green lanes ... off road
 

How fast do you ride your bike off road ?
Over the years i have ridden many off road routes .
but have discovered a new way to ride them .......slow !
You can see so much more !!:scooter:

Can't say I ride much off road at all, except when there's no alternative. And even then it's always been slow. I do run off road though (even slower!) and others ride pedal bikes.

Reading through trip plans / reports both here and on other sites there does seem to be some kind of pecking order developing where riding off-road is somehow more 'overlandy' than sticking to the roads. I've often wondered how the accident / injury statistics compare. I've ever injured myself once running on pavements / roads but I've broken bones / sprained ligaments etc quite a few times running on rough surfaces.

I do nearly all of my off road riding by bicycle these days and I certainly do that slowly, usually at about 5-10mph and normally incident free apart from the recent head on with another cyclist on the Chesapeake and Ohio canal in the US.
My only serious coming to grief on a trail was cartwheeling my GS on The Gibb River Road in Western Australia caused by going too fast so a lesson learned there.

When I lived in East Sussex I went out a few times with the local TRF. Not impressed. Riding far too fast on bikes with very loud exhausts just ends up setting every single walker and horse rider against us.

But the real reason I gave up is the dearth of connected routes. Compare this to Spain where I can ride for hours without seeing tarmac.

Yeah, apart from pootling along the Ridgeway I didn't do green laning in the UK much, simply because it was rubbish.

When I'm going off road it depends on where I am, out in the desert on a long open unpaved road with good visibility road dust is the limiting factor for whoevers behind, lol. Near my house nobody can do more than 10kmh or so without serious bodily harm, I enjoy the pootling pace there and enjoy the scenery (or challenge on the hard bits). There's no feeling like being in the middle of nowhere and the only sign of civilization you can see is the old donkey trail you're riding along :thumbup1:

I've actually got into off-roading much more. So much that I don't really bother road riding anymore. It's just so dull in comparison.

The U.K is very hit and miss. I pretty much only offroad in Wales and very Northern England. Where you can still have a great experience.

I don't ride alone or navigate myself either. It's too much of a pain linking it all together.

I go with companies like MotoJunkies. Where you are guaranteed two full days of offroading with nice people and guides who know the place inside out and who are respectful to others and follow the countryside code. On lanes that you NEVER see walkers or hikers.

It's all about inside knowledge and who you ride with. The last time I went out, I think we saw three walkers in two days of riding.

It's thrilling, exciting, challenging and a great team effort. There is no other disipline of riding that increases your skill, fitness, balance and composure as much as trail riding.

But again I stress. It's all about WHO you go with. You will find that it is the small minority of riders who go quick, ride obnoixious bikes and cause damage. But obviously theyre the only ones you hear about.

I remember leading a group in the Picos mountains a few year ago , and we stopped by a waterfall, and most of the group just talked about there bikes , and " what oil is in your gear box " etc !!
They totally missed the concept , and getting to places that are off the beeton
track !
There are some great places in wales to ride . and views to die for , but you need to know where they are !
i tend to ride on my own and enjoy the countryside , but take great car where i ride for safety !
Keith

That links back to the "are you more of a biker, or a traveller?" thread!

Waterfalls are cool, pity there aren't any here

I've often thought that, that the real journey is prepping the bike before you leave and that the actual trip is almost an afterthought. Cynical? Probably, but the number of which sat-nav, luggage, stove etc questions vastly outnumbers those about what's worth seeing and why. I've certainly been guilty of that. :rofl: