Went to Ae forest back in August, was the first of the 7 stanes trails we tried. Was very impressed, lots of good variation in trail features and good they don't throw all the scary stuff at you right at the beginning but instead gradually give you small tasters of what to expect - still took a few tumbles early on though!!. The trail looked approx 50-50 singletrack/forest road to me but has potential for much more singletrack development in the future.
Certain sections that stood out were the "Edge" and the great flowing bit of singletrack that followed it. the Omega man at the end was superb, with dozens of high-speed jumps and tabletops, the final part of it was pretty frightening though - especially if you ignore the chicken runs and go over the double-black graded jumps, some of which were huge (and without body armour was madness!),yet still managed to make it back in one piece.
Overall a good 2-3 hrs ride which I clocked at being more like 14.5 miles than 12.
A return visit is already in the pipeline
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