes West

Tweed Valley

Cairngorms

N E Scotland

NW Scotland

Lakes

Peaks

Forest of Bowland

North Wales

South Wales

Yorkshire

FoD

Middle flat bit including Cannock

South East

Quantocks and Exmoor

Dartmoor

South West Other

South Downs

Surrey Hills

South East Other

Swinley and surrounds.

Central’ England, really just Cannock Chase in the midst of sweet FA else.

.

Middle flat bit including Cannock

.

North Wales

South Wales

I’m so chuffed so few people know about the Marches, Shropshire hills and mid Wales.  Nothing to see – move along 🙂

Chilterns to the north, Thames Basin Heaths to the south (Swinley, Tunnel Hill, Crowthorne, Cesars camp, Minley)

Shropshire hills

I’m still trying to get mrs weeksy to move to Hopton.

Peaks?

The Peak District I consider 2 completely different areas

Dark Peak rocky and  steep

White Peak rolling and muddy

(note the lack of a letter s)

otherwise from my limited knowledge I reckon shortcut has it nailed

My attempts to keep the list to a sensible length means I inevitably skipped a few bits (like the entirety of Northern Ireland!)

Oh, and does FoD get lumped in with the Valleys?  – Yes similar ”M4 corridor’ crowd and likelihood of getting your bike nicked.

I see Swinley as being right on the border between ‘Chilterns’ and ‘North Downs’, areas and is populated by an almost exact 50/50 mix of stockbrokers on XC bikes and overbiked middle aged Gnaaaar fiends, my original classification therefore still stands.

Shropshire and the borders is a point though, doesn’t really have the same feel as either of the Wales’s

So I’d add – ‘Anywhere within an hour’s drive of a Pearce Cycles uplift’ to the list but that’s it!

I’d draw a line down and east from the bottom of the Peak District. In that box there is no land higher than 300m, so it’s not a mountain biking region.

I ride at Woburn

A small wood on the south edge of Milton Keynes

The area has one major redeeming feature. The Greensand drains well

Actually I don’t get there that often as I ride from the house on my gravel bike. But it’s a good mtb land mark. Chicksands is the same distance the other way

Salop.

Saddleworth/North Peaks