Home alone

cycle monster

I am about to have two wife and kids free weekends and am wondering where to ride. i live near Cambridge, so Thetford is a regular haunt. I am going to Sherwood Pines and Cannock Chase later this summer and thought about a trip to Bedgebury which i have ridden before. Am I missing anything obvious that needs riding? I mainly ride trails and XC.

bbug

cycle monster wrote:

I am about to have two wife and kids free weekends and am wondering where to ride. i live near Cambridge, so Thetford is a regular haunt. I am going to Sherwood Pines and Cannock Chase later this summer and thought about a trip to Bedgebury which i have ridden before. Am I missing anything obvious that needs riding? I mainly ride trails and XC.

Ditto me. To celebrate I'm mending punctures on her kitchen table.

In my underpants. :shock:

Anonymous

cycle monster wrote:

I am about to have two wife and kids

Isn;t that called polygamy?

bike-a-swan

Not to mention bad grammar.

phz

Depends how far you want to travel (and whether you have been left with a car).

Dalby would be just about doable for a day trip if you left early enough.

The 'classic' Peaks routes are within reach.

(Sidenote - have you ridden Sherwood before? If not then I'm not sure what you would find THAT different from Thetford aside from a tiny bit more gradient. Personally I think I actually prefer the Thetford trails of the two).

Doesn't it sometimes suck being an MTBer and living round these parts?

slainte rob

cooldad

Long trip to Bedgebury, Swinley is closer and better, and Surrey Hills a gazillion times better, if you can find your way around.
Neither have marked routes, but both have better riding.
Wales is probably not much further.

TuckerUK

To celebrate I'm mending punctures on her kitchen table.

In my underpants.

You have punctures in your underpants? :shock:

cycle monster

pHz wrote:

Depends how far you want to travel (and whether you have been left with a car).

Dalby would be just about doable for a day trip if you left early enough.

The 'classic' Peaks routes are within reach.

(Sidenote - have you ridden Sherwood before? If not then I'm not sure what you would find THAT different from Thetford aside from a tiny bit more gradient. Personally I think I actually prefer the Thetford trails of the two).

Doesn't it sometimes suck being an MTBer and living round these parts?

slainte rob

Thanks, the trip to sherwood is with the wife and kids. Going there for its variety of singletrack and small person friendliness.

Hadn't thought of Dalby, will stick it on the list along with finding out how the alarm clock works.

cycle monster

cooldad wrote:

Long trip to Bedgebury, Swinley is closer and better, and Surrey Hills a gazillion times better, if you can find your way around.
Neither have marked routes, but both have better riding.
Wales is probably not much further.

Thank you, I shall investiagte. I suppose going when it is liklely to be busy would be adviseable first time out. More chance of being pointed in the rigth direction.

VWsurfbum

you could always go straight down the M11 to Epping forrest? but beware as said above, not way marked so either find a GPX file or meet up with one of us lot.

http://www.essexhertsmtb.co.uk/forum.html

cooldad

cycle monster wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Long trip to Bedgebury, Swinley is closer and better, and Surrey Hills a gazillion times better, if you can find your way around.
Neither have marked routes, but both have better riding.
Wales is probably not much further.

Thank you, I shall investiagte. I suppose going when it is liklely to be busy would be adviseable first time out. More chance of being pointed in the rigth direction.

A bunch of us ride those areas regularly, if you are planning on coming this way have a look in London Calling in Rides, welcome to join in.

nonnac85

Come over to Woburn - we have a club ride on Sundays (can sneak you in as a guest)! We have a slow group and a fast group, leaving at 11am.

Let me know if you want to join us.

cycle monster

Very helpful and welcoming. Planning to visit Swinley at the weekend following the recommendations on here. Will lose and find myself rather than burden others.

cooldad

cycle monster wrote:

Very helpful and welcoming. Planning to visit Swinley at the weekend following the recommendations on here. Will lose and find myself rather than burden others.

We are riding there on Saturday at 1, welcome to join in, no burden. At main gate (next to Go Ape), if you make it look out for small guy on a large Spesh Enduro and a slightly bigger guy (gut anyway) on a small Kona FS. Plus random others.

cycle monster

Thanks again. M25 holiday traffic permitting, I will be there mid morning. Hope to catch up with you if i can.

cycle monster

Nightmare car journey, usual queues on the M25 then A332 closed... Got there at 11.30 set off to find the mtb expert stuff ended up finding mile upon mile of amazing singletrack, got completely carried away then realized it was 1.30 - sorry! Hope you guys had as good a ride as I did.

ilovedirt

cycle monster wrote:

pHz wrote:

Depends how far you want to travel (and whether you have been left with a car).

Dalby would be just about doable for a day trip if you left early enough.

The 'classic' Peaks routes are within reach.

(Sidenote - have you ridden Sherwood before? If not then I'm not sure what you would find THAT different from Thetford aside from a tiny bit more gradient. Personally I think I actually prefer the Thetford trails of the two).

Doesn't it sometimes suck being an MTBer and living round these parts?

slainte rob

Thanks, the trip to sherwood is with the wife and kids. Going there for its variety of singletrack and small person friendliness.

Hadn't thought of Dalby, will stick it on the list along with finding out how the alarm clock works.

Ah, I was going to advise against going to pines, but if you're going there anyway, you might as well ride. It's definitely not worth the trip just to ride the trails.

cooldad

Glad you found the bits and enjoyed it. Great place for a bit of a play.
Half our group got caught up in traffic as well, so only got going around 2. Perfect day for it though.
I just ride up, a few minutes from my house so...