Worst 5 trails in the UK

shm_uk

Torres wrote:

largephil wrote:

I love Winlatter 8)

I'd probably have it in my top 5!

The man speaks sense; i love Whinlatter. Never really found many problems with mud; it does however get a bit loose in the wet...

Ditto this.

Loved it in the dry in July.
Quite hair-raising in the wet though :shock:

ddraver

shm_uk wrote:

Torres wrote:

largephil wrote:

I love Winlatter 8)

I'd probably have it in my top 5!

The man speaks sense; i love Whinlatter. Never really found many problems with mud; it does however get a bit loose in the wet...

Ditto this.

Loved it in the dry in July.
Quite hair-raising in the wet though :shock:

Hmm, Sorry i agree with the above too - sounds like a few peeps need to get better riding roots rather than blaming the trails!

I ve only ridden Cannock once but I thought it was great fun! A nice change in style an geology from the stuff we have in N Wales, my cornering has come on loads too....

W00DENT0P

thesim1990 wrote:

I haven't gotten round to having 5 worst trail centres but Whinlatter would be on the top of my list.

Rode it yesterday where it's simply too boggy and slippy, roots left right and centre etc etc. Surprised I only came off once - at 2mph...

I'd say if you ride any trail after its been raining for gods know how long then its gonna be slippy and a bit boggy in places !!
I rode it one night last week (in the dark) after it had rained all day, yeah it was wet and slippy but that just adds to the fun, will be riding it again this week as well.
If your falling off at 2mph, then you need to put more of an effort in !!

largephil

I've done Whinlatter 3 times now, and each time it was raining heavy all the way. Proper heavy rain, does it ever stop up there? Loved it each time though. Roots and rocks are going to be slippy in conditions like that but for me it just adds to the challange. The decent off the North loop is great. Would like it to be dry next time though, just for a change 8)

.blitz

joshtp wrote:

Llys-y-Frân

Is that the one round the reservoir, not far from the Preseli Hills?

lol I went round that once c/w helmet, shades, hydration pack etc I felt a right tool :oops:

chrisga

Didnt really like Hopton Woods when we went, BUT we didnt really manage to find much of the stuff there i think so might be worth another look at some point. Didnt like Sherwood Pines, but suited us well when we went as we were with some guys who hadnt done any MTB'ing before.

welshkev

popstar wrote:

1) Y Wall at Afan, as it is these days simply not worth riding it, long fire-road climb rewarded with very little exciting riding ... agree there is some nice feautures but simply put it, better head to Whites or Skyline.


Didn't ride as much as others but this is my 2p worth.

WHAT!?! the wall is one of my favourite rides...anywhere, not only afan. Ok the fireroad climb is a little dull but it gives you time to chat to your mates and the singletrack is awsome....much better than the other afan trails!!!!

much better ride than cwmcarn IMO and that's my local trail!

welshkev

i rode coed trawllm on the weekend and wouldn't reccommend it as a destination but it's worth a look if passing.

ANY DAY RIDING BEATS A DAY IN THE OFFICE!

Anonymous

miss notax wrote:

beanieripper wrote:

Tarw at coed y brenin, no flow at all and just felt like lots of bits bodged together in a half arsed fashion...

Agreed! I usually love any trail and can find the positives in anything, but I really didn't enjoy this one... :oops: It seemed to be the wrong way around, with lots of fire-road descents after you had slogged up the ascent. After that much work I want to be rewarded with a great downhill section! It just didn't balance out for me.

supersonic wrote:

It depends what you are after. Some hate very rocky, technical rides as it feels slow and laboursome. Some hate less technical, but long sweeping trails. But many like both - some just love speed and finding traction limits.

See, Sonic is bang on as usual. Even though you guys hated it, i love the Tarw, with it's rocky twisty descents. I even like the fireroad descent, great fun when taken at speed and trying to drift the back end round.
MTBing isn't all about singletrack, any more than it's all about epic climbs or thrilling descents.

My most disliked trail has to be the Marin trail. It's very retro, and in dire need of some maintenance. Mind you, with what little maintenance it's had, it is turning into a far more technical trail now.
Oh, and who thought it was a good idea to put uphill stairs in it halfway round? :roll:

snotty badger

The only trail centre I've been disapointed with is Ae, but quite a bit was shut though so not fair to write it off I guess.

And Whinlatters South flows quite well, probably prefer the North side though.

supersonic

I find interesting bits in all trails - I just ride them faster until I hit my limit!

weescott

Whinnlater is the only trail where I have felt angry after riding about how it was built. It's like they built lots of good features into as small a space as possible. I'm sure it was built for midgets on clown bikes!

At least the Marin trail as said by yeeha is retro so gets some respect. It's quickly lost when lycra clad wippets pass me on the climbs but meh...at least I see them with blood soaked legs upside down on the technical down hill sections! :twisted:

Torres

Sorry Scott, can't say i agree. I thought both loops flowed beautifuly top to bottom; not over technical and the open fast bits are loads of fun.

weescott

no need to apologise. It's only your opinion. Compare other red routes eg: Glentress red. it's not overly technical but it flows much better than Whinlatter. The distance between features, the line on the trail, jumps that actually land on the trail. Glentress red rewards speed, Whinlatter makes you slam on [mofo] the brakes at the overly tight and small bermed corners. The second open part of Whinlatter I was hitting the jumps/corners with speed and slamming the brakes to make the next section. It's a sure fired way of making a trail last 2 weeks before maintenance is needed. poor design IMO.

