Tag: mtb

Alton Water Loop

Posted on by Ross Spencer in Cycling Routes and Trails, Suffolk Cycle Routes

A 12Km/8 Mile cycle trail that travels around the beautiful Alton Water reservoir along a mixture of trail surfaces that are rideable by practically any cycle.

This beautiful cycling trail in the East of Suffolk makes it’s way around the very scenic Alton Water Park reservoir.  Although some of the surfaces are dirt trail, they are still predominantly smooth and can be ridden on practically any cycle. 

Map Image courtesy and ©️ Anglian Water Parks

On my first visit to the park, one or two of my counterparts were using road bikes and had very little trouble throughout.  That being said, the ride is more comfortable on something with wider tyres such as a hybrid or MTB so worth bearing in mind if you are planning to head over and enjoy this amazing route.

The Shepherd Trail

Posted on by Ross Spencer in Cycling Routes and Trails, Suffolk Cycle Routes

An easy and fully signed Green Graded 5 Mile/8 Km Forest Trail loop that’s suitable for cyclists of all ages and abilities, beginning and ending at High Lodge Visitor Centre.

The Shepherd Trail is a flat and easy going forest trail through the beautiful High Lodge area of Thetford Forest.  Predominantly making use of the fire roads through the area, this trail is suitable for cyclists of all ages and abilities with no need for any particular type of cycle.

Trail surfaces are firm throughout the year, even in the winter seasons and the scenery can be truly beautiful.  This is an ideal trail for a family cycle ride, even with younger children and there’s event a convenient shortcut about half way round if you want to take things easy.

The Lime Burner Trail

Posted on by Ross Spencer in Cycling Routes and Trails, Suffolk Cycle Routes

The Lime Burner Trail is a red graded and fully signposted 9 mile/15Km route through the heart of Thetford Forest, starting and ending at High Lodge.

Certainly towards the easier end of the spectrum for Red Graded trails, the Lime Burner can still certainly provide some fun riding through it’s mixture of trails and  named features.  Among these are four missable ‘black’ sections that can be undertaken to switch things up a little.  Again, compared to other trails in the country, these black graded sections are on the easier end of the spectrum, but no less fun for that.

The trail itself provides a nice mix of surfaces and scenery, with tightly packed woodland with natural forest ground to hard packed maintained trails with berms and rollovers.  This, combined with it’s lower difficulty makes it a great trail to use as a training ride for honing skills, ready to take on it’s bigger brothers and sisters in other areas of the country.

Summer Shutdown – 1st to 15th August

Posted on by Ross Spencer in What's New?

Next week, from 1st August, I will be heading over to Cumbria to venture out into the hills for a well earned couple of weeks R&R and will not be returning to work until Monday 15th August.

I’m going to be visiting places like this…

During that time I will be mostly unreachable and will not be checking emails on a regular basis. Over the next week or so, I will be doing my level best to tie up any loose ends and make sure that any preparations are in place for anything taking place during my absence.

And doing lots of this…

I will respond to any enquiries or emails on my return and look forward to speaking with you then.

If you’re interested in seeing what I get up to while away, keep an eye on my Twitter and Instagram for updates.

Hit The Downs ’22

Posted on by Ross Spencer in Cycle Events

I can honestly say that I had a fabulous couple of days on The South Downs last weekend.

Arriving in Graffham in the early part of Saturday afternoon to set camp and have a quiet evening before our busy Sunday showed what a truly beautiful place this area of the UK is.

We let camp early on the Sunday and made our way to Shoreham to get registered and embark on the 30KM route of the St Barnabas House & Chestnut Tree House Hit The Downs 2022.

Whilst (thankfully) the temperatures didn’t make it up to those we’ve experienced over the last couple of days, we weren’t long into the route before we were starting to feel the heat as the sun started to warm everything up .

At the finish (and much warmer than I look!)

My Ride Track

The View From Chanctonbury Ring – Highest point of the route

Although the temperature wasn’t perfect, the lovely clear skies did provide some stunning views and the South Downs really have a lot to offer with beautiful open scenery and delightful woodlands.

The course itself is a mixture of road, bridleway and narrow track with much of it following the South Downs Way.

No matter where we were on the route, the trail surfaces were all very rideable with no nasty surprises, making the the climbs relatively easy and the descents a great deal of fun.

At the Findon Rest Stop – 20KM Point

I’d like to offer a huge thank you to St Barnabas House and Chestnut Tree House for putting so much effort into organising this great event and Marmalade MTB for the huge amount of effort they put into checking and signing the route in the few days leading up to the event itself.

Click the logos to find out more about these organisations

Next year? I think I’m up for 60KM 😁

Support Us

Event though the event is over, if you’d like to support me and these great charities, there’s still time to head on over to my JustGiving page and make a small donation to help us out.

From £1 to £50, every penny counts and will be very gratefully received!

Total Donations So Far

Hit The Downs MTB Is Almost Here!

Posted on by Ross Spencer in Coming Up

When I posted back in June that I’d be in the South Downs, taking part in the Hit The Downs MTB event to raise much needed funds for St Barnabas House and Chestnut Tree House in West Sussex, it seemed like such a long way off.

Just a mere few weeks later and the weekend has arrived!

After finishing up with providing some Race Timing Services to a great event tonight (more on that later), I’ll be loading up the van and then getting some well earned sleep, ready to head down South early tomorrow morning so that I can make a weekend of it.

The Challenge

I’m going to be riding 30Km across the South Downs, starting at 9am on Sunday taking us along some of the beautiful roads, trails and bridleways in this stunning countryside.

If you’d like to support me and these great charities, there’s still time to head on over to my JustGiving page and make a small donation to help us out.

From £1 to £50, every penny counts and will be very gratefully received!

Total Donations So Far