[Closed] How far do you drive to ride?

From the front door except when I ride with the club on a Sunday which is 30 minutes away due to the profusion of 40 and 50 limits on the way.

99% of rides both road and off road from the door.

To be honest i can't get my head round why anyone would take up mtbing if they have to drive somewhere ALL the time.

S'all from the door for me.. I'm much more likely to ride to drive these days

Although I'm flying to ride in June.. 8)

Mostly from the front door

From the door here too.

Currently drive to ride about once every couple of months. I would probably do it more often but I keep reminding myself that one of the great advantages of cycling is the ability to 'save money' which you can then spend on more riding gear...

Midweek, ride from home.

Weekends, anything up to 150 miles (each way)

Another always from the door

Did 800+ miles 3 weeks ago to do 2 days riding, which totaled about 50 miles.
It was Torridon though so that was ok wasn't it?

I don't travel more than an he for xc. Usually 3/4 for DH

Drive? To ride? I'm very careful maneuvering the handlebars past the car on the drive though. 😉

Seriously though - I don't forget to remind myself on most rides how fortunate I am, living where I do.

Can be anything up to 60 miles each way, but only do that if I'm riding with someone; far more often than not, it's a solo run out the door & up the hill.

As far as I need to for good trails

Only from the front door - Swinley/Tunnel etc or N Downs.

Well, apart from racing which is most weekends at the moment. That's always a shared journey to cut costs, though.

GB

Sometimes out the door, sometimes off to different countries. Mostly under an hour- I don't like to drive for longer than I ride

Mostly ride from my door. Prob about 6-8 trips to Wales or quantocks a year (about 1-2 hours each way)
Oddly for surfing I will drive 3 hours or a bit more each way as a day trip but would never do that biking

Yorkshire Dales on the doorstep so no need to travel far! Once a month 30 min drive to Hamsterley or an hour ish to Whinlatter. Did 65 mile drive on the worst roads in the Dales to try out the trails at Gisburn Forest last weekend!

Most rides from the door

Less than an hours drive to Cannock or Sherwood, maybe every couple of months.

Once a month I might do an audax event but I have a one hour travelling limit, and usually share the cost with a mate.

I don't think I have ever had a ride where the journey was longer than the ride - just can't see the point. But then "proper" trail centres don't interest me much, so I've no real desire to travel to ride them. If people want to do that sort of riding and are prepared to travel, good luck to them.

Mostly from the door, or on a train. I do have a car, but prefer linear routes where a car is a hindrance so the train makes sense.

I find it amazing that some people will drive for hours to ride their bikes. A day riding when there is sometimes more hours spent In the car is crap! Pretty much all my riding is done from the door.

Mostly from my door these days. Pre wife and kids I would regularly do a 60 mile round trip to ride the same bit of woodland most weekends. These days my time is limited and I would rather be riding than driving so I only drive if it's worth it for an uplift or event of some sort.

Lots from our front door, some start a 15 min drive away, and we occasionally drive for an hour or so to trail centres.

Depends,

Swinley - Ride form my door, 5 miles, time depends on that days SS ratio! £free

Trolls - 30minutes - £7return

Chilterns (Pangbourne) - 33 minutes -£8return

Interestingly, it'd actually be cheaper to catch the train to Pangbourne than drive!

Assuming that the most I'd drive in a week would be 2 x trolls rides and 1x Pangbourne ride that's £22, not sure if that's good VFM or not! But equally I'll often just ride Swinley for a week which is free. Or drive to the Peaks for a weekend (3h30min, £70).

I find it amazing that some people will drive for hours to ride their bikes. A day riding when there is sometimes more hours spent In the car is crap! Pretty much all my riding is done from the door.

Depends how you do it, I'll often pack the car after dinner on Friday and Bivi in the car/carpark, no point setting off early, more discreet to arrive at midnight when no ones looking. Then do a 4 hour ride after breakfast, doss under a tree watching the world go by with a big lunch, then do it all again, and again on the Sunday, crams an epic amount of riding into two days!

I guess that's why there are so many Souls/hardtails on this forum, obviously a lot of road/bridleway riding going on from home.
I just get bored of riding the same stuff week in week out and want to ride as many different places as possible.
Hence the need to drive.

No car here, woods nearby though, and I can get to the South or North Downs on the road bike in a couple of hours.

