XC co.Longford

traume

Hello!
I have recently moved to co.Longford, Edgeworthstown. Previously I have been doing a lot of mountainbiking, unfortunately there is lack of mountains here.
By any chance you can recommend any XC trail somewhere around? ATM I'm road cycling my full suspension bike, it looks a bit funny on the road with 2.4inch tyres and 780mm bar.. I'm not ready to swap out my bike to roadie just yet..
If there is someone in Edgeworthstown who could give me a hint or willing to go for a cycle some weekend, please let me know. I have a car and a towbar

Best regards, Arvis

Mr. Grieves

Your best bet is probably to get in touch with Lakeside Wheelers (Mullingar), there are definitely some mountainbikers in the club who could point you in the right direction.

traume

Mr. Grieves wrote: »

Your best bet is probably to get in touch with Lakeside Wheelers (Mullingar), there are definitely some mountainbikers in the club who could point you in the right direction.

Thank you!
I did contact them already. I'm just greedy with information, information can't be too much

tigerboon

Mullaghmeen is not far from you. Varies from gravel trails to muddy single track

traume

tigerboon wrote: »

Mullaghmeen is not far from you. Varies from gravel trails to muddy single track

Thank you! It looks exactly what I'm looking for!

tigerboon

There's two entrances. The main car park and a gateway off the Finea to Oldcastle road. The second one is probably better for biking as it's a quieter part of the forest and you won't be mixing with walkers and runners much but maybe the odd horse

traume

tigerboon wrote: »

There's two entrances. The main car park and a gateway off the Finea to Oldcastle road. The second one is probably better for biking as it's a quieter part of the forest and you won't be mixing with walkers and runners much but maybe the odd horse

Nice one! Hopefully this weekend I'll try it out.
Cheers!

CramCycle

Plenty of bog and abandoned rail lines if you head out Granard/Abbeylara direction. Longford is great for off road riding if you have the time to explore, the number of abandoned boreens and wood areas but finding them if your not local could be a pain.

You could also try longford cycling club, they may be road orientated but worth a call.

traume

CramCycle wrote: »

Plenty of bog and abandoned rail lines if you head out Granard/Abbeylara direction. Longford is great for off road riding if you have the time to explore, the number of abandoned boreens and wood areas but finding them if your not local could be a pain.

You could also try longford cycling club, they may be road orientated but worth a call.

Cheers!
I'm going to be in Edgeworthstown for good, so all info relating to off road cycling is a gold to me
I was doing backroads between Edgeworthstown and Granard and I saw couple of hardly ever used roads. Will have to try them to know where are they going.

ThisRegard

CramCycle wrote: »

Plenty of bog and abandoned rail lines if you head out Granard/Abbeylara direction. Longford is great for off road riding if you have the time to explore, the number of abandoned boreens and wood areas but finding them if your not local could be a pain.

Really? I'm around there regularly and I've told some of the locals about places to go, including Mullaghmeen. I even gave a map of how to get there to someone living within a 10 or 15 minute drive.

Where would the abandoned rail lines be, are they bog railways?

CramCycle

ThisRegard wrote: »

Really? I'm around there regularly and I've told some of the locals about places to go, including Mullaghmeen. I even gave a map of how to get there to someone living within a 10 or 15 minute drive.

Where would the abandoned rail lines be, are they bog railways?

Mainly bog railways, so not all abandoned. I meant for someone from completely outside, it would be difficult to find them but there would be a fair few locals who wouldn't know the local area outside of the routes they travel daily which is fair enough.

silver campaign

I've heard of some people mountain biking on Slieve Ban which is between Lanesboro and Strokestown.
I dont know if there are trails, or if it's private land or Coillte or what. Might be worth looking into.

silver campaign

https://www.google.ie/maps/place/Slieve+Bawn/@53.7229965,-8.0018695,12z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x485c28b507da31f5:0x5bc219ef572d6336!8m2!3d53.728889!4d-8.067444!5m1!1e4

traume

Cheers guys! Great support here!
If weather permits I'll try out Mullaghmeen tmrw.

traume

tigerboon wrote: »

There's two entrances. The main car park and a gateway off the Finea to Oldcastle road. The second one is probably better for biking as it's a quieter part of the forest and you won't be mixing with walkers and runners much but maybe the odd horse

Can you please pinpoint second entrance in google maps?

Dizraeligears

Sliabh Ban is off limits while they're building the windfarm..
Was up there a few months ago and the place is changed,fire roads widened,security guys.a great pity it's gone forever it would have been spot on for you.many happy hours spent up there!
Mullaghmeen is your only man...it's great but the Coillte guy is apparently not very bike friendly...I'd recommend talking to Steve Franzoni in Outdoor Escape in Mulligar.they have a few mtb heads in Lakeside Wheelers I believe.
They had an agreement with Coillte a few years ago to develop a mtb specific site at Multyfarnham but don't know if there has been much progress.
There is a small place in Lanesboro beside the river.its a woodland walk really,but some nice little bits of twisty singletrack...watch out for walkers though...
Apart from that- the canal,although might not be your thing.From Clondra along the Canal to the bog,then hit the bog railway,miles of tracks...with the peat production being scaled down over the next few years,these would make ideal mtb trails,if a little flat.Was in Boora in Offaly last year.great example of what can be done with bogland.

