Mountain Biking in the UK: An expert’s guide to bike trails, routes and downhill rides

It was about time  we had  a feature on the Visit Wales blog about mountain biking. We needed honest answers from an expert,

How does Wales stack up as a top UK mountain bike destination and how would somebody ‘get into’ mountain biking ?

I asked regular Mountain Bike Wales blogger and ‘bike trail guru’ Guy Kesteven…..

If you think Mountain biking is still all about bad neon outfits, getting lost down muddy lanes and “You’ve been framed” crash clips, then you’re in for a big shock.

You might also be surprised that Wales is leading the world in the knobbly rubber revolution too. How do I get involved and why is a whole lot more interesting than a history lesson though, so here’s the need to know.

Coed y Brenin – origins of a mountain bike mecca

Working as a pro bike tester is a weird world and I first met Dafydd Davies in a dense, damp forest in 1997 when a planned bike test in the Falklands went blubber side up. I’m normally wary of men with a manic excited look and a chainsaw, but the purpose built mountain bike trail he’d created at Coed y Brenin in his spare time was incredible.

Rideable whatever the weather and pitched to challenge, charm and carve a big grin on your face with every hard earned metre. Even more incredible was the immediate popularity of this small ribbon of rock hidden near Dolgellau.

Suddenly previously deserted local hotels were full of mountain bikers. Unlike ramblers, having wheels, helmets, and pumps to remember meant riders bought stuff from local shops and emptied the cellars and larders of local pubs and restaurants at night. In fact at the first Glyncorrwg mountain bike weekender locals told us there wasn’t a biscuit or loaf of bread to be found between Neath and Newport by Monday morning.

That meant us mountain bikers weren’t grubby track tearing, granny scaring hooligans anymore, we were the ultimate unconventional tourists. Next thing we know Dafydd and others have turned into pro trail builders, local enterprise schemes love us and suddenly there are better and better purpose built trails are opening up all across Wales. Lovely, eco friendly lolly stick built visitor centres mean you can finish the ride of your lives with a latte and local bacon butty too. Fully graded trails from family to fearsome double black mean you’ll never get unexpectedly get out of your depth either.

UK Mountain bike trails

Unsurprisingly, Scotland and the borders area has jumped on the bandwagon too. To be fair they’ve got some damn good trails if you can be bothered to drive all day to get there and even England has built some squirrel chasing routes too.

Nowhere matches the consistent super high quality, individuality and convenience of Welsh mountain biking though. That’s before you even start talking about the whole world of Old Skool wild riding that’s wrapped round the beautifully rugged Welsh landscape.

Guy’s guide to the mountain biking trails of Wales – from ‘novice to plain nuts’

So you’re now itching to get started mountain biking in Wales but where should you go?

1. For the original full on shake, rattle and roll experience: Coed y Brenin.

Coed y Brenin – The forest where Dafydd started it all now has a full range of stunning trails from the family river run to the savage ‘Beast’ radiating out from a state of the art visitor centre.

2. Hundreds of Kms of World class trails in the last place you’d expect: Afan Forest Park.

Afan Forest Park – Weaving through the tight streets of South Wales the last thing you expect to find at the end of the valley are the incredible multi trail centres of Afan and Glyncorrwg. Now complete with a vibrant demo an event calendar, state of the art café, bike shop and superb purpose built accommodation from hostels to hotels.

3. Novice and/or plain nuts northerners after the ultimate bike and butty experience: Coed Llandegla.

Coed Llandegla – Just past Wrexham is a visitor centre/bike shop that’s more welcoming than your own lounge and serves award winning bacon butties. They’ll also hire you a bike to hit the range of family friendly or whoop and holler black and red run trails or even organise a kids MTB party!

4. The ultimate immediate, convenient adrenaline fix: Cwm Carn

Cwm Carn – A few minutes past the Severn bridge you could be sat on the uplift bus ready to hit a national champs level downhill course. Either that or climbing up the stunning cross country loop, ready to regroup overlooking the Bristol Channel before railing the winding trail back down.

5. For breathtakingly wild birds and bikes: Nant yr Arian.

Nant yr Arian – For the ultimate mix of handmade singletrack and old skool wild riding come and join the Red Kites on this wild ridge high above Aberystwyth. Keep it local or head north to Machynlleth for the ultimate weekend epic.

More info

MB Wales

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This entry was posted on Friday, May 15th, 2009 at 3:50 pm and is filed under Activities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.