I guess that's why there are so many Souls/hardtails on this forum, obviously a lot of road/bridleway riding going on from home.

I'm presuming you're on a rigid bike if you have to drive to AC 😛

I guess that's why there are so many Souls/hardtails on this forum, obviously a lot of road/bridleway riding going on from home.

bloody Devon bridleways (Soul rider 😳 )

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never drive anywhere to ride - except to events, SSEC or an international sportive

20 mins typically. I can ride some loops from the door but they aren't as good.

Depends, sometimes only 20 mins to meet people for a group ride, but the riding from home is awesome do I don't really need to drive far. Almost always take the bike if going somewhere hilly though, so I suppose that counts.
I miss those trails Yunki, down for 3 weeks in July/August... 😉

Riding 10-15 miles to the start of a social ride gives me enough options so as not to get to bored
Some rides are winter only some summer only
That and good company helps no end
For me my mtb rides are social. I spend enough time on the road on my own

Do stuff on the edge of the Peak from the front door. Anything further in then I'll drive, although the A6 is an infamous ballache. Drove to Hayfield this morning at 12.5 miles from my house, 30/40 limit throughout, with a lot of traffic lights, so 30 mins if it's clear.
Sort of run where just riding out would only take twice as long, but don't really have the fitness to lay on 25 miles on top of the MTB ride without being wiped out for the day.

In less fit times I did used to drive the 30 min for one of our rides.

Road is from the door.

Mtb varies my (should be but rarely is) weekly group ride could be anywhere from 55 miles from home to right on the doorstep. My work is in the middle of our area but my house at the easter extremity so sometimes end up with a fair trek home.

Weekend riding is a self imposed limit of 30 minutes each way to avoid chewing up too much riding time. Only exception is big trips out to wales, which are twice a year at most.

I have really nothing worth riding from the door so my local spot is 20 mins drive away, S Lakes half an hour or so. I plan to move somewhere with really good riding from the door pretty soon though.

I do suspect some of the people being smug about never driving to ride are riding some pretty tame trails - hence why CX bikes seem to be so popular on here.

Ride from the door. Does getting boring occasionally, even with some of the best XC in the country.

As above young kid and wife that works loads limits time on the bike so prefer to ride than being sat in a car.

Will always try and combine a bit of riding with a holiday away or weekend away though.

Usually ride straight from the door, but driving 15 miles tomorrow to spend the day riding the Mendips/Cheddar. 8)

Have a great time box fish. It was stunning today.

Do trails have to be supper techy and hard to be fun ?
And just to add a little clarity I use my enduro for my from door rides
Total for the day can be up to 40-50 miles but more nomaly 30-40
Ride the 15 miles to work in morning then group ride and ride home
Average 45 depending on route

I don't know about super techy, but hacking around the edge of fields and then spending an hour cleaning your bike is pretty pointless.

I'll drive to a few percent of my rides, the vast majority are from the door - mostly lots of twisty singletrack, some mini DH, some big downland rides. I'm happiest when I've taken lots of corners as fast as possible and had the wheels off the ground as often as possible.

Have a great time box fish. It was stunning today.

Now that [i]is[/i] good news! Cheers buzz!

About half my rides are from the door, half a 15 min drive away. It's great to be able to ride local, but there are only a limited number of trails within a 5 mile radius of my house. Plus meeting friends usually requires driving somewhere.

Glad I no longer live somewhere that necessitates an hour of driving just for riding though 8)

10 Mins Cycle through backstreets brings me to Sunnyhurst woods and Darwen moor and Rivington beyond that. 25 mins drive to Gisburn and 30 mins to Lee Quarry. An hour and your in the Lake District. If i head 5 mins up the road there is a nice little wood for pratting about in.
I cant wait get out on the bike again.

no rules and no norms.

Anything from doorstep to 6 hr round trips though normally make a weekend of it for that much.

Luck enough to have riding on the doorstep currently but it would be dull if that was all I did.

Hate the snobbery of "I can't see why people would drive to ride" sometimes we can, sometimes we can't and sometimes it's good to go somewhere different. Whinlatter was on my doorstep (up the hill) and I rarely ever rode up there as it's a dull slog up the road, I preferred to chuck the bike in the van and get up there for a quick blast.

