Beginner’s Guide To Trail Riding

There are around 2000 miles of motorway in the UK – but believe it or not, there’re actually three times as many miles of green lanes that you can legally ride on two wheels. So to help you hit the trails with confidence, here are some of our top tips to help keep you smiling on the rough stuff.

WHERE TO RIDE

It’s not always easy to find legal lanes and byways, particularly if you haven’t got much knowledge about the area you’re exploring, but thankfully, there’s still a lot of fun to be had if you know where to look. The big questions are whether your bike’s suitable and you’re a good enough rider to tackle what could potentially be some seriously tricky terrain.

There are a number of ways you can find out about where you can legally ride ‘off-road’ in a particular part of the country. First there’s the TRF. The lads (and lasses) at the Trail Riders Fellowship are always happy to help with advice and guidance, and you might even be able to join a regular ride-out with a group of members.

There’s little better than being shown around by a local, but if that’s not an option, you’ll have to take some time and do a bit of research. Get yourself a (recent) OS map of the local area and consult it to find out where to find the unclassified roads and byways open to all traffic. These are the ones you can ride. There’s TrailWise, too, a great resource for routes providing you’re a paid-up member of the Green Lane Association. You can also check out forums, consult YouTube and do a bit of internet digging and, best of all, speak to people. You never know, that chap sat in the pub might know of the best lane in the area. You’ve only got to ask.

There’s also the TET. The Trans European Trail is exactly what it sounds like a whopping series of legal byways that stretch right across Europe (and beyond). There’re a whole load in the UK which stretch from the southwest up to the northeast, but it actually maps out over 31,000 miles of dirt roads from the northern tip of Africa to the Arctic Circle. If you want to know more, the TET website is the place to go. On it you’ll find downloadable GPX files (for each specific country), which can be to your phone, tablet, PC or GPS device. There’s also an Android app that you can download straight to your phone and access and download all the routes with a couple of taps. It’s very easy to use, and if you activate GPS location services, you’ll even be able to see where you are in relation to the next trail.

The route can be fairly challenging and is aimed at small and mid-capacity trail bikes, but a capable rider should be able to enjoy him(her)self on a bigger machine. If you don’t fancy a section, you can usually turn around and take a Tarmac detour to the other end.

STAND UP AND LOOK UP

If you’re riding off-road, you need to get comfortable with riding while stood up on the pegs. It’ll help improve your forward vision and force you to focus beyond your front wheel and avoid fixing on a target (and subsequently hitting it). That’s not all, as it’ll also help offer better control, as the bike can move more freely beneath you and soak up bumps and lumps more easily. Ensure your knees are straight (but not locked) and your elbows are out to help you and the bike work in unison.

BE PREPARED

You never quite know what to expect when you’re on the rough stuff, so you’ve got to be ready to react to changing conditions quickly. In practice, that means you should be covering both the clutch and front brake with one or two fingers so you’re ready to take some speed off in a hurry should you need to. You can feather the clutch and drive away instantly when riding into a corner or making a sharp manoeuvre – and then release the clutch and accelerate out.

RELAX

Like riding any motorcycle you need to try and stay relaxed. Don’t hold onto the bars too tightly, and don’t tense up when you approach an obstacle. Focus on being as smooth and fluid with your movements as possible. When riding stood up, your arms should be relaxed, with elbows out and your palms down – and your legs should be straight but not locked.

FORGET THE FRONT BRAKE

Braking off-road is a much different experience to on the Tarmac – hard, aggressive braking isn’t going to end well unless you really know what you’re doing on the dirt. Instead of using the front brake for around 80% of braking, you should be using both your engine and the back brake to take speed off. It’ll be strange to start with, but with a bit of practice you’ll soon get the hang of it.

KNOW THE RULES

Strictly speaking, trail riding is not ‘off-roading’. All routes used are public highways with vehicular rights, and as a consequence, both bike and rider must be fully legal. By law, motorcycles are allowed to ride on Byways Open to All Traffic (BOAT) and Unclassified County Roads (UCR).

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