Aussie coming to UK over winter. Where to ride!!

nexusfish

Gday,

My wife and I are spending 6 weeks in the UK visiting family over christmas and I want to squeeze in a bunch of riding during our travels. I rode the Afan forest park in wales on a crappy hire bike last July and thought the trails were absolutly awesome. This time I will bring a good bike to have a proper crack at them. Will have a tough all mountain bike set up for DH, XC and light freeride stuff (Giant reign XO).

We wont be going anywhere north of Birmingham (unless some good track is up there) and and will be covering the south pretty well.

So where are the must go destinations? Afan is back on the cards. Nowhere is too remote for a wicked singletrack.

Also, I need advice on weather proofing. When we were in South Wales in July it was the same as our winter temperature wise, so I have no REAL cold weather clothing. What would be a good UK winter set up? waterproof gloves? water proof jacket + shorts + shoe covers? I am pretty good with cold, but my wife says that i havent really experienced a UK winter so have no idea. She paints a pretty bleak picture but im pumped anyway.

Cheers for any advice.

delcol

We wont be going anywhere north of Birmingham (unless some good track is up there)

shame becasue most of the best trails are ooooooooooooooop north.. apart from south wales which has some amazing spots of course..

cannock chase midlands
all the northwales stuff
gisburn forest lancashire
lee quarry cragg quarry lancashire
grizdale whinlatter cumbria
not to mention the many other good ones in yorkshire and over the north east.
then of course the best of the best ooooooop scotland the 7 stanes stuff...

if i was you i wouldn't be going south of birmingham... if you want the best riding the uk has to offer.

ilovedirt

What delcol says, most of the best stuff is in the north. There's Brechfa which isn't too far from Afan, the forest of dean and Cwmcarn that are all i can think of about level/south of Brum.... If you want to go further afield (but not that far really), there's Lee quarry and Cragg quarry near Manchester, Llandegla in north wales which is alright, as well as the Marin, Penmachno (both single trails) and Coed y Brenin, which is probably one of the best trail centres in the country. Snowdon is also a must-do if you're in north wales! Then there's Whinlatter and Grizedale in cumbria which are a bit further, then all the scottish stuff. If you don't want to stray too far, there's plenty of stuff to do in Wales alone!

As for clothes, most of the time in winter I'd go for a base layer, a water/windproof jacket, shorts, maybe tights under the shorts, plenty of socks, and make sure you have either waterproof socks/shoes/gloves or at least some that will keep your feet warm!! I find my five ten freeriders coupled with 2/3 pairs of socks keep my feet pretty toasty even when they're soaking. Some waterproof gloves wouldn't go amiss either, nothing worse than numb hands... To be honest, I like a good winter ride so long as I'm dressed right. Better than sweating my tits off in the summer...

Hope you enjoy anyway, there's some incredible riding over here! Particularly in Wales (where I'm living right now, mostly for that reason )

Anonymous

Plenty of good stuff down south too, just doesn't have epic mountain views an northern folk to talk to.

If you find yourself down south:

Cwmcarn and Afan of course
Forest of Dean
Aston Hill
Chicksands
Swinley
Surrey Hills & North Downs (loads here, ideally need a guide though really)
Rogate
Gawton
UK Bike Park
QECP
Bedgebury
PORC

amongst others.

Depending how far north of Birmingham you're not prepared to go, also Cannock Chase.

In winter, if it's been raining a lot, some places are no go due to clay soil, e.g. Aston Hill. Unless you like bob-sleighing.

And down south the winters aren't that harsh. This last winter it's been fairly warm most of the time and pretty dry.

mac_man

I'd be looking at rocky places as there will be less mud. I would suggest Lee and Cragg Quarry in Lancashire. If you're here for 6 weeks i would suggest going where the weather looks best... which can vary wildly on the day. Loads of places north of Birmingham are well worth a day out, or even an over nighter.

As for clothing... depends on how cold/wet it really gets. You could have -5C on a really clear blue sky day or +5C with constant rain. Anything around 0C and your hands and feet will be frozen. Your body will simply not be used to the drop in temperature. I'd be looking at full on winter thermals, waterproof socks, winter gloves, merino base layers, winter bib tights, waterproof jackets etc.

I salute your determination to ride in weather that many of us would, frankly, be rather tucked up on the sofa with a mug of cocoa.

jehosophat

Go somewhere mostly on rocky trails as squishing around in thick mud is slow and dull and many of us do it just for training and to get out in the winter, it is not nearly the adrenaline rush of faster dry riding, riding in the winter around here can be miserable. Coed Y Brenin is one obvious choice , but watch the ice if really cold!! Apart from welsh trail centres then most rocky stuff is going to be in the north, annoyingly for those of us in the south!

