[Closed] Best TOWNS to live in as a MTBer?

Rothbury.

Keswick

Or Peebles

I live in Dorking, it's excellent, certainly best place in the south east IMO. Miles of XC & singletrack to ride from the doorstep. Excellent connections: an hour from London, 25 mins to Gatwick, an hour from Brighton, 100 minutes to Dover. A nice sized town (big enough to have everything one needs, but still human scaled). Geography (stuck in a valley) dictates it can't grow.

There's a reason it's expensive.

Who wants to live in a city anyway? Not me for one.

Not me. I spent 3 months in Nice, which is a 'great' city. But it's a prison, damn hard to get out of.

Aviemore

Peebles

Forest Of Dean

Keswick

Would love to live in kewick, for mtb but not for the weather!

Somewhere in Wales would be good aswell

Is Whistler a town or a village..

Is Whistler a town or a village..

Haha, if we're going international I would have put Aosta in the cities list!

good old Bolton.

I come from Rothbury and I would not say Rothbury. Though some of the cheeky stuff is ace. Some wifey walking her dogs did shout at me on Sunday saying "What are you doing you idiot you will break your neck?" So it must have been good.

Conwy - best natural mountainbiking in north Wales on your doorstep, plus easy access to Marin Trail and Penmachno. Direct access onto the beach for all you fat tyred enthusiasts! And it's in the 'rain shadow' of the mountains which means that it's drier than the rest of Snowdonia. Great post-ride pub overlooking the sea, and a fab chippy.

Plus, I live here, so what more could you want 🙂

Hope is up there, enough shops, a superb bike shop, and 20 mins to Sheffield/40 mins to Manchester. Same with Marple, just the other way around for connections.

Cotswolds is good towns are small and FOD is close by.Only 3.5 miles from doorstep to hills.Better places and alot worse.Hate to live in city myself.

Aberystwyth or porthmadog would be my choices in wales i think.

Spent a lot of holiday time in the latter and always gobsmacked by the views.

For cycling, Milton Keynes.

Traffic free cycleways everywhere in the town so you can get anywhere you want safely.

Tons of singletrack on your doorstep at Woburn.

Toppest bikeshop at Phil Corley's.

Great racing and roadie scene too.

You did say best for cycling, not architectural beauty, didn't you...

Rossendale, its ace

I'd say buxton would be pretty good, Macc ain't shabby either

Otley.

8)

Mansfield/Ravenshead/Nottingham.

10 minutes from sherwood pines.
30 minutes from the peaks.
1hr from Cannock.
1hr 30 minutes from north Wales
1hr 30 minutes from Dalby/ yorkshire

So it's not bad.

Another vote for Milton Keynes here.

I would say Brecon on first impessions but in reality it is the Royston Vaysey of Wales!

Plymouth - awesome street riding, loads of local trails and some of the best biking buddies have been made there.

North Berwick, for beachriding 😉

If you could afford it 😯

When I moved here 8/9 years ago I thought it'd be a temporary thing and we'd move again to somewhere 'nicer'.

But... still here and love it. Surprisingly nice town with plenty going on but the riding especially makes it for me. Literally miles of relatively unknown trails from my door in all directions. 30 minutes ride along the canal to Hebden Bridge and all the riding that offers. 30/40 minutes drive to Gisburn, Stainburn, Lee Quarry or Langsett for Cut Cate. Sub 2 hours on fast roads to the heart of the Dales, the North Yorkshire Moors, North Wales and the Lakes.

Where is this mountain biking oasis?

Halifax.

Dingwall.

Penicuik.

Taff - Member

Plymouth - awesome street riding, loads of local trails and some of the best biking buddies have been made there.

Oi, we iz a city now, innit!

Despite living in Plymski, I would say Tavistock (which is a town!) is actually better riding-wise. Closer to better DH stuff, no further away from most xc stuff and of course features those AWESUM dirt jumps next to the roundabout. Rains a bit though!

Otley...

Again.

near me, 1/2 mile roll straight into the hills, 1 mile to train to Brum, 1.5 miles to M5/M42 and connections to FoD/Wales/Scotland

Sheffield.. or even Doncaster as there are LOADS of old industrial wasteland sites.. old pit sites.. quarry's dotted about.

