Happy 1st Birthday

Over The Hill is officially one year old! - ok so this blog didn't start until a few months later but from memory the riders who gathered that fateful December 2008 morning at the Tower were Andy, Tom, Roy, Simon, Wilf, Dunnie and myself (apologies if I've missed anyone). Since then our numbers have swelled of course and now include Mark2, Dave, Dave2, Jim, Briggsy and various others who appeared for the odd ride. How fitting then that another two newcomers, Damien and Richard, should join us for our festive ride.
Meeting at 930 in Coldharbour the conditions were chilly but clear and our plan was to head over to Holmbury as soon as possible, Tom's first tentative steps into the world of All Mountain apparel being a particular talking point! Taking in Regurgitator, Crooked Furrow, the top section of Summer Lightning and the RollerCoaster we headed up to the Tower via No Cycles and the infamous climb, managed only by Andy and Mark2. Slippery conditions claimed a couple of early victims, myself on Crooked Furrow and Tom with his tree-hugging moment on the RollerCoaster.
No stopping at the Tower as we pressed on towards Holmbury, taking in Mark's Agony Tree, the bombhole near the Quarry (much to Simon's chagrin) and then the Quarry itself where a new pile of dirt and rocks provided "Kick Start" style technical amusement for all.
We took "The Mother" a long sweeping descent past High Ashes Farm and climbed to the top of Holmbury via a new steep route past the Cricket Pitch (cheers Tom!)
We then hit Barry Knows Best which was flowing well, not too wet and another chance to put those new cornering skills to use.
A well earned cuppa followed at Peaslake, supplemented by single malt and chocolate, perfect!
The grinding climb up Radnor Road back to the summit of Holmbury followed, allowing us to take in Yoghurt Pots, Telegraph Road and Mutiny. From there we headed to the Volunteer for our well-earned lunch, Steak and Ale pie and Fish and Chips seemed to be the popular choices as was Sussex Ale.
Eventually the climb back to Leith beckoned and reluctantly we left the warmth of the pub, choosing Mark2's route back via Upfolds Farm. A long, muddy drag ensued with several riders walking some sections as the food, cold and ale took it's toll. Finally we reached the Tower again for a weary photo op and then headed back to Coldharbour via Personal Hygene, No Cycles and the bombholes, pausing at the top of Deliverance. Despite fatigue levels there were still a few who fancied the big finish so Dunnie, Andy, Dave, Mark and I safely made it down, leaving only Tom to do it. Lacking conviction the inevitable occurred, leaving us howling with laughter as Tom's bike made it most of the way down, followed by Tom! No serious damage and we carried on down to the cars via Regurgitator.



A great ride and great company as ever, A Happy New Year to you all and roll on more top riding in 2010.
Rich

Santa Claus is coming

Date : 19th December 2009
Riders : Rich, Mark2, Dave2, Simon, Andy
Area : Leith Hill

We arrived at Milton Heath Car Park in temperatures of -5degC... brrr.... But we wrapped up to be ready to take on the extreme temperature. We were joined by Dave2 (Welcome Dave) – a neighbour of Mark2 and Rich. Heading off around the back of the houses through Westcott we made good progress, but needed to make a few stops to shake our hands to get the blood flowing in them again..... did I mention it was cold?


We headed up the Rookery, discovering someone had smoothed out the steps and removed the big drop off at the bottom – great for the climb up, but we suspected the fun would be lost coming down!!! Up Wolverns lane, negotiating the snow, past the entrance to Summer Lightening and onto Simon's nemesis. We all cleared comfortably.... until Simon..... who gracefully vaulted the handlebars again!!! D'Oh!!



On up to the bomb holes, which I decided to take a whole new fresh line to avoid the big puddle and avoid Mark2 struggling to get to the top. Simon stopped at the last up and down – losing all momentum and without a hope of getting up the other side!!

