I'll get you next time... Guisborough

I was really aware that I'd not been out riding for a couple of weekends.  Time had gotten away from me as it tends to do, with the multiple bank holidays and May being a very busy month for me in work.  With a free day coming up I hastily picked a trail from my list that sounded like it wouldn't be super hardcore so I could continue racking up the numbers.  The centre I selected was Guisborough.

Situated to the north of the Yorkshire moors, Guisborough was the longest drive yet.  The roads were pretty good though and the scenery as I approached the trail centre had me thinking it was going to be a good one.

Parking was free and the visitor centre looked nice, albeit closed.  There were a number of information boards around and some sculptures carved out of logs.  The wide fire road style path from the visitor centre to the forest passed little ponds and a playground, making this a great place to bring your kids for an afternoon out.  But would it be any good to ride?

Guisborough has a blue and a black trail.  As far as I could tell they share quite a bit of fire road, the blue being 100% fire road and the black featuring a fair amount of dedicated singletrack.  I checked out the big map of the trails before I set out so I had a clue about where to go.

Turns out I didn't pay all that much attention to the map in the end!  The trails start out with a hefty chunk of fire road, which magically feels like it's all up hill.  Nothing like the Marin trail initial climb or even the gradient towards the start of follow the dog but it wore on a bit.  The arrows were pretty far apart so I was worried I'd taken a wrong turn.  Ominously, I'd heard that the black was closed due to forestry works, but this normally means diversions or simply ignoring the signs.  At the end of the day, I've yet to come across forestry operations on a Sunday.

The weather forecast that morning was for wind.  It didn't disappoint!  The weather came in waves all day long, alternating between being a really bright sunny day and being quite grim, with blustery wind and driving showers. 

After a good while on fireroads with sightings of more interesting unsigned singletrack off to the sides, I decided to break the tedium by investigating some of these offshoots.  One led up to the top of a small exposed summit which was quite a slog with a bike on tow.  The elevation of this point meant I could see out towards the North Sea, across Guisborough and Redcar.  It was a great view and worth the climb.  

The weather took one of its miserable turns and I decided to carry on with the trail.  The weather cleared for a while and I carried on with more bog standard fire road (this time flat).  During the next shower I followed another piece of unmarked singletrack and found a cool but short bit of downhill with proper corners and drops.

Ploughing on with the main trail, I was convinced my arrow-following skills had taken the day off.  There were sill signs, but they were blank.  Disconcerting to say the least but I think this was one occasion where "black trail closed" actually means closed.  At least, unless you've ridden it before and know where you're going!

As following blank signposts wasn't getting me very far, at least my sense of direction saw me right and got me back to the trailhead.  I'd had a good ride and felt exercised at least but I was gutted about making a mistake and the map of the site showed me where I'd gone wrong, only a couple of miles in too!  I swear I followed the signage that was there though.  Nevermind.  Next time Guisborough, next time...

Zen and the East of England - Theford Forest

After about an hour's predictable A-road voyage from Chicksands, I was nearing Thetford Forest Park.  I passed a big airforce base before arriving at the centre and the small villages I passed in the car looked really interesting too.  I'd never been to East Anglia properly before and with the blue skies giving a certain springtime quality to the light, good weather, and a very open feel to the woods once I was there it had a similar vibe to holidays in France.

Straight away the centre reminded me of Sherwood Pines in its layout and approach to proving the visitor with facilities.  There was quite a drive from the road to the large naturally finished car parks, situated some way into the woods, with both a large grassy area for families and BBQs and a decent visitors centre and cafe with outdoor seating.  This area also had a cool piece of art showing all the layers of the earth in the area and some of the archaeological finds.

The bike was put together in short order and I immediately found the trail signs.  For a pleasant change the signage was excellent.  Occasionally it was hard to tell the colour of the posts apart but nothing like the worst offending centres!  How can it be so hard to make green, blue and black look different?  Perhaps mountain bike trails could do with taking a cue from snow sports and using symbols as well as colour to set the markers apart.  One for the future I suppose.

A genuine section of Black graded trail, get the body armour quick! Admittedly this stuff was in the minority

Thetford is really flat.  I pedalled the entire length of the trail almost from beginning to end!  The ground was undulating the whole way and the trails were pretty rutted but were dry and super fast on the day that I was there.  Don't get me wrong though, the trail was so much fun!  The bike flowed as I pumped and pedalled my way through the terrain, the sense of momentum was immense!  No idea whether it was by luck or by design but Thetford is home to some serious flow.  It was pretty incredible really!

