25 miles of dry, dusty and awesome singletrack. Restored my mtb mojo.

That is all.

There’s a lot to be said for Thetford on a good day.

Dry you say….scratches chin and debates whether to go on Tuesday..

Did 30 miles on the road today. It wasn’t dark, wet, cold or THAT windy. Most pleasant.

Dry as a bone stumpy. I kid you not when I say I blew the dust of the bike and put it away. Haven’t done that since erm…. Er….??

2 hours of gliding through dried pine needle carpeted trails and jumping out of bomb holes.

There’s a lot to be said for Thetford on a good day.

And I’m so missing it, haven’t been for ages!

I’ve just moved to the area and today was my first ride at Thetford. Did the beater and lime burner as well as a few off piste bits I found in bcp. I thought that such a flat trail would be easy but there is no coasting. More like a road ride in the intensity. Several sections are quite choppy too so my lower back is feeling it.
Looking forward to exploring more of the off piste.

Welcome to “Thetford back”.

I rode it on friday afternoon, and it was damp in places and dry in others, fast and flowing and really enjoyable.
just might have to go again one afternoon this week…….

Well it explains why there were so many full suss riders there today!
I’m not sure that I shall get as much use of the rigid bike as I thought I might.

Thetford’s cool on a HT, except for a couple of bumpy sections on the Lime Burner which I despise more than any other trail I’ve ridden anywhere.

Yes the place is fairly flat, but the singletrack is ace, the place teaches you how to pedal and carry speed, and I would put The Beast and Double Shocker up against any other bits of wooded singletrack anywhere.

Yes there were some nice bits of singletrack especially the bit going north just before fire rd 11. Doesn’t compare with The Quantocks though. Still it’s not bad to have so much singletrack on your doorstep.

Yep. Thetford back is definitely worse if riding a hardtail.

Was gonna go out on the road again on Tuesday, but this has convinced me otherwise! Thetford after work it is…

Thetford is worse on a hardtail? The Brandon side?
Are you lot serious, the trails that side are smooth, the only slightly bumpy bit at Thetford is the beast if you ride it fast.
Other than that you can use a hardtail to pump speed out of almost every bit of those trails.

That sounds fun Kryton – will have to sort a ride over there if it stays dry. Barton Hills today were a sticky mudfest – ended up with a sort of wattle and daub consistency that Racing Ralphs couldn’t overcome – had to carry the bike three times to reach dry land!

That’s it, impromptu afternoon off for a ride at Thetford.

We’ll be meeting at BCP tonight @ 7.00 ….. though I think I might pop out for a blast this afternoon in the sun too!

Love living on the doorstep! 🙂

grahamt1980 – it’s not so much the bumps but the constant undulations. I only really notice it when I go for longer, faster rides in the summer when it’s dry.
Certainly noticed it doing the 10hr summer series race as a pair a couple or yrs ago and on the only dry d2d I’ve done.

Fitness has a lot to do with it, I think.

@bullet: I’d be up for that!

Hardtail SS is all you need! 🙂

It was great this afternoon. The driest and fastest I can remember since last spring. A beautiful day: warm and bright. Bike all set up in wide bar dropper mode for a trip to Wales at the end of the week, and everything felt perfect. I just wish I’d been able to spend the whole afternoon there rather than a quick lap and back to the office.

Thetford is good but “and I would put The Beast and Double Shocker up against any other bits of wooded singletrack anywhere.”,Whinlatter?? i found the beast lame even Bedgebury beats it ? i like bike art though the wife loved the 2 trails at Thetford ,but she is a bit gay ?

Even I would never describe either of those trails as GNARR, but I find them huge fun to ride and actually very different in character to the wooded singletrack at places like Whinlatter and Penmachno. I just get the feeling that bits of Thetford (and Sherwood too) are looked down on just because of where they are, and if they were in a trail centre somewhere more ‘MTBcentric’ they would be raved about.

But then I grew up (MTB-wise) in twisty, flat, tight woodland so I guess my view might be a little skewed.

Plus, Bike Art often sucks a big one in terms of customer service.

I miss Thetford 🙁

for us guys (and girls) in east anglia there isn’t much else. go brandon side, park at bird hide (fire road 6)and explore….. great fun

“for us guys (and girls) in east anglia there isn’t much else” you need to get out and about a lot more thetfords ok but not be all and end all you need to come south a little and try some of the trails around my neck of the woods(Colchester) my local loop and a few add on loops beat/kick the sh*t out of the sh*t(red/”black” run) at thetford all natural,MOD land ride where you want and no poorly/not maintained trails come on you know it makes sense.

Flat trails like thetford are a real test of endurance, some of the quickest riders in the country lost their cherry there

I know Andy. I may be a bit lardy, but 18 years off-road in the flatlands have certainly taught me how to pedal.