We celebrate the hard-working folk responsible for the trails we love to ride with our MBR Trail of the Year competition in association with SRAM.
Sim Mainey
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Commercially-built Trail of the Year: Leeds Urban Bike Park
Leeds Urban Bike Park is arguably at the forefront of what many mountain bikers want and almost certainly what UK mountain biking needs.
Volunteer-built Trail of the Year: Hamsterley Trailblazers’ K-Line
Our winner, K-Line, is just one section on Hamsterley’s red trail. Named after Kay Graham who lead Trailblazers youth coaching who sadly passed away in 2015.
Our top five winter routes to do in 2020
Don't let winter put you off the big stuff; pack right, check the weather and head for the mountains, says Sim Mainey.
These are the routes that went badly wrong and made us cry
Terrible weather, bad planning, or hard as nails - these routes we found a bit too hard. Give them a go but take it from us, check the forecast beforehand!
Best of British: BTR Fabrications
Quintessentially British, the hardcore hardtail is a singletrack institution. We head to Frome in Somerset, the birthplace of a Belter or two.
How to revolutionise your ride planning with Komoot
How to revolutionise your ride planning with Komoot, the smartphone app that's taking online mapping to the next level.
Best of British: Calibre Bikes
Calibre Bikes and the Bossnut redefined the entry-level full-susser category and now they hope to have the same impact with its Sentry enduro bike.
Best of British: Identiti Bikes
Based in Cambridgeshire and tested in Cumbria, there's nothing split about Identiti's, er... identity. We hit Helvellyn to put its Mettle to the pedal.
Best of British: Orange Bikes
Orange's Five is a true home-grown classic and one of the nation's favourite trail bikes; we head to West Yorkshire to sample its Calder Valley test ground.
Best of British: Pace Cycles
Pace has played a role in history of British mountain bike design for over 30 years - we visit founder Adrian Carter at their North York Moors base.
Geometron bikes: “Why should bike designers have to design around a bottle? Surely that’s the wrong way round!”
'Long, low and slack' has become the mantra of mountain bike design thanks to a rule-bending visionary whose wayward imagination was honed by the Wye Valley.
Bored of your local trails? Here’s how to ride them in a new way
Take a leaf out of Chris Akrigg's book to see how approaching singletrack from a trials perspective can improve the trails and your technique.
Best of British: Whyte
Whyte's bikes have been honed to perfection on some of mbr's very own trails; we head to the Surrey Hills to pick the brains of designer Ian Alexander.
The Tweed Valley is proof that we’ve never had it so good
When it comes to bikes and trails, we've never had it so good and nowhere represents this utopia better than the trails of the Tweed Valley.
Doethie Valley is undulating unspoilt singletrack – the perfect trail?
With National Parks to the north, south and west, it's all too easy to overlook Mid Wales, but Doethie Valley offers ample reward for heading into the hinterland.
Leeds Urban Bike Park: the complete guide
UK towns and cities are starting to wake up to the value of urban trail developments. We head to Leeds Urban Bike Park to sample one pioneering project.
Best of British: Cotic Cycles
We head to the Peak District and Cotic Cycles to start a new series in attempt to find out what makes British bikes so good.
Exploring the art of mental map making
Forget silly glasses with digital overlays, augmented reality is already here if you know how to read the language of trails.
In search of mud-free trails
We're finally breaking fee from winter, but impatience got the better of us, so we went in search of mud-free trails, in the most unlikely of places.