Gisburn Forest

Hi
Iam going to Gisburn this coming Sunday with hubby, and it will be my first time to Gisburn mountain biking.(already done Blue route at Llandegla and thoroughly enjoyed it). Just want ed to know what the routes are like? do they have a beginners style route, etc? anybody been and please let me know what it like
many thanks
Fran

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/website/recreation.nsf/LUWebDocsByKey/EnglandLancashireNoForestGisburn

Seen that.

cheers Crackle ..good reading ..thanks and iam looking forward to i - just a bit scared though of any major inclines, mental bridges, ramps etc, we are going to do the Blue trail, iam a beginner at MTB and wanna take thingeasy..hubby is a mental head andhas been before with the MTB lads, and they do loads of crazy trails, thinking of my safety as well as my sanity here!lol

Have fun, but take care - especially considering the risk of ice. Fellow CCer Alun broke his leg at Gisburn at the end of last year when his mountain bike slipped away from him on some wet stuff!

I've not been to any trail centres on the wrong side of the pennines. Do let us all know the highs and lows of your trip. At the rate you're going you'll be an expert rider by summer.

I've been there but it was many years ago before the present trails. I think there was 1 trail which had dismount signs just as it was getting interesting. I remember the trip for the brakes failing on the car on the way back, just as I was entering a rdbt. First time I've ever used a handbrake as an emergency brake. And on the way there we hit a pheasant which bounced up and got a wing stuck on each bike on the roof. For a brief moment it was crucified between handlebars before the the wind took it.

It was a fairly strange day now I think about it.

And I wouldn't worry about being a beginner. I've been a mtn bike beginner for 15 years.

did red route there on a CX bike. Mostly okay and was able to walk sections that were too rocky. There are black trail variations off of red. Hully Gully is slippy and muddy, I had a bad crash there & should never attempted it. There are timber trails over the bogs, they're fun.

Recommend every rider has a copy of the map as you should then be able to ride the forestry roads back to the car park if it all gets too much. There's almost zero mobile reception in the whole place and it is a terribly dreary spruce plantation. Cafe/pub at the Dog and Partidge is good although it's a tedious ride in from there to the trails. Most park at the car park near Stocks Reservoir as the trails start at the edge of the car park.

Have fun. (Personally I'll stick to the roads from now on, bar proper CX)

oh iam scared now! knowing my luck, I will fall off. I want to mountain bike, but dont want to do all that mental jumps and stuff they do, I dont mind going over some slight bumps and hilly ups and downs but nothing crazy...worried now

I think it might have been one of them that Alun slipped off when he broke his leg!

Alun?

You'll be fine! Every real obstacle is on red or black, not blue as that trail avoids them all. All I would say is: don't let yourself be persuaded to do an obstacle or jump you're not confident with. The timber is fun, it is intimidating but really easy. Think that's only on red though. There is also some fine singletrack and bermed turns and I think some is on blue - can't clearly remember.

On Sunday the biggest problem is likely to be mud in the gears...

cheers Christopher...oh and where do you have a wee? no toilets?

err, don't know! Dog and Partidge? We were blokes, we just went behind trees...

Hello !

Ha ha - I mean, could you give Francesca some advice about cycling at Gisburn Forest!

It was a wet section of northshore that I fell off and broke my leg, possibly because I was clipped in to the pedals. That's why I use flat pedals now. The northshore doesn't have any chicken wire covering it like many do, it gets very slippery in wet conditions. Hully Gully is rated as "black", I would leave it out this visit, get a feel for the place first. Your not too far away in Preston so you can go back again easily. There are no facilities there at all, the nearest public toilets will be Slaidburn I think. The Dog and Partridge is a decent pub at Tosside which serves food at the usual times. There can be a lot of walkers on the trail near the car parks, they don't seem to realize that it's a bike trail, you need a bell!

Fran, reading back over the comments it all looks very negative, but I'm sure that you will enjoy it although the weather looks poor for the weekend. As someone said don't overstretch yourself, you can always get off and push, but leave the hully gully for the summer as it's quite narrow and there's not enough room to get off the track.

if any of you from further afield fancy spending some time in the Gisburn forest area... my sister has a lovely pair of holiday cottages in the wilds of Lancashire... shameless plug: www.yorkshire-dales-holiday.co.uk (it's actually in Lancashire, despite the URL).

Francesca, you need to remember that MTB is for fun, not to go and do stuff that's too scary too soon! Be absolutely certain that there is no shame in walking a piece of trail that you consider too sketchy. Go and enjoy the blue, and if there's a skills park go and play at some little drops or berms or whatever.

Alun fell off some wet northshore, and there ain't none on the blue run.

Give it 'til the spring/ summer getting your fitness and smiles up on the blues, then go and push your boundaries on easy reds like Llandegla and Sherwood Pines, and a red/blue mix at Dalby or wherever. Build up to it and you'll love it. Push it too much and hurt yourself and you'll wish you hadn't bothered. Take it your pace, not anyone else's.

Can I recommend you a slim but worthwhile volume written by gurls. Very fast, very expert gurls. It gave me back my bottle after I mislaid it and taught me stuff I didn't know I didn't know.

cheers Alun