mtb centres South-East

hey guys. who went out in the snow this weekend? all good silly fun, but i must admit the sledge was better...

anyway, does anyone know of good technical MTB centres in the southeast, preferably north of london. I'm based in Hertford and my mate has just got a MTB and he wants to hone his technical skills, but around me there just seems to be easy bridleways and forest tracks (unless i'm looking in the wrong place...)

cheers

High beach (beech) epping forest. about 10 mins in the car for you.

Aston Hill Bucks has technical stuffin abundance. black XC route and downhill, used to need a permit as a club owned it when i used to race there not sure what the situation is now ? Swinley forest to the west just off M3 or M4 not as technical but plenty of single track.

Me, so far as I could tell one other person whose tyres tracks I followed but never saw. Absolutely knackering, to the extent I had a brain fart and got lost in my own back yard, and I was drenched in sweat when I got back to watch the rugby.

yeah, i've heard about high beech. my mate has already been there last summer but he said it wasn't that technical (i was in australia so i can't verify this); just mainly forest tracks and fire roads sort of stuff. Now, i'm hoping i'll get some replies saying he wasn't riding in the right places. in which case, where's the best technical places to go in high beech?

aston hill sounds good (near where my bro lives i think) so i'm gonna look into that further...

thing is, we both want the technical stuff, not necessarily fast (we've got road bikes for that) but tricky stuff.

thanks for your input guys

The bike one greg would make a great chrizzy card

You could try PORC south of London - http://www.porc.uk.com/ or North of London are Chicksands - http://www.chicksandsbikepark.co.uk/trail_guide/, Aston Hill and Thetford Forest. Nothing much that is technical though. For that the Peak District is probably the nearest - there are some good challenging routes around Ladybower Reservoir and Edale.

hmm maybe a definition of technical would help the_bing ?

i suppose for 'technical', read 'singletrack', with drop-offs, maybe small jumps. fun stuff. something which my mate (mtb novice) can gain proper skills & confidence off road with, plus a healthy possibility of crashing. i've been mtbing for about 18 years now, mainly in north wales so singletrack, big rocks, drop-offs, hitting trees is all par for the course with me and he wants to get involved too.

i've checked out the aston hill website; that looks well good and it's not too far. Looks like a good day out...

Probably not what you are used to at Aston, although your mate should enjoy it. The downhill runs are quite good, and the xc course has a cracking downhill section at the start of the lap, if it hasn t changed. Did you find out if it is permit only riding ?

As red light has said you will find it tough to find anything more technical in the south east. If you want an awayday anytime try the Blackmountains here in Wales you wont be dissapointed.

there is that at High Be(a)ech, just got to go into the forest a bit deeper if i could getvthe work puter to do what i want it to i will try and mark it on an OSmap.

Lovely pics! love your bike too

I was a going to say Wales. Weekend at Nant yr Arian will learn him plenty.

Thank you. It is about to undergo a certain amount of cockpit modification and a seat post swap.

I went out in the snow, but we didn't have as much as GregCollins, clearly. Wicked good fun though.



As for off road centres, I am not down with the kids on what makes a course 'sufficiently' technical, but the jumps and downhills at PORC looked mighty technical to me.

PORC* is a bit small and limited and can get a bit dull after a few hours.

You can still hurt yourself really badly there though..... (says he, speaking from experience)

Wales is great. i'm lucky; i've got a house tucked away in north wales which is perfect for biking weekends and thats allowed me to get my skills/confidence over 18 years and many smashed bikes. i took my mate last october and he loved it; it's just that if theres something more local then he can gain confidence and i know he'll enjoy it more and we can do bigger rides when we go back to wales.

unfortunately work commitments (and girlfriends) usually stop us getting there as often as we'd like. thats why some local practice will pay dividends (and i won't be leaving my mate behind on the downhills or singletrack) and make the weekends away proper good. Chicksands looks good too.

subaqua, some OS grid references would be well good if possible.
VamP, cycling shorts in the snow is nuts

don't get me wrong lukesdad, i'm not a trail snob! aston hill looks fun but i suppose you have to go and really check it out. some videos on you tube looked promising, thats all. a fun day out on the bike is all thats needed...

thanks for all your feedback guys

A gold CNC stem????????? Sheeshhh! What colour bars?

wet look, i.e shiny, black.
black grips.
black bar ends.
stem will match the KMC gold (brass) chain and the gold CNC seatpost QR on back order.
tempted to build some faster wheels with hope hubs in an appropriate colour too......

Don't need to IMO. The gold stem, post and chain will already make you faster than a fast thing.