Mountain Biking UK presents Ride Guide

How did you negotiate the labyrinth of lockdown? Become a master baker? Learn how to order an IPA in 12 different languages? Commit wholeheartedly to not learning a new skill? After a recent conversation with Cotic’s owner and founder Cy Turner, it seems many of you are reverting to hardtails, the constant closure of trail centres meaning adventures from your front door have become the norm. With lockdown easing, whether this continues to be the case remains to be seen, but it’s clear that whatever bike you ride, long off-road escapes have never been more popular. Cue this, the second volume of Ride Guide presented by MBUK magazine. Inside you’ll find 14 memorable routes created by MBUK’s resident routes expert and Rough Ride Guide author Max Darkins and beautifully captured…

Distance 28.1km (17.5 miles) Climbing 926m (3,038ft) With months of erratic weather through the winter and into the spring months, we had to rack our brains to think of somewhere we might be able to find some dry land. Then I had a lightbulb moment – Devon’s always sunny, right? Well, at least according to every tourism advert for the South West. So, that’s why Russell and I find ourselves heading in this exact direction down the M5, on our way to Dartmoor. Except it’s not quite as we imagined… Bleary-eyed, we peer through a rainsplattered windscreen, wiper blades flapping at full speed and van headlights attempting to pierce the gloomy spray outside. The forecast has even changed its mind and is now showing rain all day. “Great bloody idea…

Distance 36.8km (22.9 miles) Climbing 978m (3,208ft) SOON YOU’RE ENGULFED IN THE FOLIAGE, CLATTERING ALONG THE ROUGH AND CHANGEABLE TERRAIN ON A NARROW RIBBON OF SINGLETRACK THAT DESCENDS THE HILLSIDE Well, what a year 2020 turned out to be. After battling through various floods and storms, we were then swamped by the worst viral pandemic the world had seen for a century. Twelve months on the situation remained uncertain with socialdistancing the norm. That’s why this Big Ride involved just me, myself and I [Max Dawkins]. We just needed a location not too far away with great trails… and after much conjecture, the Isle of Purbeck won. Photographer Russell and I meet up at Corfe, by the castle ruins being sure to keep a decent distance from each other. The…

Distance 37.4km (23.2 miles) Climbing 940m (3,084ft) The South East is a somewhat congested place. We’re experiencing that first-hand, as the other 20 million-odd people who live in this corner of England all seem to be on the motorway at the same time as us. For mile after mile, we crawl along, watching the ETA on the sat-nav steadily rising. It could quite easily be showing my blood pressure, too. I envisage myself having a bit of a ‘Michael Douglas moment’, as in the film Falling Down, but maybe a bit more middle-class, with a shock pump and clad in cycle attire… Amazingly, we arrive in the lovely little village of Firle at around the same time as Richard Godding and Mark Peapell, a couple of Eastbourne locals whom I…

Distance 353km (220 miles) Climbing 5,185m (17,011ft) WE JOIN AN OLD ROMAN ROAD THAT TAKES US ALONG MORE TREE-LINED TRAILS TO THE MEDIEVAL CITY OF SALISBURY AND THEN ON TO STONEHENGE For years, Cycling UK (formerly the Cyclists’ Touring Club) have been creating exciting long-distance routes to help people travel the length and breadth of the country on two wheels. Their latest off-road epic, King Alfred’s Way, launched last summer and we jumped at the chance to try it. The densely populated south of England may not be the obvious choice for a mountain-bike adventure, but Cycling UK researcher Kieran Foster has created a route that feels very remote, while being accessible to a large number of riders. It also links up four National Trails (the South Downs Way, North…

Distance 22.6km (14.1 miles) Climbing 735m (2,411ft) THE THIN SLITHERS OF TRAIL CONTINUE AROUND THE STEEP HILLSIDE, UNDULATING AS THEY GO AND PROVIDING AN INTERESTING ASCENT After a recent period of endurancetesting rides, I was in desperate need of fun. Deciding to head to Shropshire and the Long Mynd, I was surprised to find the sleepy, chocolate-box town of Church Stretton busy. In fact, my usual port-of-call for accommodation – the camping pods at Marshbrook – was booked up. Could this be a sign that this is the place to come when it’s wet? Somewhere that’s definitely a good place to head on a damp, uninspiring morning is the Heather & Batch Coffee House. Opening the fogged-up doors to a blast of warm, aromatic air lifts our spirits, as does…