DH suitable for beginners...

Willrideforcake

Hopefully within the next month or so I should be getting my first DH-specific bike. Now, I'm a reasonable rider, not great, but not bad. I'm fine with fadeaway jumps, and can handle low drops (1-2ft), but am looking to progress my riding to full-on DH. I'm looking at Stile Cop, as from what I've seen it doesn't look stupidly extreme, but does anyone have any ideas of where would be suitable to kick-start my gravity career?

welshkev

forest of dean is pretty good

http://thefod.co.uk/

Willrideforcake

FoD is on my list!

miss notax

Cwmcarn downhill. It's all rollable and rideable at slow, learning speed (as opposed to one of those runs you have to fly down). It's easy to session sections and there's an uplift!

I think it's a great trail and one of my favourites - it also seems to be frequented by really nice people! I was terrified the first time I did an uplift there but everyone was lovely, and over the years I have made some good mates there actually

.blitz

Stile Cop is a mellow place to start DHing. Everything from 100% rollable to a 20 foot shallow double, 4 foot step down drop, 15 foot gap jump and a wallride. No pressure to ride any or all of them just rock up and ride when you're ready.

Couple of minutes top to bottom, 15 mins push up. Good drainage.

Cheerful, friendly ambulance drivers & paramedics

Depending on your location I would hesitate to recommend it for a 'road trip' it's more of a local spot but it has a great grass-roots atmosphere and is well worth a visit if you're in the area.

DodgeT

Similar to blitz, can't recommend Cop enough. I've been (and still am) learning there for the past few months and it's got such a great variety of tracks, with all levels of rider catered for.
The big bonus is that it's such a friendly place, each week seem to end up riding with someone new and just having a laugh trying not to die

Willrideforcake

Thanks folks, will definitely try Stile Cop, and will check out FoD and Cwmcarn. I'd looked at Cwmcarn before, and was undecided, but I think I'll combine the two into a spring road trip...

welshkev

miss notax wrote:

Cwmcarn downhill. It's all rollable and rideable at slow, learning speed (as opposed to one of those runs you have to fly down). It's easy to session sections and there's an uplift!

I think it's a great trail and one of my favourites - it also seems to be frequented by really nice people! I was terrified the first time I did an uplift there but everyone was lovely, and over the years I have made some good mates there actually

i agree with all of that (obviously i'd agree with the nice people bit )

but i'd say that CC is a step up from forest of dean. it's a lot steeper with more rocks for a start, but yes it is all rollable

miss notax

True, it is steeper than a lot of FOD. I do think that if you can handle black trail centre type descents then the CC downhill is a challenging but do-able step up though.

Obviously though if the OP falls on his head on the CC downhill I take no repsonsibility for my comments and it just proves you shouldn't listen to girlie mtbers on the internet

milko9000

i think Antur Stiniog is also a good option if you can get there. Worked well for me, at least. Nicely progressive graded runs so you can build up confidence on stuff in the blue route that isn't really more than a trail centre black, just a bit quicker.

Muttly1981

Willrideforcake wrote:

Thanks folks, will definitely try Stile Cop, and will check out FoD and Cwmcarn. I'd looked at Cwmcarn before, and was undecided, but I think I'll combine the two into a spring road trip...

Where are you based? My local track is Farmer Johns in Marple, Stockport. It's a good step up from riding trail centers to getting into DH, nothing too technical but has a bit of everything and some decent jumps if you want to take them on. Macclesfield Forest is quite decent a bit like style cop but a bit rockier and more technical

Willrideforcake

I'm in Peterborough. Not really known as a hotbed of DH, but I'm willing to travel. I currently do most of my gravity-fuelled stuff at Chicksands, on a hardtail, so I can pick a line, just need more squish for bigger stuff!

gregwari

Not sure where you're based, if you're near London (in particular in the West) might be worth trying Aston Hill. The red run and DH3 are all rideable on trail bikes (or to the point, I ride them on my trail bike). I've not ridden the other trails but they seem to range from mildly scary to full on nuts. In terms of distances etc, most runs last about 1.5-2.0 mins (according to their route gudes) and the push ups about 10 to 15 mins. Aston Hill's a mixture of clay, chalk and roots. Make of that what you will, I prefer riding up there in the summer but I know they're busy all year round. Worth checking though before you set off, they have a lot of race days on weekends.

Cheers