[Closed] Low quality trails Vs time in car & high quality trails?

How close is the Pub and chippy?

Buy a bike that will make exploring nearer to home more interesting?
I've got a hardcore hardtail and full sus for rougher stuff, and a Genesis Vagabond and a Surly Krampus for local stuff and green-laneing.

I have - thankfully - some decent manmade compacted trails within a 15-minute ride from my house. Nowhere near bike park standards, but more than enough to keep me riding all year round and through parenting two young kids.

I do appreciate a good ride on better trails, but would probably err towards a "meh" ride locally, perhaps on a rigid singlespeed.

Even a "meh" MTB ride is a big improvement on the vast majority of alternatives. 🙂

I don't like driving to ride at all so for me the lower quality trails from the door. Also if driving the amount of riding time must be more than the driving time

If the local trails are properly crap I would drive to the decent trails or ride a road bike from my door.

drive to your local wood? best of both worlds

The liberal democrat answer is a mixture.

I find myself riding more amd more from home both on and off road. The trails aren't that brillinat but they are way better then field edge Bridleways

20 minutes drive or alot more cycling gets me to Woburn. 50 minutes the Chilterns

Depends. Today I may choose local, tomorrow I'll drive. Which is what I'm actually doing tomorrow for Swinley fun.

Move?

When i lived in the UK it was about 30/45 minutes to the nearest trail of any note. Everything closer was basically riding round the edge of a field.

So we sold up and moved.

Do the drive once a week and ride from the door focussing on fitness the rest of the time.

Presuming time available is limited by family commitments, do neither and bank the brownie points to allow a longer ride somewhere good the day/week/month after.

30-45 minutes is nothing, if I've got the whole day free, so I'd pick the high quality trails. The ride has to preferably be between 30-50K though to justify the bother of it though.

If it's a 1+ hour drive each way though I usually sod it. That is when it becomes suffering.

I don't like riding from the doorstep as it means doing the rather boring bit twice (out & on the way back) but I like to get the train out to somewhere good and ride back to the house then the rather boring bit is only done once (and in the downhill direction). It's a lot less faff if you don't have to use the car but options are much more limited.

Almost always option 2 for me,only a few average trails locally so generally have to travel to muster any enthusiasm.
Do it most weekends though

I drive, but then I'm not tied by kids so generally have plenty of time at weekends.

But similar to TJ, the ride time has to be at least the drive time or I'll not bother.

Local riding is generally shit or cheeky to very cheeky, so I do a fair amount of road in the week, particularly this time of year.

I've got some OK stuff a 15 min ride/5 min drive from home and LOTS of brilliant stuff within a 30 minute drive so I usually do the local stuff midweek for an hour or so on the trails and then drive at the weekend for a 2-3 hour ride.

I just cannot commit to a pure road ride, what about when you pass an inviting farm track or a path leading away through some trees, also I hate riding at night with motor vehicles on road. I might bring some urban into the mix and do a tour of local city parks!!

Both. Variety is king for me. If I had great rocky trails from my door I'd be a much happier man, but I'd still want to go different places sometimes.

we have a mate who won't drive anywhere unless its a race when he will drive 200miles for a two hour race!
It gets really boring trying to organise a group ride because we have to meet him within riding distance which inevitably limits the places you can get to. Needless to say we don't always tell him we are going out!
But as far as I am concerned , it depends on time available, less than 3 hours , local*, all day , drive.
*I do live ten minutes ride from the edge of the Peak.

Move somewhere with good trails from the door.

Build/improve trails cost to home?

45 minutes is nothing - I travel all the way from the Isle of Man to Platsa, Messinia (and force myself to spend twenty weeks a year there) just to be able to ride quality rocky (extremely rocky) trails.
I'm there (here?) now and really don't want to leave for the grim north next week, where everything will be a real slopfest for the next six months.
If it wasn't for family obligations, and the need to do some work on my house back there, you couldn't drag me away.

I can ride from my door into the pentlands, there's some really good stuff up there. But I can drive to the tweed valley in 45 minutes for some of the best riding in the world. So basically i only ride locally if I'm short of time.

I hardly ever drive to ride these days. Cx bike from home makes my local singletrack come alive . Ha.
Sometimes I treat myself and stop on the way from home for a purely off road cycle(relax) on a mtb.
Pure road riding doesn't have the same appeal to me either,even when my local trails are really clarty and I've promised myself "I'm not getting muddy" ,I'll see a bway or a trashed muddy woodland path and I can't resist..:-)
More than an hour driving has to have a good long ride to earn it.

Drive - variety is the spice, your local trails will still be there next week when you're more enthused about them.

Generally if the overall driving time > overall riding time then think again.

Depends on the roads going there and the car.

Currently at Uni in Shropshire. llandegla is an hour, Hopton / Long mynd is an hour and Cannock 35 minutes. At uni we have Wednesday afternoon off so I usually spend a day at one of these then ride road and turbo between to keep fitness up.

Back home in the Peaks I ride from home but Tuesday and Thursday I ride as a group so end up driving.

I agree with above posts that the time riding has got to be longer than the time driving.

An hour isn't that much hassle driving for a decent ride. I think it would come down to the company more, meet some good mates at the good trails and there you go

Know some people who drive 2+ hours each way just for one ride. Sometimes they don't even ride any further than 30k!

Anything like that, to me, would have to include overnight accommodation and riding over at least 2 days, to even be considered worth it.

I always drive for mountain bike trails.

Riding from the house sucks but we live here for work and other domestic reasons that affect five days of the week. It's an ok compromiae.

I lived just off the South Downs for a few years. Then I would ride from home. 3 miles of road then everything else was off road pretty much. The downside a 70 mile round trip to and from work 5 days a week.

Honestly I think drive to ride is better as we're saving fuel and hassle on the non discretionary journies.

Hate driving to go riding. Live 20 minutes from the quantocks and still haven't been there. I do have good local riding though.

I always ride from my door, it's just that mostly it's my car door...

You live in Warwickshire, you drive. Nice and central for good stuff though.

I live in Lincoln, there is a distinct lack of quality off-road riding near here, I was stuck in a loop of riding short local loops, night rides at sherwood Pines and a day in the Peak every other week. Impending fatherhood and the need to get the house sorted in preparation seriously impinged on my riding time, so I sold my hardtail and bought a CX bike. Riding from the door has become fun again, I can get a quality ride in and be home in les time than it would take me to drive to the Peak, let alone ride and drive back. MrsMomo is much happier with me away from home for less time, it's meant that I can get out to ride 4 times or more a week rather than one large ride.
I save the MTB for big days out/weekends away now and it has renewed my love for the bike again as I'm concentrating on riding quality trails as I can get the quantity in on the road/cx.

Would not have bought a mountain bike if I had to drive

I would love a 30min drive to any trails! London living doesn't suit the MTB life! 1hr min and then 1.3 hours back due to traffic....still better than sitting at home doing nothing

Would not have bought a mountain bike if I had to drive

Alternatively, riding the same trails week in week out would do my nut in, even if I lived in the likes of Tweed valley or Lakes.

Just show's we're all different, I love exploring new area's on my bike, if I have to drive, then that's what I have to do.

my local trails are a 30 min drive, though I do have great road riding from the door, so a mixture I guess. An hour in the car gets me to Drumlanrig, and just over the hour to Glentress, so pretty decent. Driving north I can be in some Argyll woodland stuff within an hour too.

(Cathkin XC course is a 10 minute ride or 5 minute drive, but it's barely worth it....)

[quote=pete68 ]Hate driving to go riding. Live 20 minutes from the quantocks and still haven't been there. I do have good local riding though.

unless you live on exmoor, trying to work out where there is good riding 20 mins from the quantocks...

(Cathkin XC course is a 10 minute ride or 5 minute drive, but it's barely worth it....)

I wish I could have that course a 10 min ride from me, would be on it loads.

I like my Dales trails, but if I didn't head up to the Lakes and Wales fairly regularly, I'd go slightly mad.

Alternatively, riding the same trails week in week out would do my nut in

I wish I could have that course a 10 min ride from me, would be on it loads.

I can only assume you are a dogger or a ned with a pit bull 😆

I can find some reasonable stuff from 10 minutes ride from my door. Although bits of it can be a mudfest once the horsey mob have been through.

I can drive 10 minutes to Cathkin Braes but its only really worth going there if the local stuff is totally trashed.

