Windhill Bikepark

If you’re into swanky trail centres and expensive coffee, this isn’t for you. If you like things back to basics; portaloos, friendly staff, and a brilliant ride on your doorstep – it definitely is! It’s easily accessed via A-Roads and there’s a nearby services if you’re looking for hot food / accommodation.

You park up a three-minute ride from the kiosk, which is no issue – a bag of spanners and spare tubes is never too far away, and the staff often lend pumps and tools for trailside tweaks. The first thing you’ll see is a big wooden drop in ramp – and it links to every trail in the park, so makes a perfect hub for meeting new riders. Underneath this there’s a cubby hole to store bags etc and the kiosk where you pay. There’s a couple of seats and a load of tree stumps to sit on and have a bite to eat, and the kiosk sells the usual chocolate bars, energy drinks etc that you’d expect.

But the important bit, the trails…

They’re impressive, seriously impressive. There’s a massive amount of variety, from the (quickly becoming) infamous pro line you can see in Pilgrim and Reynolds edits, to a blue trail you could have an absolute blast on whether you’re experienced, or a complete novice

Blue Trail - It’s fast (as fast as you can go!) and flowy with a lot of BMX-type features that you can hone your skills on, finishing up on a nice set of jumps that you can send as hard as you like. Big berms opening up onto a few fast, straight sections give plenty of runoff and the chance for a novice to explore their potential. There’s a nice set of whoops at the start, and this beginning section shoots off into three other red trails, so no deflated egos when you drop in from the main ramp – you really can pick and choose your trails.

The red trails – You’ve got a lot of choice in this department. One trail follows the same ethos as the blue trail; fast, flowy and massively fun! The jumps are bigger, and you require reasonable pace to clear them - a novice could ride it without feeling too intimidated, but there’s a really sweet set of tables at the bottom that require good speed if you’re going to clear them. There’re two other red tracks that are slower (if you ride like me) and a bit more technical – tight corners, muddy roots and uneven ground – nothing like the stony, smooth blue runs. Bigger jumps, drops, and even a little road gap; all designed to keep you on your toes. If you were being picky here, you could argue that there’s nothing super-technical; there’re no big rock gardens or root-strewn ribbons of track threading tightly between trees. It never poses an issue for me though – I was having too much fun on what was there, and its an omission I’ve only really noticed on reflection.

If you’re a dirt jumper, don’t despair – there’s a great set of dirt jumps running off the pro line and no, you don’t HAVE to drop off that Northshore feature to hit them (but massive props if you do!)

So, yeah, it’s an easy day out. A few people might complain about an uplift, but the big positive about the park not being very steep is that it’s an easy 10 minute push up the fire roads – and if you can’t handle that, you need to work on your fitness. The tracks snake down the hillside, really making use of the shallower gradient – I found I wanted trails to last longer because I was having such a good time, not because they were noticeably shorter than I’m used to. As part of the B1KEPARK franchise (that runs Tidworth Freeride and Rogate too) it’s run as efficiently as you’d expect, and £10 a ride seems like a bargain – especially if you’re used to going further afield spending money on fuel, bridge tolls, parking and expensive trail centre food. The only thing worth mentioning is that you need to register beforehand; it’s a two-minute job online and is (as far as I understand) the equivalent of signing the waiver at BPW and most other bike parks. Plus, once its done, they mail you a membership card you can flash each time so you don’t need to take any other ID - if it’s your first time take a pic of the membership number they email you and show them that. Oh, and yearly membership is £125 with discounts for servicemen, youths and students, which works out a bargain when you think that’s 1 visit a month for a year – yet you’ll find most locals out there shredding almost until the sun sets on summer weeknights.

Falling out of love with the sport?

Something always comes up…but this is the tenth week in a row, you’re in a slump. Mates are talking about *insert lesser hobby here* and you’re wondering if you ought to sell the bike, free up some cash, and go to work guaranteed that your shins and elbows will be scratch-free.

STOP RIGHT THERE

You’ve got to sort it out – get on the bike and rekindle your love for riding. Here’re a few reasons / solutions I’ve thought of, and I’d be interested to hear what you think in the comments!

Money:

You seem to be spending a constant trickle of cash on your bike (or perhaps it’s a torrent!) and you can’t justify it – not to yourself, your other half, or your depleting savings account. How do you sort it?

·      Consider local rides – You needn’t spend a lot of money on fuel, parking or uplift passes. Find somewhere local and (if you’re a Dh rider) be prepared to push. It’ll have the nostalgic feel of when you first got into riding, probably before you had a car and had to ride/push everywhere anyway. Rather than a sweaty uplift bus, you get to take in the woods and chill out – stop for a breather and a drink on the way up, nobody is timing you!

