Peak District Mountain Bike Trails

StupidMonkeyKev:

Quick get there and get riding before the sanistisation is done - the classic Jacobs ladder from Edale route is awesome, great old bedrock trails - being slowly covered in gravel and road planings by the council :(

Epic bedrock trails

Bigmick:

The area around Hope is what can only be called a dream for mountain bikers,it has without doubt some of the best trails in England and stunning scenery to match. Given that most of the trails have a hard rock base they ride well in all conditions so can be enjoyed at all times of the year. Hope is a good place to start given its abundance of cafes and shops and there is even a bike shop(18 Bikes), the area can get pretty busy with other outdoor users so my advice is either go midweek or get there early before the crowds. Most of the descents around this area are written into the folklore of mountain biking with names such as 'The Beast' , 'Jacobs Ladder' to name just two. If you've never ridden in this area I'd recommend the book "Peak District mountain biking -the dark peak" (published by Vertebrate publishing) a great book that includes all the best routes descents and climbs you could ever wish for.

Some of the best trail riding in England

Nick Hamilton:

All my views on Parkwood can be found here http://thisisheffield.co.uk/2012/parkwood-springs/ but in summary. 10 years in the making, Parkwood Springs mountain bike trail is finally officially open. ‘Sir’ Jon Dallow of the Sheffield City Council has brought together a 6 year long project to bring prime single track bike trails to the City Centre. It hasn’t been at all easy and he’s had an awful lot of help from many people along the way, but the final box has been ticked, the final hoop jumped through and the trails are now ours to play on. And play we can because the quality of the track created is of the highest order, it’s amazing what BikeTrack.Org have been able to pack in to 2km. The ups twist and turn to keep your mind off the effort and the downs are littered with pump bumps, lips and berms. Designed and built to be accessible to all it’s a blue trail with red level opt ins. Beginners will enjoy the confidence inspiring berms, progressive features and grin widening descent. The more advanced riders will boost the doubles, session the jumps and roost the hell out of the loose inside lines. Its got something for everyone, is fun incarnate and you certainly don’t need a DH bike. The story of these trails has been a very long time coming. Dan Cook, now of the CTC, had the vision a decade ago. Jon Dallow took up the challenge and, with his colleagues, has worked with the community, the council, and the likes of Steve Peat and Ride Sheffields Henry Norman, to plan and develop the proposal for the site. Through their hard work they have managed to unlock the £250k of European funding required for the wider project through Sport England and South Yorkshire Forest. There has been huge amounts of community engagement and support throughout the project with ‘The friends of Parkwood Springs’ being instrumental. As Jon says, “this isn’t trail centre, its city centre”, so think carefully about how you ride it. There are bound to be kids, dog walkers and school groups mucking about somewhere along the way as this is all new. Most of them wouldn’t know what a trail centre is. Be nice to them and with time they’ll learn and hopefully pick up a bike themselves. Wednesday afternoon Ranger Tom will likely be up on site doing maintenance, so say hello if you’re passing. They’ll be regular races starting up next year and a facebook group has been started keep people informed of the goings on and plans for the future. Ride Sheffield are entrusted with the custodianship of the trail and its development has had an overwhelmingly positive effect on the whole scene in Sheffield.

Fully surfaced trail good in all weathers. Its so much fun. The descents are great for beginners and challenging enough advanced riders to hone their skills. The ups are never straight, you're always thinking about something other than the effort you're putting in. Easily accessible from the city; no need to drive their, just ride.

joe bowman:

Couldn't of done any better with the land available

Gavin:

I've just got back from my first experience of Parkwood, and it certainly won't be my last. In fact, I am planning on getting up nice and early tomorrow and heading back. I am a rider of modest fitness and ability, only ever having ridden one 'proper' trail centre - Whinlatter in Keswick. I usually just head out to the Peak District and ride around, reasonably aimlessly, just for fun. I was a little concerned by the length of the circuit. 2k doesn't seem like much, and after a nice climb up Rutland Road to find the entrance, I was really hoping the riding would be worth it. It seemed very quiet, so I decided to take a bit of a risk and follow the track up the hill in an attempt to suss out how the route was put together. After a reasonable climb, I finally made it to the top. Now it was time to try and put some of the skills I have spent much time reading about to the test. My aim had been to go for one run on the blue route from start to finish, and then start checking out other variations. By the time I had finished the first short section of what I believe could be nicely flowing, but certailnly weren't put together in a flowing fashion by myself, berms I just had to get back to the top and have another crack. And then I had to have another, then another! It took all my will to move on to the next section. Again more berms, but with some nice looking jumps, and a deviation for the red route which I noted and duly avoided. Again, once I'd made it to the end of this section, I had another couple of attempts at improving my flow. I did make it to the end eventually, after getting a little cocky trying to jump off a rock before a small berm, going straight over the top of said berm and ending up in the brambles. I managed to keep myself from going arse-over-head, dusted myself off and went back to, guess what.... have another go! It would be nice if there were proper toilets, but that is a very small issue. There is a nice little garden area where you could sit and have lunch. The very fact that this place exists a twenty minute bike ride from my flat in town is amazing. The people whose hard work has put this together deserve medals. Go and check it out, it's great fun.

Great for beginners. You can ride it in any weather. You can have plenty of fun sessioning each section. The location.

Tom:

Steve Peat, Bike Track, Ride Sheffield and This Is Sheffield have worked damn hard with Sheffield City Council and John Dallow to get this track running. Please use it and enjoy it but don't abuse it!

1.This trail has been built to an exceptional standard, i rode it today after a month or so of snow and it may as well have been mid summer. The surface was excellent. 2. You can ride it on anything - I rode the course on my titchy 100mm travel hardtail and had a blast you don't need a super 4k xc bike or a dh monster as the features are so well built you can choose how big you want to go. 3. It's near everything - 2 minutes down the road you have Sheffield's ale trail of pubs for a cheeky post ride pint. 5 minutes and you're in the city centre. One thing though there are closer and (imho) better bike shops closer (Langsett Cycles- Infirmary Road, Over Ride - Shalesmoor - to name a couple) 4. You can park safely in the car park 5. It's well signed and managed with other land users in mind.