An hour to Glentress / Tweed Valley or Ae and Drumlanrig

If I've got the time (and the permission!) I'd always rather drive to good trails for a proper day out. For quick blast or night riding I'm happy with the local stuff. Getting out on the bike is getting out on the bike!

@jam Bo, Exmoor is correct. I'm sure I'll get over to the quantocks sometime, but still finding new trails here. Plenty to explore.

I can only assume you are a dogger or a ned with a pit bull

29er roll over can deal with both those obstacles 😛

My local trails become a muddy mess in the winter so often take the option to do a little trail repair work at this time of year instead of riding, hoping that the frost comes soon to harden them up.
If I want to ride, I jump in the car and head to better draining areas/bike park

[quote=pete68 ]@jam Bo, Exmoor is correct. I'm sure I'll get over to the quantocks sometime, but still finding new trails here. Plenty to explore.

I lived in taunton for 8 yrs, rode the quantocks 4-5 times a week.

made it to exmoor a handful of times...

Why do people put rules on themselves ? If the greatest 2 hour loop was 1 hour 5 mins from your house would you really not go . And for the sake of argument you can't do it twice

I drive 30/40 mins from BoS to the quantocks to ride. the mendips is a tad closer, but the quantocks is [i]miles[/i] better (IMO). have been getting into exploring the off piste stuff at haldon (a good hours drive or so). which is a safer bet when the weathers been iffy. (generally. ride round the blue, then red, keeping an eye open for trails that cross, then loop back in and go down/up them to find where they go)

When riding I've bumped into a group of lads who drive from weston (making it an hour trip) weekly to ride the quantocks over everything else..

btw jambo.. a lot of tox types I know (especially enduro types) are riding the hopcott area. i'm going to explore it myself soon. i've had a good briefing on 'magic carpet ride', 'doris', 'maurice' and other various trails there. just waiting for the right mates and the right weather combo to have an explore. its all off the leg of the macmillan way west (yes same one as on the quantocks) between dunster and dunkery beacon.

pete68 offered some helpful advice on here when i asked about exmoor before - he lives in minehead, so exmoor + hopcott are on his doorstep. talking of which.. pete68.. how did your wheel get killed? saw the pic on strava!

btw. you should really ride the quantocks! park at staple plain! and head south!

Part of MTB'ing, well cycling in general for me is the exploring aspect, so as much as I enjoy local rides from the door with the odd green lane, bridleway, cheeky bits etc, I get a bit bored and lack the inspiration to ride regularly, particularly now most of the offroad stuff is claggy as hell. I've got FoD, Hopton, NyA within an hour, but also hate putting the bike rack on and all the hassle of wet and muddy clothes post ride, having to get changed, put all the kit away in the dark when I get home etc. Really just struggling for any motivation to ride at all just now.

Perhaps I need a new bike...........

@canopy lots of riders up hopcott since the enduro in September. So many tracks up there. Some a bit out of my comfort zone. I usually do a loop out towards dunkery then a bit of exploring hopcott.
A rider I went out with a couple of weeks ago rides the quantocks regularly and is going to do a ride from either staple plain or crocombe gate for a few of us.
My back wheel was tried a couple of weeks ago but I think the nipple had seized meaning the spoke twisted. Just went ping yesterday. Got a good ride lined up for Sunday too which looks unlikely now.

If the greatest 2 hour loop was 1 hour 5 mins from your house would you really not go .

I'd just ride it slightly slower. 😀

It's not a hard and fast rule, but if the driving is more than the riding, I'd have to question just how good the ride was to justify it.

As an example, I wouldn't normally drive to the Lakes, ride round Whinlatter, then drive home...

fifeandy - Member
(Cathkin XC course is a 10 minute ride or 5 minute drive, but it's barely worth it....)

I wish I could have that course a 10 min ride from me, would be on it loads.

I don't quite have the nobeer level of hatred of the course 🙂 It's great for an hour or so on a dreich winters day, so in that regard I do go there a fair bit, but it's a bit samey after a while !