·      Reduce ride-to-ride costs – Sounds like a simple one, but most of us do the ride/lunch/pub (usually in that order!) routine, and the food and drinks can rack up a serious bill. Instead of buying a burger or sandwich trailside, take a packed lunch and bottle of drink from home. There’s no need to be embarrassed; persuade your buddies that Sam Hill starts each ride with a packet of Quavers and you’ll be golden. Have people back to yours for drinks, rather than the pub – Being thrifty doesn’t mean not being sociable! (I should put a little disclaimer here: I know many trail centres rely on food and drink sales to build and maintain the tracks we love, so by no means am I discouraging supporting that – just trying to get more people out there enjoying the trails if money is a serious issue.)

·      Assess the Essentials – No, I don’t mean hold off on buying those brake pads, or swapping for a cheap helmet. I mean think about what’s actually essential to riding. All too often we get caught up in the marketing hype surrounding mtb, and forget that it’s more important to ride than it is to have the best gear. If you have to free up money, why not take a downgrade on spec for a bike which is still good enough to let you ride your local trails, and reliable enough to not need the constant (and potentially expensive) maintenance that top-flight machines might require. Yes, it’ll feel weird at first, but if you find yourself laughing your way down the trails and looking at an upgrade a couple of months down the line, it was worth reigniting the spark. Similarly, if you need to free up cash it’s a great way of keeping a hand in the hobby without risking your whole arm.

Nobody to ride with:

You used to ride with them all the time, most weekends and some weeknights too. But now they struggle to get out once a month, and you don’t like the thought of going alone…

·      Join a Facebook (or similar) local group. Just typing in a few keywords should get you what you’re looking for; a bunch of like-minded enthusiasts like you, all looking forward to their next ride. Obviously the usual ‘stranger danger’ rules apply – make sure you’re not showing off expensive gear to people you don’t know, or meeting people for the first time alone. But, the negative warning aside, it’s brilliant – not only do you meet those in the group, but you meet more people out on the trails with them too.

·      Find someone who hasn’t had a go at the sport for a while, and get them out on a bike. You might even try your other half! It’s a win-win; if they love it, you’ve got a new riding partner. If they don’t enjoy it, you’ve got a ride in and had the chance to meet new people on the trails. Compared to the other sports I’ve been involved in, mountain bikers are hands down the friendliest group I’ve encountered – there’s a sense that everyone is out to have fun, not compete.

·      Book an uplift – I’d never advise riding alone because of the safety aspect, but with an uplift you’ve reduced that risk; riders should be hitting the trails (and finishing them) at a regular time. Get to know people on the lift, set off in the middle of a pack, and have a great time!

Struggling to keep up with the sport:

Whether it’s injuries, or just not taking the physical demands of steering a machine down rough terrain as well as you once did, this can have a massive impact on how much you’re enjoying your ride.

·      Injuries – If you’re worried about missing work, or just sick of aches and pains, there’re a few solutions to this.

1.     Take out sports insurance – It might cost a couple of extra pounds a month, but can give you peace of mind when you find the right broker / policy.

2.     Warm up / Warm down – If your warm up is putting on your shoes, and your warm down is sipping a pint, this could be the solution to your niggles. A quick warm up gets you ready for action, while an effective warm down makes that drive home much more comfortable, and will make a massive difference the next day. I won’t outline specific routines here – a quick online search will give you all the info you need. Hey – the pros do it, so you might even feel a little performance boost!

3.     Consider your protection – If you’ve got it all, you can ignore this bit. If not, consider how knee / shin / elbow pads will help with scrapes. A good helmet goes without saying, but goggles are handy too. If you’re really worried, padded undershorts and vests are available. Also, an often overlooked safety feature is good footwear; not only does a good pair of shoes offer support for your foot, reducing pain from the pedal, but some of them offer thick rubber soles for additional protection against rock strikes etc.

Something else always comes up:

This is by far the hardest one to try and solve, as we all lead vastly different lives so will have a diverse range of distractions (of varying importance). Loosely, I’d have to say force yourself to have one morning / afternoon out – even if it’s just grabbing a few hours after work in the light. If you come back buzzing, you know you’ve got to go back for more! Try and book at least one four-hour chunk off a month (whether it’s a weekend, weekday, or evening blast) and stick to it. You have to question whether, if you love your hobby, how important the other stuff is to get in your way. The biggest one is work; if you’re working an extra couple of hours for your kids, pay off a mortgage or any other big commitment, I respect that. If not, you’ve got to weigh up whether those few extra pounds are worth missing something you truly enjoy – in ten years’ time you wont remember that Saturday you worked three hours’ overtime, but you will remember the good times you had out on the bike!