Swinley Forest

According to today's Guardian, Swinley Forest near Bracknell is one of the best places to mountain bike in the UK. It features an 'expert mountain bike area' which is also highly rated by MBUK.

See the MBUK article and review here .

I think The CMBC should organise a visit and see if it meets our very exacting standards.

It is 30 miles / 45 mins away, and a £2 permit is required to ride in the forest.

One to discuss, fellas.

http://www.gorrick.com/swinley/index.php

Riding in the Rockies, British Columbia

Due to the harsh topography of the area, the riding here is almost completely a downhill/freeride affair. It is a case of loading the bikes in the back of the truck, driving up some hairy forest roads to the top of the mountains and then riding the downhill trails. Chocked full of steeps, roots, rock slabs, bridges, and airs, the singletrack here is "the epitome of trail riding in the woods". Despite a full face helmet and shin and knee protection, many of the dangerous stuff I left to the locals. Who are all complete lunatics.

The truck - a 27ft, V8 Ford F350:

Here's one of jumps that we all decided to avoid. It drops around 11 feet to the trail.


















More dangerous shenanigans:


















The highlight of the trip was riding a a 12km downhill trail called Oasis in Rossland, which featured over 1,100 vertical metres of vertical drop. 90 minutes of downhill riding. Quite possibly mountain bike heaven.
Check out a video of the trail here. In this instance ridden by competent riders.




And here's a brief, boring snippet of me in action: