I have seen a few dabates on here with people seeming to rubbish trail centre riding. I normally ride in Devon – Woobury. Haldon (unofficial). Ocassionally Dartmoor & the Quantocks so reasonable quality riding. Yesterday I rode Afan (Whites Level) then Cwm Carn (Twrch trail). Despite being very wet I thought both trails were brillint fun to ride, why do so many people seem to slag them off?

Passes the time.
fast food analogy works….all right now and again but they will eventually make you lazy,stupid and obese.

Too many goons in the car parks pulling stoppies and wheelies, yet on the trail they dont have the fitness to ride.

Far too flowing and boring tbh.

Usually in the woods with zero scenery to look at apart from tree’s.

BUT each to their own. Its a good spot to start MTB. If people are enjoying themselves on the bike, well, thats what its about.

It’s currently trendy and niche to slag off trail centres at the moment

They’re for weekend warriors who can’t read maps.

“I went riding in the Lakes at the weekend!”
“Great riding there – where abouts?”
“Grizedale Northface Trail”
“Oh…”

Riding is good wherever.

xiphon 😆
Remember….Not all riding mountainbikes is ‘mountainbiking’ 😉

Far too flowing and boring

Things that flow are usually pretty fast and fun. The new stuff at FoD “flows” and it’s one of the funnest bits of trail I’ve ridden thus far 🙂

They’re for weekend warriors who can’t read maps

or maybe just for when you don’t want to be arsed with a map? Variety is the spice of life and all that. I don’t get this slagging of trail centres. They are fun and different (not better OR worse) to going out and exploring / navigating but it’s all still enjoyable.

rorschach – if I did that ride two or three times a week I would not be fat or obese unless I had an eating disorder!

MartinGT – I’m not fast and like riding in the woods 🙂 although I’m rubbish at wheelies! And we did overtake a few riders but were also overtaken by a couple of lycra missiles with no fitness issues I could see. I guess it could be boring if you rode it all the time (same as anywhere I guess)
I’m lucky enough to have ridden different places all over the world and I still cannot understand how someone who likes biking could not like those trails. But as you say, each to their own.

I ride 3-4 times a week all year if I can so no weekend warrior BUT I am rubbish at mapreading 🙂

fast food analogy works….all right now and again but they eventually make you lazy and obese.

I can see that because all trail centre’s are designed for bikes and hence designed to be ridden/rideable… some of my favourite trails are damn near impossible to ride and that is what pushes me and in my view what pushes the sport. The bikes get better each year and so do the rides and the riders… it’s called progression.

Does this mean I’m anti trail centre? Hell no… I loves them, I loves them for others as a stepping stone into the sport, and I loves them as a way to get a group of varying ability out on a hill having an ace time together. And lastly I loves them as they are about bikes and bikes are ace. I’m glad we don’t just have trail centres though as I love other trails more.

Folk who slag off trail centres are willy-waving-look-at-me-I’m-so-mountainbike-I-out-mountainbike-you-type-try-hards… (as the responses to this thread will now prove )

why do so many people seem to slag them off?

1) snobbery
2) bitchiness (see the comments about the people who ride them. Since when did the people ON a trail determine how good it was? See point 1)
3) lack of speed. If you trundle them they can be dull, if you go really really fast they become fab, mostly. Imagine driving Silverstone in a 950cc Fiesta at 25mph.

I use my local tc for training rides-a couple threshold laps ,a couple of times a week….better than sitting on the turbo!! But unlike some I don’t then eat my body weight in fried bacon and egg in the cafe immediately afterwards (I wait till I’ve ridden home to stuff my face with choccy biccies).

Nacho, its not someone Not liking them, if you get what I mean?

If I am riding my bike, Im happy weather its a trail centre or natural riding.

I find trail centres rather repetative. One section of Dalby, Glentress is much of much the same a few km down the trail, come rain or shine. Thats great if you have a limited time and want to get out and get some riding done. Its great as you dont have to have a map and you can zoom around.

Messiah has it spot on. Mainly luddite too cool for school types.
Anyone can learn to map read. The infantry manage it!

LOL @ messiah. I couldn’t clear the Twrch trail climb!! The wet roots made sure I’ll have to go back another day and try again.

“Despite being very wet I thought both trails were brillint fun to ride,”

Me too and the weather aspect wins it for me. When all my lovely local rooty dirt trails are slippery swamps, Afan is just as grippy and fast (if a bit splashy) as it is in the dry.

Improving the views by taking out a few conifers would go a long way to helping the aesthetics IMO.

I just wish there was something a bit nearer… ooh Ashton Court!

But unlike some I don’t then eat my body weight in fried bacon and egg in the cafe immediately afterwards

I usually start off in the Cafe before even getting on the trails, need to be well fueled to perform properly. Although I’ve been known to leave the bike on the rack and stay in the cafe all day if I’m not feeling like I can perform at my best.

