Wendover Woods / Aston Clinton - anyone ridden there?
Discussion
Wikipedia said:
Aston Hill Bike Park is located in Wendover Woods on the ridge of the Chiltern Hills. It was developed and operated by Firecrest Mountain Biking, founded by Ian Warby, on 100 acres (0.40 km2) of land leased from the Forestry Commission. Membership is required to ride there which costs £6 online or £7 on the day, or yearly membership is available through the Aston Hill and CTC sites which starts at £45 for an adult.
There are downhill (DH) cross country (XC) and four-cross (4X) mountain bike trails. The downhill trails are the Red Run, which is part of the XC loop, the Black Run, DH3, DH4 and DH5 (4-2-3).
Aston Hill hosts popular races, bike demo days and training events on various days of the year.
Buckingham Bikes took over the running Aston Hill Mountain Bike Area as of Friday 6 April 2007 after the previous five year agreement with the Forestry Commission expired. This followed Ian Warby's appointment to the Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC) as their new Off-Road Development Officer, having spent the previous 10 years developing Aston Hill.
Buckingham Bikes failed to manage the site for more than a few months and at the end of 2007 the gates were permanently locked. Negotiations between a new local group of riders and the Forestry Commission to reopen the park took place and the centre initially reopened to the public for use at the weekends and during school holidays.
A new website has since been launched at www.rideastonhill.co.uk to promote the site and its partnering with the CTC and Forestry Commission. The future is looking more positive after a successful preliminary downhill race on the popular Black Run in March 2009, the development of the new 4-2-3 track and consequential Southern Championships race in September 2009, and another race on the Black Run in March 2010. Aston Hill will also host the downhill Eastern and Central Championships in September 2010.
Aston Hill is now open every day of the week with the Forestry Commssion rangers taking responsibility for opening and locking the gate, mirroring the opening hours of Wendover Woods.
Sounds very promising, anyone have first hand experience? I'm a bit of a wuss for full on DH - is there much in the way of 'aggressive XC' type trail riding?There are downhill (DH) cross country (XC) and four-cross (4X) mountain bike trails. The downhill trails are the Red Run, which is part of the XC loop, the Black Run, DH3, DH4 and DH5 (4-2-3).
Aston Hill hosts popular races, bike demo days and training events on various days of the year.
Buckingham Bikes took over the running Aston Hill Mountain Bike Area as of Friday 6 April 2007 after the previous five year agreement with the Forestry Commission expired. This followed Ian Warby's appointment to the Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC) as their new Off-Road Development Officer, having spent the previous 10 years developing Aston Hill.
Buckingham Bikes failed to manage the site for more than a few months and at the end of 2007 the gates were permanently locked. Negotiations between a new local group of riders and the Forestry Commission to reopen the park took place and the centre initially reopened to the public for use at the weekends and during school holidays.
A new website has since been launched at www.rideastonhill.co.uk to promote the site and its partnering with the CTC and Forestry Commission. The future is looking more positive after a successful preliminary downhill race on the popular Black Run in March 2009, the development of the new 4-2-3 track and consequential Southern Championships race in September 2009, and another race on the Black Run in March 2010. Aston Hill will also host the downhill Eastern and Central Championships in September 2010.
Aston Hill is now open every day of the week with the Forestry Commssion rangers taking responsibility for opening and locking the gate, mirroring the opening hours of Wendover Woods.
Chris71 said:
Wikipedia said:
Aston Hill Bike Park is located in Wendover Woods on the ridge of the Chiltern Hills. It was developed and operated by Firecrest Mountain Biking, founded by Ian Warby, on 100 acres (0.40 km2) of land leased from the Forestry Commission. Membership is required to ride there which costs £6 online or £7 on the day, or yearly membership is available through the Aston Hill and CTC sites which starts at £45 for an adult.
There are downhill (DH) cross country (XC) and four-cross (4X) mountain bike trails. The downhill trails are the Red Run, which is part of the XC loop, the Black Run, DH3, DH4 and DH5 (4-2-3).
