 FFS!!!!! do they honestly think that the only people that ride mountainbikes are up north. When they going to start developing some 'world class' trails near london or South West England. Grrr
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 Here here Frichie !
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 do they honestly think that the only people that ride mountainbikes are up north. What you on about, Sherwood pines is way down south, count yourselves lucky! Anyhow WTF they going to do, build some hills? 
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North of the Watford Gap DK! We have hills, but our trails are getting worse. I would like to see more flowing singletrack
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Well unfortunately you live where you live, it's never gonna be whistler is it so you make your choices
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maybe not every one lives in London!
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I think anyone who lives in england has a point about a lack of purpose built trails near to them.. I live in the south west and its still quite a trek to even cwm carn, for what is sometimes only 2hrs riding. (but then i am the sort who likes to ride from my doorstep!)
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Maybe not everyone lives in Sherwood forest either
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 Yep, then The Northern Centric Magazines come down ride, Haldon then slag the place off! Ok so we've got Dartmoor and Bodmin which are as good as any trails in the Peaks, but sometime you just want to rag around a man made trail with out 'riding gently'. Someone was saying there maybe something going on in the Tamar valley, if thats the case then it will be awesome. mental note I've used the word awesome at least three times on this forum today...i feel like bill or ted
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I am originally from SE London and i now live in Lincolnshire. Possably the flatest place in the uk. It takes me 1 and a half hrs to get to sherwood pines, 3 hrs to get to Peaks and 3 hrs to get back home to SE London/kent. Sherwood pines is an excellent venue and well worthy of the 300k being put into it. Not often you find a good venue like this that is man made. DOwn south has loads to offer. P.O.R.C is a top venue!! you have shorne woods, gravesend for a novices trail day out. Epping forest in essex (right on m25) is also good for a ride out. often full of mountain bikers. plus there is a top pub on the heath area. South downs near tonbridge area is cool. Maidstone south downs too. So as you see there are plenty of places down south. If i could recommend one feature to add to sherwood pines, it would be a dedicated bike washing facility.
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There is a bike wash (hose) next to the cafe I'm pleased that it's got this investment, it's an excellent venue offering everything from family tracks to tight twisty singletrack. I'm looking for to the new trails that Cy has designed.
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 As another resident of Lincolnshire, this is great news. I've been going to Sherwood Pines for 6 years now and seen it grow in terms of facilies, but its always needed better MTB trails instead of the boring fire roads. Sherwood Pines is really becoming great. Its gonna have all this, its already got a great bike shop, the go-ape thing and it holds the summer open air concerts! Top Stuff!!
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 Nowt particulalrly wrong with Sherwood Pines, & a bit of cash could make it very good. Just 3 miles from my folks too, so watch out for my nearly 70 year old dad banzaiing around the place now he's getting into mountain biking... Would be nice if Swinley or somewhere got a bit too, to add to the current excellent trails. However, one of the problems with the South East is that many of the forests are owned privately or by the Crown Estates, rather than being Forestry Commission/Enterprise. These owners seem more worried about insurance & being sued etc. The other notable factor is that one of the reasons cash goes to the north/scotland/wales is to bring money to the areas, & many would argue that the SE doesn't need the cash! Be good if they expanded somewhere like QE park near Portsmouth though, build some decent trails through the slime & mud... Off to Swinley for a quick blast in the sunshine in half an hour, i'll dream of where to build new trails if the cash ever did come, or they changed their minds about the Olympic venue....
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Swinley is great for a quick blast. The trails there are getting developed slowly, but not enough height for any serious fun. Damn, just checked it would be 3 hrs for me to get to Sherwood Pines
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 What Mal said. You'll need to campaign for the Prince of Wales to open up his land in the SW to get some quality forest trails made down there. The nearest stuff is in South Wales. Anyone know of a large plot of FE woods in Cornwall or Devon? If so it would be good to get something going down there that's as much fun as Plympton, but open to the public all year around. Good to see money going into Sherwood Pines. It's already good all year round, and a few trails that are even more winter proof would be ace. It's a long way South for me though.
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 Wont some bloke dressed in green lycra rob me of my bike and give it to the lazy and poor?
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 There are waymarked bike only trails built in Surrey on the North Downs by Redlands Trails. There's tonnes of riding along the North Downs, and plenty of places to go. I don't think you guys do too badly. The Sherwood project should be pretty nice. Chris has got some really good, strong ideas about how the trails should be constructed which should get away a bit from the usual 'garden path through the woods' scenario witnessed pretty much everywhere else. To be fair to Chris and his team, I just turned up, rode and marked some stuff on maps where some extra trails would be good. I know enough singletrack in the Pines to keep me amused for hours, so this is all about waymarking some of that, and linking it up with some sweet new sections in parts of the wood that have yet to have any trails at all in them.
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 Rode round there just last night on my newly built Souls first trip out be interested to see what 300 grand will be spent on it could do with some waymaking for sure. I like it as a break from the peaks and big hill climbs
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