Esher Shore
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Esher Shore is a 3 acre North Shore inspired mountain bike area with 1.4km of trails located in Esher, Surrey, England. It contains trails that are raised on wooden platforms like those in British Columbia, Canada. Unlike much Shore trails in the UK, Esher Shore is legally operated and day membership is required in order to ride there. With such a small area the emphasis has been put on flow and it is believed to have the best flowing North Shore in the UK.
To meet health and safety and insurance requirements the trails follow strict guidelines for construction, grading and use that have been developed by its founders. It has set an admirable standard by which other freeride parks may be run in the future. Wooden Construction is purely from milled rather than raw timber and the guidelines used result in sturdy construction. Fall zones are cleared around the trails and where possible a layer of soft wood chippings is laid down.
The trails are clearly marked for difficulty and for any features such as drops. The easier "low" shore is marked blue and suitable to Shore newcomers, being completely rollable with no commitment to drops or jumps. Medium shore is higher, contains more advance stunts and is marked red. Esher Shore provides an excellent opportunity for progression, as the same trail can be ridden in different styles. For example a drop in the Low Shore can be rolled down until the rider makes the transition to jumping off it, but with the security of the runout. The trails are set up with spurs so that riders can opt for harder or easier features, and can create much route variation in the small space available.
