Mountain Biking

Jono said:
I'd swear that's High Cup Nick. Looks like it and can't think of anywhere else that looks like it. Part of the Pennine way (popular with walkers)... I'm sure I've seen people cycling there.

What I would do is drive towards Appleby (back East along the A66) and go to Dufton, a little village a few miles down the road from Appleby (might be several). You can park next to the public toilets there. From there, ride back through the village (towards Appleby)...actually you'd probably turn left near Crackenthorpe, from Centre Parcs, so maybe wouldn't go all the way to Appleby... Anyway - head out towards appleby and just before you leave the village there's a public footpath (may be a bridleway, think it is, actually) - that heads downwards (downhill) - follow that for a few miles up a complete arse of a hill and you'll get to that viewpoint :)

OS Map - not sure what the pink line represents... seen plenty of people on bikes up there though...
http://binged.it/1FTP9hh

If you fancied a little off piste and climbing over a drystone wall, you could head from there to Murton Pike and down the path that comes down from it (fun little descent)... Not sure what the terrain between the two would be like though... wet and boggy and not much fun, perhaps.

Then cycle back along the road to Dufton and stop at the Buck inn for some light refreshment.
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Cheers bud! We are here at Centre PARC's now and I plan following yer route tomorrow. :)
 
Draeger said:
Cheers bud! We are here at Centre PARC's now and I plan following yer route tomorrow. :)
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Cool - don't get too excited - it's probably not massively fun on a bike, but if the weather's nice it's not a bad view :) You could even head up a bit further to the reservoir/lake things - never been there myself, though.
 
thewanted said:
Does anyone know roughly how much of the Twrch trail at Cwmcarn is diverted? mbwales.com isn't very specific about it.
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Yeah - from marker 7 ( on the map ) to marker 11.
Basically all the uphill from the car park to the start of the old freeride area and to the bottom of that.
What we did was ride all the way up the road anyway as it's quicker and pushed up to the start of the freeride on the fireroad in the carpark. (You can push up the freeride bit without going the fireroad way)

There was however a guy with a car standing in front of the gate of that fireroad when we got to the bottom... not sure if he was a warden or waiting for two kids that were near by... ...

When you thinking of doing it?
 
Nice one, thanks! Looking at the map, 7-11 isn't very long.

Looking to do it on Saturday. Sunday's weather is predicted to be a bit poo :( Been to Swinley Forest two days in a row and I can't face going there again.
 
Uni mate lives about 20minutes from Swinley and I've never been up to ride with him and there :(

Is it? Looks the same as Saturday for here... let me know if you fancy a tag along :D

Edit: i really wanna ride Woburn but it's too far for a day :(
 
Supercow said:
thewanted, Sunday... Woburn, make it happen.
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Hmm, tempting! Depends if Cwmcarn happens. My mind is more willing than my legs. Are you a suspension guru by any chance? Really not happy with my shock at the moment :(

rhysduck said:
Uni mate lives about 20minutes from Swinley and I've never been up to ride with him and there :(

Is it? Looks the same as Saturday for here... let me know if you fancy a tag along :D

Edit: i really wanna ride Woburn but it's too far for a day :(
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Cool, will do! I'm doing London <--> Cwmcarn in a day. What's your excuse? :P
 
Not a guru no, so won't be able to open the gubbins up and tinker inside.
Can tune a ccdba pretty quickly to my preference though, and should be able to help you troubleshoot
 
Not if you live near Afan Forest :P

It's got some unique bits like the "Labyrinth" which is narrow trail passing through a very dense forest which is pretty damn cool. It's a very flat trail centre with less than 200m of elevation if you do the blue + red trails. There are a few diversions in place at the moment due to forestry work and ground nesting birds.

I've no doubt that you'll enjoy it. I'm just craving something different at the moment because I've done Swinley more times than I care to remember.


Supercow said:
Can tune a ccdba pretty quickly to my preference though, and should be able to help you troubleshoot
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Yeah that's all I really need, thanks :) At the moment if feels very soft (175 psi I think) and the rebound is way too slow.
 
[TFU] Thegoon84;28036687 said:
Funny enough i'm in London this weekend doing Swinley! Is it any good?
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Not sure, heard good things about it, and that it's like a scalextric track for bikes. I'm going to be there Saturday morning.
 
Juggy1985 said:
Thinking of making the mega a lil slacker, is it going to ruin its trail abilitys?


http://www.offsetbushings.com/collections/frontpage/products/offset-bushings-pair

To be fair i only really ride uplift days now anyway so it would probably make sense aye.
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The mega is fairly slack already at 66, but I'm on 65 and have beaten a bunch of my PBs on Strava recently (Strravaaaaaaaa) compared to the 66 on the previous bike. It's a bit much of a muchness though and I doubt you'll reap much benefit. Fun and cheap way to play with youtr bike's geometry and wont hurt to try. Your BB will drop a bit as well, reach will be a tiny bit shorter (probs wont even notice this) so keep pedal strikes in mind.

Why do you want to slacken it out, out of interest?

thewanted said:
Yeah that's all I really need, thanks :) At the moment if feels very soft (175 psi I think) and the rebound is way too slow.
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Cool, that we can sort out quick quick. Might need to tinker with your forks too, to keep the bike balanced.
 
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Ordered the offset hardware, see how it goes. Hope it comes fri/sat as bike park wales sun. Might stick another token in the pikes, only got the one in so far.
 
500USD for pre order, I want one... but don't think I'll ever use it. Reckon you'd look like a bit of a ******* with it following you around

 
Yeah, that thing immediately got my WANT GADGET glands pumping but can't see me actually using it much. Would be nice if it also had a controller option to override the follow stuff and fly it manually. Anyway - I already don't use a GoPro because ain't nobody wants to watch me ride a bike unless I crash well, no need to add a drone to that!

All this "is Swinley good" stuff is hard to answer. It's ideal for beginners and/or people who are otherwise deprived of good places to ride. 99 times out of a 100 I'd much prefer to go a bit further and ride Surrey Hills, but that's because I know my way around there fairly well and there's more to do. If you want something waymarked and unlikely to surprise you with something dangerous then Swinley might be perfect. I certainly did most of my early biking there very happily (albeit before they turned it into an official trail centre).
 
rhysduck said:
Uni mate lives about 20minutes from Swinley and I've never been up to ride with him and there :(

Is it? Looks the same as Saturday for here... let me know if you fancy a tag along :D

Edit: i really wanna ride Woburn but it's too far for a day :(
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I could possibly ride Saturday..
 
Umm, looks like the plan has changed. We're doing W2 at Afan.


FML. This is going to hurt.
8q8OBvB.png
 
Supercow said:
500USD for pre order, I want one... but don't think I'll ever use it.
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This looks amazing but it doesn't have any form of collision sensor so wouldn't be much use with any trees around!

If these things become popular, I can imagine ski resorts having tons of the things flying around and smashing into each other. :D
 
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