Trail Centre Review Number 3: Whinlatter, Lake District

I've been to Whinlatter Forest quite a few times over the last few years and it's an ace spot for some short sharp fun mtb action. The original reason for writing this blog was inspired by taking my mate Bob and his brother mountain biking here for their first time back at the start of September. He (Bob) liked it so much he wanted to do it again and so we did: the weekend of 12th November. The weather was a hell of a lot better this time round meaning we could get some great shots and get even more out of the place. Located just north of Keswick in the Lakes the scenery here is fantastic (when you can see it). There's two red loops with black options - north and south that give you a lot of bang for your buck riding and view wise, with not too much effort upwards when missing out some sections - bonus. There's also a nice little blue run available for beginners too. See more info in the review below.

Facilities

There's ample parking here but it's a little on the more expensive side than other trail centres at around £8 for the full day I think. Still it's nothing really for a day's entertainment on the bikes or walking here with a family. There's a Go Ape facility and plenty of walks in the woods so of you're not biking you have options too.

A cracking little cafe awaits with lovely cakes, jacket potatoes, sandwiches, coffee etc - the usual stuff at high quality and definitely welcome after a few hours outdoors.

The Cyclewise bike shop here is pretty extensive with  a good range of bikes for sale, clothing, parts etc and bikes available for hire, demos and friendly staff.

Bob and I hired their standard (only option) hard tail Cube Attention - a fine machine to tackle the trails on as a beginner and a good entry level bike. It's a good value £18 for 3 hours or £22.50 for the full day including helmets. For bookings you can call on 017687-78711.

Trails

The Quercus Blue Trail - as I was with a beginner this blue run at 8km is a really good confidence builder for newbies whilst still a great warm up for more experienced bikers prior to getting onto the red north and south loops. Not too harsh on the legs and there's lots of opportunity to practice berms, drops, switchbacks etc.

The Altura Trail Red Graded -

South Loop - 10km (full route of this loop) - this first part / main part of the south loop is suitable for beginners who are confident enough they want to have more mountain bike action and take on more of an ascent and descent. The climb to the top does entail some tight uphill switchbacks but nothing too technical for beginners, at the end of the day it's easily pushed if needs be. At the top you get great views of the north loop trail on the other side. The descent here is a lot of fun for all abilities with some table tops and bermy corners and fast lines to be taken. The loop can take you another level up with some more technical climbing and technical single track descent if you follow the way marked signs. We decided not to do this as the idea is to build confidence when learning and not destroy it! One day I will take Bob onto this extra part but having this option is great feature of the trail - likewise on the North Loop.

                                       Me midpoint of South Loop!

                                       Bob midpoint of South Loop!

                                 Views of North Loop Trail Descent

North Loop

This loop is approx 9.5km in length and is the more technical of the two. However it is possible, as we did, to miss out the first half technical climb (again for same reasons above). What's great about this place is the option to get to do the best bits of trail very easily! There is an awesome short cut to one of the best descents at a trail centre in this country (in my experience). If you cycle passed the bike shop, up onto the forest road, pass the start of the blue and north red trails on your right, then follow your nose really unitl you bear around left continuing on the forest road, when you get to the view point (below) just take a little right onto the track that leads you up to the start of the North Loop descent. It only takes approx 15 mins to get up here from the bike shop and misses out all the technical single track through the forest. You are then treated to a brilliant bit of downhill action that will have you grinning from ear to ear at the bottom. There is a lot of bang for your buck here because of the distance you get as you meander down the hill side from left to right. Nice bermy corners, little jumps, fast singletrack, and some technical sections that require a bit of concentration all make for a brilliant descent. I can't recommend it highly enough, especially when it can be accessed so easily. Once Bob had his first go we went and did it again another two times!

             Reflecting on a good days biking before the last descent (again!)

                                                 The bike shop

In summary this place is beautiful, the trails are very well crafted, you can do as much or as little as you want and still get a great days riding in. Being able to separate the trails into sections and access them makes it a great palce for beginners or to just continually nail the best parts easily without an uplift. I hope to be coming here for many years ahead. Go there!

CLICK HERE for more info on trials and videos of North / South Loop

Autumnal Coed y Brenin Photos - Heaven!

Hopefully these will inspire one or two to get out there on a bike!

Trail Centre Review Number 2: Llandegla

After posting the news that I was writing this blog on my Facebook wall a few weeks ago a friend of mine contacted me to say she'd love to give mountain biking a go - well done Jenny! A classic example of the good things that can happen if you put yourself out there and why I started the blog!


