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This thread reveals the stupidity of the 'we're growing up lets move to from Bristol to the Midlands to be closers to friends and family' discussion that we're currently having the the CD household.
The Pentlands are rubbish.
Edinburgh smells when it's a westerly (coz the wind has to cross Glasgow first) and freezes when it's an Easterly.
It's full of tourists and the drivers are mental.
The council tax is about to shoot through the roof on account of the trams.
Getting in and out of the city is all bottlenecks and takes forever.
You'd hate it. Honestly.
druidh has nailed it. Edinburgh is crap. Everywhere near Edinburgh is crap. The folk in and near Edinburgh are awful. We should all move back to London. Never been to Bristol but that sounds good too!
Honestly I'm chuckling reading that list (having lived in a few of those towns on the list) - I'm guessing the guys came up with v1.0 and the editor came in and said - WTF my home town is missing - then the subs manager came in and said - 50% of our readers are from London, then .....
Pretty pointless really.
Wrexham is not on it. Wrexham should be in positions 1-5. Scotland is rubbish, take it off the list and put Thetford and the place next to the Olympic XC course down too.
It would be interesting to see exactly what criteria it's all based on, where they got their stats from and how they scored it. Or, did they just sit in a pub and decide over a few pints?. I thought Lancashire was supposed to be the new MTB Mecca in the north and yet Manchester was well down the list against Leeds. Can't imagine there's that much difference otherwise ie wages, quality of life, house prices, crime, time to drive to quality MTB destinations etc etc.
Everyone knows Lancaster is the real no 1 (and yes it is a city, technically) 🙂
I liked living in Brizzle, can't wait to move back.
The one thing was the People (and the riders) who were friendly not just the trails and roads for riding.
Is Edinb. as friendly to cyclists? (I don't know?)
So far living in Cambs and the cycle network for commuting is ok but the drivers hate us.
Why are the thefts so high in Cambridgeshire? worst place for mtb.
I reckon Inverness is the best central place for a mountain biker.. amongst other things. You can get to Torridon quicker that someone in Edinburgh could get to Inners! You could go to Golspie and Balblair in an hour,contin/strathpufferland in 20 mins,cairngorms 35 mins,learnie 40 mins and laggan about an hour. If you need to head south its straight onto the A9.. If you surf,Thurso 2 hours 20 mins up in the other direction. Natural or man made trails on weekdays can often be ridden with not another rider in sight. Its really that dead.
I would love to be closer to the central belt at times but a day in Edinburgh with the time it takes getting into the place,then exiting it.. leaves me laughing on the way out and shaking my head at how glad i am to be heading back to peace and quiet. Its just too busy for a tcheuchtery head like me.
Oh and we get proper seasons ;O)
I live in the peak district, can ride singletrack from of my front door all the way across the peak district if I desire, and my commute to work in central Sheffield takes 15 minutes. If you can get over the gruff northern-ness, there's nowhere better to live if you want to live in/near a big city and like riding.
Bristol is probably perfect if you like driving to trail centres, but the riding in and around Bristol itself is... average. Likewise living in the central Lakes or Peaks is probably pretty outstanding for riding but not very accessible to civilisation. There are way too many variables, but having ridden around most of the top 10, I'd agree with the top three (just not in that order).
TLDR: My city > your city
As for London, lol!
Never thought about Inverness ^. How about Perth? (OK not officially a city but as near as official as you can get and should become one again in 2012 all being well)
Shouldnt number 1 be Specialized?
Can I just add that Brighton (& Hove) whilst a proper city and all that is rubbish and that no one who wants to ride a mountain bike off road should choose to move there.
Perhaps they should be clearer with their definition and make a distinction between off-road trail riding in lowland areas and actually riding proper mountains on your bike 
I think that would put Scotland Wales and Northern England in the driving seat for real mountain biking places to live.
So no Welsh city is worth living in for mountain biking? That is a joke. Swansea or Cardiff may not be trendy like Bristol or Brighton but they are better for mountain biking.
Any of these in Brighton?
[img] 
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I haven't read this yet, but as someone else already points out they ran an almost identical article a couple of years back, except London was even higher up the charts then.
Living in Manchester I would imagine that none of the top ten places to live for mountain biking are cities. I'm fairly sorted at the weekend, but getting a midweeker in is pretty difficult. It's even crap for road biking with any decent road ride being bookended by half an hour of stop start messing about in traffic. So really quite envious of people who have the good stuff on their doorstep.
