[Closed] Looking for a ride near the A1M between London and Peterborough- any suggestions

I’m guessing you’re on an mtb, if so, chick sands is probably about as good as it gets on that run.

Lap of Rutland Water, though more gravel to be fair

I am on mtb, yes, although could do a road ride. Not been to Chicksands for 15 years, it's a thought. Is it controlled access and ticketed? I'll have a look at Rutland water, thanks

Rutland water is about 20 minutes north of Peterborough (I work in Peterborough fairly often and stop at Rutland for a long on the gravel bike on my way home) not worth it as an mtb destination

Ok, the well seems a little dry! Maybe further south on the way home then, how about Bishop Stortford area? Appreciate the knowledge sharing, thanks!

If you can get to Chicksands then Woburn is barely any further and great for trail riding

Ok, sounds interesting…

I used to live in Huntington (a long time ago) Chicksands was the default for me...

I think you could put together a nice off-road loop around where the A1 crosses the Icknield Way, around Hitchin. Nothing super gnarly but if the weather is nice could be good especially if you can stop at a nice cafe.

Ok, I’ll have a look there too, cheers @oldnpastit. I’ll check Komoot for that area. I’ve been looking at worburn too - so there’s way marked blue and red trails, but can’t see how long they are?

Not sure this is the time for chicksands - I’ll be on my own, and hitting big jumps and drops might not be advised 😂

If you go to Woburn then ideally you need trailforks or a local, the red trail is ok but the off piste near the golf club is much better

@dc1988 thanks - I wondered that, it has the feel of a lot of off piste stuff!

Woburn for sure. There's waymarked stuff or use your inbuilt singletrack locator

For Woburn bring a £5 note to pay the ranger if you do the marked trails. It's still worth it.

I wouldn’t be too concerned about big jumps and drops at chicksands - there are plenty of trails there that are relatively straightforward and quite good fun. If you want a couple of hours of fun going downhill and a fire road climb back up I’d go there. If you want a trail ride I’d go to Woburn.

Chicksands.

Not exactly MTB worthy, but I've got a 40km route heading out from Grafham Water, which is just south of Huntingdon & only about 5mins off the A1 from the Buckden roundabout. A friend of mine put it together a year or so ago.

It's mainly bridleway/farm track type stuff, but better than nothing & not a bad little route. Some parts of it might be a bit boggy with the rain we've had in the past week or two, but should all be rideable.
I can probably send you over a gpx of it, if you want? Just need to work out how to export it from Strava....

Thanks all for suggestions, it's left me pontificating for ages about where to go now! Think I've decided on Woburn this time, I'll do the marked trails and see what else I can find - any locals available for a ride on Tuesday morning? Or a strava route? I have trailforks, but haven't used it properly and don't understand it well yet! I can see the waymarked trails on it, but no offpiste ones!

Thanks again, this place is such a great source of knowledge...

So an update - firstly thanks again for the suggestions - I ended up going to Woburn and enjoyed myself. I did the red trail, then took a look at the bike park (bloody hell there's some big stuff there!!) then did the blue trail and found a few off piste trails near to it. Good fun was had! Have to say I actually preferred the blue trail to the red, not sure why the grading is different - it had more elevation change and more interesting trails in my opinion, but I liked it all. I'm sure there's loads more to find next time...

@stumpy01

Some parts of it might be a bit boggy with the rain we’ve had in the past week

Masterful understatement. My memories of riding around Grafham was that the bike gained weight as the ride progressed. Then shed it on the road sections like a tractor working a muck spreader.