ChunkyMTB Said it right.
It’s rubbish that trail centres are for people who can’t read a map and or are new to the sport.
I can read a map just fine and i have been riding for a fair few years now but i still enjoy trail centres. I use them maybe once a month and always enjoy it as it is a trail laid out for me that me and the other lads can really hammer around not having to worry about getting lost and just hooning around.
Trail centres aren’t rubbish but they are convenient which i guess to a few translates into rubbish.
Personally the more places that become available to ride the better IMO

They’re like doing track days, some people like the idea and some don’t but you don’t go there for the scenery. I can’t remember having any conversation about motorbikes or cars where track days have been so badly slagged off as trail centres have here. Does that say something about some ‘mountain bikers’?

dtf, 😛 there is a modicum of humour left in stw land after all….I had assumed the all pervading po-faced’ness had stomped all over it.

Far too flowing and boring tbh.

I know what you mean. I just *hate* it when the trail starts to flow. Much prefer the NIMBY log obstacles every 50 yards, slowing down for walkers/hikers, and 100 yard sections of singletrack broken up by tarmac and/or stiles.

Only got experience of GT and Laggan when it comes to trail centres, and I very rarely go to either, but they’re both awesome. All the best bits of riding that we search high and low for out on the natural trails, but without 10 miles of riding between each good bit. What’s not to like?

Trail centres are great. Fast, well drained, long and often challenging.

I went over to Nant-yr-Arian yesterday. The weather was horrible and it made it all the more fun to ride.

I was with a riding partner who’s new to it (and I’m 5 rides into returning from 5 years)and we both loved it. It was different to how I remember…a lot more climbing (and yes I am very unfit on the bike) and the singletrack had changed a little but I loved it!

For me, getting back into it…finding my feet, falling off, building fitness etc, then Trail Centre’s are ideal.

I don’t mind driving out to them on a Sunday as I can’t really go during the week with other committments.

So – I am a trail-junky sunday-warrior who isn’t fit enough and can’t ride fast. Who cares?

I’ll pull over and let people past but I want to enjoy the riding i want to do. If that means stopping to take in the scenary (difficult yesterday seeing as in some places we were riding through clouds) then so be it. I’m out doors, on a mountain bike, riding it. And that makes me

Trail centres are great. Fast, well drained, long and often challenging.

With certain trail centres, I find the most challenging thing is trying to find the motiviation to ride them!

I would suggest that some don’t like trail centres because it gives easy access for all partake in ‘their’ hobby – and they just dont like it because it’s special and they are special and if everyone does it then they are no-longer unique.

See also numerous threads on here about niche bikes etc.. 😉

For those that havent been, get yourselves to Morzine this summer, a trail centre on steroids/acid!

Its brilliant, all lift assisted so you dont even need to ride up the hills. You wont want to leave.

Whilst back in the UK for the rest of the year, I’m struggling to even bother getting my bike out when I know the first section of the North Face trail is a long tough climb

Trail centres are like 26″ wheels.
They’re OK for beginners, but once you’ve progressed a bit you’ll want to ride some proper trails on proper wheels.

Trail centres are just like cheeky trails but with the added benefit of still being there two weeks later.

I don’t ride them often but when I do I’m always smiling.

TCs are great. They’re snorted at with derision by the type of twunt who rides a 29er-funny-stickers-singlespeed-hybrid-cross-fatbike-$niche_bike but that’s fine, it means the rest of us don’t need to cross paths with them as they are inevitably off somewhere doing “real” mountainbiking 🙂

Bit like trailquests really. OK for beginner map readers.

To limit your riding opportunities in any way, shape or form is utterly incomprehensible to me. You’re half way to a joyless roadie’s philosophy. STOP THAT BLOODY LAUGHING! YOU’RE NOT HERE TO ENJOY YOURSELF!!!

I remember telling a roadie I know I was off to Morzine for some downhill crazy ape mentel-ness. He looked at with with utter disdain then said condescendingly “yes, yes, but that’s just like a fairground ride, isn’t it?”

And that’s a bad thing how exactly?

Trail centres are great for a giggle. As is setting off for an all day epic over some gert big ‘ills. Do it all. And more importantly: smile while you’re doing it. That’s the whole point! All riding is good! Full stop! 😀

@ binners – “here here”

binners you’re crazy mountain biking is very serious business you know.

STOP THAT BLOODY LAUGHING! YOU’RE NOT HERE TO ENJOY YOURSELF!!!

joyless roadie’s philosophy

But I like road riding every now and then.

trailcentres are tremendous fun (if its a good one) but theyre also convenient. you get a car park, cafe, shop, bike wash, signs telling you where to go, different grades of trail, no footpath sections to hit people on, if you do it with a bunch of mates its a hell of a laugh

However, you can also be on a rocky natural trail, on your own, in nice scenery. actually on a mountain, lets face it, if youre prepared to look for it, there are mint sections of natural trail around, but its much easier to go to a trail centre, because all the hard work is done for you. thats why i ride trail centres most the time

Trail centres are like 26″ wheels. They’re OK for beginners, but once you’ve progressed a bit you’ll want to ride some proper trails on proper wheels.

Troll.

Back to basics here, why do we ride out bikes? For fun!
The people on here who berate them and act like they are above a trail centre are just being snobs. I went to Dalby this weekend and LOVED it, next to my last trip to the Alps it’s the most enjoyable riding i’ve done.