Wyre Forest

Last weekend was a trip down to Kidderminster, visiting my mum. I had a choice of doing a cyclocross race over in Droitwich on Sunday morning, or getting out for a ride. I’ve been enjoying riding the mountain bike so much lately that it wasn’t a hard decision. Grunting and sweating my way round a muddy field for an hour with a bunch of other riders trying to get past me, or a few hours cruising through leafy singletrack in Wyre forest?

Sunday morning saw me pedalling off to the visitor centre in Wyre Forest. The Wyre is about 5 miles across, mixed natural woodland and plantation, cut through with some deep stream valleys, all perched on a rising hillside above the river Severn. There is the usual network of fire roads which make fast and dull riding, but the main deal is the spiders web of singletrack, a fine mesh of trails that seems to extend to all corners of the forest.

My problem is that none of the good stuff is signposted or mapped, and being a moorland riding northerner, woodland is an alien habitat for me. Take me 50m into a wood, spin me round, and I’m completely lost. This woodland dyslexia means that although I have ridden in Wyre Forest 4 or 5 times, I’m still clueless about where the good stuff is, stuff that I rediscover each time I ride.

I found lots of stuff I recognised from before, plus a few new areas. I tagged along with a chap on an FSR for a bit and he showed me some beautiful trails, including a long snaky descent with a perfect scattering of steep dips, fallen trees and rocky steps. The Wyre singletrack is some of the finest I’ve ridden, better than those follow-my-leader trail centres which leave you strangely unsated and needing more. These are natural trails (yes, I know they are all man made really) in deciduous woodland, not manicured or predictable, where you are as likely to see a deer as another rider. I don’t want to get all misty eyed about the beauty of nature, but there were some moments where I had to just stop and stare. The sight of a narrow strip of trail twisting down through the trees, the ground carpeted with leaves, and not knowing what lies ahead is a potent combination. If that doesn’t stir you, you should put your bike away and get out your pipe and slippers.

Oh, and here's something else. Samuri is an angry singlespeeder, and well worth a look. Just don't get in his way, or beat him up a hill.