Calendar

Nov
8
Tue
Night Ride to Marborough @ Coate Water
Nov 8 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Night Ride to Marborough @ Coate Water | England | United Kingdom

I am bringing back a ride that was popular when we first started the group up! A night ride to marlborough and back 🙂 A ride that is open to all levels of riders and is great for beginners!

The meeting place will be the cafe at coute water country park, 19:00pm (next to the diving board).

Please ensure you wear a helmet! No helmet, then no ride with us unfortunately! As many of you are aware, its also getting dark early now, so come with some lights that are up to the job, as it’s very dark without street lighting.
Please also bring refreshments and fluids with you, as I can’t guarantee that there will be a pub or shop stop.
Oh and wrap up warm!

Hope to see you there 🙂

Nov
20
Sun
Road Trip to Afan @ Afan Bike Park
Nov 20 @ 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Road Trip to Afan @ Afan Bike Park | Port Talbot | Wales | United Kingdom

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.

Nov
27
Sun
Swinley Forest – the Good Bits @ Swinley Forest
Nov 27 @ 10:00 am – 1:00 pm
Swinley Forest - the Good Bits @ Swinley Forest | England | United Kingdom

There are some great spots of riding at Swinley, but if you stick strictly to the Blue and Red trails you’ll a) miss some great off-piste stuff and b) have to churn through some really dull miles to get to the good bits!

So this ride is to show you the best bits – starting on the Blue trail, but then picking up some of the off-piste used on the recent Enduro race to connect up to the best of Red. That will take us to the bottom far east corner, where the downhill trials are as well and after a play in that area, we will take a more leisurely ride to pick up the fabulous Tank Traps section, before ending with the best of Blue to take us back to the hub. Should be 20 miles in total.

This ride contains blue and red graded trails, so bare that in mind – it’s Swinley not the Alps, but the bits of red we will be doing are definitely red grade.

See you at the entrance to the Blue trail at 10am.

Sep
13
Wed
SMTBE Christmas Party @ The White Hart, Wroughton
Sep 13 @ 7:00 pm – 10:30 pm
SMTBE Christmas Party @ The White Hart, Wroughton | Wroughton | England | United Kingdom

It’s September, so we are legally allowed to talk about Christmas now! Believe it or not everywhere is booking up fast, but we have managed to book the White Hart’s function room and skittle alley for a Christmas Club Celebration.
We’ve had a fantastic year and gained lots of great new members and friends, so this is a chance to get as many of us together as we can to celebrate everything we’ve achieved this year.
This is a social event for everyone including partners and families.

On the night we will have an optional hot festive buffet, drinks, a skittles challenge and our annual club awards!
If you would like the festive buffet, the cost is £14.95 each (£7.50 for children) and we need a £5 deposit by Friday 22nd September. Alternatively you can just come for drinks and watch us eat 🙂

If you would like to come, please email us at admin@swindonmtbenthusiasts.co.uk with how many of you will be coming and whether you want the buffet or are just coming for a drink. The buffet will include a selection of festive hot and cold buffet food, including vegetarian and gluten free options.

You can give your £5 deposit to us on the next 2 wednesdays at Croft, or this weekend at Swinley. If you’re not going to any of those, please let us know in your comment and we will get in touch with payment details.

We hope you can join us and we look forward to celebrating Christmas with you all.

Jan
10
Wed
SMTBE AGM @ The Plough, Wanborough
Jan 10 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
SMTBE AGM @ The Plough, Wanborough | Wanborough | England | United Kingdom

We are holding our AGM on Wednesday 10th January at 7pm at The Plough in Wanborough.

This is your chance to have your say on the running of the club, vote for committee members, see the club’s finances and for the committee to show you our plans for 2018. We have what we think are some good ideas that we would like feedback on, but would also love any ideas you have. Don’t hold back – we might not be able to do everything straight away, but as long as we know, we can start to plan. 
 
Non-members are welcome to the meeting, but only members get a vote. 
 
If you can’t make it to the meeting, but have an idea you would like to share, please email us at ideas@swindonmtbenthusiasts.co.uk 
 
 
 
Look forward to seeing you there! 
Feb
15
Fri
@ The Tawny Owl
Feb 15 @ 7:00 pm – 9:45 pm
 @ The Tawny Owl
This year’s AGM will be held at the Tawny Owl at 7pm . To discuss items on the agenda from the club accounts, voting on election of the committee and future plans.
It is open to members and non-members, but only members will be able to vote, so please make sure you have an up to date membership.
If you wish to have any comments to raise on the night, we will have a slot for it, but for smooth running of the evening, if you wish to put forward suggestions prior to AGM or you cannot attend, please PM or email Andrew@swindonmtbenthusiasts.co.uk 
May
23
Sat
May Weekender 2020 – Exmoor @ Porlock
May 23 @ 10:00 am – May 25 @ 2:00 pm
May Weekender 2020 - Exmoor @ Porlock
Our annual May Bank holiday trip will be to the fabulous Exmoor in 2020.
We have 3 days riding planned and you can do all or just some of them.
 
Day 1 – the big day out. Starting from Porlock we will do a 28km loop of some of the best hills and scenery Exmoor has to offer, including Wootton Courtenay, Ranscombe and Horner. There will be amazing views of the hills, sea and Wales, epic descents and glorious woodland. There will be options on the route as well, including a cut off near the end to remove 300m of climbing, to enable more people to have a go at the route. For the “adventurous” there will also be a chance to take in one of the tracks from the Southern Enduro champs along the way (that is optional and the alternative is still a great descent, just firewood instead).
 
Day 2 – lazy Sunday. Well sort of! We will start with a considerably shorter ride (9km) to the top of Bossington Hill, for the epic view, on our way to Horner. After a lunch at the excellent tea rooms we will then do 3 uplifted descents. First we will take in a long run from the top of Dunkery Beacon, followed by an epic singletrack run from the top of Porlock Hill. Finally we will return to Porlock Hill and take a super fast fireroad route down to Porlock Weir for a pint by the sea. Up to you if you do all 3 descents or 2 or 1, but the final one is suitable for all and takes us home, so if you’re only going to do 1, it should be that 1!
 
Day 3 – Big trees. To finish off on Monday we will decamp to the outskirts of Minehead (about 15 minute drive) to Dunster Castle. Here we will ride a nice woodland route out to England’s tallest tree and back.
 
Accommodation is DIY, but I would strongly recommend Sparkhayes campsite (which I will be at). It has excellent facilities, and lovely relaxed atmosphere and great views of the hills and sea. It’s also on a few minutes walk from the pubs and shops.
There are many B&Bs in the town if you would prefer a solid roof though.
 
Outside of your accommodation and food, the only cost will be the uplift, which will be around £10 per person in total. Exact price will be confirmed nearer the time.
 
All routes will be led by qualified ride leaders, who are also first aid trained.