Today was the day of our mtb lesson. We 'd been waiting for a number of weeks. Travelling to the Glade in Holmbury St Mary, to meet up with our instructors, our journey was slowed significantly by the most torrential rain we'd seen in a long time. Tom was still hoping for a text from Rich saying the lesson may be called off due to extreme weather! No such text came........
Tom and I were first to arrive, and the weather eased a little. We prepared our bikes during a break in the weather and waited for the others to arrive. A few minutes later we were all there..... and the rain returned!! Our instructors arrived. Richard who looked the spit of JK from Jamiroquai, and Rob who was tall....
Off on the trail the weather eased, but was very wet under foot. We were returned to basics by our two instructors, who more than filled the four hours with great tuition and some dawning lights for some of us. We learned to manual, take corners properly and the basics of jumping. For the first 3 hours the weather was generally in our favour. The last hour it did rain though.... and boy did it rain. We all got significantly wet.... and cold, but the instruction held our interest and took our mind off the appalling weather.
A great day of teaching, and certainly inspired me – thanks Richard and Rob for a great morning. I have just placed an order for V12s, 510 flatties and some veggie shin protectors..... AM proper here I come!!!
A quick ride through the Surrey Hills with a group of 40 something mtbers who really should know better!
Sunday, 15 November 2009
Monday, 9 November 2009
Injured....
I tore my hamstring playing squash on friday but have had first physio trip and another one planned for wednesday so hopefully I will be OK for next saturday. Had a little go on the bike today and it seemed OK...although obviously I was riding up and down the road and not doing "Level 4 Skills!". Check out the link to a new online mag which has an article about bike skills by Richard Kelly who is going to be teaching us:
http://www.imbikemag.com/issue2/?page=99
Thought I'd post a picture of the Nicolai, now with bash guard, new rims, hubs, rear cassette and tyres..
Rich
Sunday, 8 November 2009
China Pig Reprise
Having been a poor week for rain, we were hoping that Thursday might prove a bit of a respite, to allow a quick ride out at night. I'm still using my old halogen light with max burn time of about 45mins, so I'm still heavily relying on everyone elses lights!! Still, I do have shipping confirmation for my deal extreme light, so fingers crossed.
I was delayed leaving work, and the M25 threw up a 22mile queue.... great!! I was going to be late, or even miss altogether!! Gutted – especially as this was Simon's first venture out with the old crowd again, and I'd miss seeing his pristine Lapiere Zesty. Given the traffic and the delay, I nobly fell on my sword and phoned Rich to tell him and Simon to crack on – I was stuck and was still probably another 30mins away. Rich suggested I meet them on Box Hill instead, as it would take them about 30mins to get up to the top from Dorking anyway. Having formulated a plan, I made it through the Dorking traffic a little quicker than anticipated, and bumped into the guys just as they were about to embark on the run up to the top of Box Hill.
Rather than drive to the top of Box Hill, I sneaked into the local hotel car park at the bottom, and quickly got myself ready, joining the boys at the bottom of Box Hill, ready for the climb to the top. 9mins 30secs was the time to beat from Rich's last attempt. The 3 of us set of together. 9mins 30secs Rich arrives at the top (spooky!!), with me about a minute behind. Simon arrived at around 12mins. Taking a short rest we set off, ignoring the views, to find China Pig.
All the previous comments on the route proved to be accurate. Lots of off camber roots. With the rain from the previous days, these proved to be particularly slippery tonight. I took a tumble! The route was nice and long, but slow, given the dark and the wet. We arrived at Juniper bottom, to be greeted with rain!! That wasn't part of the weather forecast!! Another climb and then picked up a nice downhill trail which Rich knew from days gone by. It was faster than China Pig, less rooty, but more rocky, and needed a little more focus, to avoid the left hand drop!!
Down the steps by the pub, which some of us tackled and one us got off, we arrived at the A24. A quick ride back along the A24 route to the hotel car park to pack the bike away. We then met up at the Star pub for our customary after ride pint.
Short but sweet!
I was delayed leaving work, and the M25 threw up a 22mile queue.... great!! I was going to be late, or even miss altogether!! Gutted – especially as this was Simon's first venture out with the old crowd again, and I'd miss seeing his pristine Lapiere Zesty. Given the traffic and the delay, I nobly fell on my sword and phoned Rich to tell him and Simon to crack on – I was stuck and was still probably another 30mins away. Rich suggested I meet them on Box Hill instead, as it would take them about 30mins to get up to the top from Dorking anyway. Having formulated a plan, I made it through the Dorking traffic a little quicker than anticipated, and bumped into the guys just as they were about to embark on the run up to the top of Box Hill.
Rather than drive to the top of Box Hill, I sneaked into the local hotel car park at the bottom, and quickly got myself ready, joining the boys at the bottom of Box Hill, ready for the climb to the top. 9mins 30secs was the time to beat from Rich's last attempt. The 3 of us set of together. 9mins 30secs Rich arrives at the top (spooky!!), with me about a minute behind. Simon arrived at around 12mins. Taking a short rest we set off, ignoring the views, to find China Pig.
All the previous comments on the route proved to be accurate. Lots of off camber roots. With the rain from the previous days, these proved to be particularly slippery tonight. I took a tumble! The route was nice and long, but slow, given the dark and the wet. We arrived at Juniper bottom, to be greeted with rain!! That wasn't part of the weather forecast!! Another climb and then picked up a nice downhill trail which Rich knew from days gone by. It was faster than China Pig, less rooty, but more rocky, and needed a little more focus, to avoid the left hand drop!!
Down the steps by the pub, which some of us tackled and one us got off, we arrived at the A24. A quick ride back along the A24 route to the hotel car park to pack the bike away. We then met up at the Star pub for our customary after ride pint.
Short but sweet!
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Montar el cerdo de china (...riding the China Pig)
The sun was shining and I had a free day which I opted to fill with some sort of mountain biking activity... Lucky for me I checked the blog before I went out and saw your post, the challenge was set.
I knew the bridleway to the visitors centre so after a quick explore for some jumps near Kuoni (fail) I wound my way to the bottom of the bridleway. A miserable 9:40ish was my best, room for improvement. Need to confirm start and finish lines mind you.
Spent 15 minutes trying to find the start of China Pig – after 2 false starts (There are a few bridleways in that area and the start of CP is quiet well hidden) I eventually found the trail. Within 50 yards you definitely know you’re on it. So it was brakes off and away I go, missing a ride round and nearly careening into a fallen tree, oops. The rest of the trail was very nice, staying relaxed and off the brakes to skim over those hidden roots.
Defiantly worth riding again, nice one.
Mark
I knew the bridleway to the visitors centre so after a quick explore for some jumps near Kuoni (fail) I wound my way to the bottom of the bridleway. A miserable 9:40ish was my best, room for improvement. Need to confirm start and finish lines mind you.
Spent 15 minutes trying to find the start of China Pig – after 2 false starts (There are a few bridleways in that area and the start of CP is quiet well hidden) I eventually found the trail. Within 50 yards you definitely know you’re on it. So it was brakes off and away I go, missing a ride round and nearly careening into a fallen tree, oops. The rest of the trail was very nice, staying relaxed and off the brakes to skim over those hidden roots.
Defiantly worth riding again, nice one.
Mark
Sunday, 1 November 2009
decouvrir le cochon chinoise (..finding China Pig)
Another morning of spannering saw the fitment of an e-thirteen bashguard to the Nicolai. It's now looking respelendent with it's red Hope hubs and cassette detailing, plus the new Stan's rims. Just need a bit of dry weather and I might even take it out.....
I decided that as the day dried out I had a spare hour and trying to find a long piece of singletrack called "China Pig" which goes off the back of Box Hill had been in my mind for a while. It would also give me a chance to time myself on the "Box Hill challenge" climb, a steep bridleway running from Rykers Cafe to the National Trust cafe at the top. The climb was tougher than I remember from last time and my time of 9.30 won't take a lot of beating (or will it!?)...
From the top I rode round to the Smith & Wesson and entered a familiar bridleway next to the caravan park. Instead of heading straight on the trick is to take the first right and this is China Pig. It's a long and interesting piece of singletrack which gently descends into Juniper Bottom. No jumps, drops, bombholes or berms but plenty of off-camber tricky wet roots hidden by leaf litter. it's also a very natural trail (check out the link to a Muddymoles vid of it from earlier in the year)so quite different to a lot of stuff on Leith. For a short but good ride it would be easy to link with another trail I know which goes over Mickleham way.
Rich
http://www.vimeo.com/4938203
I decided that as the day dried out I had a spare hour and trying to find a long piece of singletrack called "China Pig" which goes off the back of Box Hill had been in my mind for a while. It would also give me a chance to time myself on the "Box Hill challenge" climb, a steep bridleway running from Rykers Cafe to the National Trust cafe at the top. The climb was tougher than I remember from last time and my time of 9.30 won't take a lot of beating (or will it!?)...
From the top I rode round to the Smith & Wesson and entered a familiar bridleway next to the caravan park. Instead of heading straight on the trick is to take the first right and this is China Pig. It's a long and interesting piece of singletrack which gently descends into Juniper Bottom. No jumps, drops, bombholes or berms but plenty of off-camber tricky wet roots hidden by leaf litter. it's also a very natural trail (check out the link to a Muddymoles vid of it from earlier in the year)so quite different to a lot of stuff on Leith. For a short but good ride it would be easy to link with another trail I know which goes over Mickleham way.
Rich
http://www.vimeo.com/4938203
Friday, 30 October 2009
Mr Mojo Risin'
Date: 29th October
Riders: XC Tom, Mark G, Rich
Location: Leith Hill
OK so I think we've established that I'm a bit of a fair weather sort when it comes to MTB'ing. After a couple of muddy rides over the past week the drier weather of the past few days and a clear evening had me all excited about last night's ride. Luckily Mark had the magic van so the trip up to Coldharbour was painless and Tom was already there. By 6.50 we were on Regurgitator, climbing into Waggledance before hitting the top section of Summer Lightning followed by the downhill jump bit. We then took the climb which Ben Tudor had shown us last week to the "Ghurka Trail" and bombed down the rocky and rooty blast to the Snake's Hill bridleway. We crossed this and took another new route Ben had shown us up towards the start of Windy Willow and past Donnie Darko, eventually climbing to the Tower. From here we turned back and headed towards the Quarry, taking in the play area, Dunnie's Agony Tree jump (Bish and Mark, at night, on hardtails? - tick) the "down and up the other side" bombhole and a couple of other technical features. After re-enacting Tom's wheelie incident at the quarry we rode Wonderwoman (ooh that sounds a bit rude) and sessioned the jump between the trees before heading back to the Tower via a couple of interesting little trails. We collected a couple of lost riders at the Agony Tree who needed guiding back to the Tower and chatted with them for a while. Our route back to Coldharbour took in Personal Hygene, No Cycling, the Cricket Pitch bombholes, Waggeldance and Crooked Furrow. At last I felt like I was beginning to find my flow again, popping off roots and little kickers, it must be the dry trails!
In the pub all the talk was of new bikes, a hardcore hardtail for Mark and a Five for Tom.
As they say "The Future's All Mountain, The Future's an Orange Five (with flat pedals)"
Riders: XC Tom, Mark G, Rich
Location: Leith Hill
OK so I think we've established that I'm a bit of a fair weather sort when it comes to MTB'ing. After a couple of muddy rides over the past week the drier weather of the past few days and a clear evening had me all excited about last night's ride. Luckily Mark had the magic van so the trip up to Coldharbour was painless and Tom was already there. By 6.50 we were on Regurgitator, climbing into Waggledance before hitting the top section of Summer Lightning followed by the downhill jump bit. We then took the climb which Ben Tudor had shown us last week to the "Ghurka Trail" and bombed down the rocky and rooty blast to the Snake's Hill bridleway. We crossed this and took another new route Ben had shown us up towards the start of Windy Willow and past Donnie Darko, eventually climbing to the Tower. From here we turned back and headed towards the Quarry, taking in the play area, Dunnie's Agony Tree jump (Bish and Mark, at night, on hardtails? - tick) the "down and up the other side" bombhole and a couple of other technical features. After re-enacting Tom's wheelie incident at the quarry we rode Wonderwoman (ooh that sounds a bit rude) and sessioned the jump between the trees before heading back to the Tower via a couple of interesting little trails. We collected a couple of lost riders at the Agony Tree who needed guiding back to the Tower and chatted with them for a while. Our route back to Coldharbour took in Personal Hygene, No Cycling, the Cricket Pitch bombholes, Waggeldance and Crooked Furrow. At last I felt like I was beginning to find my flow again, popping off roots and little kickers, it must be the dry trails!
