And by 'good' I mean you'd want to ride it again and again, something with a decent decline, rather than flat pedally stuff. If you jumped on your MTB tomorrow morning, how many miles would you need to ride on tarmac or fireroads to get to 'the good stuff'?
Some of us are blessed with living in MTB country, a stones throw from actual mountains, forests and nation parks - but I would hazard a guess that the majority (like me) live in a pretty flat and uninteresting town and have to ride a few miles to get to some trails unless they want to take the car. At the moment I'm car-less so having to rely on my own power to get to any decent trails.
My nearest good singletrack (it's actually rather good, wasn't expecting it to be that good tbh) is 4 miles and 500ft of climbing away, the last part being a 20-25% lung and leg burster of a climb. There's a load more singletrack around the same area too, some awesome rooty, rocky and fast single/doubletrack descents.
I do actually have some nearer singletrack a mile away but it's crap, totally flat and about 90 seconds worth of riding, not worth it tbh. I've ridden it once and don't think I'll be back.
Mine is 3 miles away. It's a cheeky hidden singletrack that is a mile in length and I could ride it everyday .
Half a mile
I overlook one section of about 100m.
Other than that, about 1km across river, down high street and then:
On my doorstep, I live on a reasonably well known Calderdale descent
Not sure about cracking singletrack needing a lot of descent myself.
The woods that are five minutes ride from my door have loads of brilliant twisty, flowy, wooded singletrack. Not many sections longer than three or four hundred metres but strung together with bits of fireroad they make for a decent ride given the lack of elevation round here. Not many rocks, but plenty of roots for a bit of tech challenge.
Ride them probably a couple of times a week (and have done so for the last 4 years or so) in various different combinations, so they must be doing something right...
It starts about a mile and a half away and finishes at the end of my road.
I'd go nuts if I had to drive to find worthwhile offroad riding. Well, no, I exaggerate - but I'd move house, certainly.
I live in a fairly uninteresting town, There is some decent singletrack that is within a 4 mile radius but it's short so does it not count as decent?
There's a woods nearby and there's a short bit of singletrack that's good but it's over in no time, there's some slag heaps with decent singletrack on them but the downhill parts are short but what little there is is decent quality, but all the downhill parts are short and you don't lose more than 40m worth of height in one go, but as it's undulating, if you ride it all get about 180m worth of height gain/loss altogether. But it's all very short. It's hard to do more than 12k in the 'local loop' without having to do some long boring linking section to get to the next interesting area.
It's so short I only do it if conditions are mud free, because it's not worth getting the bike dirty for such a short ride, the effort/reward ratio isn't good unless it's dusty or frozen.
Less than a mile and only a couple to the top of Dumyat/excellent descent. Well it was before "the path"
What I think is 'good' singletrack is stuff that goes up rather than down.
And that's almost at my backdoor. 🙂
About 30km I reckon but I have more important stuff on my doorstep which works for me at the moment
About 3 minutes gentle ride to plenty of singletrack, 15 minutes to the top of lady Cannings MTB trails.
Got some local woods about 2.5 miles away full of good cheeky lines on a hill with a reasonable top to bottom difference in elevation, other than that it's dropbars and bridalways terrain...
About a 5 minute pedal from my house...
Although that tree isn't there anymore...
2 miles. Majority of my riding is from home.
Sub-fifteen minute ride from my house to the local woods, or sub-ten minutes to a series of old rights of way that make an interesting if tough loop.
100m is my closest single track at the base of the hill, ride a mile up hill I have more single track/cheeky trails or a bike park 🙂
About 100yds.
Quarry playground, then singletrack decents in another direction.
Couple of minutes to the top of the road I reckon. There’s better nearby but I can do a decent 1hr blast from my door.
Twenty miles before any decent singletrack.
When in the UK, the Glasgow Commonwealth Games singletrack course is a 10 minute ride from my front door, with no more than 100 meters of that on pavement. I still can’t believe my luck on that.
