Idle rolling/a bit of a thrash in Hertfordshire

Turbo306

Hi!

I moved here 4 years ago, but have only had my bike here for a year - mostly for riding around town/campus at Uni. Id like to get back out on the bike in my free time, but I dont know of any local trails in the surrounding county countryside. Can anyone in Herts enlighten me?

Cheers

stealf

yeah - you got Chicksands nr Shefford - bedfordshire not too far away up the A1
and you also have Aston Hill nr Tring Aylesbury in the A41 ( i thnk) both quite small but good for 3 or 4 hours, esp if new. They are more of your trail centres dug into a side of hills etc rather than bast exapnse of natural trails. Both are good for honing down skills though. I'm at Chikky on Saturday to give my road legs a rest.

Turbo306

Cheers! Ive heard the name chicksands before, but from someone who wasnt quite sure what it was. I will investigate, thanks

gregwari

stealf wrote:

.....you also have Aston Hill nr Tring Aylesbury in the A41 ( i thnk) both quite small but good for 3 or 4 hours, esp if new. They are more of your trail centres dug into a side of hills etc rather than bast exapnse of natural trails. Both are good for honing down skills though. I.

Where in Hertfordshire do you live?? I live in Tring, Astons pretty cool but it is a downhill centre rather than a trail centre (all be it that it has a 6km xc route, which is basically a downhill run and a bit of a pig of a climb back up). That said, there's some good natural routes from the Wendover area around the Chilterns and out towards Risborough etc.
Not a million miles away you've got Swinley (less than 1hr from Triing), although they're currently re-building (or building for the first time...) the trails. Other option is to look on the Londons Calling page in the rides section, there may be a few organised rides etc in your area

cheers mate

danlikesbikes

Turbo306 wrote:

Cheers! Ive heard the name chicksands before, but from someone who wasnt quite sure what it was. I will investigate, thanks

Or not to far from there you have Woburn with plenty of single track, jumps a real mix.

gregwari

Woburns a good call, especially at this time of the year. Trails drain extremely well, unlike the clay / limestone / rooty trails of the Chilterns.....

Turbo306

gregwari wrote:

Where in Hertfordshire do you live??

Im living in Hatfield at the moment. Its a bit concrete and grey - hence the desire to get out further afield!

gregwari wrote:

Woburns a good call, especially at this time of the year. Trails drain extremely well, unlike the clay / limestone / rooty trails of the Chilterns.....

How far from Woburn are the trails?

gregwari

http://www.woburntrails.co.uk/html/wher ... rails.html

Turbo306

gregwari wrote:

http://www.woburntrails.co.uk/html/where_are_the_trails.html

Doh! cheers lol.

matt_87

Another vote for Chicksands, I go over there every now and then as most trails around my way are unbelievably flat and boring. You have to pay for to get in the bike park itself for all the 4X/Downhill etc stuff, but the cross country routes around the park are all free (they are quite sloppy in places, though). As a bonus, the Thai food van sells reasonably priced and rather tasty food

If you do go, make sure you head for Rowney Warren Wood, confusingly the bike park isn't in the nearby Chicksands Wood, though there is a smattering of nice trails through there as well.

http://www.chicksandsbikepark.co.uk/

Turbo306

Thai food!? sold

I was considering this weekend, but fearing that the ground may be a bit boggy. I also have a ton of work to do