traume

Dizraeligears wrote: »

Sliabh Ban is off limits while they're building the windfarm..
Was up there a few months ago and the place is changed,fire roads widened,security guys.a great pity it's gone forever it would have been spot on for you.many happy hours spent up there!
Mullaghmeen is your only man...it's great but the Coillte guy is apparently not very bike friendly...I'd recommend talking to Steve Franzoni in Outdoor Escape in Mulligar.they have a few mtb heads in Lakeside Wheelers I believe.
They had an agreement with Coillte a few years ago to develop a mtb specific site at Multyfarnham but don't know if there has been much progress.
There is a small place in Lanesboro beside the river.its a woodland walk really,but some nice little bits of twisty singletrack...watch out for walkers though...
Apart from that- the canal,although might not be your thing.From Clondra along the Canal to the bog,then hit the bog railway,miles of tracks...with the peat production being scaled down over the next few years,these would make ideal mtb trails,if a little flat.Was in Boora in Offaly last year.great example of what can be done with bogland.

Cheers man!
There is no really such a thing as - my thing, i just love to pedal and it is not time yet for a second bike.
I have been chatting with guys from Lake side wheelers, they seems to be very friendly and suggested Mullaghmeen thought warned that it is not an official trail...
I'm going to do Greenway canal ride as well, but at first - have to hit offroad
As for bogland rails - should I go up the canal or down the canal when looking in map from Cloondara? Is it possible to get from Cloondara to Abbeyshrule just by fallowing canal?

Dizraeligears

Clondra is the end of the Canal,so if you head from there,the bog is a couple of kms away on the right.theres a bog railway bridge and the tracks head on out from there.you can't miss it!
You'll see Sliabh Ban in the distance too...there is a bog railway bridge over the Shannon too but don't know if it's rideable,probably not I imagine.Another system of tracks on the Roscommon side.
Yea the Canal is rideable to Abbeyshrule,a few boggy bits but mostly ok.met a couple of lads In Ld last year on a Sat eve,they had ridden the Canal from Dublin.
Another place would be Derrycarne Wood near Dromod.Its small but nice little singletrack in it...a Coillte place too so watch out for walkers!
As for Sliabh Ban I'm pretty sure it's gonna be off limits with the way the work is progressing around the site.Theres a kind of 'secret' way in to it,we might take a trip up there soon,will report back.Not too optimistic about it though.
Further afield if you're mobile you should try Union Wood in Sligo.NorthWest mtb run events there and have developed parts of it.well worth a trip.check out their Facebook page they have big plans for a mtb trail centre in Coolaney,in conjunction with Coillte.

Raam

Pop into the Richmond Inn in Clondra for a pint while you are there

tigerboon

http://www.google.ie/maps/@53.7659438,-7.2688857,17z

traume wrote: »

Can you please pinpoint second entrance in google maps?

Don't know if this link is done right (i'm a bit of a Luddite on these things). You can use the main entrance anyway.

Red Kev

silver campaign wrote: »

I've heard of some people mountain biking on Slieve Ban which is between Lanesboro and Strokestown.
I dont know if there are trails, or if it's private land or Coillte or what. Might be worth looking into.

Sliabh Bawn is good for MTB, but some of it is closed off at the moment due to the wind farm construction. It's about 25-30 mins from you.

When the wind farm is built a MTB course is going to be built there, it's part of the planning agreement. I'm not sure who Coillte are liaisng with on this, but if you're into MTB and going to be living in Longford for good, then you may be interested in getting involved.

There's an excellent MTB course under construction in Coolaney in Sligo which is about 1 hr 20 mins from you and might be good for a day trip.

I'd also second the idea of exploring the bog railways, the only way to get around them is by always getting lost! The OS maps have all the train tracks on them, so that's one thing.

traume

Red Kev wrote: »

Sliabh Bawn is good for MTB, but some of it is closed off at the moment due to the wind farm construction. It's about 25-30 mins from you.

When the wind farm is built a MTB course is going to be built there, it's part of the planning agreement. I'm not sure who Coillte are liaisng with on this, but if you're into MTB and going to be living in Longford for good, then you may be interested in getting involved.

There's an excellent MTB course under construction in Coolaney in Sligo which is about 1 hr 20 mins from you and might be good for a day trip.

I'd also second the idea of exploring the bog railways, the only way to get around them is by always getting lost! The OS maps have all the train tracks on them, so that's one thing.

Looks like I'll be busy for a while Good to know!

traume

Was in Mullaghmeen today, amazing! Thanks everyone! Glad I did not meet the angry Coillte guy 😀 In few places saw-no cycling...
I see that there is a lot to explore in co.Longford.
Next probably will be bog Railway from Cloondara. Cant wait now 😉

I have to explore more and I might try to create google drive version with routes. Have to figure out at first how legal is that as most places are prohibited for mtb..

Can anyone give more idea about Coolaney trails? I did see them on Facebook nearly year ago and I have checked it recently, I dont see any updates?! Are there any? Are there any rideable trails already?

As for Bog rails beside Cloondara - is this the right spot? It really looks like a adventurous spot