700m from my front door to the start some quality singletrack. You know you're lucky to have miles of riding from your door when the council put together MTB edits 🙂
Starts about a mile and a half away, albeit up a fairly unpleassant hill. Ends about half a mile away. There's another, slightly less good descent that runs more or less parallel too. Not too shabby
a few bits under 4 miles away. 8 miles away 100km of the pentlands singletrack
6 miles or so to the Downs & QECP.
Some bits closer but they are generally just short link trails between bridleways, roads etc.
Although living out in a remote part of the country I live on a valley floor and to get to any decent singletrack involves a 30-40 mins steep climb on a road ...to do a number of different loops in the direction I would want to ride them ..there is plenty of singletrack a matter of minutes away ..if you want flat & rooty .
For this reason I almost always take my bike in the car to start a ride and can be in various access points within Kielder Forest in 10 minutes ..thus giving an additional 20 -30 mins of riding on the good stuff rather than road riding which I hate with a passion ..and avoid as much as I can .
The man made trails at Kielder are a 25 min.car journey from my door ..
There are plenty of bridleways and byways near where I live, none of which you'd really class as singletrack though. They all require large amounts of tarmac to link too, which can get annoying. Thetford Forest is about 37 miles away and the best "local" singletrack that I know of. I believe there's some sort of four cross, downhill place out near Bedford, but haven't been.
Everybody has a different definition of 'good' - but having enjoyable trails nearby is great.
For me, living in a fairly large town, I'm lucky enough to be on the outskirts, and have only a 9 minute ride to the local woods.
The total area of these woods is not huge, but they are dotted with a wide range of fire roads and Single-track which can be strung together into a very nice 90 minute loop.
The downside is that, despite being singlespeed friendly, and an ideal winter ''keeping your fitness" going venue, it doesn't hold up to wet conditions very well, so is pretty much off limits for several months.
Should be nice a dry now, though, so may sneak out for a cheeky loop, later.
Single-track at 100m.
Decent single-track is 10 miles away
All the other local stuff isn't exciting as such, but enough timewise the odd smile.
About one mile away
Surprised how close everyone is to decent singletrack... wonder whether the singletrack made the biker or vice versa?
i recently moved house and decent all year round trails were one of the key criteria... so to answer the question <300 metres
^ kiwicraig wins the thread....
sweeeeeeet
Folk come from all over the country to ride the singletrack that about 1km away though there are some nice tracks through the woods closer than that.
The availability of good riding (and walking and paddling and skiing) is the reason I chose to move where I did.
My local hill is a mile away, nice little XC loop. Ride it when I can’t be arsed to drive anywhere else
10 mins in the car to some of the best Dartmoor singletrack, 5 mins to Haldon. I can live with that.
1 mile away for lots of decent and increasingly trail pixied singletrack.
Half a mile to a web of good trails in the forrest. It's a right nuisance, before we lived on the other side of town and I could roll off the DHs to the door.
Not sure about cracking singletrack needing a lot of descent myself.
Agree I don't do descending due to type of bike I ride but love nice up and down stuff with turns etc,
About a mile away for me.
I was surprised to find my nearest is actually a mile away - but it’s only 200 yards of cul-de-sac tarmac and then bridleway the rest of the way. There’s about six hours of singletrack once you’re there, which is nice.
There isn't 100km of singletrack in Pentlands. Might have been many moons ago but much it has been over used and is now just a mess. I have lots of singletrack within about a mile of my house, most of the local woods have something. Quality and length is variable but plenty of choice.
About a mile to the closest decent bridleway and the start of the routes out of town. Singletrack I am still exploring but probably about 2/3 miles and it's pleasent rather than incredible. Did find a cracking bridleway descent yesterday and some nice trails through the bluebell woods.
Not really the best area for proepr close stuff but the road riding is great and I'm not too far by car from some better trails.
Not sure about distance, but it takes me 6 minutes to get to follow the dog, but probably 8 to get to a decent bit. There’s definitely some closer, but it’s unofficial, which tends to mean unrideable until later in the summer, thats less than a mile away, but it’s all road to get there, the dog is straight across the Chase.
