Forest of Dean Mountain Biking Trails

Description

The Forest of Dean MTB trails (FOD) are based in Gloucestershire. There is the Verderers Blue mountain bike trail (with optional red sections), the Freeminer Red trail (plus Adit extension), a green family cycle trail, another green, a skills area, a pump track, a kid-friendly skills loop, an all-ability downhill mountain bike trail designed for 4 wheels as well as 2 known as Launchpad, the Downhill area (with blue through to double black runs) has 10+ runs to choose from and lots of natural, enduro trails. 

Work has started on the Verderers (blue) trail to add a new optional, technical, red-graded climb section. Of more note, they are also in the process of building a new red-grade downhill trail.

Cycle Centre

• Here you will find Pedalabikeaway who have a cafe/shop/workshop and bike hire facility. There are toilets and showers and plenty of parking.

Family Cycle Trail - Green

• These 11 miles of (18km) trail consist of eleven miles of waymarked, surfaced tracks, most of which are on former railway lines.

Old Bob's Trail - Accessible Green

• The latest addition in September 2024 is a 2km accessible green trail, serving as a bridge between the Colliers Trail and the blue-graded Verderers Trail. It's fully accessible for riders on adaptive bikes, suitable for towing bike trailers, or children on balance bikes. The new trail will feature three different skills areas, to help riders build their confidence and technique. The trail is being designed so you can either session these areas repeatedly, or you can skip them completely and ride the main trail - whatever suits you.
• As a bit of history, Old Bob’s was a pumping engine for Cannop Colliery, located just over the road from the Cycle Centre.

Verderers - Blue

• 7 miles (11km) of rollable trails suitable for beginners. Fast-flowing out corners, big berms and rollovers. It's graded blue with some optional red descents. Great descent on the dragon's tail. It's built by Rowan Sorrell and his Back on Track team and rides well even in the wet.
• There is also an optional, red-graded climb section posts 53 to 54. This is the second, short, switchback climb that you come across on the trail. It's got a few different lines through it and is designed to offer a bit of progression for riders who are confident on the blue trail.
• The end of Adit can be used as an alternative red-grade descent; you can follow directions for it where it splits from Verderers after post 66.

Freeminer - Red

• The Freeminer (formerly the FODCA) 11km trail is singletrack the whole way. It has rooty technical climbs, steep rooty sections to descend, small drops, hairpin bends, rock sections, and switchbacks. There are two tough climbs, great descents, berms, switchbacks, narrow natural singletrack, timber north shore, and jumps. Can get muddy in the winter.
• The Adit extension built in September 2022 adds 9km to the Freeminer trail. The sections include Pig Track, Bluebells Climb, Boars Nest, Biscuits Bits, Sugar Rush, Cashbox, Super-cross, Stick Witch, and the TNT descent leading to Bear Trap. Each section has a different flavour from the fast-flowing to the slow and technical
• In 2025 the new Boneyard red descent on the Freeminers trail was added. It's a technical addition designed for experienced riders, featuring a mix of tight corners, hips, berms, and natural terrain features that require precision and flow. The trail starts above the fireroad off from the blue trail before dropping into a fresh line that brings something new to the red trail offering. 1km of descent bliss back to the trail centre.

Downhill

• The downhill section has several marked short runs (about 15 mins to push up max) catering to many downhill skills. 

Blue - Downhill

A mixture of climbs and descents with moderate gradients, technical features like tree roots and rock steps; jumps and berms. Rollable features at controlled speed. Variable surfaces. 

1. Countdown
2. Launchpad (accessible trail suitable for adaptive bikes)

Red - Downhill

A mixture of steep climbs, descents and/or avoidable features. Larger jumps, berms and rollable features at controlled speed. Technical features such as tree roots, drop-offs and large rocks. Very variable surfaces

1. Flatland - A separate top section, Flatland is ideal to lead into the bottom section of Sheepskull. Rooty corners darting past tree stumps lead into a sharp drop onto the middle fire road.
2. Twisted Sister - This is a red-graded downhill trail and requires an experienced level of riding ability. You will encounter technical features including areas of exposed tree roots and steep terrain.

Black - Downhill

Expect long, steep climbs, descents and jumps. Numerous hazards including drop-offs, sharp corners and difficult features. A rapid rate of surface change. Commitment required

1. Sheepskull - Through the top 'bus stop', then jumping into and out of a bomb-hole, over some roots onto the middle fire road. Flying on down from there, loads of challenging roots tempt you into breaking, then anchor off into the final fast 'motorway' section. 
2. Corkscrew - Jumpy top section leads into a fast rooty bottom section, then swooping through a valley and over the finishing hip jump.
3. Endo - Endo darts down from the middle fire road level, through tight rooty switchbacks and into a fast open bottom section with a tabletop and a small step-down drop. 
4. Mr Rooty - As the name suggests.
5. Y2K
6. Elephant Man

Double Black - Downhill

Very fast and steep descents. Large drop-offs, jumps and unavoidable obstacles that require high levels of skill and commitment. Extreme level of exposure or risk. A rapid rate of surface change.

1. Cougar - delivers Forest's fair share of loam, with long, drifty corners and roots. Plans are afoot to do work to finish off this track from top to bottom. 
2. Ski Run - Drops in through big rocky and rooted sections with fade drops. Into a fast set of turns, a hip jump, the popular tabletop, berms, and road gap.
3. The Good the Bad and The Ugly (GBU) - Drop off's, step-ups and fast-flowing jumps. There is an alternate line that avoids the drops called "Drop Dodger"

Uplift

• Flyup Downhill are the official MTB uplift service. 

Skills Area

• A Skills Area with 2 lines. One line is for drops and the other one is for jumps.

Pump Track

• A progressive pump track for all ages.

Kids Skills area

• As the name suggests a suitable place to hone those early skills for kids and beginners alike.

Off-Piste

• Don't forget aside from the trails are 42 square miles of natural single track.

Other Stuff

• You can see the XC map here
• You can see the downhill map here
• You can see the Family Cycle Trail map here
• In 2016 the Forest of Dean came 2nd in the iBikeRide Trail of the Year awards for England
• The Launch Pad trail was funded by The Gloucestershire Environmental Trust and the Forestry Commission. Built by Architrail and supported by Pedalabikeaway and the DTV
• In 2024 with Muc-Off they launched a new contactless bike wash
• For Adaptive MTB the site features Launchpad—the UK’s first purpose-built adaptive trail—and the fully accessible green-graded Old Bob’s Trail. The centre also has step-free facilities. Also check out Goals Beyond Grass who provide accessible bike hire and sessions here.

Dean Trail Volunteers (DTV)

Dean Trail Volunteers  (DTV) is a volunteer group supporting trail building and maintenance at the Forest of Dean Cycle Centre. If you want to give something back locally, DTV promotes regular trail days plus a range of behind-the-scenes roles.

• Volunteer opportunities: Wednesday and Saturday trail digs, ladies digs, plus litter picks and table sales.
• Non-dig roles: IT support, admin, funding and grant applications, social media, leading social rides, and event planning.
• Volunteer perks: DTV highlights benefits linked to time volunteered. These include partner discounts after 15 hours, and additional benefits after 30 hours such as Forestry England parking and an uplift day at BikePark Wales (BPW). Volunteer hours are counted across the financial year and reset annually.

Find out more: dtv.org.uk

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