Which UK city has the best mountain bike trails on its doorstep? Cardiff, Sheffield or maybe Edinburgh would be near the top of our list, but according to the latest research from Go Outdoors it’s Cambridge.

Yup, Cambridge. That pan-flat bastion of academic excellence ranks best in a long list of requirements including the percentage of “moderately difficult mountain biking trails,” and beats genuinely great riding cities like Manchester, Sheffield and Brighton to the top spot.

Forget Sheffield and its brilliant Steel City DH race (pictured), Bolehills, Greno, Wharncliffe, Lady Cannings… Cambridge is where it’s at

Go Outdoors gives Cambridge a whopping score of 9.83 out of 10 as a mountain biking destination, also citing the number of bike repair shops and trails per 100,000 as a deciding factor – 4.0 and 6.7 respectively.

At least it gets the rainfall part right, with 38.4mm on average each month you’ll likely stay dry when you’re cruising around those fireroads, probably because there are almost no hills for precipitation to condense on. Sorry Cambridge residents, I love the place too but not for mtb.

The Calibre Line T3-27 is a great bike from Go Outdoors, and deserves more than flat paths

Go Outdoors goes wrong?

Has Go Outdoors completely lost the plot then? Not exactly, although it does seem to have a worrying idea about what mountain biking is, especially considering it makes some of the best beginner mountain bikes on the market.

What it really means then is it thinks Cambridge is best for cycling off-road, rather than proper mountain biking. And those “moderately difficult mountain biking trails” requirements should really mean easy cycling or touring routes. No disrespect to new riders here, we love the blue and green trails the likes of Glentress, the Forest of Dean, BikePark Wales and plenty more have developed, but they’re a long way from Cambridge.

Go Outdoors recommends Wandlebury Country Park as one of these mountain biking hotspots, its 13.4km circular trail is “moderately challenging and takes three hours and 11 minutes to complete.” 

It gets much more sensible when we come down to positions two and three. Brighton and Hove score 9.08 out of 10, there are nine trails per 100,000 people, and more than half are considered moderately challenging. It recommends riding Brighton Beach Promenade rather than heading into the hills though.

Meanwhile Sheffield ranks third, it has 8.8 mountain biking trails per 100,000 people and offers the most bike repair shops nearby (2.3 shops per 100,000), according to Go Outdoors. 

Sticks Pass after summiting Helvellyn is probably my favourite Lakes ride | Photo: Jacob Gibbins

MBR’s best places to ride in the UK

Go Outdoor’s list isn’t the most useful then, it takes in hotels, apartments and other accommodation and includes that in the rankings too, meaning it needs to be taken with a handful of salt. More useful then is our mbr list of the best mountain bike routes in the UK because we know mountain biking, we know where’s good to ride, and we’ve ridden them all too. 

My personal favourites include the Nan Bield Pass in the Lakes for its incredible corners on the way back down, Torridon in Scotland for its seemingly never ending singletrack and breathtaking scenery, and Helvellyn for the sense of adventure and (honestly!) the gruelling hike-a-bike through the clouds up to the top.

We’ve also got a collection of the best routes for beginners – yes there are loads of bike parks and trail centres for starting riding not on the list, simple because you don’t really need us to show you where they are. Instead this one has proper natural riding, my favourite is actually almost from my front door, around West Marden in the South Downs.