Chicksands Trails - Save yourself a fiver

[akb]

Took the new Rockhopper to Chicksands on Saturday to give the bike its first proper trail run after purchasing it last weekend. A word of advice to anyone who may be considering this as their first trail; the bike park seems to work independently from the trails and from what I discovered, the entrance fee of £5 is not needed to simply use the trails.

I specifically told the man in the van at the front of the park that we were there for trails, he still took our £5 off each of us and ushered us in to the fenced off bike park. The bike park is pretty advanced IMHO, for experienced riders. So dont be conned into paying a fiver for the trails. Park in the other car park leading to the DISC Chicksands base, not the Bike Park car park, and join the cycle area from that side.

Or am I being a bit OTT? I appreciate that the £5 covers maintainance etc for the bike park, but the trails dont seem to have been touched for a few months with uprooted trees and over grown bushes all over the place. Still, we had a great afternoon after eventually discovering the trails and will be going back to try again this weekend. And the Rockhopper...brilliant bit of kit.

 

[Crackle]

From the website it seems all the fees go to developing and maintaining the park. Personally I wouldn't have a problem with the fiver if I thought the trail worth going to.

 

[akb]

That be the point I tried to make lol. The £5 was for the Chicksands Bike Park (jumps, berms, woops etc), which is a fenced off section of a wooded area. The trails are independent of the park where a fiver isnt needed. I would be happy to pay the £5 for the trails too, but it isnt necessary. The Site Warden/Manager who sits in a white van all day dishing out riding permits and taking fivers didnt even mention the trail area of the woods until we had paid our £5.

 

[Crackle]

That be the point I tried to make lol. The £5 was for the Chicksands Bike Park (jumps, berms, woops etc), which is a fenced off section of a wooded area. The trails are independent of the park where a fiver isnt needed. I would be happy to pay the £5 for the trails too, but it isnt necessary. The Site Warden/Manager who sits in a white van all day dishing out riding permits and taking fivers didnt even mention the trail area of the woods until we had paid our £5.

Yeah you 're right, I didn't read the XC bit but it actually says it on their website:

Currently the two cross country routes that were available, are still rideable albeit a bit beaten up at the moment. The club and the Forestry Commission are working together to create some new routes that should offer some challenging XC riding in the future.
Update!
Temporary XC routes are running round the wood, follow the red and blue arrows for the courses. We are still waiting for Forestry Commisson to rebuild the trails but due to legal reasons we aren't allowed to rebuild them. Sorry guys, we're trying our hardest to push them to rebuild them.
All XC routes are outside they bike park and are free to ride.

In which case - don't pay the fiver.

 

[akb]

Useful info, thanks. Would have been nice if the site manager knew this! Dont get me wrong, the XC routes that they have a excellent for a beginner like me, just annoyed with the Site Manager's attitude.