Aston Hill hosts popular races, bike demo days and training events on various days of the year.
Buckingham Bikes took over the running Aston Hill Mountain Bike Area as of Friday 6 April 2007 after the previous five year agreement with the Forestry Commission expired. This followed Ian Warby's appointment to the Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC) as their new Off-Road Development Officer, having spent the previous 10 years developing Aston Hill.
Buckingham Bikes failed to manage the site for more than a few months and at the end of 2007 the gates were permanently locked. Negotiations between a new local group of riders and the Forestry Commission to reopen the park took place and the centre initially reopened to the public for use at the weekends and during school holidays.
A new website has since been launched at www.rideastonhill.co.uk to promote the site and its partnering with the CTC and Forestry Commission. The future is looking more positive after a successful preliminary downhill race on the popular Black Run in March 2009, the development of the new 4-2-3 track and consequential Southern Championships race in September 2009, and another race on the Black Run in March 2010. Aston Hill will also host the downhill Eastern and Central Championships in September 2010.
Aston Hill is now open every day of the week with the Forestry Commssion rangers taking responsibility for opening and locking the gate, mirroring the opening hours of Wendover Woods.
Sounds very promising, anyone have first hand experience? I'm a bit of a wuss for full on DH - is there much in the way of 'aggressive XC' type trail riding?There are downhill (DH) cross country (XC) and four-cross (4X) mountain bike trails. The downhill trails are the Red Run, which is part of the XC loop, the Black Run, DH3, DH4 and DH5 (4-2-3).
Aston Hill hosts popular races, bike demo days and training events on various days of the year.
Buckingham Bikes took over the running Aston Hill Mountain Bike Area as of Friday 6 April 2007 after the previous five year agreement with the Forestry Commission expired. This followed Ian Warby's appointment to the Cyclists' Touring Club (CTC) as their new Off-Road Development Officer, having spent the previous 10 years developing Aston Hill.
Buckingham Bikes failed to manage the site for more than a few months and at the end of 2007 the gates were permanently locked. Negotiations between a new local group of riders and the Forestry Commission to reopen the park took place and the centre initially reopened to the public for use at the weekends and during school holidays.
A new website has since been launched at www.rideastonhill.co.uk to promote the site and its partnering with the CTC and Forestry Commission. The future is looking more positive after a successful preliminary downhill race on the popular Black Run in March 2009, the development of the new 4-2-3 track and consequential Southern Championships race in September 2009, and another race on the Black Run in March 2010. Aston Hill will also host the downhill Eastern and Central Championships in September 2010.
Aston Hill is now open every day of the week with the Forestry Commssion rangers taking responsibility for opening and locking the gate, mirroring the opening hours of Wendover Woods.
Aston Hill is sort of my local (well 50 miles away!!) DH spot so know it very well.
It's not really a full on DH centre at all although a couple of tracks have their tricky parts. There is a dedicated XC course that they have just revamped with some new sections and a new boardwalk section that is supposed to be fun.
the main draw of course is the DH runs but it goes in order of difficulty as follows...
Red Run...Very easy... This DH course is actually part of the XC route and is good fun to warm up with. Fast and flowy and pedally,quite gentle start and wheels don't leave the ground at all.
DH3...Easy...This is a more fun technical version of the red run with a lot of pedalling,rollable drops,some off camber rooty bits and nice berms. Again wheels on the gound if you want to and great fun.
4-2-3...Tricky...This is the newest course that we raced on last year but don't enjoy it really. Great start with large ish jump into swoopy wooded section with some nice berms and smaller jumps then off camber rooty sections and a very tricky steep switchback section at the end that i find difficult.
DH4...Fast,bumpy with couple of harder features...DH4 is brilliant fun,fast and furious at the start,nice berms and switchback corners,couple of small jumps before coming to a drop that can't be avoided. It's not a huge drop but the landing is sketchy before a tight wooden bermed corner. Couple of more nice corners and a nasty nasty off camber rooted steep corner that can catch you out easily. Then a rooty blast to the end. Great fun!!
