Ten good places to try jumping: the best MTB trail centres and bike parks near you by Hannah Collingridge

There’s nothing quite like the feel of air under your wheels. The sheer adrenaline as you literally fly down a track, whipping off hips and sending doubles. The thing is very, very few of us can, or even wish to, ride like that whatever the reels tell us. There’s also a far higher chance of injury and as many of us have discovered, the older you are the more it hurts. I really can’t recommend rib injuries.

However, there is still nothing like the feel of air under your wheels, particularly when you’re in control and doing it deliberately, no matter whether you are an inch off the floor or six foot. If you aren’t a confident jumper, think it’s scary and out of your comfort zone but would really quite like to give it a try then the best advice I can give you is to go on a course rather than just watching videos on YouTube. I’m a huge believer in coaching and working on your skills as it’s a really easy way to improve your riding and therefore increase the fun factor massively. I’ve worked with a lot of good people over the years trying to nail the basic skills which then lead to more confidence on a wider variety of terrain, including jumps. So do it. It will work for you, too. Don’t come back at me with any ‘it’s expensive’ comments because coaching courses are not expensive when you consider you are paying for someone’s experience, skills and time which they are going to apply specifically to improving your riding. That’s a guaranteed upgrade right there unlike the latest shiny thing for your bike which will only be an upgrade if you can ride the bike well. Point made yet? That rant out of the way, let’s talk a bit about jumps. As ever with every sub-genre of cycling there’s a whole impenetrable world of language when it comes to even the sort of jump you’ll be going over. Here’s a quick guide to the basics.

Rollers: as their name suggests you can just roll over them, or start using them as baby jumps. You’ll find them as basic features on many trails and they can be a lot of fun, especially if you have the skills and confidence newly acquired from your skills course ...

Tables: have a flat top and two sloping sides. The idea is to take off from the top of the up slope and land gently on the down slope, clearing the flat bit in between. Tables are great for beginners because they are quite forgiving if it goes wrong –you’ll just land on the top bit which isn’t great but not usually disastrous.

Doubles/gaps: imagine two rollers one after the other. That’s a double and can be rolled. Sometimes the jump is constructed more like a table but with a gap in the middle – you just get the start and end and have to clear the bit in the middle. If you don’t there are usually consequences. Often for your back wheel.

Shark fin: while most jumps you come across on trails will be relatively gentle at encouraging you into the air, others are designed to flick you upwards so you can start doing tricks. The longer and higher you are in the air the more/better/fancier tricks you can do. The lips to this sort of jump are quite often known as shark fins because of the shape. If you’ve never ridden one the difference can be quite startling the first time you do. Don’t try this sort of stuff until you are confident on normal trail jumps.

So, where to ride? Many trails will have jumps built into them as features, and plenty of trail centres are now starting to have jump lines – if they have, it will be referenced in The Dirt Directory entry. However, if you want somewhere to practice just jumping there are plenty of great places now which have a range of jumps from something for the beginner through to something bigger and gnarlier. These are some of the best (in my opinion, other opinions are always available) of the places to go jumping for the beginner or not so confident. Bigger, scarier, nadgier stuff is also available.

Always check with the park whether they are open before you travel – many places have seasonal riding or only open at weekends.

Rogate © Joolze Dymond

South-East
Both Southampton Bike Park and Bull Track Bike Park (check them out on Facebook) have plenty of jumps of all sizes for you to start small and get a bit bigger (or very big). Rogate has plenty of jumps on their tracks, again with chance for progression, and some lines have a choice of small/larger features to work up to. If you can already jump  confidently then SforP is a sandy haven of shark-lipped goodness. There may even be a pro or two hanging out. And there’s also the legendary Woburn, another place with a range of sizes and styles of jumps in constant development.

South-West
The South-West is amazing for good places to go jumping – you are spoiled for choice, frankly. The Track near Redruth has jumps of all sizes with plenty of chance for progressing from tiny stuff through to huge trick jumps. There are riders of all ages and abilities here, and it’s also used by local coaches for training. Close by is Chacewood, a small but fun riding spot with plenty of chance for progression, again used by local coaches. Near Bodmin is Old Hill Bike Park which again has a variety of sizes of jumps and is aimed at all ages and abilities. This has more of a bike park feel in that the trails are longer but there’s plenty of chance for building up to bigger stuff. One nice feature is that on some lines you get a choice of jump depending how big you want to go. And there’s always Woody’s near Fowey which is bigger again but still has plenty of stuff for development. And that is by no means the end of it. The South-West has a great riding scene overall for any kind of riding you like.