A look down deliverance to see the tracks made by Dunnie (impressive line) and Bish (wipeout for all to see) from the previous night still emblazened in the snow!! On towards the tower, I followed the guys off a drop off, but not confidently and consequently lost the front wheel in the snow, going straight over the handle bars.... The only thing ringing in my ears was the sound of Bish shouting “Man down”!!! Hurt my foot and shoulder. For a split second I heard XC Tom's voice saying “Rotator cuff”....... Brushing myself off we headed on up to the tower for a warming cup of tea, and new style cakes!! The view was stunning, but the wind was freezing – we needed to hide on one side of the tower to keep semi warm, whilst eating our cakes and drinking our tea. The hot tea making us realise how bloody cold it really was!!!

Off to do Personal Hygiene and then up towards the cricket pitch. Slipping and sliding all the way. Off towards Summer lightening we paused at the entrance waiting for Simon. Off on the lower part of Summer Lightening – Mark2 led the way. Dave 2 followed, and at the cut through to the proper part of summer, took a face plant. Quite slow and graceful...... Once recovered, we all headed off to meet Mark2, who had started to become worried at our delay!!!! Last part of summer lightening completed, Mark 2 and Dave2 headed off home via beggar's canyon, while Rich, Simon and I took the fast trek down Wolverns lane to the start of the Rookery. Different track in the snow – but fun. The Rookery was fast without the steps, and we concluded that come the summer that would be a 40mph descent, with a jump at the bottom, hoping to avoid colliding with the barbed wire fence... .bring on the summer!!!!

Off onto the A25 and back towards Milton Heath Car Park. Cold, Snowy, Icy and a lot of fun!!!

More pics on Flickr.... follow the link

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud!

Thursday 09 Dec saw a mere 3 of the Over The Hillers (2 established members, Dunnie and Mark2, together with David2, another Dorking Cliftonville rider - must be the water) out on a starlit night. We met in Holmbury St Mary, in the car park at the viallage hall. Top Tip - get changed at work, as standing around a dark rural car park in your underpants is guaranteed to have the local Neighbourhood Watch thinking they are the target of a new Dogging Ring!!! Whilst awaiting Mark and Dave's arrival at the appointed hour, I fitted the 'double-Bastid' configuration - 2 Deal Extreme 900 lumen lights up front. The resultant test up to the treeline 100m away was like a scene from Close Encounters. I have to say that for £102 all in, the 2 lightsets give a fantastic coverage and brightness, in particular widening the frontage of the light pool, and getting away from the slight problem of having an off-centreline beam with only 1 on the go.

Shortly after 1830, we set off, climbing up to Holmbury Hill (David is as accomplished a climber as Mark2, so I brought up the rear from a [very] safe distance), whizzed/splooshed down to Car Park 1, and set off on BKB. Very muddy conditions, and no shortage of slippery roots was to be the order of the night, and the ground conditions meant that careful line-selection would be neded to avoid coming to a standstill in the gloopy stuff. I led (something of a rarity!) down BKB - we got some good speed up on the top section, and were at a respectable pace coming into the new bit. David2 soon discovered the importance of a head-mounted torch in negotiating 180 bends, but we had a great sail through the big berms of the ew section (with a big shout from the front to identify the Bish/Dunn berm!).

Rather than hit the road to Peaslake, we took the bridleway back up to save losing more altitude, and crossed the road to take a firetrack back up to Holmbury Hill. After a quick pause to admire the view, and discuss the demon trail which leads off Holmbury to the South (does this have a name? It's the one Simon double-handlebarred a good while back...), we hit Yoghurt Pots. A relatively dry starting section menat a bit of speed was gottten up, until the Pots bit ... super-gloop and poor line-selection saw both David and myself coming to a standstill at one point, but back on and through to the finish - slow, mucky, but great crack. And a well done to David - riding through that trail with only a handlebar light is pretty difficult!