Usually 60-90 minutes each way for me, sometimes longer. Western Australia is a huge state so I count myself reasonably lucky. Not as lucky as someone living in the hills, but most here prefer to live closer to the beach or town, plus you're at risk of bush fires if you live close to the trails.

For those riding from home, is your work commute compromised?

Drove just over an hour on Sat for my ride. The nearest place is probably half hour away. There's plenty of cycle paths etc locally but nothing that I'd class as a proper trail.

Where are you Londoner? I'm in Rockingham. Seems to be a fair few of us WA guys on here now.

Road is straight out the door, off road round me is a bit poo so it normally involves a drive...the local woods are 10mins by car I could ride there along the canal but can't be bothered with the super thorns all over it or the skanky kids that hang out on it.

Cannock is half an hour so so away so I do tend to go there a lot. Ride the peaks a lot too because I have family in Sheffield. I miss my old house...Stanage and Wyming Brook were my local spots, Bolehills was a short ride away.

Where are you Londoner? I'm in Rockingham. Seems to be a fair few of us WA guys on here now.

Clarkson, which is right at the very top of the Joondalup line. I frequented STW years ago too before I emigrated, but as you'll know there's a lot of poms living in the Northern and Southern suburbs of Perth close to the beaches. I overhear a fair few poms at the trails too. I still come on STW now because there's a lot more happening than on the PMBC forums.

You're probably an actual Australian, but you're lucky to be down South though as far as mtb goes, that puts the trails past Mandurah within reach as well as KC, Turner Hill, etc.

I forgot to mention that my road cycling is pretty good where I am with ambles up and down the coast in the sun with sea views, but I prefer climbing in the hills, especially as the wind is a real issue here.

My local ride is from the door (well my parents in laws house where my bike lives, that's 5mins away). We tend to ride there most of the time but there's only really one place to ride (even though it is pretty good)!

Tend to maybe have a once a month ride to somewhere like gisburn, south lakes or
Rivvy which takes about 30-45mins in the works van. Can get 6 plus bikes in it plus the fuel is free!

Once or twice a year I'll drive somewhere a bit further, Scotland, Wales, North Lakes for a lads biking weekend away.

Evening rides are from the door, weekends can be anything from 20 mins for the shropshire hills up to 1.5 hours to get to N Wales. I do only have a 10 minute walk to work though which kinda makes up for things. Compared to kayaking where I look at at least 1.5 hours each way and then probably an hour on shuttles bikings a low travel option.

cannock/wyre forest/long mynd all within 30/40 mins drive,...i'd be crazy not to drive to those...

lot of from the door riding as well, kinver/clent/baggeridge,... various loops

its all about variety and challenging yourself... IMHO

trips to wales are becoming rare though, it just costs too much to get there

SOAP - Member
I just get bored of riding the same stuff week in week out and want to ride as many different places as possible.
Hence the need to drive.

Ditto. I live in Warwickshire, and while it has some cracking little rides if you know where to look, the second it rains it turns into clag that is best avoided if there is a better alternative.

Being in the Midlands though, means I am central for just about everywhere that is great so lots of variety.

I think If I lived in the Peak or something I would tend to be less adventurous in terms of riding destinations, and it's good to be adventurous.

trips to wales are becoming rare though, it just costs too much to get there

Further trips have deffo lessened for me. I used to like to go off on my own to ride a fair bit but now, unless I have at least two mates to split the petrol with, I'll look to be nearer.

Depends - I have a lot of natural stuff and short DH trails from the door, but will travel 15/20miles for forum rides or trail centres.

Between half an hour and 4 hours.

Road: Ride from the house or catch the train for clubrides
Mtb : 10 miles to Swinley, 25 to Surrey Hills. 120 to S Wales

Rarely drive anywhere to ride, unless it's an event or something. Loads of trails round where I live, great XC and more complicated stuff, nice and sandy/rocky so little to no mud.

whats driving got to do with riding ?

Brechfa used to be 20 minutes, now live another 10 minutes away, Sustrans something or other right out the door.

londonerinoz - Member
For those riding from home, is your work commute compromised?

Nope - cycle 😀

usually: 0 km (the Odenwald is exactly 7 minutes' ride away)

once or twice a year: about 8-10 hours drive, each way (sometimes with an overnight ferry)

tempted to hop on train with bike, then ride back (just to get a bit further distance from home)

I'm lucky, I live on the edge of the Peak District and rarely drive to ride - I have great trails on my doorstep and cracking road riding too and I tend to see time spent driving to ride as time that could be spent on the bike. I don't really do driving from here for, say, two hours to ride in the Lakes for a day then two hours back, though I'll do it for a weekend or longer or occasionally to hook up with friends. Four hours of driving is four hours mostly wasted that could be spent pedalling or doing something else.

