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M.T.B. CHALLENGE

2008
Take it on!
M.T.B. Challenge

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SELECTED ADD'S

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M.T.B. TERRAIN

If it's rained all week, what will it be like on differing terrains at the weekend?.

Will the water run off immediately or collect in pools of stagnant stinkers?.

You will probably know how the weather affects your local stomping grounds, but where is it worth going when you need a change !.

What's the lay of the land like ?
' ONE MINUTE IT'S BONE DRY & THEN THE NEXT IT'S 6" DEEP IN SHITY WATER '

	Scottish Highlands	Central S. W. Scotland	Wales	Midlands
Terrain	Mainly high steep and exposed	Best riding in forest complexes some at altitude	Steep, wet intricate	Flat limited off-road biking
Surfaces	Mainly rocky but peat in hollows	Forest, grouse & drove roads	Rocky often uneven	Lots of mud, even on tow-paths
Drainage	Good often flash flooding	Good usually controlled	Good in some places	Poor takes ages to dry out
Trails	Long often long tarmac links	Way-marked in forests, many of the trails well trodden	Confusing status changes in many places	Limited not all tow-paths open to cyclists
Signs	Fair/poor map skills essential	Fair/good Main through routes fine	Fair but always take a map with you	Poor over-all
Best Time	Apr-Jun, Oct-Nov	Apr-Oct	May-Oct	May-Oct
Pit Stops	Spares And well spaced out	Ample places to stay	Quite spread-out, sparse in some places	Ample places to stay
	East Anglia	Home Counties	North East England	The Lake District
Terrain	Flat, agricultural	Surprisingly hilly, intricate	Rounded, often confusing hills and forests	Very hilly mainly steep
Surfaces	Sandy muddier in Suffolk	Clay, often very wet	Peat and sandstone	Mainly rocky occasional bog
Drainage	Fair in north slower in south	Only fair	Mainly good, lot's of peaty wheel stopper's	Good water run-off's worn- tracks
Trails	Mainly good many see little use	Lots of shortest bridleways	Way-marked in the forests, good through routes	Well defined
Signs	Poor map skills essential	Very good but will need a map	Mainly good	Very good should not get lost
Best Time	All-year but best in the summer	May-Oct	All year round	All year round, summer very busy
Pit Stops	Sparse apart from the coast	Ample very busy in the summer	Plenty, busy in the summer	Ample places to stay
	North York Moors	The South West	South Chalklands	The Pennines & Dales
Terrain	Exposed plateau	Low-hills rolling farmland	Impressive ridges, Wiltshire-Kent	Very hilly long hill climbs
Surfaces	Peat, sandstone mix	Mainly soft peaty mix's	Usually compacted chalk, some flint	Lots of peat otherwise stony
Drainage	Mainly good big pools in places	Poor to hopeless!	Most wet disappears leaves some big pools	Good but lingering pools
Trails	Mainly straight lines, tarmac links	Variable in the extreme	Most, well defined heavy use in summer	Mainly well defined little used
Signs	Reasonable good in popular places	Only fair map skills essential	Generally very good, Kent is excellent	Good plenty of national trails
Best Time	All year round subject to weather	Apr-Oct, windy in winter	All year round	Within reason all year summer is best
Pit Stops	Ample places to stay	Good very busy in summer	Book ahead for the summer months	Well spread book ahead in summer

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WHAT'S THE TERRAIN LIKE TO GO RIDING ON . . ?

	Hardcore ground Area Hard rock means big hills, occasional mountains and spectacular riding, and that includes most of Wales, the Lake District, the Central and Western Highlands of Scotland and many of the offshore islands. It also means hard going on steep climbs and lumpy descents, which is why you tend to find that riders from these parts are in a league of their own when it comes to the really rough stuff. In fact, they don't even think it's rough. Good route-finding is essential in these areas, because coming down in the wrong valley can involve a lot of extra work at the end of the days ride, just as you through you'd finished that epic trail, take it from the Bicyclemania.co.uk team they know..!.

	Sandy ground Area Sandy ground is a rarity. Norfolk and Suffolk spring to mind, but there are long sandy patches, such as the Lancashire Mosses, Romney Marsh with its pebble-strewn tracks, Tentsmuir in the kingdom of Fife, and Culbin on the South side of the Moray Firth where a whole agro region, complete with villages, was buried by windblown sand in the 17th century. These are strength-sapping areas, apart from the main agro pistes, where the sand has been compressed and often creates huge road-width puddles. These areas may be pretty flat, but are certainly not easy.

	Peaty ground Area Peat is part of the hard rock scene too, but usually figures large where an ancient layer has covered granites, Volcanic rock or the great glaciated slabs of the Highlands. But it's not all at altitude. Along with the Pennines, Cheviots and Rannoch Moor, there are considerable deposits in the Somerset Levels, any of the south-western Moors and the Norfolk Broads, which were in fact peat pits before they flooded. The only times that peat approaches anything near reasonable riding are when it's bone dry or frozen solid, and even, good wide fresh tyres are a must.

	Sticky ground Area Clay is sticky, (Under statement of the year !) It mostly derives from chalk, but the best stuff has an adhesive quality that makes most trail tracks through the Midlands or dare I say 'mud lands' Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire almost out of bounds between November and April. It takes ages to dry out and all we can do is offer our sympathy to mountain bike riders living in the heart of England and suggest you look for trail opportunities out of your district, like Spain......!.

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