The tow path is okay at Reading but there are some bits you can't
legally ride (and aren't fun cos they have stiles on anyway) once you
head towards Henley.
To be honest, even on a road 29er, I'd recommend Swinley anyway, I've
ridden it on a big apple and it was cool, it shouldn't be too muddy
right now. If you're not feeling up to the singletrack, there's tons of
fire roads to ride which are going to be more interesting than the
Thames Path.
Keith - do you know Swinley well? There's some cool singletrack there
now, it's mostly outside the 'mountain bike area'. There's a decent
loop of a few miles of singletrack coming off the top where the
reservoir is, which was fab on a 29er. When I was there just before
Christmas it was pretty easy to find, as it was used for the Gorrick XC
races, so there were a lot of tyre trails. There's also the fenceline,
which is a fantastic piece of trail, but I can't describe where it is,
you'd have to ask a mountain biker to direct you. Swinley is really
cool if you know it well, you can easily get 10 miles of singletrack in
without riding anything twice, although if you don't know it well, you
do tend to ride in circles.
The Thames does have the advantage of being a very nice English
experience, especially on a sunny day, riding down the Thames to a pub
and then returning in a wobblesome manner is one of the most English
things you can do.
Joe
--
joemarshall
my pics http://gallery.unicyclist.com/albuq44
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