20 minutes down the cycle path gets me to the nearest but I've got eastridge, long mynd and a couple of other areas within dayride territory.
About 200 yards to the local woodland . Plenty of rocky/rooty single track with technical climbs and descents, there's a disused quarry in there too but I've struggled to put anything decent together in there.
There's much much closer, but I reckon this bit is world class. From my door to the TV mast at the top it's about 45min including a 10km road climb, then another 10km of singletrack ridge and forest descent, boat across the harbour and another 8km or so up and over the hill to finish on the beach. Never really get bored of it.
Hope Doug doesn't mind me sharing this rather old video
Decent 21 miles. Great about 40 miles.
7 miles door to peak but there is a cheeky uplift by train if i'm feeling lazy.
Think I'm the same as shooter man. About 30 minds in the car one way, or an hour the other
Less than a mile, all downhill, to the Clyde Walkway / Cambusnethan woods / Mauldslie woods.
Plenty of variety there from gentle riverside bimbles to some winch and plummet, shit-the bed downhills.
Also less than 10 mins from a brand new velosolutions pump track.
9mls out to Ae in one direction, 7 to Mabie in the other. Have been riding both since before 7Stanes was a twinkle in FCS eye......
Got local woods with the some fun but flat stuff minutes away
Lots of nice twisty, steep, techy and fast singletrack descending within 10 mins pedal from my house - all short 1 - 1.5 minute runs but all linkable by old lanes back up. Means I can go out early on a weekend (in addition to main Sunday ride) and get in a couple of hours' quality without losing ride time due to travel. I get to ride good trails, wife & kids don't miss me as I can be back before they're up. Win:win
Glad it's not just me who has to travel a few miles to get to decent trails, I am very jealous of some of you!! I suppose that's what comes with living in a flat bit of kent, Maidstone seems to have plenty of riding dotted around but it's all a few miles away.
And good singletrack doesn't need huge descents, just not completely flat 🙂 I'd take some nice undulating flowy trails with a few climbs and descents over a totally flat area.
Time to start exploring further afield on Strava and see what train links there are. Surrey hills are an hour away by car, swinley a little further and bedgebury is 40 mins away, then some other places dotted about near Canterbury and Eastbourne (friston forest).
Huge park at the end of the road - 2 cafes, gentle trails, the odd jump, huge hill, stately home, the occasional deer - bimbletastic. 🙂
Pennine Bridleway about 15 minutes ride away, via a 1.5km slice of heaven, Hurstwood Trail. And then you're straight on the moors.
It's awful round here etc......
Half a mile to singletrack that takes me to Peaslake in about a mile. I consider myself very lucky, but not by accident - it was a big factor in buying the house.
1 mile of quiet road to the top of the skills area at Delamere. Not that I have any skills.
About 1km for some ok stuff, and that leads to some better stuff, which then leads to one bit about 3km away that rivals some of the best stuff I've ridden anywhere in the SW. It's all a bit cheeky though 😉
Live less than a mile from Macc Forest which is now, rather sadly, devestated. Not great, but can still make a half decent loop by riding up to Teggs Nose, back down and linking with Danebower Hollow, Cumberland Brook etc. Lots of road climbing inbetween the good stuff though.
Peak District and Marple / Pennines are in easy reach though.
About 2 or 3km to the local single track, but thats pretty much all fire-road and already off in countryside, so not an unpleasant 'commute'.
I think I'd go mental if I couldn't just ride out the door for a blast. Heres hoping I don't have to!
Good singletrack starts in the garden, and at both ends of the road, and on the other side of the road........ they all link up eventually. In fact, calling them singletrack is a bit of an exaggeration. More like goat tracks. Some are proper little winch and plummet, with added hop and jump. Spiders web of usable paths. Downhill one way, undulating the other three.
The really good sustained stuff starts once you get past the last of the houses and gardens that are dotted around here, so maybe a whole km away.
2km from my front door and when the weather is like this there’s few other places I’d prefer riding. When the weather being less helpful BPW is a 20 mins drive, Afan 45, Cwmcarn about 30.