Perhaps I’m unusual, but I draw a big distinction between riding from the front door and loading the car and driving somewhere – to me they are very different days. If I am going to the faff of loading the car and driving then it doesn’t really bother me whether it’s a 40 min drive, a 90 min drive or longer. It’s an away fixture, and involves riding ‘somewhere else’.
For me the credentials of Edinburgh/Bristol and the like based on the riding you can get to in a 40 or 50 minute drive are irrelevant - It’s either on your doorstep or it isn’t. Once you start driving then any location comes into contention as there is good riding within an hour’s drive of just about anywhere.
Leeds? Sorry but 😆
[i]For me the credentials of Edinburgh/Bristol and the like based on the riding you can get to in a 40 or 50 minute drive are irrelevant - It’s either on your doorstep or it isn’t. Once you start driving then any location comes into contention as there is good riding within an hour’s drive of just about anywhere.[/i]
Exactly. I can be in the Peaks/Brecon/LongMynd/Chilterns/New Forest/Dartmoor/Exmoor in 90-ish minutes and Quantocks/Mendips/Cannock in 60, never mind whichever trail centres I could get to but I don't like trail centres. Does that make Cheltenham a mountain-biking mecca? Does it balls.
If it's not within a half hour drive, or rideable from the door, it doesn't count as making an area 'good' for biking.
I haven't driven anywhere to ride outside of Bristol (except for the HONC) for well over a year now... All my riding is straight from my door.
I wasn't having a direct dig at Brizzle by the way. I just have an issue with people professing that where they live is great for biking because it allows them to bike somewhere else 😕
Where's rideable from Brizzle then? I'd have to drive there obviously 😉
I know - I find it odd too that some people seem to always drive to go riding but then we all live different lives and have different ideas of what is reasonable.
From Bristol - AC/LW/50Acre/Mendips/various other trails that aren't well known and probably not good to publicise/miles of bridleways (though better on a cross bike)/miles and miles of quiet country roads for roadieing
Exactly. I can be in the Peaks/Brecon/LongMynd/Chilterns/New Forest/Dartmoor/Exmoor in 90-ish minutes and Quantocks/Mendips/Cannock in 60, never mind whichever trail centres I could get to but I don't like trail centres. Does that make Cheltenham a mountain-biking mecca? Does it balls.
In 40-45mins tops I cant be in either:
Rivington
Peak District
South Lakes (Stavely)
Calderdale
Lee Quarry(ish)- not actually timed that.
Delamere Forest
[i]In 40-45mins tops I cant be in either:
Rivington
Peak District
South Lakes (Stavely)
Calderdale
Lee Quarry(ish)- not actually timed that.
Delamere Forest [/i]
No, I can't either 😉
Alright, I'll extend my radius of rant to 45 minutes to be classed as 'local'
[i]45 minutes to be classed as 'local' [/i]
I'm with the 'local is stuff you can do in a 2 hour ride from your doorstep' contingent.
If I drove for 45 minutes each way I'd get 30 minutes riding in...
If I drove for 45 minutes each way I'd get 30 minutes riding in...
Plus 15/20 mins either end for loading/unloading,getting changed etc - to me that's going for a day out, not going for a ride.
So no Welsh city is worth living in for mountain biking? That is a joke. Swansea or Cardiff may not be trendy like Bristol or Brighton but they are better for mountain biking.
I live just outside of Swansea, and it's great for riding - can ride from my door or hit any number of trail centres or wilderness rides in less than an hour. But I still wouldn't put it in the top 10 MTB citys to live. It's grim, it looks grim, there's no jobs, and it's wetter than an otters pocket (but not in a good way). I think Cardiff maybe better, but only just...
we're Exeter bound in 2 months though - could be worse!
[i]I'm with the 'local is stuff you can do in a 2 hour ride from your doorstep' contingent.[/i]
I'd agree, but I meant local as in you have to drive there but still acceptable in terms of including it as 'available' riding in a particular area. Proper local, rideable from the door stuff is obviously the most significant.
So, I think we're agreed ( 😉 ) that any claims to the best MTB city must be judged on the following criteria:
1) Quality riding available from the door (with a 70% weighting)
2) Quality riding available within a 45min drive (with a 30% weighting)
Anything outside a 45 min drive radius is classed as 'somewhere else', and cannot be counted.
Which city would win then?
If I drive 45mins I'd expect to ride for a min. of 2hours. Years ago I'd class starting a ride before 10.30am as extremely rude and mad.
Now I ride literally just before dawn 8)
This is 45mins from my house
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I am not joking when I say Dorking(although not technically a city).
Surrey Hills all rideable from my doorstep...no driving needed.
Bring on the flaming.
