It may well be a bit flat for 'proper' MTBing round here ...

phz

... but little bits sure are purdy.





Out on a 'chill' ride tonight and rediscovered a couple of nice little singletrack sections (both within 2 miles of the city centre). The second one is a really nice flowy section through low trees with a few roots to skip over - shame it's only a couple of hundred metres long.

Starting to once again build up a nice hour long or so city evening ride that is as off-road as any urban route could be - keep finding new little sections to link in. Ideal when I don't have the time to drive out to somewhere more obviously MTB-ish.

Living in a relatively 'green' city helps I guess.

slainte rob

sheepsteeth

looks nice but where abouts is it?

armymankin

share the same problem. would be nice to share the location. thirsty for some off-road rides.

phz

sheepsteeth wrote:

looks nice but where abouts is it?

Peterborough.

slainte :? rob

bluechair84

Flatlands gets really soddin' dull, 'specially 'round 'ere in Lincolnshire (Pancakeshire). I have found a nice bit of developed DH-ery not far from me though. Check vid in sig for oddles of drooling. Tis about as good as it gets unless you drive 2 hours to the High peaks.

ewizzy1977

pHz wrote:

sheepsteeth wrote:

looks nice but where abouts is it?

Peterborough.

slainte :? rob

Where abouts in peteyboghorror?

I'm in st Ives and it's flat here too :-?

forgotrafe

We've built our own RED trail a mile from a town (Swindon) centre. It's currently a smidge over 4km long but we'll get it to 5km before we're finished.

http://www.mbswindon.co.uk/croft-trail/

The council let us use the land and providing we're sensible with what we build are pretty flexible. We have jumps, woodwork, berms, drop offs, steep steps, rock gardens - everything you need to have a cracking ride. There is some gradient but not a lot, you make use of what you have. We raise the money and do all the hard graft ourselves.

Strangely you don't get bored of riding it, you just get better/faster

Amazing what you can achieve if you put your mind to it.

dan shard

Pics look stunning!

As long as youre enjoying your ride, nowt else matters

forgotrafe

dan shard wrote:

Pics look stunning!

As long as youre enjoying your ride, nowt else matters

Couldn't agree more with either of those points!

Anonymous

Flat doesn't mean you can't have some excellent trails and nice scenery, or even some "gnarl".

Though we have a few little hills just south of London. They're not "mountains", but there's some excellent riding to be had and much are in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, or other mostly flat areas.

phz

dan shard wrote:

Pics look stunning!
As long as youre enjoying your ride, nowt else matters

Absolutely.

Wasn't moaning in my original post, I'm more than happy that I can find these little nuggets of singletrack etc. within the confines of a city.

That trail in Swindon looks pretty cool. Peterborough has a 40-odd mile cycle route (The Green Wheel) that circles the city but it's mostly wide hardpack or properly surfaced - it often runs alongside wooded or rougher patches of land and while riding bits of it I've wondered whether an off-road version parallel to the current route would be feasible. I guess with the Croft Trail as a model it might be doable with council backing and a big enough group of bikers to build and maintain the trails. Hmmmnnn...

slainte :idea: rob

butcher of bakersfield

Hills aren't all they're cracked up to be. Not when you're pedaling up them..

forgotrafe

pHz wrote:

That trail in Swindon looks pretty cool.

Thanks. It is! If you're ever over this way, make sure you give us a shout and we'll give you the tour.

pHz wrote:

Peterborough has a 40-odd mile cycle route (The Green Wheel) that circles the city but it's mostly wide hardpack or properly surfaced - it often runs alongside wooded or rougher patches of land and while riding bits of it I've wondered whether an off-road version parallel to the current route would be feasible. I guess with the Croft Trail as a model it might be doable with council backing and a big enough group of bikers to build and maintain the trails. Hmmmnnn...

Sounds like a plan. If nothing else find out from the council if it's feasible or a non-starter. Our trail started out with just two people doing it. Then some more. Then some more. Then we started a MTB club. And now (just one year after starting the club) we have over 130 members!

Councils are under huge financial pressure but also under pressure to provide more leisure facilities so a MTB trail built by volunteers is a bit of a free win.