Moving to Hemel Hempstead - Ride Suggestions?

CrazySmudge

Hi people

I will hopefully soon be moving to Hemel from South London, I am a keen mountain biker (albeit slow) and looking for any suggestions of good rides nearby?

I have heard of Aston Hills but I have heard its better for downhill than XC? True? or is that just a vicious rumour?

Any help would be appreicated.

Al

robertpb

All you need to do is buy a OS Explorer 181, drive to Wendover, park in the library carpark, then go and explore.

There are plenty of good xc trails, also if you go to the Le Petit Cafe around the corner from the carpark sometimes you'll find riders setting off from there.

nonnac85

Come up to Woburn - again grab a map as there are loads of trails to explore. There are also miniDH runs, jumps and a pump track which is good for a laugh as its all rollable.

torgey33

Aston Hill is mostly a down hill gig but there are loads of bridleways around Wendover, Tring, Chesham, etc.....Like the other guys said your best bet is an O.S. map and go explore.

Is XC your thing or trails or centers ????

torgey33

Looking @ OS 181 now and there are a shed load of trails around Little Gaddesden, Aldbury and right up to the Ivanhoe Beacon just north of Berkhamstead, a short hop off the A41.

CrazySmudge

thanks for your help guys,

at the moment I go to Swinley Forest, Bedgebury and if I can South Wales. So to answer your question I will normally go to a centres but eager to explore the local area.

Is there a good MTB club near Hemel?

mea00csf

try the "rough ride guide" for the chilterns and their expansion pack, most of them are based a bit towards the east (milton keynes to about near swinley is the spread of the rides) but will give you some good natural rides to start with.

Broken rugby player

You can get from Hemel into Ashridge forest virtually off road, or down the tow path for 2 miles into Berkhamsted and then up into Ashridge forest, which can basically take you into Chiltern Hills, Wendover, Ivenhoe Beacon, etc etc, theres alot of great places to explore around there!

and there are 2 clubs around there that I know of...

There is a bunch that ride from Leisure Wheel the LBS in old town hemel and di Wednesday nights

or theres MTBberkhamsted.co.uk which is basically a bunch of friends who ride together rather than a club and also do wednesday nights as both groups end up at same pub for a beer! (they also ride sundays morning) I ride with these guys

torgey33

@ Broken rugby player, do you know if there is a map or guide for the Ashridge Forest
and how extensive is it there. I`ve been thru on the road towards wipsnade and always
wondered if it was any good for biking. Cheers.

Broken rugby player

Torgey

For the area its great fun, not that many climbs or decents once up there, but some really good fun bits of technical single track rather than long flowing and as for maps or guides, I doubt it, we just tend to use local knowledge as have been riding around there for 10+yrs?, and from there we head over to Ivinghoe Beacon etc

Starting our rides in Berko, we either head up into Ashridge or cross over A41 and towards wendover woods way