The forest floor is hiding some tricky features beneath its autumnal blanket. As our tyres tear through the layer of red and orange leaves, they skitter and skate over unseen roots and off-camber inclines. Even on the straight sections, we’re forced to dip our handlebars steeply left and right between the trunks of silver birch trees, which offer very little wriggle room. Then we’re into tight, muddy switchbacks that require us to suddenly scrub off speed. And I thought this was supposed to be a relaxed XC ride!
Gold miners
The Forest of Dean Cycle Centre, near Cannop Ponds, is hugely popular, and for good reason. It’s got one of the best introductions to proper mountain biking this country has to offer, in the form of the blue Verderers Trail, along with multiple marked downhill runs – which appeal to the full-face helmet-clad uplift crowd and endorphin-seeking trail riders alike – and some great enduro routes. But what of its oldest purpose-built track (save for the gentle family route), the red-graded Freeminers Trail? This classic XC loop often slips under the radar, but with the opening