Ross-on-Wye or Monmouth - you have the awesomeness of the FoD on your doorstep. 🙂

Dorchester - mate lives there - loads of lovely rides and the sea is close.
Buxton - right on the edge of the peaks.
Hope? - Sambob - it's a village, and a small one at that, I work there!!!

Can't believe nobody has said Manchester. You can live on the outskirts and still be able to get the tram in for nights out, then you've got North Wales, the Lakes, the Peak, the Pennines and the Yorkshire Dales within easy reach.

Aviemore or Rothiemurchus

Hope? - Sambob - it's a village, and a small one at that, I work there!!!

And with all due respect, Marple isn't a town either, it's a small suburb of Manchester trying hard to be a village... though it does well for suburban riding. Better than Hampstead anyway.

The whole 'best' thing is part of the modern media 'nugget' disease - 'ten best chainring bolts', 'ten best slums', 'ten best side-bars' etc ad nauseum.

Oh, and Manchester isn't a 'town' either. It's a city... Fwiw, for me, its somewhere with ace mtb trails and cracking hilly roads on the doorstep. Could be anywhere. Access to coffee and cake's nice too.

Kendal +1

Can't believe nobody has said Manchester.

probably because the subject quite clearly states TOWNS 😉

Matlock.

it's drier than the rest of Snowdonia. Great post-ride pub overlooking the sea, and a fab chippy.

Sold!

probably because the subject quite clearly states TOWNS

sorry, I thought manchester was made up a collection of small towns 😉

The whole 'best' thing is part of the modern media 'nugget' disease

It was a response to the silly MBR best cities to live in as a mountain biker list (which included London).

More people suggesting their own town than I expected!

South Croydon, closely followed by Eastbourne, and I'm not kidding.

I'll see your Conwy with Bethesda (Snowdonia). Up into the Carneddi, out into the Ogwen Valley or over to Llanberis, Bethesda truly is the best TOWN to live in as a MTBer 😉

I come from Rothbury and I would not say Rothbury. Though some of the cheeky stuff is ace. Some wifey walking her dogs did shout at me on Sunday saying "What are you doing you idiot you will break your neck?" So it must have been good.

Agreed. I'm from there originally, and although it's good, Pateley Bridge is better.

[i]South Croydon, closely followed by Eastbourne, and I'm not kidding. [/i]

rewski - I used to live in South Croydon so I know you [b]are[/b] kidding. Couldn't wait to leave the place personally.
Another vote here for Dorking, well, just South of Dorking with Redlands as the backdrop when I open the curtains.

How are you rewski?

tbh If availability for work is included, the Chilterns (Aylesbury, Princes Risborough etc) ain't a bad place.

[url= http://tinyurl.com/Collado-Villalba ]Collado Villalba[/url] is pretty good - mountains to the north, and west, big hills to the south and east. Lots of XC and trail riding with a nice mix of technical or easier stuff. Short train journey to Madrid.

Almost anywhere in the Highlands

Mansfield? Did someone seriously suggest Mansfield up there?

Not only is it a complete fighting town and a hole generally, but it's got no decent riding from the door, the riding near it is flat as a pancake and a draggy mud fest in winter, places like sherwood pines. Oh and it is half an hours drive to the nearest decent riding (peak district).

Given there are loads of way nicer towns in the Peak District itself, with riding from the door, Mansfield is so obviously not the best place to live for riding. Oh and did I mention it's a complete hole.

tallgavin - I'm good, yourself? Yes, you're quite right about Croydon, rode over to your neck of the woods on NDW, nice route. You still doing Sunday shop rides, must get over sometime.

Sorry how can you say Croydon ?

What you mean is the riding isnt as bad as you think and can be accessed from the door if you want. Houses are cheaper than for other parts of south london, there are good transport links and there is employment in the area.

But how can it be the "BEST" mtbing town, when clearly Dorking nearby would be a much nicer place to live and is also closer to the best trails. Obviously house prices are more expensive there but thats because its up there with the "BEST" towns in the SE.

