Swinley Forest Mountain Bike Centre

Matt:

The new blue loop and waymarking has opened up Swinley as a great place for newbies to develop their skills. For the more experienced there's plenty of fun to be had and the new sections offer a contrast to the red/older sections.. why not improve your fitness by riding a second lap? Go for some decent XC; don't expect Wales and lengthy decents.

scriveroo:

I enjoy a ride out at Swinley. My main motivation is the exercise and having some fun. I mainly go with my boyfriend. I love riding through the forest as it is a nice escape from crazy London. It's family friendly and my children (13 and 7 year old) love coming and it pushes them both.

Its a fun workout. And it's good for families.

leila:

Swinley is a fun ride that has got better with the new trails. There are some really fun, fast, swoopy sections with a few nice jumps thrown in. It's a great ride especially as living in London there's not to many trails.

All weather The red joins up to the blue making a nice long loop A fun decent with a lot of classic Back On Track type sections

Perry:

As this is my local trail center I get to ride it regularly. The new trails have brought a whole new dimension to Swinley and have greatly improved the usability of the trails in wet/winter conditions. The new Blue and Red sections added by Rowan Sorrell this year are fast, swooping and great fun for those that enjoy big fast linked berms. There are plenty of opportunities to get some air for those that want it but all can be ridden for those that want to keep the wheels on the deck. For the fans of "old" Swinley Sorrell has kept a number of the classic sections more or less unchanged (Stickler, DH zone, The Labyrinth) and integrated them into the new sections.

* Good all weather trails have fixed some of the sections that previously turned into the "Swinley Bog" * Fast swooping sections on the Blue and the Red (in particular Blue 14 and 16 and Red 15 and 25) * Classic Swinley sections left more or less unchanged

Chris Hodge:

Swinley forest has always been a great place to ride but getting lost every time I went was off putting as I could never find the good bits, that is now pretty much resolved, the signage is largely excellent, a few places it leaves you guessing. The trails are fast when wet or dry with good drainage, but when wet, some of the trails are scarily skittish, the hardcore in the surface makes some of the trails feel like your on ice or marbles, so take care, specially as where it happens most are off camber bends. I am fortunate that I can commute home from work via most of the red and the latter part of the blue and it is seriously fast in places, if your a chicken you can negotiate the jumps without losing face and if you like big air you can grab that too. It works really well, connecting the blue and the red run up, there are some bits that are in both routes which aren't the most exciting or interesting but they get you to the good bits, so you get your rewards in the end by the bucket load. Feels a lot like Forest of Dean but better except the facilities aren't great but they are geared up more for everyone else rather than the MTBer's, that will likely change in time.

Can be ridden in all weathers Quite fast, encourages you to ride fast so will help your fitness easy on the inexperienced if you keep your speed down rewarding on the experienced, specially if you can keep your speed up

Pete:

Fantastic trail center. You will have so much fun you won't believe it. It can accommodate absolutely everyone at any skill level. Highly recommended!!!