In the pub all the talk was of new bikes, a hardcore hardtail for Mark and a Five for Tom.
As they say "The Future's All Mountain, The Future's an Orange Five (with flat pedals)"
Monday, 26 October 2009
Slippery when wet
Date: Sunday 25th Oct
Riders: Rich, Dave, Tom, Wilf
Location: Leith Hill
I spent a few hours on saturday doing a bit of spannering - fitting a bashguard to my Cove and putting a casssette onto the new wheels I have bought for the Nicolai (thanks to Dan for the loan of some tools). Sunday dawned bright and autumnal and with the clocks having gone back an hour overnight we perhaps could have made an earlier start. Mark blew out early by text (it's becoming a bit habitual) - it sounds like his mother-in-law's 70th had been a riot. Andy is currently on the sick list with his damaged eye - good luck with the recovery, it sounds nasty. Coldharbour was so busy with a running event that Dave and I had to park down by Cream Egg. We rode up to Coldharbour and met Tom and Wilf who had ridden up via the Rookery. Despite the fine weather they were already looking muddy. We rode over to Redlands to show Wilf Wave of Mutilation (Tom getting stuck on the top of the fallen tree!)and then rode on down to the North Shore aka Mangrove Alley. It's already very wet and gloopy and my normal "pace" was much reduced trying to just stay on the bike over roots and through the mud. We walked the 2nd bit of shore as it looked particularly treacherous and the climb up from the bottom is almost unrideable already. We joined up with Sweet Sweet Bulbs, wet jumps taken with less confidence than in recent months and then climbed back up to Deja Vu - definitely a trail that will get easier with practice - momentum needs to be maintained to get through it without halting. As we finished this one Tom started to moan about how hungry he was so we started over towards the tower! We played about on Cream Egg for a while before taking the short downhill to soggy bottom and then climbing up again to Wolverns Lane, dotted with huge puddles now. We then took the rollercoaster and bombholes to the Cricket Pitch followed by the quick route to the Tower climb which we all dabbed on (Tom attributed his failure to bonking!) We joined the substantial queue for tea and cake at the Tower (or in Tom's case tea, cake and sandwiches). At this point Dave left us as he needed to get back and Tom declared that he had had quite enough riding so we headed back via Personal Hygene, No Cycling and the bombholes to Waggledance. Tom and Wilf then took the Summer Lightning route back to Westcott and I followed Crooked Furrow back to Coldharbour and on to the Car Park.
I have to say I'm not getting on with the winter riding yet - I'm frustrated by the lack of grip and correspondingly lower pace, the increased difficulty of climbs and the need to clean the bike when you get home! Also I've started using my hardtail for the winter and it's requiring some major adjustments in style. Let's hope it stays dry this week!
Riders: Rich, Dave, Tom, Wilf
Location: Leith Hill
I spent a few hours on saturday doing a bit of spannering - fitting a bashguard to my Cove and putting a casssette onto the new wheels I have bought for the Nicolai (thanks to Dan for the loan of some tools). Sunday dawned bright and autumnal and with the clocks having gone back an hour overnight we perhaps could have made an earlier start. Mark blew out early by text (it's becoming a bit habitual) - it sounds like his mother-in-law's 70th had been a riot. Andy is currently on the sick list with his damaged eye - good luck with the recovery, it sounds nasty. Coldharbour was so busy with a running event that Dave and I had to park down by Cream Egg. We rode up to Coldharbour and met Tom and Wilf who had ridden up via the Rookery. Despite the fine weather they were already looking muddy. We rode over to Redlands to show Wilf Wave of Mutilation (Tom getting stuck on the top of the fallen tree!)and then rode on down to the North Shore aka Mangrove Alley. It's already very wet and gloopy and my normal "pace" was much reduced trying to just stay on the bike over roots and through the mud. We walked the 2nd bit of shore as it looked particularly treacherous and the climb up from the bottom is almost unrideable already. We joined up with Sweet Sweet Bulbs, wet jumps taken with less confidence than in recent months and then climbed back up to Deja Vu - definitely a trail that will get easier with practice - momentum needs to be maintained to get through it without halting. As we finished this one Tom started to moan about how hungry he was so we started over towards the tower! We played about on Cream Egg for a while before taking the short downhill to soggy bottom and then climbing up again to Wolverns Lane, dotted with huge puddles now. We then took the rollercoaster and bombholes to the Cricket Pitch followed by the quick route to the Tower climb which we all dabbed on (Tom attributed his failure to bonking!) We joined the substantial queue for tea and cake at the Tower (or in Tom's case tea, cake and sandwiches). At this point Dave left us as he needed to get back and Tom declared that he had had quite enough riding so we headed back via Personal Hygene, No Cycling and the bombholes to Waggledance. Tom and Wilf then took the Summer Lightning route back to Westcott and I followed Crooked Furrow back to Coldharbour and on to the Car Park.
