Herts Shore

This post is not as helpful as it could be, since Herts Shore is in a secret location in Hertfordshire. But you can find out where by booking a course with Tony Doyle, a mountain bike coach. And I would certainly recommend this. He teaches biking in a way like no other, but he got me jumping which no one else has so far achieved. He is assisted by his purpose built coaching venue featuring jumps of increasing size with endless easy run ins/outs and a nice little skills track. There is also a lot of ridiculous north shore...... He blogs about every session,and has invited us to come to Herts Shore any Sunday we fancy, which given it's our closest riding venue is pretty handy. We'll be back for more coaching in the spring.

Cambridge pump track!?

Deciding that it was ridiculous to drive all the way to Surrey to practise jumping we decided to do some local reconaissance using More Dirt and the Footprint guide to biking in Britain. To mention to sites from the latter we ruled out: one is referred to as the "Gog Magog Hills". This is now a nature reserve, covered in families and no cycling signs. We could possibly identify soem jumps that hsave been destroyed but certianly not worht the visit. The second is on the outskirts of Royston and called the "Crow Trails". Again no evidence of any legal use, but there was a small amoutn of singletrack and the world's smallest pump track - not worth travelling to even from Cambridge.

However the day's success was the Abbey DJs/BMX track. This is located just behind Abbey Swimming pool on Coldham Common. It clearly once was a fairly nails BMX jump park (youtube suggested used heavily in 2007) but it is now moslty overgrown and just consists of a pump track round the outside. We spent a couple of hours here working on some skills. There's clealry massive potential to build some beginner jumps here too if anyone was inspired. And happily, on a sunny Saturday the only other visitors were aged 8 and 4 (ish) and accompanied by their Mum..... So no need to hug a hoodie.......

New Parking Charges at Brandon

Went for a winter trip to Brandon last weekend. It is still muddy and annoyingly slippy, and I still can't manage to link all the decent singletrack properly - though it does exist. Annoyingly, from April 1st they're going to start charging to park at Brandon - either in the Orchard or next to the cafe. Not much (2 quid per day at weekends) but presumably it'll mean the remaining free locations fill up earlier.

East Anglia

Thetford is easy to dismiss, with is complete lack of contours. However, the trail builders have been clever, and built some trails that are hard if you ride them fast. And you will ride them fast, leaving you more knackered than a day in the Peak! The black route is the original and is still good, although is getting worn and in the winter can be very muddy. It also features the infamous bombholes, where you ride down and up the other side. Some of the drop-ins are worthwhile technical challenges. So far we’ve only found one that we don’t dare do. The Beast goes trough a series of smaller bombholes, and it is a challenge of gear selection to maintain momentum throughout. The return route is even harder! The red trail has been recently upgraded, with one section of woodwork - drop offs and a skinny section that for once is low enough that you can risk falling off. They’ve also built some small table tops, which give you sufficient speed to make the subsequent berms fun. They’ve invested in a weatherproof surface as well. The lesser known gem in the vicinity is Brandon Forest, over the road from Thetford. This forest often hosts races, so has a well developed network of singletrack which is open access. Brandon also provides a free alternative to parking at Thetford, which is pricey, and only necessary if you need to visit the bike shop first (e.g. for hire). Assuage your conscience by stopping half way round your ride instead to use the café.

Chicksands/Rowney Warren was our summer evenings destination, which inevitably meant we didn’t get there as often as we’d hoped. The bike park has some fun features, and some scary looking ones. It costs 5 quid per day at weekends, but is free midweek. We were kept mostly entertained by the Dual Descender, and the 4X course – both of which can be rolled all the way through. There’s also some cross country loops advertised, although locating these on the ground is a different matter. In reality it’s easiest to make up your own – the wood is quite small with well defined boundaries so you’re not going to end up miles from home. The cross country riding is characterized by some steep uphills. Sadly there’s only really one made downhill trail outside the bike park. There’s also a fun bit of windy singletrack along the wood’s SW boundary.