As there are a few trails in the Forest, the family groups and people there on rental bikes seemed to have taken the hint and the red trail that I started on was pretty devoid of other riders.  I did catch up to people a few times, but more often than not they let me past fairly quickly.

There was a very chilled atmosphere in the forest that day

The trails seemed good for beginners because of the the lack of hills and the presence of some good flow but I was really aware that the more I put in, the more I got out of the tracks. Both the read and the black felt about the same to me in terms of how technical they were.  The red has a few machine made / heavily reinforced sections with little berms and small rollers, while the black felt more natural throughout.

I found it really easy to get 'in the zone' while riding at Thetford.  Perhaps it was the flowing, uninterrupted routes combined with the limited height gain / loss.  It was like I was riding on autopilot; just dealing automatically with the trails as they unfolded.  Mountain bike zen where nothing else interferes with your thoughts and  you're intent on the ride.  It was really nice.

One of the latter downhill sections, dubbed the Beast, was a rollercoaster ride of awesome that made me perk up and pay attention.  It had a natural singletrack feel to it, with mini bomb holes and roots you could catch air off.  Felt very old school and was over too soon.

Thetford is pretty out of the way and it's definitely not somewhere I would have thought to go if not for this project, but I'm 100% glad I did.  Hitting the red and the black together make this worth the trip.

XC wasteland - Chicksands

Alright.  29th April.  Chicksands.  Renowned dirt jump and freeride spot.  Listed in the Mountain Bike Trail Centres book, having both a red and a blue XC trail.

Turned up, sorted my bike and gear and rode across the road to the woods from the car park. Guy at the gate asks me for £5 to ride.  It's been pay to ride for a while although I was sure the XC trails were free.  More willing to help fund decent trails than I was to argue with the gate keeper I parted with my hard-earned and went into the park.

Honestly, I was expecting to see some signage at this point indicating the start of the XC trails. No chance. I stormed down a singletrack run to the freeride area.  Only to find all the wooden northshore trails had been demolished, something to do with how they were no longer insurable. The 4x and dirt jump area was still up and running though and was reasonably busy considering the time of day.

There are a number of things wrong with this picture

Having a vague idea of where the trails were I rode to the boundary of the park.  With the gates having been removed and replaced with a fence, imprisoning one and all within, I jumped the fence to get out into the rest of the forest.  There was a red arrow, part of the XC trail signage, just nearby so I followed it up to a T-junction.  No more signs to be seen.  I headed off away from the bike park, my internal singletrack radar set to maximum.

To cut to the chase, all signage has been removed on the red and blue XC routes, leaving them impossible to follow unless you've ridden them in the past.  There were red and yellow arrows on some trees, so I decided to follow them, hoping for the best.

This would have been fine but in places the arrows were horrendously obscure:

There is a trail marker arrow in this pic.  No seriously there is.

..or there were about 50 in one place:

Right, so.. eh?

Either way I think you'll agree this is not conducive to a decent mountain biking experience.  I followed the trails round, largely making up my own route and I did a good lap of the entire forest, although the quality of the trails were no more than footpaths really.  Right near the end I hit a nice hidden section that had flow, berms and a tiny drop, but this was way too little, way too late.

Something else got me thinking too; most of the jumps on the mini-DH runs in leading down from the freeride area were doubles, some with wooden kickers and a fair gap to the landing.  In short, there was barely anything for the beginner or novice rider at all.

Having ridden in France and Whistler, it's clear that it's very important for bike parks to create a situation  where riders can progress in a reasonably safe environment, and one in which beginners are welcomed and able to get involved.  Otherwise, where are the future riders going to come from?  And perhaps more importantly for a business with trail maintenance needs and insurance costs, where is your future income going to come from?

Whoever's in charge of Chicksands seems to be focussing on the DJ / 4x riders exclusively.  The freeride area is a complete mess with dismantled trails all over the place, with signs promising something else will be built soon. The mini-DH runs live up to their billing and are extremely short, making almost any other centre with similar facilities a better choice for this kind of riding.

At least it was a good warm up for trail number 7 later in the day!

Crucially, it seems the XC trails were purposely taken out of action, and by doing this the people in charge have done themselves out of a lot of traffic and good word of mouth.  A decent loop could be made in the woods and by adding a pay car park and doing away with the £5 per day charge the level of income would increase and better facilities / more maintenance and construction could be paid for.