Black run...Very technical,steep,demanding...This is the best run of all. It shares the start with the red run before branching off and getting good. Basically,tight steep corners,roots,drops,one very fast steep rough as hell "chute" into a tight corner,horrible rooty run into a wooden drop that can't be avoided and fast blast at the end!!! Bloody brilliant fun!!!
4X track...Rubbish...Avoid!
The worst part is the push up which after half a dozen runs tends to wear you out! I've taken some mates that are more XC riders rather than DH riders and apart from avoiding the drops on the last 2 courses they all found it challenging but not impossible.
If you fancy going up sometime then PM me mate and try and arrange something if you like.
Cheers.
Dave.
Thanks Dave. Need to get my MTB sorted out (managed to mangle the power links somewhow so it's dropping the chain repeatedly at the moment), but I'm up for a trip out some time. I'm definitely more of an XC rider and I don't do doubles or jumps where I have to clear anything, but sounds like I could make my way down the first couple at least.
I'm actually heading to that area over the weekend, but sadly bike-less this time. Might still go and take a quick look at the woods, just so I can say I've driven the road that gave rise to the name Aston Martin...
ETA Did indeed go up there over the weekend and the ranger let me sneak in for a look around the top part of the trails on foot. Looks very promising - the trails don't seem to be hugely well signposted and the surface seems pretty slippery (I had enough trouble on foot), but the actual terrain looked fantastic. Given me some encouragement to get my bike sorted out.
I presume you can find a route up the fire roads or something if you wanted to cycle back up after doing one of the DH trails on an XC type bike?
Debating whether I'd use it enough to take out membership. It'd be a bit of a trek from London, but certainly would be tempting to have a properly constructed bike park with a bit of gradient, not the usual flat natural trails and bridleways.
I'm actually heading to that area over the weekend, but sadly bike-less this time. Might still go and take a quick look at the woods, just so I can say I've driven the road that gave rise to the name Aston Martin...
ETA Did indeed go up there over the weekend and the ranger let me sneak in for a look around the top part of the trails on foot. Looks very promising - the trails don't seem to be hugely well signposted and the surface seems pretty slippery (I had enough trouble on foot), but the actual terrain looked fantastic. Given me some encouragement to get my bike sorted out.
I presume you can find a route up the fire roads or something if you wanted to cycle back up after doing one of the DH trails on an XC type bike?
Debating whether I'd use it enough to take out membership. It'd be a bit of a trek from London, but certainly would be tempting to have a properly constructed bike park with a bit of gradient, not the usual flat natural trails and bridleways.
Hi Chris,
When it's wet at Aston it is very slippy..roots and chalk and mud!!!
Once you have done the runs once they are pretty easy to find and there is one long fireroad that all the DH runs join on to so easy to follow straight back up and apart from a set of wooden steps you "could" ride up..or push up...
I wouldn't say it's a "properly constructed bike park",very basic with one porta loo and that's it. But they do the best they can with the little money they have but the DH runs certainly make up for it.
You don't have to join,book a day ticket at £6 and go for the day and have a play. Let me know if you fancy going and if i can i'll get up there and show you around.
Dave
When it's wet at Aston it is very slippy..roots and chalk and mud!!!
Once you have done the runs once they are pretty easy to find and there is one long fireroad that all the DH runs join on to so easy to follow straight back up and apart from a set of wooden steps you "could" ride up..
or push up...I wouldn't say it's a "properly constructed bike park",very basic with one porta loo and that's it. But they do the best they can with the little money they have but the DH runs certainly make up for it.
You don't have to join,book a day ticket at £6 and go for the day and have a play. Let me know if you fancy going and if i can i'll get up there and show you around.
Dave
Edited by nessiemac on Monday 9th August 16:46
nessiemac said:
I wouldn't say it's a "properly constructed bike park",very basic with one porta loo and that's it.
True, but I was thinking of the trails. I normally ride in Broxbourne woods and that's just natural fox trails. No chance of a bermed corner or a section of North Shore there... Will definitely drop you a line when the bike is fixed.
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