Forest Of Dean

J_Hale

This weekend i might find myself 5 minutes away from the forest of dean, what are everyones opinions on the trail centre there, is it good? Facilities? Routes?

What routes do you recommend? I usually ride red routes.

I'll be riding my hardtail, is the place more set up for f/s? big jumps etc? Or will I be fine?

Usually about 3hours away so figure i'll make the most of it and ride most of the day sunday!

All advice welcome, Thanks!

russyh

Have you got a garmin? If so download the recent FoD Enduro route, as that's a great off piste run. FoD is my local trail centre and I love it. However I am not a massive fan of the red run and actually think the blue vererder trail is more fun! Both freeminers and vererder trail are quite short in my opinion so it will be multiple loops if you want to ride all day. Facilities are great, good cafe, cheap parking. You will be fine on all routes on your hardtail, even the downhill runs are nothing too drastic! You can always rent a nukeproof mega if you don't want to bring your bike down with you but you may need to prebook. Good luck and enjoy

welshkev

yep, blue trail is better, but doing the red and blue together (about 19km IIRC) is a good loop. you can always add in some of the DH trails too that are all doable on a hardtail if you take your time

paulneenan76

I went again weekend before last and it was great fun as always. Had planned to do the Enduro route but don't have a garmin type thing and didnt get round to asking anyone.

I thought that the revised Red Route was vastly improved, with a challenging climb, some nice flowy sections, and some rooty bits; it was a bit of an after-though previously - I thought.

Paul

welshkev

paulneenan76 wrote:

I thought that the revised Red Route was vastly improved, with a challenging climb, some nice flowy sections, and some rooty bits; it was a bit of an after-though previously - I thought.

Paul

the original red trail that was there before the blue, was an after thought?

russyh

The Red trail is improved, but in my opinion they have tried to fit too much in to a small trail so it doesn't flow particularly well. its OK if you like the two routes together.

Not criticising, i love all of it. just personally i prefer the Enduro course and the blue trail. Trying more and more to explore in the forest now as there are some nuggets not too far away from the trails.

welshkev

Russyh wrote:

The Red trail is improved, but in my opinion they have tried to fit too much in to a small trail so it doesn't flow particularly well. its OK if you like the two routes together.

Not criticising, i love all of it. just personally i prefer the Enduro course and the blue trail. Trying more and more to explore in the forest now as there are some nuggets not too far away from the trails.

I work with the guy who runs the FoD MTB facebook page/club thingy and does the guiding. he 's asked me to go riding with him a few times but I haven't had chance yet. I've heard there's tons of trails to explore that are way better than the trail centre

rockmonkeysc

There's some really good off piste trails but a lot of them don't ride well in the wet.
The DH trails are all pretty tame, I can't think of any gap jumps or big drops, it's all fairly small.
Stage 1/4 of the mini #enduro was sh1t but 2 & 3 are good.

taff..

If you're up there tomorrow morning and see a bunch of guys with shovels and wheelbarrows feel free to stop and say hello

I'm just off up there to try night riding for the first time on the Blue, it could be interesting

russyh

I was talking about the enduro event they ran last weekend rockmonkey, not the mini enduro. The sept event is called an enduro but is more a xc race, that said the course is pretty sweet. I have not done the mini enduro course, is it available on gpx?

rockmonkeysc

There is a gpx for the mini enduro. As I said, only stages 2 & 3 are worth riding.
Stage 2 finishes just past the footpath which ends on the bottom fire road and leads up past the mine.
Stage 3 is further along, finishing at the next cross roads.

taff..

I've just got back from riding and on the small part of last weeks enduro course that uses the Verderers the yellow arrows that were painted on the ground are still visible so following the track shouldn't be too difficult

there is a GPX file for the enduro course see here -http://www.fodmtb.com/trails/4584608849

apple eater

taff.. wrote:

If you're up there tomorrow morning and see a bunch of guys with shovels and wheelbarrows feel free to stop and say hello

I'm just off up there to try night riding for the first time on the Blue, it could be interesting

how did that go? did you park in the cannop centre car park (can't rememebr if there is a barrier/gatee to close it at night)

i wouldn't mind trying the off piste routes but i don't have a gpx thingy. I also need to upgrade my rear tyre before i come bacck up there.he last time i rode the verderers, the mound tried to kill me!

I still love the place though!