At the risk of adding to the already evident trollery, I started riding mountain bikes before there were accepted routes, before trail centres were even thought of, when you had little alternative but to go out and find routes on your own. The bigger ‘accepted’ routes were those used by cyclocross riders who used to go out and train in the Peak District, or on the moors.
I think trail centres are brilliant. They manage to bring together the kind of features that would take a days worth of exploration, and guarantee a decent ride with a sensible start and finish.
We used to ride out from Manchester, over the Snake Pass, then do a Peak loop, then ride home again to get some decent riding done, now I could drive to where-ever and be sure of a good ride with little wasted effort.
All that ‘natural riding’ snobbery is the sign of small minds who are desperate to be heard.