Leeds? Sorry but...
i reckon the riding in/around leeds is very good; a good choice of BMX tracks, loads of rolling woodsy singletrack, quiet roads into the dales.
+ easy access to scotland/lakes/north wales.
do not underestimate 'the grim city'.
🙂
(and i live in sheffield - fwiw)
ahwiles- in a way though it shouldn't be 'high' on their list IMO. I'm not insulting Leeds, its just locality to actual good riding compared to the others .
Scotland loses out because it's miles from anywhere. Like it or not Inverness isn't great because the best jobs aren't there. Edinburgh has a more justifiable case, but it's still pretty remote.
It's not just the cities with the best mountain biking (there are clearly better options).
[url= http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/HTMLDocs/dvc7/Unemployment.html ]Unemployment[/url] is low in the South West, it's above the UK average in Scotland, and there's far fewer prospects - how Leeds makes the list I don't know! 😕
Life expectancy is 4 years higher for men in the South West than in Scotland. There really aren't many reasons Scottish cities would win over Bristol that I can see! There's good riding in both on the doorstep, and a range of riding slightly further afield.
how Leeds makes the list I don't know!
great riding and loads of well paid jobs?
(banking, IT, legal, etc.)
excellent transport links with... just about everywhere?
a lively city centre that's big enough, and small enough?
If you're talking about real cities (ie not somewhere like Bangor) then probably Sheffield. Can't think of any other city in the UK that has legitimately great riding on the doorstep like Western Shef has. Unless you can ride into Dartmoor from Exeter but I don't know that part of the UK at all.So, I think we're agreed ( ) that any claims to the best MTB city must be judged on the following criteria:1) Quality riding available from the door (with a 70% weighting)
2) Quality riding available within a 45min drive (with a 30% weighting)Anything outside a 45 min drive radius is classed as 'somewhere else', and cannot be counted.
Which city would win then?
There's plenty of UK cities that have not bad riding on the doorstep, which feels like great riding because bloody hell, I just left my flat in the city and now I'm in the hills, but taken in isolation it's nothing special. To have the Peaks accessible from your city doorstep, which is unequivocally great riding, is pretty special.
Why is Edinburgh above Sheffield?
A great portion of Sheff is actually IN the Peaks.
As long as you're in north or west Leeds there is an awful lot of good riding from the door, this is helped by a large proportion of routes being legal, lots of urban woodland and being right next to Bradford which as a district has a fantastic amount of good riding - all from your door.
45 mins gets you to the Dales, Calderdale, Nidderdale etc.
2 hours gets you to Lakeland, the Yorkshire coast and the peaks.
I'm not familiar with riding in many of the other cities but Leeds is definitely very good.
Why is Edinburgh above Sheffield?
access rights maybe?
have a look at the OS map of the peak district, note how few bridleways there actually are.
now consider that lots of the few are at best a bit lame/not worth the effort.
(descent off shatton moor down to bradwell - i'm looking at you)
There is lots of very good riding, but the good stuff is actually illegal to ride on.
maybe edinburgh has more, legal, fun, trails...?
I'm not familiar with riding in many of the other cities but Leeds is definitely very good.
Still. Its not too far for you to drive to watch your football team play at home 😉
I live in Lancaster and there is great riding near by and the city offers a good quality of life. But it could not begin to compete with any of the cities in the list for jobs, entertainment, nightlife, music, culture etc. Its basically a big village, which as a parent now is a real advantage - there is a lot to be said for the quiet life.
Would I move to somewhere that wasn't very close to mountains? No
IMO the Lake District has the best riding in the country and its mostly a short drive away. Its mostly rocky all weather trails and not got too much muddy crap! Going over Garburn tomorrow evening and its less than a half hour drive to bust a mountain pass that is rated as one of the hardest climbs and is certainly a fun downhill.
And if I want to go to another county Yorkshire is just theother side of the M6 and you can nip up Whernside or Ingleborough.
Apparently it is also possible to go South and ride in Lancashire...
I think the question really needs to be "Do you have mountains where you live?" I can see them from my house!
Carmarthen. Not a city and bearly makes it as a town - mostly local authority workers.
Great cycling for both MTB and road.
Black Mountains, Brechfa, Abergorlech, Preselli & Pembrokeshire all in cycling/driving distance.
We've even got a cinema, McDonalds and a Pets at Home.
Life expectancy is 4 years higher for men in the South West than in Scotland. There really aren't many reasons Scottish cities would win over Bristol that I can see!
You're using averages for all of Scotland to apply to Edinburgh, which is of course bollocks.
Yep, but it's a superb way to wind up the Scots! The best solution:
If you want good riding on your doorstep... Don't live in a city.