I have to say I'm not getting on with the winter riding yet - I'm frustrated by the lack of grip and correspondingly lower pace, the increased difficulty of climbs and the need to clean the bike when you get home! Also I've started using my hardtail for the winter and it's requiring some major adjustments in style. Let's hope it stays dry this week!
Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Too much time on my hands!
Wow, nice bike in the last post. I’m very jealous!! More so that I’ve missed out on the last few rides with you guys due to injury!
As Richard mentioned in his post "North shore for sure?" I did indeed fall off the North Shore at the bottom of "Wave of Mutilation", the second time round, while trying to answer the question “Why can’t you grab a handful of brake while negotiating NS?”
I learnt my lesson and am now passing this obvious gem on to you – Don't grab your brakes when riding NS. Luckily I only sprained my wrist. From the look of you guys in Andy’s videos, this advice is mute anyway, very nice... as was the combat roll Mark did off the bomb hole drop... impressed!!
Anyway, enough prattling on, the real reason for this post... I have not been wasting my time at home waiting for my wrist to heal so that I have enough strength in it to grab a handful when riding NS (I don’t learn) but I have managed to scrape some video off my phone I took of Richard and I at the Milton Gore jumps... It was such bad quality it could of been any of us, so I tried to pad it out and make it interesting with some post production work, make sure you have your speakers on... Enjoy
Mark G
As Richard mentioned in his post "North shore for sure?" I did indeed fall off the North Shore at the bottom of "Wave of Mutilation", the second time round, while trying to answer the question “Why can’t you grab a handful of brake while negotiating NS?”
I learnt my lesson and am now passing this obvious gem on to you – Don't grab your brakes when riding NS. Luckily I only sprained my wrist. From the look of you guys in Andy’s videos, this advice is mute anyway, very nice... as was the combat roll Mark did off the bomb hole drop... impressed!!
Anyway, enough prattling on, the real reason for this post... I have not been wasting my time at home waiting for my wrist to heal so that I have enough strength in it to grab a handful when riding NS (I don’t learn) but I have managed to scrape some video off my phone I took of Richard and I at the Milton Gore jumps... It was such bad quality it could of been any of us, so I tried to pad it out and make it interesting with some post production work, make sure you have your speakers on... Enjoy
Mark G
Sunday, 18 October 2009
Hi all, Yes, after 5 months of not getting out on the bike due to a back injuriny and operation, today I ventured out for the first time on the new "Zesty".
Doesn't She look lovely. It's the small frame(42cm) in black and brushed silver.
I decided to totally ignore the Doctors and Physio's advice about staying on the roads and so I headed out into the local tracks on the outskirts of Swinley Forest. At first I stayed mainly to the fire roads and main trails just to see how the the legs and back would hold out on the first outing.
Both the back and the bike were going well so I ventured further and decided to try out some small bomb holes and downhill which went well. I really noticed the difference with the small frame which allowed me to drop back behind the saddle with ease and still have control of the bike, unlike the old FSR XC in the medium, it was a stretch to get back behind the seat and then I ran out of arm length which really did not help the handling. The only issue was when i got to the bottom and could not find a route out so ended up having to climb up the last drop with the bike over my shoulder - good job it's light.