Without further a do we arranged to go to Llandegla Forest Trail Centre as it's only an hour and 15 mins or so from Manchester where she lives and has a blue run. We chose to go on Wednesday in the last week of September (as I work for myself  and have the luxury of being flexible and she wanted to take advantage of time in-between jobs) and what a scorcher of a day it was to be out there: 26c and not a cloud in the sky - a great day for an intro to mountain biking!


Llandegla is a managed forest located in North Wales not too far from Chester and Wrexham. It is well linked to Liverpool, Manchester and the Wirral which is great for people to access this place, but be warned on a weekend it can get very busy. There are excellent facilities, superb biking routes and skills areas for all abilities and way marked walks through the trees.


CLICK HERE for more information

Facilities
Parking: £3.50 one of charge for all day I think. There's plenty of parking mid week but it can be a little hectic at weekends.


Visitor centre / Cafe - Great little cafe here with seating inside and outside (to bask in the sunshine when available!). We were a little peckish before heading off on our trail run so decided to get a bite to eat. I chose a coronation chicken wrap and it was amazing - the best I've ever had. Lovely sauce and big chunks of breast meat. Jenny had the Welsh rarebit and it looked a bit of all right too - although I still don't know exactly what it is. I also had a chocolate brownie which was spot on. Anyhoo lets not turn this into a foodie blog.


Bike shop  / bike hire - there's a great shop here (One Planet Adventure) with lots of shiny new bikes to tempt you, a good selection of clothing and parts etc. Bike hire is £22 for half a day and £32 for a full day with a couple of quid for a helmet. Compared to other bike hire options at trail centres this is a little more pricier. As far as I'm aware there is just one option for rental and that is a Kona (apologies not 100% sure of the type of bike) but it's a solid all mountain type of rig - big tyres heavy frame but a good all rounder. We did have some issues with their maintenance of these. I should have checked prior to leaving on our ride but the suspension on Jenny's bike was barely existent (not great for her arms as a first timer) as we discovered a couple of miles in. Also the grips on her handle bars were pretty much non existent and overall the bikes were not cleaned which I would presume would be standard for each time you go out on one. The breaks and gears worked fine though so we still had fun! Jenny also chose to pimp her ride with a 90's purple wrap-around frame bum bag - safe!

Trails
As I was out with a newbie to mountain biking we chose to do the blue run and then have a stint in the skills area.
In terms of trail variation here there is a good selection of: green run for families (5km), blue for beginners (12km - sorry Jenny I told you it was 8km!), red intermediate route (18km) and black runs which is most of the red with black graded runs off it (21km).


There is also a skills section which covers table tops, berms and drops and a few other bits and pieces. We tried this after the blue run and it's brilliant for beginners as well as me who also needs to practice table tops.


There's also a pump track to get your flow and a free ride track (which wasn't open when we were there)


All of the main trails (blue, red and black) start out on what can only be described as a long winded bit of very wide inclined singletrack. This goes on for a few km and the positive aspect of it?...well it warms your legs up. 

The long and winding road!

Once this is completed a bit of fun starts. There's a couple of great practice berms that can be taken at speed or leisure before you shoot off down hill on some flowy singletrack. At the bottom of this the trail splits off directing you left to the red section off to the right for the blue. 


This time we took the blue section (something I'd never done before - always done red and blacks - see below). For a beginner this is an ideal starter, and a gentle introduction section. Although not as much fun as Coed y Brenin's blue it is still well built and longer. The singletrack is wide enough not to intimidate beginners but also not too wide at the same time as to give a taster of what to expect once you want to progress onto a red trail. There are some nice little tabletop type features and the odd switch back corner to provide some nice flow and bike control practice. Jenny enjoyed the sections and a good summary for it was that she is now keen to step up to try a red section. I would say that she took to the biking like a natural and I'm sure will be a quick learner!

The red trail at Llandegla is good in places but there is a lot of leg spinning in parts for not a lot of return - especially on the way back once all the best sections have been done. Where the blue section splits from the red - if you take the red and head across onto the other side of the forest road where the trees have been cleared, this section offers some really good fun - table tops, drops, berms and fast no braking hill descents. The only thing I would say is that for a beginner the trail gets pretty bumpy in places because it is well worn would leave the arms and hands wanting a rest if you were new to this type of trail.