Twisted Oak © Joolze Dymond

Midlands and East Anglia
Twisted Oaks was where I first came across the concept of a double line of jumps parallel with each other, but one is a set of tables, the other a set of doubles. This simple yet brilliant idea means you can work on the tables line until you are confident you have the distances nailed then swap to the doubles line which are exactly the same length only psychologically trickier. This idea is replicated elsewhere but it didn’t half help my jumping that day. There’s also a whole heap of jumps here from small to quite frankly huge, plus some beginner trick jumps as well. Close by is the amazing Phoenix Park  which again has a whole range of jumps of every style and size. Basically what East Anglia lacks in hills it makes up for in incredible jump parks. Northampton Bike Park also has a few good jumping lines.

Yorkshire/Humber
Ride Sheffield look after some good spots around Sheffield where you can get your wheels off the ground. At Lady Canning’s there are two short trails with plenty of features that can be sessioned including berms and rollers. Parkwood Springs also has plenty of rollers and berms suitable for the beginner. Gnarlier stuff can be found in the nearby Greno Woods which includes the famous Steel City track, although the big gaps are avoidable and you can roll down at a gentle pace. Similarly Digger’s Downhill, the newest track at Rother Valley Country Park is also fun and flowy with some jumps.

Northern England
Pimbo Bike Park has a good variety of sizes of jumps, starting with stuff suitable for beginners and working up to the bigger stuff. There’s also some good sections of roller on the Quercus Trail at Whinlatter where you can have a lot of fun. For those who have built up their skills and confidence then Farmer John’s is legendary as a place to have fun and get air.

Afan © Joolze Dymond

Wales
Bike Park Wales is a popular place, rightly, for so many styles of riding because you can find pretty much anything you want here from a 5km green trail through to huge pro jump lines and nadgy downhill stuff. But their blue flow trails have plenty to offer to the beginner jumper with plenty of chances for air and not too many consequences. They also have a brand new skills area too. Dare Valley Gravity park is the brilliantly simple idea of a gravity park but for beginners and youngsters so concentrates on the blue and flowy side of things with plenty of rollers rather than the gnarly. As well as all the trail riding available at Afan there’s also a small bike park which includes jump/flow lines ranging from blue to black. Once you are confident then Wales has a lot of place you can really send it – Revolution and Dyfi are probably the most popular spots for big downhill riding, but there’s also the Dirt Farm.

Scotland
Scotland has so much variety of riding that pure jump spots aren’t so much of athing. Instead you’ll find lines at trail centres that are more jump based than others, for instance, Glenlivet has a great blue full of rollers and berms plus an orange jump line for the more confident. Tarlandalso has plenty of trails with the emphasis on flowy with rollers which are great fun for beginning to get air. The new taster lines at Glentressjust behind the Glentress sign at the bottom of the hill are great for confidence building and sessioning. There’s plenty of features here which can be rolled/jumped and once you are happy here then the new blue and red trails have plenty to offer in terms of flow and jumps. At Ae Forest the last section of the red trail, Omega Man, has been restyled into a fast flowy trail with jumps. It can all be rolled or sent. There’s also a handy push up path by the side of the trail.

Northern Ireland
Just south of Belfast is the wee jump spot at Barnett Demesne which has six lines of jumps starting with a good, basic small line through to much bigger doubles and hips. For the confident the DH trails at Rostrevor offer a flavour of freeriding with some pretty big features.

Safety
Jumping can be risky, like most of life. You can help mitigate the consequences of falling off by wearing an appropriate amount of gear. This is gear appropriate for your skill level and confidence, not what everyone else is wearing. At least wear a helmet and gloves. Knee pads are very useful in the majority of spills. If you want to get bigger and higher then consider wearing a full face helmet, elbow pads and maybe even chest/back armour.

If someone does have a spill and can’t be moved off the trail then one of the first things you need to do is protect them and yourselves from other riders. Put a bike upside down on the trail where it can clearly be seen by oncoming riders, and if you have the spare manpower stick someone near that bike waving and warning oncoming riders about the obstruction.