I carried on futher into the forest a found a small single track which then lead up into some dense forest, on closer inspection the track had been well layed out with old trees marking the edges of the run and a number of jumps all the way down. I followed to route to the top to see where it started and then decide to give it a small go, Luckily there is enough space to the side of the jumps to go round - funny how they always look so big when your approaching them and then so small when you go round them. Will save the jumps for a few weeks and when I have got the forks set right, still some fine tuning required.
All in all a good first time outing and no issue with the back at all - that might change by the morning. Will ride this route a few more times and get a little road cycling in aswell just to get the legs back before I venture out with the big boys at Leith and neighbouring hills.
See you all soon.
Simon (AKA Bike Tart)
Friday, 16 October 2009
The one where we followed Tom's nose
Meeting at Coldharbour, Tom and I arrived at the car park to hear a car further away, blaring out the radio. Was it Mark? Was it someone else? We prepared our wheels.. got dressed.... lights on.... and still we discussed the bloke with the radio!!! Tom took a wander over and yes it was Mark!
We took off towards the bomb holes and Rich's Jump area and had a little play around our favourite kick jump. Once we'd taken our fill we headed off towards Leith. Without Rich's expert navigation skills it took us a little while to find the route – but find it we did! Onwards then and up towards summer lightening. The first section I followed the other two given my lights were the poorest, but frankly Tom was showing his lack of 3 months out.... way too slow!! The second section I took the lead... until 10m when when my light battery fell off... causing us all to pause until I could sort. Off again and we completed the section at speed.
After summer lightening, we headed on up towards the summit. We took a fork and saw a huge group of bikers pass behind us.... followed by a few stragglers, who proceeded to follow us.... thinking we were part of their group. Luckily their fellow riders called them back, and we headed off towards roller coaster and Deliverance.
Quick look at Deliverance and then on to the summit of Leith. None of us made it in the dark in one go – it was a case of feet down. Quick rest at the top and a decision on what to do next. We decided to try and find Windy Willows.... easier said than done without Rich. Off we trotted, and within 5 minutes were lost... It was at this point we started to follow Tom's nose.... the next 20 minutes was an adventure... this route, that route, let's try this way... don't recognise this..... are we going the right way? With all due respect to Tom's nose, we did make it back to the Leith hill tower.
Lights were fading, so we headed back towards the car. Getting off the summit, Tom's light failed completely, and mine was reducing fast.... We set off as quick as we could, pausing to tell yet another groups of stragglers on a big night outing, that we weren't with them, and they shouldn't follow us.....
Back to the car and into the plough for the customary pint of Crooked Furrow, and the rapidly becoming customary pack of scampy fries!!
We took off towards the bomb holes and Rich's Jump area and had a little play around our favourite kick jump. Once we'd taken our fill we headed off towards Leith. Without Rich's expert navigation skills it took us a little while to find the route – but find it we did! Onwards then and up towards summer lightening. The first section I followed the other two given my lights were the poorest, but frankly Tom was showing his lack of 3 months out.... way too slow!! The second section I took the lead... until 10m when when my light battery fell off... causing us all to pause until I could sort. Off again and we completed the section at speed.
After summer lightening, we headed on up towards the summit. We took a fork and saw a huge group of bikers pass behind us.... followed by a few stragglers, who proceeded to follow us.... thinking we were part of their group. Luckily their fellow riders called them back, and we headed off towards roller coaster and Deliverance.
Quick look at Deliverance and then on to the summit of Leith. None of us made it in the dark in one go – it was a case of feet down. Quick rest at the top and a decision on what to do next. We decided to try and find Windy Willows.... easier said than done without Rich. Off we trotted, and within 5 minutes were lost... It was at this point we started to follow Tom's nose.... the next 20 minutes was an adventure... this route, that route, let's try this way... don't recognise this..... are we going the right way? With all due respect to Tom's nose, we did make it back to the Leith hill tower.
Lights were fading, so we headed back towards the car. Getting off the summit, Tom's light failed completely, and mine was reducing fast.... We set off as quick as we could, pausing to tell yet another groups of stragglers on a big night outing, that we weren't with them, and they shouldn't follow us.....
Back to the car and into the plough for the customary pint of Crooked Furrow, and the rapidly becoming customary pack of scampy fries!!
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