I Gotta A Itch (and it’s not an STD.... this time)

OK, so I’ve been a bit out of the loop lately. You see about the beginning of February some scum bucket unbolted the wall anchor in my lean-to and stole it... despite the fact my bike was attached to it didn’t seem to hinder him and the wall anchor has never been seen since. Darn.

So this somewhat accelerated my plans to replace my bike, which I was planning to do in the near future anyway (5 – 10 years?).

Three weeks later I got myself a (used) Trek Scratch 2010... no idea what it was but it looked f**king cool.

Three weeks later and 1 day I have been bullied and threatened in to going out in the rain to take and post some pictures... enjoy.

Attack Mode

XC Mode

Some HOPE and KS dropper post is what I need to ride this thing up hill hehehe (Tom, the blue clamp is for sale if you want it... £100)

Ready to Ride (once it stops raining)

Apparently I'm not allowed to keep it in the bedroom, toys, no matter how sweet, big and knarly stay in the toy room with all the other kids toys... booo

Mark2

Cwm Carn - What a Blast

Riders, Roy, Simon, Mick, Nick and Keith

Left the beautiful South at 0700 to head for Wales and Cwm Carn. RV'd at Reading Services for a spot of breaky, more later, and then on M4 to the Valley's. On the hill at 1000 and what a hill it is!! Grinding up and up and more up, after an hour reached the top. Then we realised what all the fuss was about. Terrific XC run down, with a few runs of the top two sections before returning to the centre for the obligatory lunch. Unfortunately, Keith was suffering with the sh*ts and after 6 runs into the woods, called it a day. we think he had a dodgy bacon roll at Reading. Beware!
After lunch, we took the uplift to the top of the Downhill run. Best £3.50 we have spent in a long time. Drop after drop with good surface, even after the rain, and the chance to take lots of air. Even if we didn't, the opportunity was there. Worth the trip for this gem alone. Simon went down even though his Alexis conscience was bugging him. Nuff said. A 3 hour trip home rounded of a thoroughly enjoyable day.

Diggin' the Dirt

After the three negative posts from last weekend some better news...
I've just returned from a site meeting with the council at Dorking West about improving the existing dirt jumps and 4X track there. A couple of the guys from Head for Hills and a couple of Dirt Jumpers turned up and we spent a really productive hour with a council contractor defining how to improve the 4X track.
Our basic aim was to improve flow and widen everything so it can be run as a dual track. As I understand it the council have budget to bring in a shed load of carboniferous limestone and we scoped how and where it should be used - basically the track will be widened, berms made bigger, some jumps which don't work will be removed and others re-shaped. Apparently it's going to happen quite soon. There will be a need for some volunteers to help with the detail (i.e. spade!) work so I'll keep you all in the loop but I have high hopes that it will become a really good facility.

....More Closed Trails!

As the forecast for Saturday was good, three of us (Mick, Rich 2 and me) met up at Swinley for a 09:00 start. Rich 2 was particularly looking forward to the ride after the massive mechanical failure he had 5 minutes into the ride the week before which resulted in him riding single speed for the rest of the day.

So this Saturday with £200 of new components fitted to Rich 2’s bike, the three of us set out with blue skies above. It wasn’t long in fact 2 minutes into the ride and Rich 2 had another mechanical issue, now the new chain, new rear cassette, rear hanger and shifters were having some compatibility issues with the front crank rings (that had not been changed) . This rendered the bike un-ride able so he set off home to plan another trip to the bike repair shop. Reminds me a bit of Dunnie.

Then there were two, we headed across the forest and up to the Labyrinth which was flowing well, we then picked up roller coaster and then onto 5 star point. As we approached the point we too came across vehicles and tape blocking our beloved routes. So giving this trail a miss we ventured further towards the Crowthorne side where we encountered more closed tracks with red tape everywhere. Approximately 50 % of the trails had been closed. Then we saw them, the forestry guys with their dumper trucks and shovels in hand.

The good news for us is that unlike the previous blogs, these guys were carrying out essential trail maintenance which is well overdue. The work on the trails is schedules to be complete by close of play Tuesday which means we should have some lovely trails to ride on Wednesdays night.

Dark Times Indeed

Hi all, I too went out in the wet this Sunday and all over Hurtwood are signs that illegal trails and trailbuilding will not be tollerated. The land is privately owned and they are disappointed that MTBers are basically wrecking the forest. It is a sign of the times that the trails are overused and I wouldn't be surprised if a levy isn't charged to offset the damage. AKA Swinley Forest.
Another thing I saw were lots of people out on OLD NO SUS bikes with FIXED wheels. Retro is the New NEW.
Most of all, haven't the Police got better things to do in Surrey, like stopping Burglars?????

Disturbing developments....

On Saturday only Dave and I made it out onto a very wet Leith Hill. I'm not going to blog about the ride, it was short and the trails are in a poor state following last weeks rain.
We thought something was amiss when we climbed up to Wolverns Lane and the first thing we saw was a Police Land Rover, whose occupants were "having a word" with a bunch of Motocross riders.
On to Summer Lightning (having passed a National Trust Patrol in an unusual location) where we met a couple of riders and during a friendly MTB chat they told us not to go to Redlands as the Forestry Commission and Rozzers were over there "arresting MTBers and confiscating their bikes"!
Following tea at the Tower Dave and I took our usual route via Coldharbour, planning to hit the Milton Gore Heads Roll jumps as a final stop.
Unfortunately on arrival we were greeted with the sight of yet another Forestry Patrol and just before we hit the jumps they came over to us and explained that Mountain Biking is not allowed in Redlands, or indeed anywhere on Leith Hill, other than on the Summer Lightning trail network.
I think we're seeing the impact of the illegal trail network which has probably gone too far in damaging young trees such as on "Turning Japanese" in Redlands. The Surrey Hills is also becoming a victim of it's own success with regular items in the MTB mags bringing more and more visitors to our neck of the woods looking for "extreme thrills".
What worries me is that they will destroy all the jumps and trails in places like Milton Gore and Redlands although I think it will be difficult for the Police, National Trust and Forestry Commission to regularly throw the resources we saw this weekend at "Policing" MTBers.
Dark times indeed....