Its been 3 years since i was last there and now its time to visit again. This is an awesome place to visit with some serious trails worth riding. Some tough hill climbs, but with rewarding descents.
Current weather forecast is for showers, but this is Wales, so make sure you bring waterproofs! A helmet is also essential.
Tidworth had to rearrange their opening weekend, so we’ve done the same with our first club trip there.
A bunch of us have enter the excellent Root1 Round 1 race, which uses Sicknote as the course, so we will definitely be practicing that, along with 99 Beeches – a new trail that will be used for Round 2.
And we’ll also be trying the other excellent trails there of course.
Don’t forget, entry to Tidworth cost £7 for the day and you will need to sign up for a B1ke (free) membership in advance.
Meet in the car park/finish area at 10am
A timely weekend session at Tidworth, not too long before the first of the Root1 races. There have been some nice looking changes to the race track itself (Sicknote), as well as some of the other tracks, so a good opportunity to check it out.
You need to be a R1de member (this is free, but needs to be done in advance) and it costs £7 on the day for admission at the bike park. Register at www.b1ke.co.uk
Meet by the new hut at 10am.
You will need a helmet (full face is a good idea if you have one).
A relaxed morning session at Tidworth Freeride.
Meet by the hut at 10am and ride what you fancy.
You need to be a B1ke member to ride (which is free) – sign up on their website.
You must have a helmet to ride at Tidworth, and pads are a good idea too.
Ride grading – Orange- Bike park
Entry cost – £7
We would like to invite everyone and their families to celebrate the start of the summer.
We will meet at the children’s play area at 11am, find a good picnic spot nearby and enjoy some family time, playing games such as rounders, football, frisbee and anything else we can find in the shed!!!! We will be close to the play area, cafe, toilets and most importantly the ice cream parlour!!!
Bringing bikes is optional. We will be there to take small groups around the outside of the park, if required.
Most importantly we want everyone to come together to have some family fun.
Don’t forget to bring a picnic and a picnic blanket and/or chairs to sit on.
So we’re going to do this excellent final round in the amazing Peak District in 2019.
Although the main event is on the Sunday, there are also a Ladies Ride on the Saturday morning and a night marathon on the Saturday night, which has a choice of distances and light hire available from Exposure Lights.
On the Sunday 3 distances are available – Mini (25km), Half (45km) and Full (65km!). Bear in mind it’s in the Peak District, and the hills are big too, as well as the distance!
We’ve got members booked on the Half, but all routes start out together.
Full details here:
https://www.mtb-marathon.co.uk/events/1st-2nd-september-2018-hope-valley-peak-district.html
Following on from the success of the previous Get Into Mountain Biking events we’re heading to Afan in Wales!
This will still be aimed at improvers/intermediate riders but will be a progression from the previous trail centres we’ve visited.
Meeting at Afan Lodge at 11am we will take a short ride to the start of the trails and begin our day on the blue-graded Blue Scar. At the top of the Blue Scar climb we can then decide whether to climb a bit more and do the first part of the red-graded trail Penhydd or continue straight to the Blue Scar descent. There is a fair amount of climbing at Afan but most of it is on fire roads and there will be plenty of opportunity to stop and admire the stunning views.
After lunch those with the energy can climb back up and do more of Penhydd or Blue Scar again, and there is also a small skills area and lovely scenic route with short section of blue-graded trail along the valley.
Those that are really feeling energetic and brave may be tempted to give the red-graded trail Y-Wal a go, but be warned, Wales trail gradings are harder than English ones.
Afan is roughly two hours drive away from Swindon so we will meet at Afan Lodge at 11am. Afan Lodge is further up the road past Afan trail centre, you’ll see the trail centre on your right and Afan Lodge is on the left. There is plenty of free parking here and a lovely cafe, and an old railway line cycle path links the two.
Since we’ll be in Wales it would seem rude not to stay a bit longer and go to Bike Park Wales on the Sunday! This won’t be an official club trip as such but there is a bike-friendly Premier Inn 5 minutes away from BPW which I may well find myself in that night 😀
(which ironically is the same as I did 2 years ago!)From the 3 Trees we will head out on the Ridgeway out to the bottom of Barbury Castle. This is further out on the Ridgeway from where we will drop down into the beautiful Vale of Rockley. A short sharp climb takes us to the top of a byway down to Ogbourne Maisey and then home along the old railway line cycle route.