I'm off there for the first time at the weekend. Does anyone have recommendations (or a gpx) for a circa 40km route that includes Xc, tech and a few enduro/dh runs?
You could try this - bit of official downhill I think + enduro run + some bits of off piste in a few places - joined together with the family run. Parked at the main centre at cannop
ponds
https://strava.app.link/f9JA9XZgbrb
There maybe a random run where I thought I was going down something that was marked as enduro in Trailforks but might just have been a loose dried up stream bed - but this was a couple of years ago
You can do that around the visitor centre on the official trails without going too far afield. A lap of the blue, a lap of the red and a few winch and drops on the downhill runs. They all start and finish at the carpark so it's not an out there ride but it takes in some great single track with good climbs and descents.
The marked blue is pretty good, one big descent really. The red is, eh, alright. Some really nice stuff but it feels like a LOT of pedalling for not a huge amount of riding.
The enduro/dh trails around sallowvallets ie the uplift stuff is fantastic, but pretty tricky to navigate as there's just so much and so packed in. You can do a lot worse than sheepskull or sheeps into flatland. But I can't remember half the good routes
As above, if you don't know the area then the Cannop Centre is the best place to start, the waymarked routes will give you a few miles, as above, the blue is probably more fun, the red route is a lot of climbing and roots, for pretty bog standard descents, it never really flowed well and always feels like lots of little sections smashed together. The extended red has a little more to it, but still doesn't flow that well.
The DH runs are nice, but it's basically fireroad up, then quickly down to go back up again, not probably what you're after if you want to do lots of miles.
Exploring the area is good, you are hemmed in at all sides by roads, it's basically a big rectangle, so keep following routes and if you hit a road, find another path that goes into the area, at the southern part you have Y2K/Elephant Man and if you go uphill from there and into the woods, loads of paths and bits to cycle on and link up.
The red is, eh, alright. Some really nice stuff but it feels like a LOT of pedalling for not a huge amount of riding.
Rode it the other day. Forgot how much hard work it is. Thought I must be fatigued or my bike broken in some way, did the blue after and realised the red was just hard work.
Probably better on a light full suss, rather than heavy hardtail.
Still enjoyed it though.
Thanks all for the replies. Normally I'd session the dh trails, but I need miles and climbing at the moment. So the blue, red and some of the dh's sounds ideal.
The fireroad climb/pushup for the dh is quite stiff! Won't give you miles, but it's definitely climbing, it's just perfectly pitched to be constantly effort.