That said, I can see why folk without obviously rewarding local riding would hop in a car to ride and I'm not about to throw virtual bricks at anyone. I don't really get the thing with people having a pop at others for driving or not, all the stuff about 'your local riding must be boring', 'you only need a rigid singlespeed fixie etc'.

I love the process of riding the same terrain in different seasons and watching it change and having to ride it differently as a result, and I love the thing of exploring the area you know and finding trails or route combinations you didn't know were there. Still finding new sequences of trails and new trails after living and riding here for almost 15 years.

I think it's a shame that we've somewhat equated exploration with travel. You can drive hundreds of miles and really discover nothing new while you're ignoring what's under your nose.

There was a brilliant bloke we encountered 'somewhere above Hayfield' a few month back who didn't like mountain bikers going past his house who somewhere in the middle of a very calm discussion came out with the line: 'I'm a real mountain biker, I'm going to Mont Blanc' as if somehow riding in the Alps was somehow better than riding on your own local patch because, well, presumably it was bigger and a long way away and the food's better... 🙂

I have a rough rule that I don't drive for longer than I would end up riding. So I wont drive for more than 3 hours to do a 3 hour cross counry ride/event. I only go a long way to ride if I am staying over and get two or three days riding in

I've never quite got around to passing a driving test, so I can't drive to a ride.

Hamsterley's a 30km ride from home and Swaledale's 45km away, so I just ride up to one of those and then do a ride and then ride home again. [url= http://mactually.co.uk/?p=413 ]Or, once, both.[/url]

This does limit the frequency of my riding, however. And I just bought a cross bike.

@miketually - man, great route, but I'm surprised you can move after all those pies!

have pretty good road riding, and some OK XC from my front door - withing 10 mins riding i'm wither on quiet country lanes or fairly tame (but entertaining) bridleways/paths.

I live an hours drive from Swinley, which I visit a few times per year, and 25 mins from Cyclopark in Gravesend, which is nice for the odd evening blast.

orangeboy - Member
Do trails have to be supper techy and hard to be fun ?

[b]Yes![/b]

But I think I've got a reasonable mixture within striking distance:
Calderdale = 45 mins, Lakes = 1 hr, Peak = 1.5 hrs.
Tend to lift share to cut costs (3 in the car for Helvellyn last Saturday)
Local stuff like Rivi, Longridge, Lee Quarry is only about 10-30 minutes in the car so easily accessible for mid week nightrides.

1 hr to lakes
45 mins to heart of calerdale....rubbish road
1.5 nw wales
Dales well 30 mins ish
12 miles to gisburn forest one way ride that there and back

used to drive a lot but illness means usually round where i live

Why have rules? The prospect of a good ride, or even something just different can warrant a longer travel to ride ratio for me, particularly something good that's usually private.

Afterall, people travel nationally and even internationally for racing. Some for a couple of rides that last a few minutes if you're a downhiller, or perhaps seconds even if you're a track sprinter.

I lived in London most of my life and generally caught the train to all sorts of places for rides and races, not just the Surrey Hills. I only used to hire a car if it was overnight.

You're actually very fortunate if you've got decent, varied riding with multiple options from your door or very nearby, but it wouldn't stop me from going further afield regularly either.

I guess that's why there are so many Souls/hardtails on this forum, obviously a lot of road/bridleway riding going on from home.

Yeah... they're tedious as ****, my local trails. Hence the hardtail...

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[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/14162682@N00/8178241850/ ]Untitled[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/14162682@N00/ ]binlidski[/url], on Flickr

Smug? Moi? 😀

Pretty much always from the front door. The trails are mostly simple with no technical merit. Just how I like em. 😀

0. I ride from the door, I don't even own a car so I couldn't drive out anywhere if I wanted to.

I do suspect some of the people being smug about never driving to ride are riding some pretty tame trails - hence why CX bikes seem to be so popular on here.

Nah, we just haul our bikes up a cycle path for an hour out onto the Moors. On the plus side, it's downhill all the way home 😉