Dalby Forest Red Route Route Comments

If you are looking for something else to ride in the North York Moors area, see one of my other sites: www.mtb-routes.co.uk/northyorkmoors Plenty of routes on the moors, and all well documented.

Just got back from 1st real foray into serious off-road riding on Dalby's Red Route. WOW! Fantastic! Only a month ago a group of us completed a 215 mile trek over 4 days, averaging between 50-60 miles a day. So we figured we'd be fine doing a measly 23 miles! WRONG! Killer! Do not attempt this on anything less than a half decent hardtail (you can hire decent spec Kona bikes from the visitor centre 'Purple Mountain' they're called). The downhill sections are mental & dont get a mention in the route details. Big drops, fast sections, jumps & rather inconvenient rocks & tree stumps right where you'd like to take the corner! We got lost very early on after the 1st real downhill section as the signs were non-existent, but managed to pick the route up again. We had many falls, some fast, some daft slow ones when we couldn't clip out our SPDs in time, but haven't laughed so much in ages! We will deffo be coming back (when the limbs stop aching!) & I know one mate will ensure he has some proper knobblies on next time. Looking for similar rides to this, so ideas anyone? Ideally no further north than this as we travelled from Lincolnshire. Oh forgot to say, it had lashed it down for 3 days b4 we went & the trail was surpisingly dry, just the odd puddle here n there, so dont let the weather put you off!!! GO 4 IT!