trail centre guide book ?

elredso

am having a look into getting a trail centre guide book - there seem to be 2 major contenders, just wanted to get peoples thoughts on them :

Mountain Biking Britain Footprint Travel Guides
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1906098530/r ... 1906098530

Mountain Biking Trail Centres The Guide
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mountain-Biking ... pd_sim_b_1

cooldad

3rd option. The internet.

WisePranker

cooldad wrote:

3rd option. The internet.

This.

The second book you've linked to is quite out of date, some of the places in there have been changed/closed for some time!

The Northern Monkey

I have the 1st one, had it for a while.

As above, it is probably a bit out of date now.

For riding in Wales, I use http://mbwales.com/

cycle monster

If you are interested in a particular discipline in a certain area ask on Routes and Riding, if you want the best pace in the UK for a certain type of riding the same rule applies. You will get answers from people who ride there often as opposed to someone who rode there a few years ago or read something about it somewhere. I do not have either of the guides you refer to but some that are published are years out of date.

mcnultycop

One of the magazines did one as a free supplement and that was out of date on some of the centres I know, so it made me doubt the rest. Just ask on here, you'll eventually get a sensible answer.

antop34

MBwales.com is pretty good for locations. Just remember to note down when you have been to a trail centre and what you thought of it, otherwise they all merge into one.
And that is a good point - most trail centres combine the same ingredients, your choice should be down to how long you want to drive and then just rock up and enjoy!

rockmonkeysc

One trail centre is the same as another. They are all dull and suck all the fun out of riding, they are too safe and friendly. They are great if you love queing up behind the herd of Lappierre Zesty's waiting to get on a short and predictable section of trail.
Get an OS map and find some proper riding and more adventurous routes.

cooldad

RockmonkeySC wrote:

One trail centre is the same as another. They are all dull and suck all the fun out of riding, they are too safe and friendly. They are great if you love queing up behind the herd of Lappierre Zesty's waiting to get on a short and predictable section of trail.
Get an OS map and find some proper riding and more adventurous routes.

This person is speaking sh1t, as usual.

rockmonkeysc

cooldad wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

One trail centre is the same as another. They are all dull and suck all the fun out of riding, they are too safe and friendly. They are great if you love queing up behind the herd of Lappierre Zesty's waiting to get on a short and predictable section of trail.
Get an OS map and find some proper riding and more adventurous routes.

This person is speaking sh1t, as usual.

Nope, done trail centres. Everything is made far too safe. Where's the challenge when every landing is safe, the trail surface is consistant and it all flows predictably.
Natural stuff and stuff built by locals is far more interesting. It's much more exciting when there are drops with massive roots in the landing, jumps with gaps to clear, unpredictable surfaces, berms with huge drops on the outside. Some of the best stuff I have ridden is when I have been lost on the Quantocks or Exmoor and some of the natural trails are properly exciting. Most importantly there are no Afan style ques at the start of trails and it's quiet enough that you rarely get stuck behind anyone.

bennett_346

Not my experience of trail centres at all. Where i live the trail centres are quiet, and very technical.

Heck, Danny Hart does his off season DH training at my local trail centre, and rode there for years before becoming a professional downhiller.

cooldad

RockmonkeySC wrote:

cooldad wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

One trail centre is the same as another. They are all dull and suck all the fun out of riding, they are too safe and friendly. They are great if you love queing up behind the herd of Lappierre Zesty's waiting to get on a short and predictable section of trail.
Get an OS map and find some proper riding and more adventurous routes.

This person is speaking sh1t, as usual.

Nope, done trail centres. Everything is made far too safe. Where's the challenge when every landing is safe, the trail surface is consistant and it all flows predictably.
Natural stuff and stuff built by locals is far more interesting. It's much more exciting when there are drops with massive roots in the landing, jumps with gaps to clear, unpredictable surfaces, berms with huge drops on the outside. Some of the best stuff I have ridden is when I have been lost on the Quantocks or Exmoor and some of the natural trails are properly exciting. Most importantly there are no Afan style ques at the start of trails and it's quiet enough that you rarely get stuck behind anyone.

I prefer natural stuff as well, but you were still talking sh1t in your original post.

rockmonkeysc

Does he ride the official trails or un-official ones? I ride FoD occasionally and all the best stuff is un-official. Cwmcarn has loads of un-official stuff which is far better than the official DH or XC trails.
If your local trail centre is Fort William then that doesn't count!

bennett_346

Official ones. The 4 NPS DH tracks at Hamsterley.

I do most of my riding by maps around my local forests and hills, and yes it's a different experience entirely and can often be more challlenging, but making a blanket statement that all trail centres are sh*t and easy is pointless.

EH_Rob

RockmonkeySC wrote:

cooldad wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

One trail centre is the same as another. They are all dull and suck all the fun out of riding, they are too safe and friendly. They are great if you love queing up behind the herd of Lappierre Zesty's waiting to get on a short and predictable section of trail.
Get an OS map and find some proper riding and more adventurous routes.

This person is speaking sh1t, as usual.

Nope, done trail centres. Everything is made far too safe. Where's the challenge when every landing is safe, the trail surface is consistant and it all flows predictably.
Natural stuff and stuff built by locals is far more interesting. It's much more exciting when there are drops with massive roots in the landing, jumps with gaps to clear, unpredictable surfaces, berms with huge drops on the outside. Some of the best stuff I have ridden is when I have been lost on the Quantocks or Exmoor and some of the natural trails are properly exciting. Most importantly there are no Afan style ques at the start of trails and it's quiet enough that you rarely get stuck behind anyone.

You sound like someone who hates that mountain biking is more popular than it used to be.

Incidentally, my local trail centres are Glentress and Innerleithen. Which are obviously both terrible places to ride bikes.

cooldad

Sound awful.
Do you ride a herd of Lappierre Zestys?

EH_Rob

It's actually a murder of Zestys.

I don't actually ride bikes, I just bought a cardboard cutout of one because I love going to trail centres and standing around in queues.

lostboysaint

EH_Rob wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

cooldad wrote:

RockmonkeySC wrote:

One trail centre is the same as another. They are all dull and suck all the fun out of riding, they are too safe and friendly. They are great if you love queing up behind the herd of Lappierre Zesty's waiting to get on a short and predictable section of trail.
Get an OS map and find some proper riding and more adventurous routes.

This person is speaking sh1t, as usual.

Nope, done trail centres. Everything is made far too safe. Where's the challenge when every landing is safe, the trail surface is consistant and it all flows predictably.
Natural stuff and stuff built by locals is far more interesting. It's much more exciting when there are drops with massive roots in the landing, jumps with gaps to clear, unpredictable surfaces, berms with huge drops on the outside. Some of the best stuff I have ridden is when I have been lost on the Quantocks or Exmoor and some of the natural trails are properly exciting. Most importantly there are no Afan style ques at the start of trails and it's quiet enough that you rarely get stuck behind anyone.

You sound like someone who hates that mountain biking is more popular than it used to be.

Incidentally, my local trail centres are Glentress and Innerleithen. Which are obviously both terrible places to ride bikes.

He does doesn't he. Poor bloke.

antop34

EH_Rob wrote:

It's actually a murder of Zestys.

I don't actually ride bikes, I just bought a cardboard cutout of one because I love going to trail centres and standing around in queues.

Brilliant!

Trail centres are all about giving mtb access to everyone. They are as safe and tame as you make them. Blasting down any of the final runs on most trail centres can be sketchy and will push your skills, but if they made them too harsh then the law suits would follow from the weekend warrior brigade (of which I am totally one!)

Natural riding is awesome if you have the Quantocks, Downs, etc on your doorstep. I live in the Cotswolds and will regularly disappear off to get away from the wife and also see where I can go. Trouble is that farmers, bridle-ways, horses and walkers tend to ruin quite a few choice runs - 30 miles from home with no real route back I often think that a simple trail centre loop would have been more rewarding....