After a quick debate, we hit Telegraph Road, which was pretty hard work, particularly on the top half, before a right turn at the bottom saw us take a rooty descent down to the road below Holmbury, and a bit of a road ride to the car park. A pint of Hobgoblin in the pub, and we were off by about a quarter to nine. Not racing stuff, but my decision to go for big chunky downhill tyres (Maxxis High Rollers) front and rear has certainly cut down on front and rear wheel slippage.

Welcome to David2, and hopefully you'll see a bigger showing the next time you come out.

How I broke my light!

I went out for a night ride on Thursday on my own as my riding buddy had blown me out at the last minute. I was all set up and needed to give my legs a good spin so I headed out onto Reigate hill. The short steep climb was boggy and when I got to the top the going was sticky to say the least. I thought the usual Pilgrims way loop would be too sticky so I opted for a steep decent down off the hill and pick up the road into Reigate - a sprint on the road would be better than nothing. As I motored into Reigate I thought a burn through Priory Park would be good and this would be off the road too. As I entered the park the darkened but silent skate board park got my attention. Lets try some of those ramps I thought. It was all going well until I got brave and decided to drop into the half pipe. No problem I thought, keep the weight back, look forward. Unfortunately i planted the front wheel at the bottom of the 6ft drop, the forks compressed until they spat me out over the front. F**ck, sh**t, my light got the force of the bike. It still works but the bracket is shagged so i had to hold it all the way home. Why did I think it was a good idea to be a bmx bandit!

Anyone got any DX light spares?

Tom

A copper, a bike tart and a homeboy

Date : 5^th December 2009
Riders : Roy, Simon, Andy
Area : Holmbury and Pitch

What with Mark 2 working, Dave with car problems, Rich on holiday, Tom under the thumb and Dunnie messing up his rear brake last night, it was left to Roy, Simon and myself to hold the “Over the Hill” fort this morning. It had been wet during the week, but the forecast for this morning was sunny, dry over head and cool. We were however expecting to get really wet up from the ground!

Meeting at car park 9, we headed up to the top of Holmbury, living up to our expectation by getting quite wet en route. We took a slightly different route to the top today taking in a little more single track than fire road. Arriving at the top we savoured the view before heading off to meet Barry Knows Best. This would be my opportunity to lead and look down the trail, and Simon's first visit of BKBs new ending. Seat posts dropped we headed off. It was a bit muddier than last week, and consequently slow on the top section. The new section was great. I dialled in, outside pedal down, looked where I wanted to go, and didn't brake... nailed it!!! How much better the berms flow when you get all those things together at the right time. It felt like I was flying! We all enjoyed it, so agreed to make the climb back to the the start of the trail!!

The second run was just as good. All hail to the Bishop/Dunn monster berm!

Off the bottom of the trail I practised my manualing down the road into Peaslake – trying to explain to Simon the mechanism and advantages of manualing and doing it properly..... Not sure he bought it!!!

Through Peaslake and up the long climb to the top of Pitch to take in the view, and then back down to find a particularly wet and muddy singletrack, which didn't flow and was very stilted! Arriving at the car park at the bottom of Pitch, we headed over towards the villlage store to partake of the usual cup of Rosy and a homemade flapjack. Nice!

Then off for the slog back up Radnor road. Simon and Roy were both caught by the Roadie, but I stayed in front..... I stopped at the start of BKB to allow Simon and Roy to catch up, and allow the roadie on hits way... although he would never have caught me!!!!

To the top of Holmbury and down the other side, stopping for a quick chat to a couple of orienteerers out on an 8 hour race!! Running and bikes! We hit Telegraph and slowed down... it was boggy again, there's a surprise!! The second half did run a little better, and took us back to the car park.

Good ride chaps... thanks.

Box ticking...

Felt it important to let you know that I rode deliverance today (1st Dec 09). I had a buddy from work with me who flew down it so I really had no choice but to follow him. A bit ragged, certainly not with the confidence of Mark D. Written witness statement can be provided on request.

Mark2

PS Also rode BKB again.... still good =)