The existing loop shows almost no indication that any real thought was put into its layout and many of the climbs and descents are straight up or down the slopes, meaning erosion and wet weather would be big issues.  Tracks that zig-zag the hillsides are more interesting to ride, hold up better to weathering, and remain more rideable in wet weather.

With the right people behind it, Chicksands could be a good little venue, it definitely seems to pull in the numbers, but I wonder whether DJ and 4x alone can sustain the place.  I was really disappointed that the freeride area had gone and with no sign of new sections being built to replace the northshore I feel that there's little there to occupy owners of big freeride / DH bikes or trail bike riders.

Putting that swiftly behind me, I was planning to make the most of the extra bank holiday and head over to trail number 7!

A Monkey's First Birthday - Cannock Chase

Sunday 17th April.  I'd passed through the surprisingly busy camping ground, coming towards the final couple of section of the Follow the Dog trail.  Putting in a few powerful pedal strokes to get back up to speed I manualled through the narrow gap at the side of a wide gate across the fire road and aimed the Coilair towards the entrance to the singletrack.  The trails were flowing well and my bike was running smoothly; suspension at both ends dealing easily with the man-made trail surface, allowing me to let the bike go at its own pace and stay off the brakes.  Shortly, I could hear other riders in the distance, chains clattering on the stays.  Were they about to catch up?  Not if I could help it.

Cannock is one of the most established and the best trail centres in the Midlands.  It's in a great location for riders from Birmingham and it not too bad for anyone within reach of the A50.

A red graded trail known as Follow the Dog was the main attraction here fro a long time.  A 7 mile loop, it was common to do a couple of laps per visit and all in all it was a good ride.  Nothing too dramatic, which was fair enough considering the lay of the land but to me the trail had been designed with some solid thought behind it, making it far more fun to ride than a certain other Midlands trail centre based in Nottinghamshire!

Exactly a year ago, the loop was extended to a full 15 miles with the opening of the Monkey Trail.  By all accounts this was a poorly kept secret, and riders on the forums had been discussing sections for a while before the official opening.

Bike store and hire at Birches Valley Forest Centre, Cannock Chase

I was super excited to ride the trail on that opening day, and the atmosphere was pretty good that day too!  Giant is involved with the centre in some way, I believe they supply the rental fleet, and trade stands were up for demo bikes and at least two places were cooking locally produced BBQ food.  A guy gave me a banana while I was on my way back to the car too.  Can't say fairer than that!

So I heard recently that it was coming up to the one year anniversary of the trail opening, and, despite wanting to broaden my mountain biking horizons a little, I felt that this was a perfect  excuse to hit up the Chase.

I'd worked to awaken my full suspension bike from its winter hibernation with some time in the garage a couple of evenings before and with the suspension fettled, the brakes properly aligned, and the whole thing cleansed of last summer's mud, it was ready to roll.

After my first ride a year ago I posted a quick review to moredirt.com, and here it is!

So 1 year on, how have things changed?  Importantly, the trail is still a lot of fun.  There are climbs, and while I imagine they are nothing to rival anything at the majority of Welsh or Scottish centres, there is always a pay off.  As I mentioned above, the trail crew know what they are doing here and by and large the Monkey trail single track has held up pretty well in the last 12 months.  I believe the centre was voted as the UK's favourite by readers of MBR recently, so considering the high level of traffic, the wear and tear to some sections is well within reason.

Work is going on at the moment to repair the trail in places, which is good to see.  I rode the Chase just before I started this list of Trail Centres, on a very wet day.  The erosion to the trails lead to a serious amount of large puddles which was a bit off putting but most of the surface seems to drain pretty well and the mud really didn't make too much difference to the ride.

One of the best views across the Chase, towards the end of the Monkey trail

My favourite sections are the two final descents on the Monkey trail, before it crosses back over the road and railway line to rejoin the Dog.  The last one in particular can be taken as fast as you like, it flows really well and has some nice roller / tables near the top and some sweet berms towards the end which I always try to go all out on, just in case anyone's watching from the fire road!

It's good to see a trail centre doing well and the main and overflow carparks were absolutely heaving as I was packing up in the early afternoon!  The weather helped and there seemed to be a cycling charity event taking place on the blue trail, which had clearly attracted more people to the forest.  Requiring a reasonable level of technical ability and fitness, and with a boatload of flow, I'd recommend every mountain biker makes some time to ride here.