I may have a day where I can go riding DURING THE WEEK, instead of having to go at the weekend, so I’m quite excited.

The only limitation is that I can’t leave the house til after 9.30, and have to be home by 3, with no flexibility on times.

The options for riding seem to be Windhill, Ashton Court/Leigh Woods, or FOD. I’m travelling from Bath. FOD is probably the farthest away.

I’ve ridden at FOD and Ashton Court before, probably enjoyed the former more than the latter. I’ve not ridden the Leigh Wood trails though.

I’ve never been to Wind Hill, which is probably the quickest to get to by car (Bristol probably closer but getting across town takes an age). Is it all sick jumps and massive doubles, or is there stuff that’s rideable on a 130mm 26″ hardtail by someone who isn’t comfortable (ahem) sending it?

I went to Wind Hill recently – I was on my Whyte t-130 (running chainless due to a mech smashing incident earlier that weekend) & it was fun, but not as much fun as FOD. The blue run there is jumpy & table toppy & there’s a red that is quite rooty, but I imagine you’ll get bored quickly if you’re not into wheels off the ground riding.

I last rode Ashton Court a few years ago, that was about the dullest place I have ever ridden.

If it was me I would be all about FOD.

Do Windhill- I asked the same question; https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/windhill-on-a-hardtail/

I had great fun despite hurendous weather. The blue is super easy and flowy. The reds are also fine. Some big tabletops but all rollable if you don’t get the speed.

Push up only take a few minutes and it’s cheap to ride there. No need for an uplift.

Try something different & give it a go. Added benefit that it’s your closest location too.

I last rode Ashton Court a few years ago, that was about the dullest place I have ever ridden.

Yes, I didn’t think it was particularly exciting but with time constraints it was an option.

Do Windhill- I asked the same question

Hmm, must have missed that when I did a forum search.

Looking at some of the comments in your thread, I wonder if it does sound like it’s a little more gnar than I want to do nowadays*. I’ll check out videos on their page.

*not that I’m overly scared of tech/gnar but nowadays I’m a bit more risk-averse, particularly when riding on my own, than I used to be.

Ashton Court/Leigh Woods is pants unless you know where to head for off piste 😉

Looking at some of the comments in your thread, I wonder if it does sound like it’s a little more gnar than I want to do nowadays*. I’ll check out videos on their page.

The blue really is a blue and you can firmly stay on the ground. Sure, there’s bits your can boost and turn into jumps, but the majority is designed to be rolled. I saw a family sessioning the lower part of blue. I also saw a chap ride it on what’s best described as a retro XC bike without issues.

If you’re watching videos just avoid ‘pro line’, that’ll put you off for life!

I would never choose Ashton court over Windhill, and jumpy stuff isn’t my thing. As above LW has some good off piste but you’d need local knowledge to get the best out of it. Same could be said about FOD, though the blue is good fun if like trail centres. In your position I’d choose Windhill, it’s also the safest to ride on your own as it’s a compact little area. Blue and red jump likes totally rollable, rooty red isn’t that gnar and even the rooty blacks ain’t that bad with maybe only the odd bit that makes them black.

Ashton Court is much improved recently and Leigh Woods offpiste can be good but it’d still be bottom of that list for me.

I’d be going to Wind Hill given your choice – although it is jumpy. Blue has flow and tabletops that are all fine. The red jump line is all rollable and still flow but the lips on the tabletops are quite steep.

The red rooty line isn’t much fun imo.

The black lines are more natural feeling and steep tech.

The Pro line is just bonkers.

At FOD the blue is ok, the red is a little better and the skills area is fun for larking around on. The downhill runs are ok if you like roots! I’ve not done the off piste there but honk you could do with local knowledge to get the best out of it.

Just a thought but have you considered Flyup 417?

’d be going to Wind Hill given your choice – although it is jumpy. Blue has flow and tabletops that are all fine. The red jump line is all rollable and still flow but the lips on the tabletops are quite steep.

Thanks Joe. I’m not terrified of jumping – I used to be able to do the dirt jumps at Hornton Hill and the smaller sets at Chicksands/Woburn, but it’s been 10+ years since I did any ‘proper’ jumping and I’ll probably be riding my Soul, as I can’t be arsed to put all the bits together to get my full suss riding again, so I’m just a bit wary of bad casing if jumps aren’t rollable.

Just a thought but have you considered Flyup 417?

I hadn’t, but that does bear further investigation, thanks…

Why not Cwmcarn? It’s closer than the Forest of Dean and both trails are good and could be completed in your time.

Why not Cwmcarn?

I do like Cwmcarn, but I’ve ridden there quite a lot – thanks for the suggestion though, and in all honesty I thought it was a bit further away!

With Cwmcarn the Twrch trail is the main full lap open at the moment and the rocky bit before the final (excellent fun swoopy bermy) downhill would be brutal at pace on a hardtail. I did a quick lap a few weeks ago on the way back back from doing the Brecon Gap ride and on my Aeris (170/160mm travel) it was the bumpiest thing I rode all day.

Flyup 417 is actually excellent fun on a hardtail.

Am I alone in thinking the red and blue any FOD are a bit pants? Much prefer Afan (only been once and did W2), Cwmcarn etc. The swallovalets or whatever it is called at FOD was a lot of fun though. Given location I reckon off piste could be immense although like the OP I am normally rigidly time constrained which makes exploration tricky.

Mallards Pike?

https://www.trailforks.com/trails/blackpool-fly-down/

I’ve done all your options recently. My daughter lives in Bristol and we rode Ashton Court when I was visiting her. It was OK, but short and I think you would get a little bored fairly quickly if you’d made a special trip.

I really like FOD and go there a fair bit. Usually do the red and blue and play on the skills area. I actually prefer the blue there to the red, especially the last 2 km or so which is awesome fun. I have just started tentatively exploring the downhill runs there and they are also good fun. I should say, I’m not massively into jumping.

I did Windhill with a big group of mates of mixed ability. The blue is fun, but fast enough to get you into trouble if you get cocky! There are some jumps on on it, all rollable but I had fun actually trying to jump them with my very limited ability. 2 of our group on hardtails actually had bigish offs on the blue, but I don’t think it was anything to do with the type of bikes they were riding. There were loads of people on hardtails. The red jumps were too big for me, but rollable. I did enjoy the techy red run though.

I definitely recommend 417 fly up. I went there on a weekday and had a blast. The trails are a little smoother and better looked after than Windhill and there is just enough to keep you interested all day. The uplift is very efficient too. For me, it would be between 417 and FOD. You’d have a great day at either.