Singletrack starts about 100yds from my house and it’s abiut 1/2 a mile to start of good Singletrack. Very lucky for the South East
About 1 mile away, on the Isle of Man, and in Greece about 150 metres.
In one direction, I can be offroad almost immediately and apart from a little bit through town (uphill on the way but good for steps and cobbles coming back in the evening) I can be at Newlands Corner in 25 mins. From there the whole of the Surrey Hills opens up in front of me.
South West - similarly, I can be into the North Downs around Puttenham and then on to Hindhead and the Punchbowl.
And in the other direction there used to be some brilliant singletrack riding on semi-cheeky 'open access but you aren't really supposed to ride here' trails on the military lands around Pirbright and Aldershot. But a combination of idiots giving the army stick over 'rights', people digging jumps, the Strava effect and journo's turning up and publishing routes across these areas means the situation is very fragile balanced now, with a big fence around huge sections to keep us out and a local group trying their hardest to maintain access against the above.
It's not for nothing that Guildford truly is the heart of mountain biking in the UK 😉
Just been out the gate to check. 8 paces, so about 6m away.
Genuine singletrack, too. One bike's width, drops from the cottage then rooty singletrack through woods, can put together a day's riding from the door and the only tarmac I'll see is crossing roads.
Have pretty much always lived in the area off-and-on and part of the reason for choosing my cottage is because it's in the woods.
Anyone who used to come on the old FoD STW weekends will remember my previous house; that did involve a mile or so of tarmac to get to the good stuff but was next door to the village pub! Good weekends, good fun (",)
8 miles from my house but 1/2 mile from my office.
Long lunch breaks and early finishes happen quite regularly !
26 sq miles of singletrack approx 2 miles along a country lane
For me it’s about 50km away which is why I spend ever more increasing time on my road or cx bike. Can’t really justify spending two hours in the car when I could be spending that time on a different type of bike.
20 miles (Thetford) :0(
Living on the edge of The Fens is really pants for all types of cycling, it's a 20 mile ride just to get to some hills on the road bike.
Living in the Middle East makes this depressing. Closest reasonably accessible singletrack would be Oman about 1000km away.
Fun little trail ends pretty much in my back garden. Bottom of Double Header is about 500m away. Bottom of Ace of Spades about 1km away. #smug 😀
Under a km to some of my favourite singletrack, nothing super long but enough littl roots and nadgery bits to make it absorbing.. looks like this:
why does the gradient have to be down to be good, decent or singletrack that "counts" ?
11 minutes pedalling to the forest
couple more to get to decent singletrack
10km pedalled to get to a neat 2 way <span style="text-decoration: underline;">up and down</span> singletrack with roots, ruts, sand, some rocks, that every time you ride it it's different.
Shimano gave me pedals, and cranks and a chain. They're pretty handy for going up decent singletrack 😉
I have Friston Forest on my door step - so some nice single track there.
**** off Stevo, you're spoiling it for everyone else 🙂
7 miles away I have QECP. Thats my closest. And I thought I was lucky!
Proper day out in mountains is 3hrs away. Surrey Hills are very good for a day out and are 1hr away.
<div class="bbp-topic-title">How close is your nearest good singletrack?</div>
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About 500 yards away for my local woods in Galloway
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And more excellent singletrack is no more than a 10 min cycle.
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Spoilt for choice in this area with the added benefit that Galloway is deserted but i guess Scotroutes will win this contest easily
About 40 seconds at a push from my door...
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why does the gradient have to be down to be good, decent or singletrack that “counts”
Doesn't have to be all down, just not flat. In can't stand flat stuff, even little 2ft rollers are better than totally flat.
8 miles up the A3(m). (QECP)
There is a good bit 3 miles away, but it's a road ride there and nothing after it but more roads, so I don't do it very often, most recently on the gravel bike a couple of times.
100m from my door and I'm into the Squamish trail network. Singletrack or access trail to start, and one of Squamish's great singletrack descents to bring me right back home
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Trouble is that having lived where we do, it would be extremely difficult to live anywhere else.</span></span>
