Bristol visit

fletch8928

Hello,
I am going to be popping(316miles) down to Bristlol on thursday 22nd for the weekend to do some riding with an old pal from school.
I have had a look on here and bikehike for ideas on where to ride. Last time I visited we did the local Ashton Court trail and went to Bath. This time I fancy doing somehting a little better and my mate has mentioned Leigh Woods, Quantocks and Cwm Carn.
I hope to do a decent ride on the fri,sat and sunday. I do mainly xc over the Northumberland Moors, North Yorkshire Moors (when visiting mum) and sometimes mix it up in Keilder. The rides range between 14-35 miles. I dont mind hills nor quite technical rides and would like some advice on your thoughts as to where we should head too. Any advice will be most welcome, or even a guide for a non race afternoon of mountain biking

Cheers Dave

welshkev

cwmcarn is only about 45 mins drive from the centre of bristol. it gets busy there if the weather is nice so i'd reccommend getting there before 10am.

the initial climb is a real killer but once you get to the top there's only one other short climb in amongst the great singletrack and downhill sections

pisses all over ashtom court in my opinion

junglist_matty

Go find still woods, its hard to describe how to get to it, directions here:

http://www.moredirt.co.uk/trail_location.php?id=210

Best place to ride in bristol.

fletch8928

junglist_matty wrote:

Go find still woods, its hard to describe how to get to it, directions here:

http://www.moredirt.co.uk/trail_location.php?id=210

Best place to ride in bristol.

looks like a good place to go have a blast and play on the way home from ??? Or pop to in the morning to get your "skills" working It reads like its a play park not so much xc type of place

fletch8928

welshkev

Just looked at the cwmcarn site on the net and it looks like a fine ride, not too much climbing. It sounds solid enough too after the expected weather this week. As you say it gets busy its probably more of a friday ride for us, I expect to have to do lots of waiting (hope not) and that would just be awful on a busy weekend. not saying a friday will be any less busy but working on averages ect

konanige

Hi Fletch, if your coming down this way dont miss out on riding on the Mendips. Google Mendip fat tyre trails to find official route maps, but also take in some of the locals trails in the woods near Rowberrow and up over beacon batch. can get a bit muddy if its been raining a lot but its pretty dry up there just now. Best place to start out is either the cafe in buurington combe or The Crown in Churchill.

welshkev

even on a really busy weekend the trail doesn't get too clogged up with people. you just sometimes get caught behind some slow ones on the descents (never good)

but yeah a friday will be less busy, but it gets busy after about 2pm as people start finishing work then. let me know how you get on if you go

fletch8928

Well my visit didnt go to plan but we still took in Cwmcarn. That is a strange place imo, the start is very disjointed and you just can't get any flow going. When we crossed the road it got alot better but it was still not what i was expecting and when we crested the top i was hoping for more but it was pretty much the same. I found the route/course to be kinda slow slow fast fast slow. I do most of my riding over vast open moorland so obviously it wasnt going to compare.

We went to the Quantocks on the saturday and it was small scale but very fun to point and shoot off up/down a trail and I got my !st proper test in my new jacket, I was warm and dry at the end

Weekend didnt go to plan due to a shattered car rear window which meant time was put back abit on the sat morn/early afternoon and I decided to leave earlier on sunday.

We had some nice chats with fellow mtbers at Cwmcarn, 2 lads who were doing the downhill, riding Kona and Dale jump bikes were very helpfull.

welshkev

i know what you mean. i ride cwmcarn because it's 10 mins from my house but if i had a choice i'd do afan anyday. everyone raves about white's level - which has some really good bits - but the penhydd is my favourite there. more fun and flowy

check it out when your down next

rhyko7

there is some pretty gnarly stuff in Bristol that i have been to, i have no idea what the places were called but some of the jumps and drops scared the hell outa me :shock:

fletch8928

rhyko7

just looked the vid, do you never have to peddle? I do xc as I said and would love to be able to get air, 2 things stop me, 1, skill. 2, pain. [/b]

rhyko7

fletch8928 wrote:

rhyko7

just looked the vid, do you never have to peddle? I do xc as I said and would love to be able to get air, 2 things stop me, 1, skill. 2, pain. [/b]

pedalling nah! if i build jumps/pump tracks- i try and build it in a way so you dont need to pedal, so it starts small with a couple pump bumps which accelerate you, the reason for this is to make it safer and much easier to judge your speed.

dont worry, no-one starts off doing big jumps, you have to work your way up, i started on ski type jumps when i was really young.

back to forum topic:

it amuses me when people go to Cwmcarn for the 1st time, i dont think there is anywhere else like it, the descents are brilliant although far too short, but there isnt much middle ground, its steep up and steep down, most people arent used to that type of riding.

my favorite XC trails are:
red run @ Brechfa (i thinks its better than the black)
Coed y Brenin: Adams family names descents
Afan: i think the last descent on the wall is the best descent at Afan

ive not ridden much in England just forrest of dean

grantourisme

hey i just watched that video and it looks so smooth i would love to try it but not to sure how and would probably end up squashing my plumbs. any tips how do you know how fast to go?