I'm actually hoping that 13thfloormonk will organise a Forum Ride. 😉

Will certainly sort out the men from the boys. 🙄

Scotland for me next year. 8)

My ASBO will be spent

Riding in the South isn't crap.

It's just twee.

I hear they've resurfaced Richmond Park and all the gnarly stuff has been sanitised. Sad news if it's true 😉

I envy all you guys who need 500sq miles of countryside to play in…As a south Westerner, there is lots to play in, much within riding distance and I havnt seen a fraction of it, yet…no time!

The north is clearly better. People should move there for the riding!

Unfortunately I can't for personal reasons so will have to suffer the trails down here. 😥

Have a look at the clips here
TBc ride in the pentlands if you havent already.

that will give you some idea of what we have within riding distance of Edinburgh. This is not some fantastic area that we have to drive to – this is just the local trails,

Druidh, i get the point, but that is quite possibly the worst photoshopping ever 🙂

but a more polished version would be an excellent ad for the Scottish tourist board

TJ, a video of a flat doubletrack absolutely packed with riders isn't going to help your case much in the mountains/no mountains argument, but it looks fun all the same

I used to live about a 3 mile ride from Grizedale, apparently some of the best riding in england round here. I wouldnt know for sure because Ive never really ridden anywhere else

Rd – did you miss the bits in the woods? Those vids show the variety of riding available in an average / mediocre area of Scotland

I didn't watch all 9 minutes, but even the bits I did watch are longer than my local stuff, so still jealous!

Riding in the south is not crap – there is some good stuff to be had …. and it still doesn't compare with places like the Peak District etc – since there is simply not the height or terrain, in that way, down south.

I wouldn't want to ride in the north because Tandem Jeremy lives there.

Milton Keynes is in the midlands, however Wobourn is south of milton keynes and as Milton Keynes is the border Woborn is in the south.

"Riding in the South isn't crap. It's just twee"

I don't disagree with that actually. There definitely is a propensity for rides to finish a tea shoppes and rural pubbes. And all the better for it.

rOcKeTdOg – Member
Druidh, i get the point, but that is quite possibly the worst photoshopping ever

Really? It took me ages to get the sky that colour!

So let me get this right; that long straight moor land (I would call it a descent, but that's not doing descents justice is it?) un-technical double track is something you though was worthy of filming?

Christ on a horse, that's some dull shit. I'd need some large quanties of mind altering substances to call that "good riding"

I feel sorry for you, I really do.

cod Yorkshire ?

trying too hard sound like a 'local' person

My comment was wasted on you.

I'm more Yorkshire than Yorkshire Pudding, you owd gimmer!

and rural pubbes.

I hope that means pubs and not pubes or have you taken up dogging 😯

Sorry to dig this up, but I had a thought on this argument whilst I was battering my way down an Alp a couple of days ago (believe it or not!) which went something like this –

'They insist the North is better, but what they're really inferring is that this makes them better riders.'

Discuss…
🙂

So by inference you are thinking that you are a waaay better rider than north and south added together cos you're riding down an Alp?

I am betterer than you however cos I always ride wth my eyes closed innit.

I'm from the North, I live in the south and I'd kick your ass down an alp PP

but what they're really inferring is that this makes them better riders

not in the least – I just think we're lucky to have all this wonderful stuff to ride! We might get more practice at riding over really gnarly rocky stuff but miss out on the skillz needed for chalky singletrack or whatever…

I think there needs to be a North VS South STW Weekender.

That'l sort it.

That'l sort it.

Optimist.

'They insist the North is better, but what they're really inferring is that this makes them better riders.'

Yes, and they're correct. 😛

But really, I reckon obviously if you ride it all the time then you will be better at steeper, rockier stuff – but I would like to be better at jumping and whatnot.

Could all you nice people start going on your hols to the South then please instead of blocking up our roads. Or at least go to Wrexham, it's the next nest thing to the South. Scotland is rubbish for riding. Stay away. You have been warned. Oh, and if you do come up this year, you may find the midges somewhat less annoying than all the "Out of Africa" pisstaking you will have to endure. Message ends

I do think Northeren riders have a skewed view of what Southern riding is, perhaps exacerbated by not actually coming down South to ride, and lets be honest here, if you had the Dales, or the Peaks to play in, would you be in a massive rush?

