Bike
MTB
Weekend ride: Swinley Forest
Discover 24km of purpose-built mountain bike trails & singletrack in the south of England.
Swinley Bike Hub rider Jack Tate testing new lines
© Tristan Taylor
Swinley Forest offers the most accessible, fun, flowy, all-weather trail centre riding in the south of England, just one hour from London. Take an XC-focused rig and you’re guaranteed a solid workout, or choose a short to mid-travel trail bike and pop and roost every trail feature you see. Swinley has something to offer the beginner, right through to the more advanced rider.
Watch some of the best UK riders tear up Swinley Forest in the edit below:
The trails
Over the past few years The Crown Estate, as the land owner, has invested into the Swinley Forest trail network for mountain bikers. The result of which are trails that ebb and flow continuously to the forest’s contours. The trails work on a stacked loop system, firstly with riders setting off on the blue graded trail. The blue trail is around 10 km in length and provides smooth flowy berms that entertain riders of all skill levels depending on how hard you want to push it. The final section of this trail puts a huge smile on every rider's face, as they head home with two stunning descents. It's enough to make you feel like you’re in the big country and not just an hour from London.
As you hit the mid-point of the blue trail, the red trail spurs off. If you feel that you have the confidence after riding a few kms, join the red, where the berms and flowing singletrack continue, but some more testing natural trails start appearing.
The best sections around the red trail are over at the reservoir. Red 15 offers a fast adrenaline-fuelled descent covering bike park style berms, with root beds later on. Continue to Red 20 to tackle the other favourites, locally known as 'Deerstalker' and 'Labyrinth', with the latter making for a real lung-busting experience.
The trails at Swinley Forest are all-weather trails, so come wind, rain or snow you are assured of a solid ride.
Swinley Forest has a great future and our vision is to create the most diverse type of riding for all skill levels of rider; so keep an eye out for constant trail tweaks and future trail projects. The future is bright for Swinley and we’re stoked to be a part of it!
Prices
The trails are free to ride, with The Crown Estate allowing public access for trail riders. Located at the trail head is Swinley Bike Hub, fast becoming the heart of the forest with its friendly and knowledgeable crew. The team are all riders and they run the fully equipped trail shop, hire fleet, bike park-style coaching team and are a UK demo centre for the likes of Whyte Bikes, Marin Bikes, DMR and Pivot Cycles. Here you can demo your next rig or just try something new, from short travel 29ers, right through to full-on enduro trail machines – check out their site for more information.
The cost to park onsite is £2 for four hours and £4 all day.
Getting There
Swinley Forest is found by tapping in RG12 7QW to your Sat Nav. It is possibly one of the most convenient and well connected trail centres in the UK. Swinley Forest is situated equal distance between the M4 and M3 depending which side you are approaching from and it is just 10 minutes from either. For Londoners heading out of town by train, get on the Waterloo Line and head towards Bracknell Train Station. Taxi’s are available here to take you to the Forest for about a fiver.
If you have your own bike, take Martins Heron station (the one before Bracknell) and head to Swinley Forest on a traffic-free, shared byway – it is just 1km.
Events
Swinley Forest is holding its first event in many years on 4 September, 2016. The event will be an enduro in style, showcasing the existing trails, plus some new ones and letting a field of riders pit themselves against one another. The 2016 event details can be found here. Don't worry if you miss out on a spot, as you can still head down to sample up the Hog Roast and chilled MTB basecamp that will have all the latest gear from manufacturers to test out.
Swinley Forest has an active social scene, with ride outs for all riders every Thursday evening from Swinley Bike Hub. Also, keep an eye out for their summer BBQs that can attract up to 80 or so people.
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