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LOCAL BIKE ROUTES

Offroad areas

...range from Ashton court, for a council funded race and play area, to Merthyr Tydfil, accessible by train, for some proper mountains within almost anyone's abilities.
Locally, check out Leigh Woods, Ashton Court, Ashton Hill Plantation and Blaise Castle Estate.
With transport, there's the Mendips, the Quantocks, the Cotswolds, South and Mid Wales all offering fantastic mountainbiking in the right weather conditions.

A good loop can be made from the Clifton suspension bridge.
Go straight on into Ashton Court, turn immediately right onto the MTB singletrack path (a bit grim if it's been raining a lot) and follow the wall to a slot - 1 mile.
Turn right through the slot and cross the road. There's a bridleway a little to your left on the other side.
Follow this bridleway 1/2 mile, cross a minor road, continue past Abbot's Pool to the next tarmac, then turn right and follow th road to the Pill road 1/2 mile, where you turn left then right at a gatehouse after 100 yds. Follow this drive for 1/2 mile then turn right onto a graded track that will take you up through Leigh Woods. When you reach tarmac again at a carpark, turn left after about the 3rd speedbump and follow the cycle track to the gate. Turn left on the road and you'll be back at the suspension bridge.

The Quantocks offer some of the best XC riding to be had in England, where a series of valleys on the eastern side offers about 6 ways up onto the ridge, a long ridgeway track gives access to all the valleys, and a swift singletrack descent of almost 1000 feet. Views on the top are excellent where the expanse of heathland is a great contrast to the stunning ancient woodland in the valleys. Sadly, public transport access is poor - you'll have to ride in from Bridgewater rail station, about 12 miles, and the main road is nasty. South Wales has two recently opened fantastic mountainbike specific trails - not for the fainthearted - at Afan Argoed near Swansea and Cwm Carn near Newport. Ride them and experience paradise.

Road rides

...from circular 10 mile meanders principally on the cyclepath to 60 mile rides into south wales or the Mendips, circular or train one or both ways. For a road ride on good roads but without much traffic, straight out of town, how about up Dundry, then Chew Magna - Chew Stoke - Compton Martin - up the mendips to the B3371 then down into Cheddar - Wedmore - Wookey - Wells - up the mendips again on the old Bristol Road to the Castle of Comfort via Stockhill and straight on back to Compton Martin, then back the way you came out. It's about 55 miles with 3000+ feet of climbing.
The best way out of town centre on roads is undoubtedly over the suspension bridge. Unfortunately, though, most of the roads out this way are busy with 70 mph traffic, although the B3124 to Clevedon is good once you're there, if a bit narrow.

South Wales offers some excellent road riding, with smooth tarmac and constant gradients for steady climbs and scorching descents, all accessible by train from Bristol. From Newport (trains every 1/2 hour or so from Temple Meads) I'd recommend this:
Take the B4596 out of town to Caerleon (3 miles), where you turn right at the end of the one-way system to Llangybi and Usk (8 miles). Turn right in Usk down the high street, and a mile out of town, turn left onto the B4235 to Chepstow, just at the start of the trunk road junction. Follow this road 15 miles to Chepstow, head down the A466 to the Severn Road Bridge and cross on the cycleway to Aust (5 miles). Follow the B4461 to Alveston (5 miles), turn right on the A38 for 1 mile then turn left on the B4427 to Earthcott Green (2 miles), swing right to Winterbourne (4 miles), turn L then at 150 yds right to Hambrook (1 mile), straight on on the B4058, straight across the ring road, and int town via Frenchay. From the lights under the motorway at the bottom of Stapleton hill turn right and follow the road into St Werburghs, on into St Pauls via Sussex place, and at the mini roundabout at the end a left takes you to S & E Bristol, a right to the centre. Other excellent road prospects accessible by direct train from Bristol can be found round Salisbury Plain (Warminster), the Blackdown Hills and the Somerset Levels (Taunton), the Black Mountains (Abergavenny)