Once on the red route there come the choice to do the best bits of Llandegla and some of my favourite sections of any trail centre I have done to date - the black runs! These are graded black I would say not because of their technicality but more because of the fitness required to execute them and truly get the best out of them. The black runs are generally flowing and fast (with some big table tops and big swooping berms thrown in for good measure). I find that on a good riding day these sections can be dialed fast to the point where I'm really pushing to my speed limits: skimming passed trees whilst nailing some nice little drops....I love them! They are really well built and will leave a massive grin on your face.


The black runs all lead back onto the red trail which then takes you back to the trail centre starting point and visitor centre via the blue run. Although the blacks are great and the red bits are good in places is does feel like a lot of effort for these sections - if there was a way to get to do them on a loop, without having to do the start and the end then that would be perfect...but we do not live in a perfect world! If you are heading into Wales from the north for a weekend of biking this is great stop off point on your way in and is recommended.


All in all - great facilities, great cafe, great location, lovely scenery, lots of variation of trails for families to experts - thumbs definitely up. Go and see for yourself!

Trail Centre Review Number 1: Coed y Brenin, Snowdonia, Wales

Coed y Brenin is a trail centre located in South Snowdonia, Wales about 15 mins drive from the town of Dolgellau. It was the first forest to be developed for the sport of mountain biking. I actually hired a bike here back in 1992 at the grand old age of 12 but it wasn't until 2007 that I got back on a mountain bike and started to experience the sport properly.

It's close to my heart as I've been coming here many times over the years. I've seen it develop into an amazing facility that I can't recommend highly enough and is getting more and more popular as the place develops with more investment.

In terms of trails in 2011 there is plenty for beginners, families and the more experienced riders. There's also fantastic walks in the forest, a Go Ape activity centre and amazing scenery from the rivers that run by the trails, to the far reaching views over to the Cadair Idris mountain range. It's beautiful...I especially love the alpine feeling you get here when cycling over the bridges with the white water of the rivers lashing underneath and the sweet smell of pine wafting under the nostrils.

Facilities

There is ample parking to cater for the busiest of days with the current cost of parking at £4 for the whole day and lower prices for less hours.

The visitor centre here is fantastic - a great eco build type facility with information on trails, walks and friendly staff on hand to answer any questions.

There is of course an excellent cafe with great value tea and cakes and sandwiches etc - awesome for a wind down after some activity on the trails.

If you catch a nice day there's great benches outside too to sit and chill out with your bikes, tea and cake.

Below the visitor centre is a bike shop, toilets and showers. Not all visitor centres have showers which can be a bit of a bummer if you're riding in wet conditions but Coed y Brenin does it all! At £1 for 3 minutes it's come in handy for me recently after a very wet bank holiday.

Bike Hire

I've hired bikes here a couple of times. Their entry level hardtail Trek at £25 for the day is sufficient enough for a blast round the trails (although I'm not a fan of the Suntour suspension forks).

If you fancy a full suspension beast which will be a little slower on the uphills but pack more of a punch on the downhills I recommend the Specialized Enduro Expert which is £45 for the day.

I think that these prices for all day are darn good value. If you're thinking of getting a mountain bike then hiring one out and trying a trail centre with it is a great way to start your buying decision process. You'll get a feel for what's right for you which is the most important thing.

Bike hire info at Beics Brenin can be found here: CLICK HERE

Trails

Now for the most important bit! In summary Coed y Brenin's trails are fantatsic fun, not too technical, lots of very well built singletrack, well maintained and are great to ride in most weather conditions all year round. A great bonus is they never get that busy once you're out there (despite when the car park suggests otherwise and compared to somewhere like  Llandegla on a weekend).

For the beginner / families and for a little bit of fun for the more experienced riders there is a new blue run which opened this year called The Minor Taur. 

I got my mum and dad to try this run and trust me I mean it when I say they have the most basic of skills on a bike i.e. they like to ride very steady on flat ground. 

After a bit of encouragement I got them whizzing down the Minor Taur...and at the end my mum liked it so much she did it twice and is keen to go back. 

I think this trail epitimises the quality of build at Coed y Brenin - basic enough for beginners yet still a lot of fun for someone like me... a more experienced rider to do at pace (watch out for the slower paced beginners though and pay them respect). 

In fact I now prefer to start off all my riding at Coed y Brenin with the first section of Minor Taur to get warmed up, you can check in your basic skills and start the day's riding with a great flow. There's really good racing lines to be taken, great flowing berms, cheeky table tops, easy switchbacks and some nice little drops. Hats off to the trail builders here. There are currently two sections of the Minor Taur built with another five to come over the next few years - I look forward to giving them a go and taking more newbie riders for the experience.