[i]Don't live in a city.[/i]
depends where in the city you are and which city it is. I'm a 5 minute bike ride from Hove beach and only ride for 200yards to get to off road riding that takes me up and out onto the Downs.
Another vote for Inverness:
Plenty of employment
Cheap housing
No traffic
Lowest crime
Beautiful, car free, commutes
Good state schools,
All the MTBing you could want (Puffer & Learnie are 10mins from my house & I have a forest at the end of my garden)
If you want good riding on your doorstep... Don't live in a city.
I live on the outskirts of Edinburgh (Balerno) and have good riding right from the door.
access rights maybe?
Think I might have ridden this last w/e - it was a total quagmire and turned into a bit of a circus, but if it was drier it looked like it would be quite good? The one from Brough lane down to Bradwell.
have a look at the OS map of the peak district, note how few bridleways there actually are.now consider that lots of the few are at best a bit lame/not worth the effort.
(descent off shatton moor down to bradwell - i'm looking at you)
I live on the outskirts of Edinburgh (Balerno) and have good riding right from the door.
Good for you, it'd be better if you lived in the middle of said riding.
Good for you, it'd be better if you lived in the middle of said riding.
There are only about 2 houses actually in the middle of the riding area. I can be on trails within a few yards of the house and can follow those for the mile or so until the Pentlands proper starts.
Golly, you're argumentative today. My hypothetical situation was not specific to you.
Few of us are looking for the best urban riding. Ergo urban areas will not yield the best riding. There are many urban areas (of which Edinburgh is a good example) where the riding from the city is excellent. However the riding is better from those 2 houses that are in the middle of it. That's not to say that the quality of life would be better or you'd be best off living there, but purely from the riding perspective the house 200 yards closer to the riding is better for riding. That's a basic principle.
njee20 - Member
Yep, but it's a superb way to wind up the Scots!
Especially the English ones...
...Think I might have ridden this last w/e - it was a total quagmire and turned into a bit of a circus, but if it was drier it looked like it would be quite good? The one from Brough lane down to Bradwell...
that's the one.
[u]when[/u] it's dry, it's alright, but still totally not worth the MASSIVE, BORING, UNENDING CLIMB OF DOOOOOM.
Ergo urban areas will not yield the best riding
pop round for a cuppa, bring your bike, i reckon i can change your mind 🙂
pop round for a cuppa, bring your bike, i reckon i can change your mind
Good lord, people really are taking that too literally! Unless you want to ride street you need to head out of the urban areas to ride. This may be 50 feet, but if you start outside of the city then you are in a better place. Of course there are places you can ride to that are just outside cities, and thus very easily reached from said city. However, if you take the city out of the equation altogether it's better!
If you like sailing, then living somewhere with half a mile of a lake or whatever is great. Living adjacent to that lake, with your own boathouse is even better.
See?
After the referendum Scotland isn't going to be in the UK, right ?
Brighton isn't even the best place to live in Sussex.
This list reminds us why we don't read MBR
Brighton isn't even the best place to live in Sussex.
Brighton isn't in Sussex any more, Brighton & Hove is a unitary authority 🙂
Which Sussex city is better though, out of interest? I can only think of Chichester.
What's this rumour of mountain biking in Scotland?
I refuse to believe such drivel.
Brighton & Hove isn't even like a city, only in name, nice place though
Id agree with previous poster about the best riding I've done in England being the Lakes, not sure about Uk though, Scotland gets that nod for me
njee20
I can do a 20+ mile loop around edinburgh remaining well in the city that is more than half singletrack - I could do a shorter run that is mainly singletrack
can do a 20+ mile loop around edinburgh remaining well in the city that is more than half singletrack - I could do a shorter run that is mainly singletrack
And from where I live, which is the very edge of Edinburgh I've already in the hills (my house is 600ft up on the edge of the Pentlands) and singletrack pretty much from my door leading in most directions, includng into town.
Here's a video of my commute to work (which is further into Edinburgh:
600ft up - is that all??
That was a guess - is it higher?
585ft according to my Garmin!
My Garmin says I'm at 676ft - but I'm upstairs 🙂
I can do a 20+ mile loop around edinburgh remaining well in the city that is more than half singletrack - I could do a shorter run that is mainly singletrack
I've done a 75mile route that, apart from a few hundred meters, is covered by the Bristol A-Z wall map. There are a few road links but not much, and you could link it up with dull off-road I you wanted.