Which is a shame, I can do anything from 10 to 100 miles in the Chilterns, and do endless treeless vistas, cool shady woods with snaking singletrack that goes on and on for miles, techy steep drops, and killer climbs, not meet a soul, see wildlife from massive birds of prey to deer, and so on and on.

but what they're really inferring is that this makes them better riders

Which is odd, as of all the Northern rides I've shown around the Chilterns, most of them can't cope particularly well with woods, and the twisty turn-y singletrack that we have. but blatting down a rocky straight double track is a piece of cake

If the truth be told I don't care if the North is better or not. I like what I ride and it's good enough for me.
What is a far more pressing matter is why they can get chips with gravy and I can't and also why they seem happier than us South Easters despite the lack of civilization North of Hemel.

"I think there needs to be a North VS South STW Weekender."

I would be an opportunity to make some new friends, and maybe dispel a few myths.

Mendip forum ride – 15th August LINKY

Special guest Northern riders are extra specially welcome.

Well I've ridden the North, the South and Wales plenty. That must make me uber-all-round rider 🙂

Agreed about the different skills tho. Getting good speed out of say Swinley twisty singletrack is quite hard, as is blatting something rocky at speed.

buzzlightyear,

I would love to come but its on the list with SSUK for things i can't do because of a Wedding.

I do think Northeren riders have a skewed view of what Southern riding is

And then you go and generalise that all the riding up north is rocky doubletrack 😉

There's been little to prove otherwise though! Halfway through the video TJ linked too I've seen nothing but doubletrack on open heathland, it looks incredibly dull!

njee – you should watch both the vids thru – woodsy singletrack at the end of both. Almost none of it was vehicle track ( except quads) – just multiple worn lines from walkers and cyclists.

Anyway that was just given as a demonstration of the average riding in the pentlands – not a particularly great spot just my local riding.

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/the-tbc-wednesday-night-ride-this-week-the-movie

Our club (TROG) build & ride trails in Tunstall Forest in Suffolk. Crap flat riding you say. No. It's not just about climbing & descending big hills (which I'm not knocking), nor is it about XC racing (which I don't do). It's about CREATING flowy, challenging, fun singletrack out of whatever terrain you have to work with. We do road trips to North Wales & Yorkshire & find that the skills & fitness we've built on our tight, twisty, pedally & technically demanding trails do us just fine when we have to climb for half an hour and descend a black run.
I'm a Yorkshireman by the way & I'd prefer to ride the big stuff any day of the week, but there's good stuff to be found everywhere.
Whatever you ride every week, you need to experience different trails & terrain to round your skills & keep the passion alive.
Mind you, arguing for your local trails is one thing. If I had no ties or commitments & could choose to up-sticks & move anywhere in the UK for it's riding, I'd choose The Independent State of Yorkshire (& sod the lot of you who say otherwise!)

Ok, watched all the first vid, CBA with the second one, there's no singletrack there, there's some woodland track at the end, it looks alright, but nothing better!

At the end of the day we're lucky that there's such riding variety in such a tiny area. In the US they have to fly a couple of thousand miles if they wanted a big change in their scenery!

You can just see a couple of bikers on the horizon negotiating some of our boring doubletrack 😉

Some more in this thread

http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/show-me-your-epic-lakes-mountain-trail-pics#post-1565098

Southerners – could any of your rides be described as 'epic'? And I don't just mean long. 😀

No singletrack? I don't know how you define it then. 🙂

As I said – those vids I merely mentioned to give some idea of the range of riding we have in the pentlands – which as anyone will tell you is OK but nothing special – its just our local riding.

You have the open moorland which is mainly what you see on that vid. There is lots of twisty woodsy singletrack – which you don't see the best of on that vid. there are built trails with berms and jumps, (Nibbler)

There is a lot of variety and good trails – but my point was that is not the best of around here – its just an average.