For more detailed trail info CLICK HERE

                                  Mum and dad hitting the Minor Taur trail!

Mossy's Magic Mash Up!

For the more experienced rider there are a number of trails graded red to black that criss cross each other and ranging in distance from circa 8km - 40km. After trying all the trails there this summer I came up with my own mix to create Mossy's Magic Mash Up. I believe this takes in all the very best parts you can do at Coed y Brenin (sometimes twice) which gives you a massive bang for your buck over the course of about 3 hrs or so - give or take depending on your fitness. Sweet sweet singletrack track at pace: this bad boy is a lot of fun with grin factors everywhere!

In terms of the route here goes:
1. Start off on the first section of the Minor Taur starting at the back of the visitor centre to the left - enjoy the fast racing lines, nice little drops, the odd table top and superbly built berms at the end.
2. After this first section get onto the tarmac road ahead and take a left climb up a short but steep hill - about half way up on the right you will join the mbr / Dragon's Back section - take the trail up here which leads you onto dream time - a fantastic flowing section that definitely gets the blood pumping - it's flowing, there are a couple of small drops, and a nice bermy switchback bit at the end too.
3. Once completed and back on the tarmac road head right and go back on yourself following the green markers onto the forest road, then at the end of the forest road turn right back onto the tarmac road and yes head back up that steep hill you've just done but this time carrying on up taking 'The Beast' route.
4. Go passed The Beginning of the End, up Brutus which is a bit of a brute!, tackle Cain with no dabbing! Then after here you get to a lovely new section - Adam & Eve
5. I recommend doing Adam and Eve at least twice (just cycle or push up the old downhill path next to it to re-start) - especially if it's new to you. Swooping berms, table tops, hills, and crazy roller things...hit them right and it's just like a roller coaster...gets better each time you do it. Awesome - check out this vid - CLICK HERE
6. Once you've had your fun here head on through Slated, Abel aand to false teeth - all brilliant in their own right - especially false teeth - watch for the drop offs - they get bigger!
7. Once you've been spat out after, instead of taking as directed Bugsy head on up the forest road which will take you to the start of Uncle Fester - this being one of my favourite sections of singletrack at Coed y Brenin I prefer to take this route down to start the climb towards the Pink heifer. It's fast - no need for brakes when taking the racing lines! Love it
8. Once onto the Pink Heifer and into Big Doug be prepared for a lung burner awesome singletrack experience - this is where fitness really pays - alongside the adrenaline this makes for a great bit of riding.
9. Head up forest road to Beefy, then up again until Hermon - again a cracking little section - great to race down with a friend or two - goading each other as it spits you out at the bottom of a tarmac hill.
10. Go passed the cafe on the left hand side and follow the tarmac road up the steep ascent - then instead of following the Beast signs to the right onto the forest road, take the left hand option and continue on the tarmac road. This is a steep climb and I recommend getting off and walking it so you can save your energy for the descents at the top. When you start to get to more or less the top of the hill take the second right onto the forest road. Carry on here until you get to the start of Gomez.
11. Catch some breath - have a rest then prepare for an amazingly varied decscent that will test the mind, body, and soul - but all in a good way! All you need to do is follow the signs of The Beast as here it picks up the route again. I try and do Gomez, Morticia, Pugsley, Lurch and then Uncle Fester all in one without stopping. I also like to interchange leader on alternate sections if biking with a buddy (usually my friend Sam!). Once at the end of Uncle Fester it's massive grins!
12. If you're still feeling fit you can follow the Beast signs still and pick up the last leg burning hill and then go onto the Beginning of The End. As an alternative you could do Dream Time again...or just follow the green route back to base!


All in all this is a fantastic route with loads of fun to be had and is the one I'll be doing each time I go - until they bring out more sections of course ;-)


For information on all routes CLICK HERE

Finally...
Coed Y Brenin is getting some really good investment which is going into very good use in developing the new beginners Minor Taur Trail and now a skills area to practice those core elements of moutain biking.  Without a doubt come here, spend your money, enjoy your time...it is a first class place.

I recommend becoming a fan of their Facebook page to keep up to date with what's going on and you can also follow the MTB Ranger for the region, Andy, on twitter @MTBRanger. Plenty of accommodation in the area - check out Cadair View Lodge. Lots of other places to visit and outdoor activities to do - climbing the Cadir Idris Mountain, doing the Mawdach trail on a bike (nice and easy) - great area for families and days of entertainment.

