newbie in Berkshire!

mtb crazy

heya, anyone in the berkshire area new to mtb? know of any good places to ride apart from swinley forest? i havent tried any trails yet but cant wait to, just need abit more confidence before i ride them :P i have only been riding for 2 months or so and enjoying it loads though!

popstar

Welcome mtb-crazy, check This thread, and see if you like that gang.

mtb crazy

cheers popstar. i will most likely go to swinley forest and possibly surrey hills of you can get there by train. have you ever been up there?

cooldad

Popstar decided to create a little popstarlet so hasn't been out as much as he should lately.
A loose bunch of us ride regularly in SH, Swinley and more occasionally Tunnel Hill and similar places. Not how accessible any of them are by train, but Swinley is at least close.
It's a good place to start, plenty of varied trails and you don't need to cover huge distances to try them out. Best to go with someone who knows the place though as a lot of it is tricky to find.
Keep an eye on the London Calling forum. I'm probably going to be at Swinley Sat afternoon for a while as it's my local.

mtb crazy

awwwww how cute! cool thanks for that info none of my friends do biking so im kinda stuck with no people to go out with have been going out on my own so far which is still fun but would be good to learn from others too.

ThePriory1978

mtb crazy wrote:

awwwww how cute! cool thanks for that info none of my friends do biking so im kinda stuck with no people to go out with have been going out on my own so far which is still fun but would be good to learn from others too.

Am in the same boat, mates are too fat, lazy or just pub sluts to ever get into mtb so i ride alone mainly in Swinley a lot and local Reading area around Goring.
Am just returning to mtb after years absence and am trying to find local friendly folk so i can challenge myself. Am always up for a meet, PM me if you wanna and just keep an eye on the London Calling thread. Somethings always going on with an open invite in there.

ThePriory1978

cooldad wrote:

I'm probably going to be at Swinley Sat afternoon for a while

Ditto.

Alex R

lol.. same here! I generally end up riding alone - Swinley is alright! The main tracks are quite easy; I found the small ones to be a bit challenging for a beginner sometimes (as I am one too).

Along Thames you generally have some easy tracks (lovely landscape too). Also you cand find some along Kennet river. These are really accessible from Reading and you gebnerally find some smaller tracks/footpaths deriving from the main one which are quite fun!

PM me if you want me to send you some maps with routes starting from Reading.
I'm planning to go to New Forest (again) this weekend - some really nice tracks there and not many people to bump into

Alex R

lol.. same here! I generally end up riding alone - Swinley is alright! The main tracks are quite easy; I found the small ones to be a bit challenging for a beginner sometimes (as I am one too).

Along Thames you generally have some easy tracks (lovely landscape too). Also you can find some along Kennet river. These are really accessible from Reading and you generally find some smaller tracks/footpaths deriving from the main one which are quite fun!

PM me if you want me to send you some maps with routes starting from Reading.
I'm planning to go to New Forest (again) this weekend - some really nice tracks there and not many people to bump into :P

miss notax

Some great trails in the New Forest - that's our local stomping ground 8)

Be careful of all the foals around at the moment though (both driving there and MTBing), they are very cute but also VERY skittish - give them a wide berth!

And welcome to the forum mtb crazy

cooldad

The thing about Swinley is if you know it there are loads of tracks that can be strung together. You can easily do 20 miles with minimal fireroad, and without repeating the same bit.

mtb crazy

thanks miss notax! id love to go to the new forestone day trouble is i dont drive so could be somewhat tricky lol. Alex R, i would love some of your routes from reading if thats cool? ill pm you soon The Priory, yeah im up for going out with people and really want to go to swinley soon. ive been told its best off going with others as its really easy to get lost there :P

neilrosser

Hey guys,
If any of you are interested myself and a mate are going out on Sunday morning 0730 into sulham woods, probably just for an hour or so, as I'm breaking in my new mb and he has other things to do later. So if you fancy it we'll be meeting at the bottom of Dark Lane on Overdown Rd(which is where I live)
Cheers
Neil

mtb crazy

damn im working sunday where abouts is dark lane anyway?!

craigwack

Alex R wrote:

lol.. same here! I generally end up riding alone - Swinley is alright! The main tracks are quite easy; I found the small ones to be a bit challenging for a beginner sometimes (as I am one too).

Along Thames you generally have some easy tracks (lovely landscape too). Also you can find some along Kennet river. These are really accessible from Reading and you generally find some smaller tracks/footpaths deriving from the main one which are quite fun!

PM me if you want me to send you some maps with routes starting from Reading.
I'm planning to go to New Forest (again) this weekend - some really nice tracks there and not many people to bump into :P

Hi Alex,

i couldnt seem to PM you, but wondering if you could send me the routes around Reading too?

CitizenLee

This thread and two others.... is there some kind of Berkshire newbie takeover going on here?

paul.skibum

paul.skibum wrote:

I used to live in Reading and would ride north out of town into the CHilterns - tons of very good bridleway riding of the fast flowing fun variety out that way and some good guide books on the area around.

I sometimes drove to a start point but more often than not rode from home. Had a good loop set up for regular rides and lots of options for longer loops.

Here is a link to one of my longer loops! http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Reading-to-Nettlebed-and-back-the-long-way

Here are all my routes i bothered to map (one is in the Peaks - ignore that!) http://www.bikely.com/listpaths/by/skibum

Get the local OS maps (there are two to cover the north of reading) and get planning. Ignore South of the town, there is not a lot of options out there.

My reply to another thread about riding in Berks