There's a BW/Green lane right by the door but it gets very sloppy at this time of year. While there are bits of BW close by, linking them together takes a bit of work even with some cheeky stuff. We could ride up into the Dales but there'd be about an hour of riding if you tried to avoid roads and have a very convoluted route to get there. Alternatively put bikes in car, drive fifteen minutes and do a decent loop.

Nearest trail centre is Gisburn which is about 40mins drive, not been in two years. Staveley is about 1hr15mins steady drive and can get a good ride in, look at some bike porn in Wheelbase and maybe visit some relatives. Swaledale is similar timewise, the Peak (Hope Valley) is a couple of hours as is Keswick.

@canopy lots of riders up hopcott since the enduro in September. So many tracks up there. Some a bit out of my comfort zone. I usually do a loop out towards dunkery then a bit of exploring hopcott.

i won't know whats out of my comfort zone til i'm there 🙂 i'm not into the gnarly bits myself.

A rider I went out with a couple of weeks ago rides the quantocks regularly and is going to do a ride from either staple plain or crocombe gate for a few of us.

sounds like a plan. staple plain start means you get to do weacombe at the end but CPG means you've got more options. i guess he'll have a good idea of what you guys like! its hard to recommend when theres so much variety and choice.

My back wheel was tried a couple of weeks ago but I think the nipple had seized meaning the spoke twisted. Just went ping yesterday. Got a good ride lined up for Sunday too which looks unlikely now.

Variety is the spice of life. I'm pretty spoiled 😀 with loads of good and varied riding from the door and Afan 40 mins away. Generally prefer to ride from the door but nice to mix things up.

For me, driving to the trails isn't the problem - time away from home is

Most of my riding is at night once the kids are asleep, if I drive somewhere then I'm eating into that riding time. So I'd rather ride straight from my house, as getting out is better than not, than drive somewhere, even if it's only 30 minutes away. All in, the riding is bridleway style bashing and fairly tame, still good though

I aim at twice a week locally from home on the Chilterns, weekend to either Aston or Chicksands, once per month an over night in the Peaks

I'd explore my local trails more if that was the situation (or move)

I don't quite have the nobeer level of hatred of the course

Hatred not the right word, More like Apathy...

Depends what you want out of your riding. I personally am looking for trails that will challenge me as I struggle and strive to improve ever closer to the state of radness. If I was just going to continually loop my local 'low quality' trails then I may as well go to the local gym. I tend to drive 30 to 45 mins but my ride is shorter as they are more challenging, hillier, so i'm knackered after 1.5 to 2hrs of riding but with a big smile on my face and a big slug of adrenaline surging though me.

My answer to this question was get a different hobby. I live in Milton Keynes and with the exception of Woburn (which despite its reputation I just never really liked that much) there is nothing significant to ride that doesn't take a long drive to reach.

Still ride bikes (and lurk on these forums) bit have moved on to new interests as a result of the above.

I do about 80%+ of my riding from the front door, a mixture of road and mtb. I think some of this is about accepting a compromise about where you live and what kind of rider you want to be. It took me a while to accept that in West Berks the riding is mainly XC and so I have embraced that and make the most of my local trails on an appropriate bike. In my mind I want to be riding rocky trails in mountains, but i've realised that to a degree I just can't have that no matter how much driving to places I do. I do make a few visits a year to Wales for this kind of riding, but by embracing the nature of my local trails it is more satisfying to be riding from the door than to be sitting in a car chasing an ideal that will ultimately allude me.

This isn't to criticise those that drive all the time to trails, but to show that accepting a compromise is one way of enjoying 'low[er] quality' trails. Mould your attitude and bike to the local conditions. Riding is still better than going to a Gym.

The only trails within rideable distance from my door are Pollock park, which are really not worth bothering and even Cathkins Brae is a 20 min drive from sunny Paisley. If I wanna ride, gotta drive...but if I want to climb, I've got to get in the car also.

The only trails within rideable distance from my door are Pollock park, which are really not worth bothering and even Cathkins Brae is a 20 min drive from sunny Paisley. If I wanna ride, gotta drive...but if I want to climb, I've got to get in the car also.

Surely you can ride Pollock park on the way to Cathkin and on the way home again? That 20min drive is only ~1hr ride. The neds would be more of a deterrent than the distance.

