trouver le chien a deux tetes (finding 2-headed dog)

This week has been one of longer rides and discovery. Longer rides because I'm keen to be in good shape for Cwm Carn and Afan, and discovery, as Chris Bonnington said when asked why he wanted to climb Everest, "because it's there".

On Thursday evening Tom, Andy, Mark2, Kik, Dave2 and I charged up over a slightly slippery Ranmore, taking in Abba Zabba and Numbskull, then headed up onto Leith via the Dearleap and a footpath (tut tut) past the church at Wooton Hatch. We traversed Wolverns Lane all the way to Coldharbour and then popped into Redlands, riding through the woods over a few jumps then taking Foot and Mouth (new to most) and finding Rogers' "Firebeater" trail. This is a really good technical way off Leith Hill down into North Holmwood, the only drawback being the longish roll back to Dorking and the pub - still plenty done in just under 2 hours.

On Saturday I was riding solo and decided to head over to Pitch and Holmbury for a bit of exploration. A couple of trails turned out out to be bum steers but I did follow some guys and found the famous 2 headed dog by the Windmill on Pitch. As they pulled on their body armour I thought it must be a really gnarly feature (it's only about 50 metres long) but I had a quick look then hit it - no problem at all. I guess it's a sign of how far our riding has come in the last year. I also found a sweet little drop into a gulley and finally found Death Star, a really rooty fast gulley with some little drops which I'd previously failed to locate.
I climbed up onto Holmbury and found part of "I should coco" but the end seemed to be decimated by the recent forrestry work (unless I lost the trail!) Finally a blast down BKB and into Pedal and Spoke for a chat with Howard who gave me some directions for "Christmas Pudding", something for the next visit.

On sunday I went out again, this time with Dave2 and Neil, a trail veteran and neighbour from Dorking. We left at the rather unsociable hour of 7.30 and headed to Holmbury. We took in many of the usual trails, BKB, the T trails on Pitch (including a new ending to Ewok/Proper Beau) and climbed back up to Holmbury to take in Parklife and a new variation to Telegraph (much better) finishing with Mutiny.

Plenty of top riding!