If Croydon was one of the "BEST" towns its house prices etc would also be high.

rewski

All good here. Yep - still doing the Sunday shop rides, great one last weekend, conditions were pretty much bang on. Pitch Hill and Winterfold are well worth a visit if you haven't been over there for a few months.

tallgavin - I'll might borrow my bros Audi and come over 😉

You night riding during the week, weekends are tricky? I'll email.

Taunton

Sheerness or New Romney

+1 for Halifax or Brighouse even!
Loads of local riding and well connected.
Good pubs

Pangbourne.

River -tick
Chilterns -tick
pubs- plenty, -tick.
all the shops you need day to day, including cheese shop, butchers and uber-comprehensive hardware shop -tick

+1 for Sheerness or New Romney....Though Herne Bay could give those a run for there money

joemarshall - Mansfield is a great town for [s]mountain biking[/s] buying smack, crack and any other class a's.

I used to pedal an extra 4 or 5 miles on my commute to avoid going through the depressed hell hole that is Mansfield.

As for Ravenshead - smackheads with more trees.

i'm not saying it's the best, by any stretch, but at least keighley is not at the bottom of this list. (as it is most others).

Frome.

Longleat Forest on the doorstep (or on t'other doorstep Asham Woods/Quarry where MBUK do a shedload of shoots), Salisbury Plain and the Mendips 30mins away, Quantocks an hour away.

Dorking FTW

Shipley.

I moved to a village near Dorking just to be close to the best riding I could whilst still being able to commute to London. So Dorking is the best town but a village is more appealing to me than a town....

Herne bay is too middle class IMO Arthur.

It's a long way from Kansas to Keighley Bob!

moving up in the world. 😆

Got to be Skipton or Barlick.

yossarian - Member

Herne bay is too middle class IMO Arthur.

I have no audi or BMW.....please explain 😀

Seeing as we seem to be justifying our own choices, i'll say Poole 🙂

Year round usable quality trails within easy riding distance (Purbecks, Canford Heath, Wareham Forest, New Forest).

Drivable alternatives (Puddletown, uk bike park etc.).

Quality road riding (New Forest, Purbecks, North of Wimborne).

Brand new full size outdoor velodrome in Bournemouth.
National standard bmx track in Bournemouth.

VERY healthy riding scene (lots of organised group rides if thats your thing).

Seaside location.
Better than Swanage to actually live as better work options.
Bournemouth next door if you want to go on the lash and chase ladies/gentlemen.
Not that expensive to live (unless you want to be Harry Redknapps next door neihbour in Sandbanks).
Good bike shops (although no more Bikelab RIP 🙁 ).
Nice weather (did it snow last winter? Oh yeah, we had half a day of that too and a couple of frosts!)

It'll do for me.

Chorley

I have no audi or BMW.....please explain

True, kids called Oscar & Betty? Fenwicks storecard? Only you can answer 🙂

Most of the peeps I know in the bay have moved from Whitstable. I kept telling them the houses were cheaper for a reason...After a couple of nights out on the town a slightly desperate look appears on their faces.

I used to live in Buxton and loved the fact I could be on the Pennine Bridleway in a few pedal strokes and then how far I wanted to go was all about how much energy and time I had. Loads of other good stuff a short ride/drive away, including some of the most rocky and testing downhills I've ridden anywhere in the UK (well, the Peaks at least). I didn't realise how good I had it until I moved 10 miles south to Leek where the doorstep - non-cheeky - riding is average at best.

For me any town HAS to have riding on the doorstep i.e. top quality trails accessible for a quick evening ride without having to get in the car or take in lots of road-riding. There's thousands of towns with good riding a car drive away.

Bakewell anyone?

Massive lols at those suggesting places like Milton Keynes. I would say Ambleside, Keswick or Peebles.

Quality road riding

Well, if we're counting road riding maybe I will include my home town of Leek. Cheshire plains to the west for easy and long days out, then loads of quiet roads and hills in the other direction(s) and as far as you want into the Peak District. I ride far more on road than off these days and most rides I hardly see any traffic.

Peebles all day long.

Who wants to live in a city anyway? Not me for one.

Bolton (town - pop 262,000) is bigger than Newcastle (city - pop 259,000). So what is it you prefer about towns?

As an aside, I live 15 minutes' ride from the Bristol trails. Magic.