New guy from South Hampshire

chardyoz

Hi all,
Just joined up as hoping to buy my first new MTB for over 10 years and looking to get into it to keep fit as I'm not getting any younger (early 40's).
Looking forward to trying the novice trail at QE country park at some point once I have the bike.
Any other newbies like to catch up July time for a trail/chat/coffee ??

Twelly

Welcome.

Pompey dweller here.

Don't let the novice trail at QE put you off MTB... it's boring and has some very lengthy, nasty climbs. Worth doing to help you get used to riding a bike again as it isn't at all challenging but as soon as you feel confident you aren't going to fall over I would attempt the red trail, much more fun. There may be a few climbs you will need to bail out on at first but it is a much better workout. You can get off and avoid all the knarly, jumpy, fast stuff if you want to build up to it.

Any idea what bike you are buying?

Have fun!

chardyoz

I have to let my fractured tibia recover first too as only been out of the cast a week !
I need to get fit on the flat first I reckon.
I'm hoping on a Cube LTD Pro 29 or failing that an Acid 29er depends on the budget I have in a couple of weeks time and what is in stock as they are damn popular......and they look so good too !
Thanks for the QE advice, catch up sometime maybe ?!

bartimaeus

Yes, the 'novice' trail at QE consists of mostly fire-roads with just about the steepest climb in the Park - so not exactly the best introduction to mountain biking. But if you join up on the Kingley Vale Mountain Bikers and QECP Trail Collective website (see my sig) you can meet up with us and we will introduce you to some of the local trails... and you can even come and help us build a better 'Blue Trail' at QE... something with some singletrack, some fun features and climbs that are a bit less steep!

bartimaeus

And plenty of decent riding my side of the A3 - most of this is off-road with QE top left and Kingley Vale the heavily traveled area in the bottom right.


This is from the 'Strava' multiple ride mapper. This, in conjunction with Strava, is a very handy way of finding new routes... find some popular local 'segments' and then use the multiple ride mapper to see all the mapped rides that have gone through each segment. And you don't even need your own GPS, you're just snooping on everyone else's GPS data!

andyg1966

If your new to the area, try the Southdowns MTB club as well.

http://www.southdownsmtb.co.uk

I have a vested interest as a current member. Great bunch of guys and gals, we have two main groups, a younger / harder core section who enjoy more challenging stuff as well as XC (things like south Wales and French Alps) and an older faction who ride mainly cross country.

Chunkers1980

There is only one team in Hampshire.

miss notax

A group of us ride each week in the New Forest from Fordingbridge - not sure where you are based, but PM me if you're interested