Clayton Vale MTB Trails, National Cycling Centre

Clayton Vale MTB Trails are based in Clayton Vale Local Nature Reserve and form part of the overall cycling facilities on offer at the National Cycling Centre, in East Manchester. The venue has four purpose-built mountain bike trails, a Bike Park Skills zone, and a pump track, covering grades from easy through to expert and including a UK and World first accessible trail designed for disabled riders. Car park, cafe, toilets, visitor centre, bike hire and bike wash. Trails are free to ride and open all year.

Clayton Vale offers approximately 12km of MTB trails in an urban setting with trails and skills development for all ability levels. The trails can be ridden separately or mixed and matched together. They have unrestricted free access all year round.

Newton Heath Sidewinder - Blue Trail

• A moderately graded blue trail packed with rollable, twisty, bermy features. Whoops, berms, adverse cambers, and short, sharp climbs and descents wind through the vale.
• Starts on Bank Bridge St, gently climbs before an off-camber descent into the vale, then climbs the main Sidewinder section with Red Rock-it optional choices if preferred.
• Drops into the bike skills zone by Clayton Vale Visitor Centre. At the end, riders can either hit the bike park or gently climb the Easy Rider.

Clayton Vale Easy Rider - Light Blue Trail

• The easiest trail, graded easy and suitable for all the family, beginner riders, and designed to accommodate many different types of cycles, including accessible bikes.
• Sweeps along the Medlock River through the centre of Clayton Vale Nature Reserve on a wide, flat path before climbing onto a narrower route with gentle, rollable MTB features.
• A UK MTB and World first -- designed specifically to allow a range of accessible bikes used by disabled riders. Links with other grades to make a multitude of trail options.
• The Limitless Bike Library at the NCC provides adapted bikes for disabled riders wanting to ride this trail.

Urban Red Rock-it - Red Trail

• A difficult graded red trail for the more experienced MTB rider, packed with technically demanding features.
• Rock features throughout: drop-offs into berms, steeper climbs, rock slabs, and gnarly rock gardens. Also interspersed with drop-offs and technical lines.
• Can be accessed as an optional choice from the Sidewinder blue route.

Scorpions Tail - Black Trail

• A short expert-graded black section for technically proficient riders. Near the end are sharp, off-camber and gnarly rock sections.
• Small steps into the section, followed by rocky sections dropping into berms. Tight, twisty, and challenging -- not for the faint-hearted.

Bike Park Skills Zone - Orange

• The MTB Skills Zone is the ideal starting point before attempting the trails. Features a pump track and technical trail features (TTFs) ranging from easy to difficult, using a dot-grading system: one dot easy, two dots moderate, three dots difficult.
• The same dot system is used on the trails for continuity. Located around the back of the National Cycling Centre.

The National Cycling Centre

• The Clayton Vale trails form the outdoor MTB element of the National Cycling Centre, one of the UK's most complete cycling venues. Manchester was designated the first European Capital of Cycling in 2024.
• Velodrome: Britain's first indoor Olympic cycling track, opened in 1994. Public track sessions, accreditation programmes (Stages 1-4), junior sessions, and sprint and pursuit sessions are available to book.
• BMX Arena: Opened in 2011 with amateur and elite tracks. Coaching sessions, intro sessions, progression sessions, women and girls sessions, and birthday parties are available.
• Limitless: An accessible cycling programme with a bike library of adapted cycles for disabled riders, directly linked to the accessible Easy Rider MTB trail.
• The NCC is operated by Better (GLL) in partnership with British Cycling, Sport England, MCRactive, and Manchester City Council. It holds UK Sport Accredited Elite Training Centre status.
• The trails cost £894,000, jointly funded by British Cycling, Sport England, and Manchester City Council.

Clubs and Groups

• Scorpions MTB Club is based at Clayton Vale.
• Coaching and lessons across MTB, BMX, and velodrome disciplines are available to book via the National Cycling Centre website.

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• If you have ridden the MTB trails at Clayton Vale, then please share your experiences and post your reviews, pictures and videos to this listing.