Quantocks

There are two sides to riding on the Quantocks. With a fixed freewheel and hoping for a bit of luck this time, I set out to try and get in a bit of both.

The first side is one of those riding experiences which I hold in my mind and sometimes find myself daydreaming about in particularly dull meetings. It’s wide open country on top of a ridge, with dusty or well drained tracks which seem to pull you on for ever. Sometimes that’s exactly what you want to ride, where your wheels skip on the rocks, and you can enjoy the view of the sea and the land stretching away. Often the only obstacle is a 4x4 to overtake and a slight feeling that you should check your speed slightly to avoid scaring walkers or horses. The Quantocks does this perfectly, and, while not that technical, it feels like somewhere you could ride on an all-day epic.

The Quantocks has another side, however. This side makes full use of the killer slopes into the combes and can either be the sort of climb that will leave you gasping as you head up them, or, as at Triscombe, it can be built into a challenging downhill run. The Triscombe DH tracks are a newish development and I gave them a little whirl, but want to head back to try them properly. They seem to be a fun and fast session of drops, jumps and berms as they fall steeply off the side of the hill. Return duties are handled on a fire-road, but even that is a real challenge towards the top if you’re riding back up.

There’s a lot here in an area that often gets overlooked between the Mendips and Exmoor, with big riding both in the sense of the countryside and the technical challenge.

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