E-Bikeshop Owners Club Ride: Swinley Forest Xmas Ride

December saw another E-Bikeshop Owners Ride. This one was different, between xmas & new year everyone was eager to get out on the electric mountain bikes, we had to excite! As many of the owners club were busy in the run up to Christmas we planned to join forces with Alex @ eMTB Coaching who was also running a social ride that day. Alex is a friend of the club and we have spent many a ride with his coaching company. The last set in Wales for a day's training and fun on the Welsh slopes. That's a whole other story, but it was great, so deserves a mention. This will actually be the third time the club appeared back at Swinley this year, but it's so much fun, everyone was up for it. With trail changes, weather and different lines, Swinley Forest trails just keep on giving! Anyway, back to the ride..

Getting started

We all met in the main car park at Swinley Forest, Bracknell for 10am to promptly set off. Everyone was eager to get out on the trial and burn off some of the calories earned over the xmas week. 

First up was the mild Blue trail. It was clear from the off that the group was just far too big, with many 'analogue' bikers out too. The trails quickly become clogged, so we took the decision to split from the main group and let some leeway so we could all ride at our own pace. This was good because it meant we were not waiting around or getting stuck on the trails behind other bikers. 

We followed the Blue route for many miles before splitting off and then joining the Red trail half way round. The Red trail offers slightly harsher terrain and is a little more technical.

Onto the Red trail

Last time we visited the first part of the Red trail, the 'Tank Traps' section of the trail was closed for felling. Fortunately this time round it was back open so we could enjoy the tight twists and turns on offer.

We returned to 'Jump Gulley' half way round the red trail to find to our disappointment it had been flattened out. We played in this for quite a while on our last visit with lots of table top jumps and drops. The forestry commission saw far too many accidents and had to take the decision to close this part of the trail center.

This then followed onto the top of the hill, from here you can continue the Red route, but we decided to have a few runs down the downhill sections first. Everyone enjoyed it so much we ended up taking in some new sections of the trails we had never done before. One of which was set down the middle with lots of 'rollable' jumps and twists. We must do this again on the next visit!

Conclusion

We continued for many more miles along the Red tail and finally joined back on the Blue to follow back to the carpark. Even the Blue trail has some high berms and twists. Swinley really does offer a lot, even though some of us had ridden here many times before, you can take different lines and learn new sections.

We were having so much fun, we all forgot to take as many photos as normal so apologies for the shorter ride report this time. The ride landed us back to the main carpark where we enjoyed some hot coffee and as always some decent eBike natter! Fellow E-Bikeshop Owners will be pleased to know the next ride is now live. So make sure to sign up, it'll be a blast! See everyone at the end of January. The E-Bikeshop Owners Club is a closed group of riders, if you have purchased a eBike from us and want to get involved, please get in touch.