CLUBBER'S PARADISE

Are private trails the way to avoid the crowds? Club NBN thinks so...

- Jamie Darlow

With just 40 members, invite-only entry and a waiting list that only gets shorter when someone dies, there aren’t many clubs more exclusive than Naughty But Needed (NBN). This club doesn’t advertise, has no email address or social media presence, and the members go by first names only. This is no gentleman’s club in St James’s though, it’s a thriving mountain bike club in South East England, and we’ve been invited along for a ride.

Run by just four members – Steve, Spencer, Martyn and Scott – NBN owns some 30 different, albeit short, trails, all hand-cut and all impeccably maintained. “Steve is our number one, he’s The Colonel,” says Scott. “He’s the vision behind this place, this is his back garden really. He’s a labourer, a brickie, and all his spare time he’s up here fettling trails, doing drainage. He’s pretty special.”

Steve has been building trails here for 20 years, and while he’s not here the day we visit, evidence of his handiwork is all about us. Standing in a confluence of trails, there’s a club camp, basically a table, some benches and a tarp for the rain. At first glance it resembles a Scout camp. Every way you look there are trails and handbuilt berms smooth enough to feature in a pump track. Some of them are nearly 20 years old, and come wrapped in a cloak of moss, and even though it’s a dank November day, the place has real beauty.