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Yep. Afan forest is the same now. Completely changed the feel of the trails. Switchbacking down open hillside isnt the same as when you didnt know whee the trail went next due to tree cover.
Not ridden Ae for 10 years. Shame if same happened. Lot of clear felling as well at Kirroughtree which is local to me when up that way. Surprised as thought the whole point of "peoples forest" was mixed tree stock planting to avoid this sort of thing.
Are you in D & G?
velosaurus-
No, I'm just out side Glasgow. Ae and inners are my usual go to areas. In terms of numbers, Ae usually feels dead compared to a Saturday uplift at inners so it can be preferable sometimes.
My daughter being born led me to selling my downhill bike.
I went about 7 years without riding at Ae then bought dh bike again a couple of years ago. My first trip back to Ae I was surprised at how completely different sections of trail felt that used to weave through dense forrest.
But the riding is still great there and it now feels normal in the open sections, infact it's probably got faster too.
But it's not the fact that the riding feels different, I'm lucky I still have trails to ride, but just a shame that such huge areas of forest can be affected, they of course provide much more than just tree cover for mountain bikers.I've been riding at inners off and on since about 2001 and to me it still feels essentially the same. But I worry that one day felling will change the riding quite a bit.
All this chat really has me pining for some riding now. I hit inners 9 weekends in a row last summer! But not been since September or so now :(
TotalShanner
Larch disease is sadly affecting a lot of riding areas near me. Felling has changed the feel of riding at Ae forrest quite a bit...
Good to hear you take a pro active approach. Seems the majority of riders don't fully appreciate the risk or even realise its an issue. But good to see it mentioned here and raise awareness.
I'm also sold on one of those portable bike washers!