Mtb rides in/close to london
Comments
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Epping Forest is probably the best combination of close and quality riding - have a look at Epping Forest Epics. It's best to go with a local as the best trails are difficult to find and you'll just end up on the bridleways.
You can ride to Epping forest from Paddington area no problem - the southern end of the forest is at Walthamstow.
Also have a look at:
Aston Hill
North Downs
South Downs
Penshurst Off Road Club
Bedgebury
There's also a series of books by Nick Cotton, published by Ordnance Survey that cover the whole country - there's one with rides around London and one for the South East IIRC.
Alaric.0 -
hi
thank for your tips!
what about biking at richmond park or wimbledon common??0 -
theres also swinley forest nr bracknell and the chiltern hills (near high wycombe/princes risbourogh).
Do you have a car? If so theres loads of good places within about a 1hour drive. Alaric mentioned most of them.
What kinda riding do you want? XC, DH, Freeride?
(I live in chiswick by the way.)0 -
nope, no car. only a bike :-)
i'm looking for XC rides!
freeride in that area sounds a little odd. doesnt seem like there are too many mountains around london:-)
Edit: swinley and bracknel look nice - thanks for the adive. can they be reached by train ??0 -
Mixi wrote:nope, no car. only a bike :-)
i'm looking for XC rides!
freeride in that area sounds a little odd. doesnt seem like there are too many mountains around london:-)
Well you're right about that but there's some good stuff scattered about - Esher Shore for example is prob one of the best places in the UK for NorthShore stylee freeride, and Aston hill has the nearest thing to alpine DH runs you can get within a hour drive from the capital.0 -
How did I forget Swinley!
Richmond and Wimbledon Parks are good for a bit of excercise, but I've not heard of any "good" riding there. Richmond in particular is heavily policed by the wardens and riding is not permitted off the marked tracks (read bridleways).
Someone may know it better than me or know a few Cheeky trails, but I don't think there's much to look forward to! Good for exercise but not much challenge.
Alaric.0 -
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sounds good.
i just mentioned richmond and wimbledon because they are close to where I'll stay. go to know that cycling is permitted there. so i guess for an hour of training after work they'll be fine. what about riding at night, are they open ... will i get killed :shock: ? (same question for hyde park)
ahh xc races ...i'd be up for that ,,,where can i get mor info ?0 -
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Easy enough to get the train to swinley from london to.'08 Stumpjumper FSR Pro
'04 Allez Sport
When we wake up in the morning, we have two simple choices. Go back to sleep and dream, or RIDE.
The choice is yours...0 -
for some reason i cant fnd any info on the race venues ...distance ...number of rounds to go etc...?0
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ah - found it. well the race in november looks good. if its nit to cold :-)0
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yer wimbledon common is alrite, i live in putney and have built a few jumps there, only trouble is the fucking park rangers come and destroy the jumps so you cnt build on the paths. and also you can get prosecuted for cycling off road! so go after 3 oclock if your scared, but normally they just give you a warning! im trying to find out the laws about digging because its public land, surely i can build jumps on it???0
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Try Leith/Pitch and holmbury hill. near dorking loads of good trails, freeriding etc. been riding there for 3 years and still finding new trials. good for all levels of ability......superowl17..**0
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I'm living in East London, almost (if the rain is no too heavy) every weeakend I'm out with a pal, following the ''Regents Canal'', some times coming/starting from Angel station till Canary Warf, some times from ''Canary Warf or Liverpool Street'' (depends where I meet my mate) to Tottenham Hale'' (that one is pretty much good) 'cause it get you to several parks (you dicede where and till where to stop to come back). And is safe (at least no cars, and no pedestreans), and the ''Hackeny Park and Lee Valley'' they are awesome ones. But if you really want a proper one, you must head to Epping Forest (there is one route to get there
www.bikeradar.com/routes/?bpath=maps%2F ... m-each-way
or http://www.bikeradar.com/routes/?bpath= ... ing-Forest
both are pretty much the same once you hit the forest (the problem is the starting), any way, to get there (cause you said you live in the west you can reach the station or near (maybe for coming back) you can check the link http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/974.aspx
if you don't have any map aroun the area you can order for free at www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/roadusers/cycling/cy ... efault.asp
Any way at least that is gonna keep you busy on the weeak end.
Have a good one.Give a smile, is free!!!0 -
Hi, forum noob here but decided to trawl through the historry rather than fire in with a new topic but saw this thread.
I live in Wimbledon and there's some riding in Wimbledon Common but most of it is marked no cycling and the stuff that is marked for cyclists is flat and dull. Richmond park is a bit better but stupidly easy so only good for fitness. Try Leith Hill down towards Gatwick Airport...which brings me to my question? I've been to Leith Hill with a mate a couple of times but they don't ride much anymore. I don't know my way round there too well, does anyone have a link/know where i can get a decent map showing some of the trails that have been cut so I can plan a route for myself? I've googled around and looked at OS maps in the OS map shop in Covent Garden but they ddin't have that kind of detail.0 -
Richmond park is alright and on my door step, but it's get's busy when the sun shines and at weekend....also you're only allowed on the hard gravely path round the outside...nothing taxing ot tricky, tho at speed it can get a little slippy, not that I know, I've been told, wasn't me breaking the 10mph speed limit, and it's not really hilly for that matter (just one steep ascent for about 50 metres)
But it's easy to get to, but can get a bit dull after a while...it's alright early mornings, but by midday on a sunny saturday you can forget it. Give it a go, it's as close to the contry as you'll get in London
I bought the rough ride guide last year and it has some good rides in it. http://www.roughrideguide.co.uk/
Swinley forest has been mentioned, it's good but again it can get busy at the weekends
There's a loop around fleet I got from the Rough Ride guide has a downhill that's 1.2 miles of rocky track, scared myself a few times on it, I ride ridged and it gets very bumpy at 20+ no one around which is why I like this loop (more or less starts off at fleet station easy to get to from Waterloo) and if you don fancy the loop there's the area around fleet pond, woody, not technical, but take a map and a compass (and GPS!) it's easy to get lost on the tracks and forests
Godalming has some good rides around it actually a lot of the north downs will keep you occupied for hours
If you want to cover distance and ride some nice scenery with no hills there always the Thames path cycle from Twickenham to Egham, Staines, Windsor and get the train back...nice thing to do an a day off...about 33 miles from Richmond to Windsor (3 hours there 20 mins back on the train :0) ) Thames path suffers like Richmond park at the weekends though...more so around the towns
Well there's a bit of food for thought for you :0)0