Trails Centres I've been to and the trail centres to be done!

As the Autumn rolls in I'm really looking forward to a few rides over the coming weekends - crisp mornings and amazing colours flashing by as you descend down the hills!

Anyhoo! The next step for me to get going on my trail centre review mission is to list all the ones I've been to and then list all the ones I have yet to do in order to tick them off. I will then start to review the ones I have done. Please feel free to add / suggest / recommend more trail centres that I have missed out as I will be adding to this list as I go. 

I've linked the trail urls below so you can check out the information on each of them. I can assure you all of them are excellent in their own little way! One very close to my heart is Coed y Brenin as my folks have a caravan near there and I can and do visit as often as I like throughout March - October with free accommodation! There's lots going on there at the moment with great new developments and more trails being built for the beginner and more expereinced rider. This summer I did all of the marked routes there in order to pick out the best bits and make my own trail ride up - having done it my new route is called Mossy's Magic Mash Up and it's a belter! 2-3 hours of graft but you get a lot of bang for your buck - will detail this in my next post when I review it - so look out! I recommend liking their page on Facebook - really good up to date info and goings on.

So here goes:

Trail Centres been to:

Cli Machx, Machynlleth, Wales

Coed y Brenin, Snowdonia, Wales

Dalbeattie, Scotland

Dalby, North Yorkshire

Fort William, Ten Under the Ben, Scotland

Fort William, World Champs, Scotland

Gisburn, Lancashire

Glentress, Scotland

Innerleithen, Scotland

Llandegla, North Wales

Marin Trail, Betws y Coed, Snowdonia, Wales

Nant yr Arian, Aberystwyth, Mid Wales

Whinlatter Forest, Lake District

Trail centres to be done:

Ae, Scotland

Afan Forest Park

Brechfa, Wales

Cannock Chase, Staffordshire

Coed Trallwm & Elan Valley, Wales

Cwmcarn, South Wales

Kirroughtree, Scotland

Glentrool, Scotland

Golspie, Scotland

Grizedale, Lake District

Kielder Forest, Northumberland

Mabie, Scotland

Newcastleton, Scotland

Penmachno, Betws y Coed, Snowdonia, Wales

Biking / Road Trip Tunes & Videos

One of the things I really love is the tunes that go with doing outdoor sports / biking / road trips. Great playlists that get you in the mood while you're driving to and from your desintation and the soundtracks that create inspiration and cover awesome videos.

Here's a few of my favourites - I will add to them as I go along - please post more suggestions too as I love finding these things:

The Jezabels - A Little Piece from Danny MacAskill's Way Back Home Vid - amazing song amazing vid

Cat Empire - Two Shoes from MTB Freeride Downhill - great song great vid

Roam - Downhill section video - amazingly fast - love it!

Another goodun... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFnUmndf3V4&feature=related

More to follow...

First Post - why am I doing this?!!

I've heard about blogging, I've seen blogs and now I'm finally doing it myself!

Why? 

Well two main reasons:

1. For the higher good reasons!

I took a friend and his brother mountain biking for their first time at Whinlatter Forest trail centre in the Lake District the other weekend and they loved it. They didn't even know trail centres like this existed. They thought it was such amazing value that you could access these trails free of charge! (well apart from the parking but at a few quid divided by 3 of you it's still great value). We hired bikes from Cyclewise and I loved showing them the ropes and hopefully opening them up to a whole new world of thrills and an increased love of the outdoors. This has inspired me to set up this blog in the hope that by reviewing UK trail centres I can help a few more people to get out there and explore one near to them. Not only by going to these places can you help yourself with loads of health benefits, you gain more respect for mother nature and it's also great for the local economies in these rural areas...what's not to like!

2. For selfish reasons!

I've been mountain biking for about 4 years now and have been to a good handful of the trails centres around the UK but I'd like to visit them all. Hopefully by writing this blog it will help me to acheive this ambition and keep me going back to the ones I love (as if I needed another reason to go back anyway). Also I've taken loads of photos over the years and they are all in some random order. By setting up this blog I'm sure it will help me keep a better record of my amazing ventures. I want to start making some films too - still need to buy a video camera - perhaps somone can help to recommend one?

So that's my first post, as I go along I'm sure I will set up some order to this page so please be patient with me. 

Feel free to follow me on Twitter  @ukmountainbiker, comment, get in touch...whatever floats your boat (or bike)

Laters

Mike