I know it's not part of mbr's criteria but
Best weather in UK
Most beautiful race course in the world
Two world famous motoring events each year
World famous theatre
Great variety of mtb trails
Superb trail running
Kitesurfing, windsurfing and sailing Mecca
Superb old roman city
Great kayaking and canoeing rivers to multiday explore
A University, cathedral, and teaching hospital
An airfield
A world famous motor racing circuit
A summer of festivities and festivals
Access to London on less than 90 mins
Isle of Wight 45 mins
Surrey Hills 45mins
Gatwick airport 90 mins
ahhh lovely Chi
My Garmin says I'm at 676ft - but I'm upstairs
Is your house sinking? I'm sure it was over 700ft a few minutes ago...
Great vid, but are you sure those aren't Thunderbird arms you have controlling your bike? 😉
Ok, for the Glasgow community. Which bit of singletrack above Milngavie is the picture on page 62 taken.....I can't work it out
These were taken on bike rides that started off from Inverness. Theres heaps of natural stuff.
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7027/6681376623_e90b88763f_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/65460103@N08/6681376623/ ]inverness in distance from track above dochfour[/url]
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6681377603_5f05c4ef3e_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/65460103@N08/6681377603/ ]clouds and trees above loch ness[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/65460103@N08/ ]martinxyz[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6681377151_7dbdb9da9e_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/65460103@N08/6681377151/ ]loch ness from secret viewpoint[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/65460103@N08/ ]martinxyz[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7165/6681375239_103fddec55_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/65460103@N08/6681375239/ ]F.H.L pass switchbacks[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/65460103@N08/ ]martinxyz[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6681372447_7ca5c44c70_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/65460103@N08/6681372447/ ]looking down loch ness[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/65460103@N08/ ]martinxyz[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7003/6681366723_b356b96074_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/65460103@N08/6681366723/ ]dig sunday ride loch duntelchaig sparkle 2800w 26 05 07[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/65460103@N08/ ]martinxyz[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7025/6681368539_05d63f985c_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/65460103@N08/6681368539/ ]dig sunday ride loch duntelchaig singletrack sign 2000w 27 0[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/65460103@N08/ ]martinxyz[/url], on Flickr
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7007/6681369951_937194f19d_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/65460103@N08/6681369951/ ]marin at gate 2[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/65460103@N08/ ]martinxyz[/url], on Flickr
& you can also do a bit of Nessie hunting..
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6681365351_1987f35e60_z.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/65460103@N08/6681365351/ ]dig loch ness zoom double branch crop insects flash 890w 14 [/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/65460103@N08/ ]martinxyz[/url], on Flickr
I live on the outskirts of Edinburgh (Balerno) and have good riding right from the door.
I used to live at castelaw farm in the pentlands, first bit of singletrack was 30 feet from the house door, and I could be in work in the city centre in 25 minutes. Do I win?
These were taken on bike rides that started off from Inverness. Theres heaps of natural stuff.
I grew up riding on Ord Hill by the bridge at North Kessock - it was great, not sure what its like these days but you should check it out. Loads of narrow rooty singletrack.
If you want good riding on your doorstep... Don't live in a city.
So with those pics taken from rides leaving the house,where should i move to then? ;O)
Jim,yeah Ord Hill is rooty and also rocky with not only a good track skirting around it for xc training (used that in the 90s loop after loop!) and really good short climbs and descents. Dog shit can be a bit of a pain in this day and age along with logs placed across trails.
Craig Phadraig is good too. Its recently been cleared up the top giving nice views. It used to always be sheltered with trees but now you can look up the Beauly Firth towards Contin.
As for the mast,check out descent world/scottish scene No2 (i think)for DH action within 2 miles from the city centre.
If anyone plans to move to another location and counts this area out because theres no decent jobs,then its probably worth staying in the bigger city to be honest. ;O)
But did you climb the mast Jim ??
Ord Hill is rooty and also rocky with not only a good track skirting around it for xc training (used that in the 90s loop after loop!
Ha, I probably used to see you! I rode it several days a week 92-95 and then in the lots summers after that until about 1999, good times! Didn't do any riding over the water though. There is some great singletrack around Loch Lundie too, a bit north of ord hill, and some bits around Drumderfit hill.
No I've never been to the mast, is that the one on the hill behind town at craig dunain?
I think it's great to see Exeter on the list. Dartmoor, Exmoor and the Quantocks are all amazing places to be within an hours(ish) drive from.
Saleem, do you remember riding over to Munlochy bay to try and find the cave? We rode through a field of rapeseed and arrived home yellow! Hummin o the stuff. I would have guessed 93.
Did you ever ride out past that loch lundie to the bay,Jim? Great rope swing on a tree (even for adults,its that high!)
Yeah been to the bay, can vaguely remember a swing, and goats?!