Hello All.

[MarkFu]

Before i start, may i please apologise for typing in English. I have recently moved to Germany and am not doing too good with the language so far (I will get there eventually though ).

I am a British Soldier living in Herford. I don't really have a riding style as such, but i do like technical and fast flowing singletrail. I would like to try out some DH, but nothing too crazy as i am 35 and do not bounce like i used to . I also like the occasional bit of hard climbing thrown in. So, a bit of everything really i guess.

I have done a bit of riding locally in the forest between Herford and Bad Salzuflen, but haven't really got any further yet. Could anyone please tell me if there is much riding in the forests near to Lemgo or Detmold? Or in the hills to the North of Bad Oyenhausen, or even anywhere else locally? Maybe on the Teutoburgerwald near Bielefeld? Although the riding is ok near Herford, there does not seem to be much singletrail in the area.

I am also planning a weekend of riding on 5-7 June. I have not decided yet whether to go to Willingen or slightly further, and travel into the Harz Mountains. I have heard a lot about Willingen, but not so much about the Harz. One place mentioned in the Harz was Bad Grund, would this be a good destination for some technical or fast flowing singletrail riding?

Any advice would be very much appreciated, and once again; sorry for the English.

Cheers

Mark

 

[cxfahrer]

Look into the "Norddeutschland" Subforum, maybe "Deister" which is a small mountain ridge which is not too far away from Herford.

I haven´t been to Willingen, but AFAIK it is a true DH track. If you like this, go there.

I cant tell you anything about Bad Grund / Clausthal-Zellerfeld, but there are some great technical trails in the Harz around Schierke, Wernigerode, Ilsenburg and Altenau. All these places are good to start of, but Schierke is best, because it is halfway up the hill.
Look into the "Harz" Subforum.

 

[MarkFu]

Thankyou Cxfahrer, i'll check out those places that you mentioned. I have also asked in a few bike shops around Herford and Detmold, but there seems to be very little knowledge of singletrack in the area. Is it true that it is illegal to ride or build singletracks in this part of Germany?

 

[[email protected]]

Welcome, bro.

1. Willingen has a nice and flowy trail called "Freeride" - so it is not only the DH track infamous from Rankin's Earthed series.

2. It is not illegal to ride singletrails - building is definitely a different agenda altogether since you break several laws. Did you read the article "Secret Gardening" in one of the Dirt issues, was in one last year, me thinks. I do not advice you to start building, however secret trails are secret. And as long as not all know that the entrance to Narnia is in the wardrobe.......hope you get my point.

 

[sirtwist]

Hi, if you decide to visit the harz I would rather suggest starting in goslar or bad harzburg. And if you are planning to ride the tours of "Volksbank Mountainbike Arena" take them in the opposite direction as suggested, so you won't have all the nice single-trails as uphill.

Twist

 

[MarkFu]

Thanks guys, all of the info is very useful.

I will probably go to Willingen for my next riding weekend, as this will probably become my closest ride spot in the medium term.

I was tempted to push the boat out a bit and go to Garmisch, or even Grindelwald, but it's a bit far i think for just 2 days riding. Also, i really need to get to know my local riding.

Thanks again for your help.