Chestnut is a purpose-built mountain biking park in the central green lung on the main island of Singapore. A well-marked network of mountain bike only trails offers something for all levels of rider.
This loop strings together all the trails in the network, generally in order of increasing difficulty. There are few mountain biking trails in Singapore, so you'll find this is a popular place on weekends. Expect to see a lot of other riders.
This is a nice introduction to tropical riding (hot, steamy, and often wet). The wetness makes the roots much more challenging, and it will likely leave you and the bike covered in mud, so you'll appreciate the bike wash at the trailhead.
The trailhead starts at the mountain bike car park where there is a small bike shop that rents bikes. It is a hub of activity, and the bike wash is especially popular.
This ride starts with the older
Chestnut South south trail.
Chestnut South will acquaint you with the kind of riding you can expect: lots of roots, big and small, often tangled into large networks, and usually wet. The roots will keep you on your feet as you try to stay on your pedals. Assuming it has rained recently, you can also expect some soupy, muddy areas so expect to get dirty.
After
Chestnut South, head north on
Tender Foot for a short distance before taking the second entrance for
Little Wings.
Little Wings is your first taste of the more advanced riding you can expect later. If you've enjoyed
Little Wings, you won't have any issues with the other trails in the park. (The first entrance,
Little Wings Alternate, features an even more advanced rock drop. If this is your sort of thing, you're likely to be bored here, but there also aren't many other options).
Either way,
Little Wings dumps you onto
Cubs which continues into
Blue Quail.
Cubs is the only major trail in the park that is two ways, so watch for oncoming traffic. It's pretty smooth until you get to
Blue Quail, and then you can expect more roots.
At the end of
Blue Quail you come to the Bangit hut (no services - only shade), where you'll probably encounter a few people taking a break on the weekend. From Bangit hut, head out on the wide
Central Catchment Park Connector until you see the sign from
Slider. Don't confuse it with the sign for the live firing area.
Central Catchment Park Connector actually continues all the way to Mandai Road and is a good way to add some easy (but still dirt) mileage to the ride.
Slider is characterized by sweeping turns through the jungle with lots of root obstacles.It's gently downhill most of the way, ending back at the Bangit shelter.
Next, head up towards the bike park, past the observation tower. You can play here for a while.
Watchtower Blue is the intermediate route through the bike park back to the observation tower featuring a couple of table tops and small jumps. You'll end up back at the Bangit shelter again.
Now it's time to complete a loop on all the advanced level trails. From Bangit, head out on the blue
Pango trail until you get to the final access to
Black Crawler.
Black Crawler is the most difficult trail at Chestnut Mountain Bike Park; narrow with lots of roots and a few rock gardens. Look for the advanced feature marked as "The Wall," or you can take the chicken line around it.
If
Black Crawler proves too much, there are lots of bail points that take you to blue trails. After
Black Crawler, you merge with
Blue Quail again for a short distance. Take
Side Step and then continue onto
Grasshopper.
Grasshopper has some nice bermed turns.
Grasshopper dumps you out at the Bangit shelter again.
You can continue to play on the more advanced trails in this area. When you are done, head out on
Pango again and take it and
Cubs back to the trailhead, keeping in mind that this is a two-way trail.
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