TRF Forums

Hello all, I've been riding road bikes since 16 and fancied a go at green landing. I bought a KTM 300exc and couldn't ride it for toffee, falling off couldn't reach the floor and it broke down every other ride. I got pissed off and sold it. However, I saw the new Montesa 4Ride and ordered one on a whim, looks far more suited to my lack of skill and experience. It comes on Friday and I'm itching to get out but I have no idea where to go or how to find the trails. Is there a good book/guide that's easy to follow I can buy? I'm in Penistone, just the right side of woodhead pass. Thanks in advance for any help. Greg.

Hello and welcome from east sussex

I am sure some folks on here will direct you to some local lanes, but you dont want to be going out alone

You local TRF club will have maps you can mark up and also you local county council website noramlly have a ROW map

Enjoy it and wlcome aboard

Greetings,

My advice is to contact your local Groups as there should be somebody there to guide you on all of the aspects that you need to consider, not just the knowledge of the location of local lanes but the legality and suitability of their use too.

The problems are principally related to Traffic Regulation Orders which are applied by the Highway Authorities and National Parks to control vehicular access, in short to stop you riding just where you want. These TROs are brought in for safety so that the Authorities can undertake maintenance and repairs of the various routes, to protect routes from damage at times of bad weather or to totally stop access to recreational motorists such as ourselves from a political point of view

The UK is small and all land is owned by somebody, we do not have 'public' land in the same way as other countries.

We normally advise that folk do not ride the lanes on their own, again for a variety of reasons but principally for safety. If you do then do n't ride faster than your guardian angel can fly

I have put some routes up on the Viewranger website which you can take a look at or download for free, search Castleton, but you ride them entirely at your own risk, etc, etc., followed by more legal jargon and bull s##t

https://my.viewranger.com/auth/login

You would be most welcome to pop over to our Manchester Group and we can guide you or just check out the whole list under the following link and visit a couple of others too;

http://www.trf.org.uk/find-your-regional-group/

Good luck and I hope to meet with you sometime.

TTFN

Hugh.

Hello, thanks for the advice. Gonna really try use this bike and get better. I'll try get over for a ride out, my mate should be getting a bike this weekend too so I won't be riding alone. do you do different ride outs for different skill levels? I don't really want to be ruining everyone's day waiting around for me when I can't get places and fall off etc. Cheers.

Welcome Greg,
cant stress enough for you to get along to a local meeting. they need members to attend.
there you will meet like minded people of all abilities, ages, bikes and keenness.(and opinions!)
for info on where to ride they're invaluable. get yourself some paper maps as well, the info held at club level is often on paper format and this is the easiest and quickest way to show someone new where to ride, explain any issues or tricky spots or places to avoid. Remember a lot of people don't do the smartphone app map or gps device thing, they rely on old school skills of map reading.

also don't always rely on the web/phone app or online maps (unless its the official local councils map) for where to ride, these will only tell you how a lanes been recorded, not that you can still ride it. the guys in the local group will/should be up to date with restrictions and closures.

some local groups have quite active local forums where rides are arranged, and chit chat is had, rides are also arranged by friends within the groups, either at meetings or privately so are not always publicised. local runs are not usually publicised on the national forum, unless its a group having an awayday somewhere out of their region.


Falling off is all part of the fun/learning process so just plod along and enjoy the craic!

Greetings Greg,

When the Manchester Group offers a ride out it will normally comment if it is aimed at new folk starting out or if it will be technically more demanding. Our Chairman, Phil, and our run coordinator, Alan, often build up a list of requests and will then ask one or more of our run leaders to set something up.

All TRF run leaders take into account of the nature of the terrain and how folk are progressing, the route will be modified accordingly to take account of such varied abilities, weather conditions, etc.

Please, don't think that you would be holding anybody up, ride only at your own pace, if other choose to ride more quickly then let them know that such is not for you and they will modify to suit. We all started out a bit wobbly, I still am , so do n't worry, get your names out there, turn up, show respect and enjoy.

TTFN

Hugh.

Welcome fromTeesside and North Yorkshire TRF. We meet on the 3rd Wednesday of each month - so tonight - 7.30pm at the Lord Nelson in Thirsk and you'd be most welcome to come along.

I ride a Yamaha Serow. Well I say ride. Probably I try to stay on a Yamaha Serow while it moves along is more accurate.....my philosophy is while they're laughing at me they're not laughing at somebody else!! As long as you're having fun and stay safe and legal then that's all that matters.

I look forward to your first ride report with photos.

This could be a contender for your first run lead Nige....? Local to you...