Local always wins for us but we're lucky enough to live on the East Durham coast so there's some nice bits to ride about 10 minutes from our door and there are some really nice cheeky bits in some woods near us as well. If I want to ride anything a bit radgier I just look for steps to ride down 😆 Our nearest trail centre is Hamsters which is ok but not worth the hour's drive just to ride my bike.

edit- although we both enjoy a lazy summer day's mince around Kielder reservoir (30-odd miles, anticlockwise is the most fun) with a bag of sarnies and pork pies which is a couple of hours drive from us.

only ~1hr ride

You say [i]only[/i], i'm not fit enough to ride an hour each way to the trail and have anything in my legs to ride Cathkins. Pollock is just boring, and it's always boggy.

Maybe one day i'll take it upon myself to cycle to Cathkins, but I don't really like cycling on the roads and ultimately I don't mind getting in the car for an hour to get somewhere fun.But that's just me.

And neds dont bother me, my bike isnt worth stealing

Is there not still some trails in Gleniffer Braes.

Granted they were nothing special when I lived in Paisley 10 years ago but okay for an hours ride.

Granted they were nothing special when I lived in Paisley 10 years ago but okay for an hours ride.

Aye, when I rode with Walkers cc we used to have a nighride up there regularly, it wasn't bad, dunno whats there now though.

The only trails within rideable distance from my door are Pollock park, which are really not worth bothering and even Cathkins Brae is a 20 min drive from sunny Paisley. If I wanna ride, gotta drive...but if I want to climb, I've got to get in the car also.

You can't be that far from Erskine bridge then, Old Kilpatricks have some good trails just over the bridge.

I just had a look on Memory Map... off with a knackered back so trying to entertain myself with plans for all the riding I can since we moved house....

15 mile circuit taking in Parkamoor from the door... that will do nicely 😉

To be honest though, before we moved almost all my riding necessitated some car time, which didn't entirely bother me. There were local trail "bits" around the old place, but not enough to really bother with. I never really resented the time spent driving to somewhere better (it could be as little as 15 minutes) but it annoyed me I hadn't checked out whether there were any local trails before I moved!

We only moved 10 minutes away, which puts us in range of some pretty good trails - but I will still keep the bike in the back of the van for playing elsewhere 😉

Nobeerinthefridge - Member
You can't be that far from Erskine bridge then, Old Kilpatricks have some good trails just over the bridge.

Biggest problem with that plan is finding a place to park where you wont be broken into.

I consider myself lucky that I have:
Mudgock - 25mins away
Stirling - 30mins
Aberfoyle - 45mins
Tweed - 1hr 15 to 1hr 45 away
Dunkeld - 1hr 30

and so on. Variety is indeed good, and if I'm struggling for time I can jump on the road bike and have loads of good road routes nearby

Biggest problem with that plan is finding a place to park where you wont be broken into.

Paisley is only 7 miles from the bridge, 30 min pedal, a nice warm up for the climb.

I've parked in old kilpatrick, by the train station and never had an issue.

Never had an issue either, but been 3 times where cars in the area have been done over while i was riding

30mins would be a good warm up for **** Off Hill

^^^ oh, that climb ! Did it in the dark the other week, we rode from Bearsden so decent warm up. It was also easier when you can't see the top, in the dark 🙂

There's that word again '[i]only[/i]', you are seriously under estimating my fatbastardness. According to maps its 11miles to Kilpatrick station, no chance im riding that, then that hill. I guess i'd rather take the car and save my legs for when the riding is fun.

I've yet to really explore Gleniffer Braes, but perhaps local knowledge is key to the best stuff.

I used to be pretty militant on this subject.. What the heck is the point of cycling if you're gonna jump in the car to do it?

These days however I'm happy to drive up to an hour just for the variety but with Dartmoor, Exmoor, Haldon and the Quantocks all less than an hour away and Woodbury and the SW coast path on my doorstep I guess I'm spoilt for choice..

Any further than an hour and I'd be looking at an overnight stay and making a couple days of it though

Depends on mood for the day but over-riding principle

quality > quantity

I've become very lazy since moving house and almost always ride from the door. Having said that, the variety of trails locally is outstanding. However,I really must start exploring a little further afield again. As has already been mooted, I abhor the idea of spending more time driving than cycling. That's why I took so long to do the Bearbones 200.