Steve_F

Are the people who didn't like Kirroughtree insane!?!?! It's definitely in my top 5 UK trail centres - did you realise it's a thread for the 5 least favourite????

I was a bit dissapointed with Ae but the downhill section is great. Drumlanrig was a bit of a slog but I was really overbiked that day. Same with Carron Valley. Only liked the Runway then went back with my hardtail which carries speed much better and it was like a different place.

Been to Laggan once and didn't like it. Was having a bad day on the bike and that place really doesn't work unless you're on-form.

Completely agree though, people like different things. That's life. I've had days around Glentress that I didn't enjoy so I never rule out a trail centre over a bad experience.

popstar

Those who don't like Tarw at CYB, better polish up your riding in rockgardens.

Y Wall didn't hit my expectations most probably cos starting trail sections were closed on it but I must give it another go, as I was riding with apprentice so couldn't hit it at full speed. Those group rides are a mixed bag ehh.

Marin trail is very good for sightseeing and converting people from telly-jelly into MTB world, so is recommended if you fancy to introduce new riders.

Kirroughtree red is nothing special, but black is epic or thats what all people say. I did ride red there and have to admit that down South in Surrey Hills we have much much better trails to ride.

Kiblams

For me I only have four that I am not keen on out of the many we have ridden, they are as follows:

-Haldon Forest: Would struggle to clasify it as a blue route let alone a red.
-Sherwood pines: as above
-Grizedale: Technical climbs seperated by fireroad descents (unless soemone has played a mean trick and reversed all the signage)
-Dalbeattie: either tame fireroads or techy rocks, didn't seem to be anything in between that flowed (might have been hindered by the massive downpour the whole way round)

The rest I have ridden seem to be most enjoyable though

CycloRos

I find it saddening that a topic of worst 5 trails gets more attention than a top 5! Says a lot about the state of this place at the moment me thinks

Anonymous

CycloRos wrote:

I find it saddening that a topic of worst 5 trails gets more attention than a top 5! Says a lot about the state of this place at the moment me thinks

It's just human nature, like how people often remember bad things about people.

CycloRos

Bunch of whiny brits more like, with too much time and a warped sense of priorities

Anonymous

So, did you actually want to add anything to the discussion?

CycloRos

No, apart from to say how sad it is! bon apetit!

Kiblams

CycloRos wrote:

I find it saddening that a topic of worst 5 trails gets more attention than a top 5! Says a lot about the state of this place at the moment me thinks

Ever stopped to think that it may have more posts as it envokes more of a reaction from people than the trails people like most? :roll:

CycloRos

really? wow thank god you pointed out that most obvious of facts to me. I'm off now to ride some really bad trails and I'll be back later to report on them, au revoir!

Kiblams

CycloRos wrote:

really? wow thank god you pointed out that most obvious of facts to me. I'm off now to ride some really bad trails and I'll be back later to report on them, au revoir!

My pleasure PM me in future if you are unsure about anything.

Anonymous

Kiblams
He basically came here to moan about people having a moan

Thewaylander

popstar wrote:

Those who don't like Tarw at CYB, better polish up your riding in rockgardens.

Y Wall didn't hit my expectations most probably cos starting trail sections were closed on it but I must give it another go, as I was riding with apprentice so couldn't hit it at full speed. Those group rides are a mixed bag ehh.

Marin trail is very good for sightseeing and converting people from telly-jelly into MTB world, so is recommended if you fancy to introduce new riders.

Kirroughtree red is nothing special, but black is epic or thats what all people say. I did ride red there and have to admit that down South in Surrey Hills we have much much better trails to ride.

That would ruin the Wall, you gotta rinse it with as much speed as you can possibly summon, till the wee is flowing down your leg in terror, It's one the few trail most people can do this.

And it works

Anonymous

Thewaylander wrote:

you gotta rinse it with as much speed as you can possibly summon, till the wee is flowing down your leg in terror

See, that's what I think about the Tarw at coed y brenin as well. I'm not convinced that most people can do it there though. For years, whenever we rode it, we sessioned snap crackle and pop, and "the rocky horror show" and seen the vast majority of riders stumbling uneasily along.

Thewaylander

Totally Yee,

Those sections are way way easier if you hit them fast so you float over the rocks as it were rather than bouncing from rock to rock.

Northwind

Steve_F wrote:

Been to Laggan once and didn't like it. Was having a bad day on the bike and that place really doesn't work unless you're on-form.

Aye, we were with a bit of an XC jey-boy, I didn't know the trail but another mate said "You won't like this, you'll be able to ride it but you'll not enjoy it at all so go do the red". The black's not for everyone, I don't mean like it's mega hard or anything, just that it's a very specific sort of riding and some folks just won't like it. And you need to be pretty handy to get any flow out of it unless you know the trail I reckon, I could one-shot most stuff just by riding up, eyeballing it quickly then riding it but I'm pretty good at rocks, if I'd had to stop at every feature and have a look on foot it'd have probably done my head in.