Anonymous

I ride steep muddy rooty trails and can find plenty that offers equal or more adrenaline rush to the safety of a managed rocky trail centre in Wales. Though the trail centres do give you the confidence to hit it fast knowing there's nothing insanely dangerous in your path. Ice and snow is better in the soft trails. They firm up in the ice and run like dry and snow is great fun.

Depends on the soil though. Some places in wet and mud are to be avoided (especially chalk and clay). Some just get very boggy, while others drain well and give a damp but firm ride. I like dry, but not too loose where wash out potential is high.

Basically, all is good wherever you ride.

rockmonkeysc

Forest of Dean can be pretty nasty in the winter so can UK Bikepark.
Afan is ok midweek but I find it too busy at weekends. Cwmcarn DH is good. There are loads of unofficial DH trails near Cwmcarn which are just as good or better. Triscombe is awesome for winter downhill, great uplift service, loads of excellent rocky trails and loads of friendly locals to show you the trails. If you want proper, hard downhill on black trails then head to Gawton. Snowdon is worth a visit but be prepared for properly wild conditions and a very long descent with some boring sections, it's one to do so that you can say you have done it rather than a great ride.
The north is ok but it's full of northerners who all ride Orange bikes & wear flat caps instead of helmets and have an unhealthy interest in pigeon racing and whippets.
Skip the north of England and go straight up to Scotland, thats where the best riding is.
A Reign X is up to the job on any uk downhill tracks, might not be the fastest bike on the hill but it's enough.

jehosophat

Clothing wise some 3/4 or full length thermolite bib shorts like Endura make winter riding much more comfortable for me -ideally a good waterproof, base layer and mid layer too, and overshoes if wet! crud catchers as well...

Anonymous

Winter is much the same as summer for me, but then I live down south. Just more often muddy, though summer can be muddy too. Baggy shorts and knee pads all year unless it's below zero and might stick a layer that covers the legs, but I don't feel the cold on the shins.

Only annoyance is remembering to stick the cover on the Camelbak to keep the mud off.

But still, could be another dry winter.

nexusfish

Thanks heaps fellas! After watching some videos of the places mentioned (7 stanes looks awesome) I now have the task of telling the misses that I will be spending little time with her family and am now creating excuses to head further north!

Its going to be a nice change from bull dust and doing XC in 40deg heat where you go through 3L of water in 1 and a half hours. I love loose mud and roots so it should be sweet, more tech the better. New trails, what ever the condtiton, are wicked.

When you say -5 I get chills! Will have to whip out the riding snuggie on those days.

The UK govenment seems so much more supportive of making trails avaliable than ours. Our riding is crap compared to what you guys have avaliable.

Are bike shops good places to find some local riders? Over here if you hit up the local shops they are pretty good for taking you out to the sweet secret trails.

Cheers!

nexusfish

jehosophat wrote:

Go somewhere mostly on rocky trails as squishing around in thick mud is slow and dull and many of us do it just for training and to get out in the winter, it is not nearly the adrenaline rush of faster dry riding, riding in the winter around here can be miserable. Coed Y Brenin is one obvious choice , but watch the ice if really cold!! Apart from welsh trail centres then most rocky stuff is going to be in the north, annoyingly for those of us in the south!

Ice?? That just does not compute! (putting self tapping screws through knobs on tyres as we speak).

craker

I don't really want to think about Winter just now. It's summer. It's raining.

Casting my my mind back to those threads about winter commuting ... think about keeping your extremeties warm. When I commute (in Winter) I've always got a scull cap (covers the ears and goes under a helmet), buff for my neck and chest. Waterproof shoe covers, gloves to your taste. Winter in Scotland means something completely different to Winter in the South West though - it could be wet and grey or cold and bright. Remember the days are really short - I think you're looking at ~ 6 hours of daylight in Edinburgh? Google can confirm this no doubt.

Finally, don't limit yourself to trail centres. There's lots of XC rides worth the outing, eg inthe Brecon Beacons. You may as well just come to Wales for 6 weeks. :-)

mac_man

nexusfish wrote:

Thanks heaps fellas! After watching some videos of the places mentioned (7 stanes looks awesome) I now have the task of telling the misses that I will be spending little time with her family and am now creating excuses to head further north!

Its going to be a nice change from bull dust and doing XC in 40deg heat where you go through 3L of water in 1 and a half hours. I love loose mud and roots so it should be sweet, more tech the better. New trails, what ever the condtiton, are wicked.

When you say -5 I get chills! Will have to whip out the riding snuggie on those days.

The UK govenment seems so much more supportive of making trails avaliable than ours. Our riding is crap compared to what you guys have avaliable.

Are bike shops good places to find some local riders? Over here if you hit up the local shops they are pretty good for taking you out to the sweet secret trails.

Cheers!

Be happy to show you round Gisburn, Whinlatter or even my local stomping ground of Calderdale when I'm back in the UK over Xmas. Gisburn was great last Xmas, day after Boxing Day when me and my mate went round. But you can never call the weather from 1 day to the next ;-)