WHERE TO RIDE
Is your growing family shrinking your trail time? Then turn your nippers into rippers at your local trail centre, says Rich Owen
Great places for first family riding adventures
For many of us slightly more ‘mature’ mountain bikers, it’s a familiar theme. Starting a young family can mean hello little rippers; goodbye long weekend rides with mates and mid-week trail-ripping spontaneity. Hello mucky nappies; goodbye mucky bikes. Then, on the rare occasions when we can steal a ride, we’re out of condition, off the pace and struggling to regain our previous riding glory. But don’t despair, all’s not lost! There is a place where you can combine high-quality family time with a trail-ripping fix – your nearest forest park with a trail centre.
Naps equal laps
During the dark days when buggies were more commonly seen than bikes in our hallway, we started making family trips to the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. After spending a few happy hours with my partner and our toddler son at Beechenhurst Lodge’s play area and walking trails, I’d jump on the bike and make the short journey to Cannop Cycle Centre for a blast around as many trails as possible while the little one was having his nap.
Once my son had taken to two wheels himself, we continued making regular trips to our local Forestry Commission trails with the aim of having fun, bikerelated days out (not to mention the chance for me to try and nab a few solo laps). Having moved to a new area, our nearest suitable venue was now Haldon Forest Park, in Devon. With its wide range of trails, graded from green through to red, plus a pump track and elementary skills areas, it’s a great place for riders looking to gradually build their abilities and confidence – whatever age they may be.
During our initial trips, I spent my time trotting along beside my son on foot, as he made his way around the green trails, before we slowly progressed to doing laps with both of us on two wheels. Over the next six months everything started to click and my son could see how much fun riding (especially offroad) really is. The balance-bike-riding toddler doing wobbly laps of the park was suddenly a confident pedal-bike-riding six-year-old whooping his way
THE MONTHS OF ENCOURAGEMENT HAD REAPED A FRUITY LITTLE RIPPER!
around the pump track. He was now just as keen as I was to tear up the trails. The months of patience and encouragement had finally reaped a little ripper!
Think facilities You can, of course, take your offspring riding anywhere you like, but making a trip to a trail centre at a well-equipped forest park brings with it a multitude of additional benefits. As well as Haldon, the Forestry Commission look after 29 trail centres across England and Scotland, with over 1,300km of waymarked routes between them. There are 10 similar publicly-owned facilities in Wales, overseen by Natural Resources Wales. While all of these centres provide great opportunities for proper mountain biking, some consist of little more than a car park and the trails themselves, so are not massively conducive to a good family day out with young ones in tow. When planning your woody away-day, something to keep firmly in the front of your mind is that no matter how good the riding is, it’s the other facilities that’ll make or break the family experience.
While wild weeing can be fun, wild pooing is less so and makes toilets the minimum requirement. Play areas also come high on the list, not only as something to keep the little ones entertained and your partner happy while you nip off for some solo riding later on, but also as an incentive for the youngsters to finish a ride. A cafe is also massively
useful and can provide parental comforts such as caffeine and hot food, as well as sugar-based encouragement for the sproglets.
If you’ve ticked off all the above (not forgetting family-friendly trails!), you’re then safe to consider the gnarlier runs that you fancy getting stuck into yourself. As well as Haldon and the Forest of Dean, there are 23 equally well-equipped Forestry Commission centres across England and Scotland. Check out www.forestry.gov.uk and http://scotland. forestry.gov.uk for more, or http://naturalresources wales.gov.uk if you’re looking in Wales. Most forest parks have loads of off-bike fun on offer, and Haldon is no exception. As well as several walking trails, you can explore the forest as part of a group Segway ride, take to the treetops at the Go Ape high-ropes centre or try some orienteering by grabbing a map pack from the ranger’s office.
While it’s great heading to a forest park as a family, it’s better still as a group of families. Peer pressure from budding Danny Harts and Rachel Athertons can help energise any less-motivated youngsters, as can adding in a few point-to-point races to fan the flames of young rivalries. Groups of parents and older riders can head off to do some more serious riding without causing any abandonment issues, and hanging out with other families is an excellent way to enjoy the forest, the trails and generally socialising.
FORESTPARK RIDES ARE EVEN BETTER AS A GROUP OF FAMILIES WITH SIMILAR AGED KIDS