4th July 2004 Richard and Rav - The Surrey_Hills

Rav and I decided to go for a monster ride this week. After meeting at Dorking station we headed over to Coldharbour for the start of the ride.

Climbing up regurgitator is always a challenge on cold legs but we made it okay before heading on to Summer Lightning. After exiting to the right we took the sandy path that leads onto the bridleway past the cricket pitch and towards Leith Hill Tower. Another vicious climb up to the tower and straight over to the play area.

I have borrowed a Koski stem from Huey. 90mm replaces the 120mm specialized jousting lance that has been on there for the last 3 years. The handling is sharper but I struggle to keep the front end down on those really steep climbs.

Back to the ride, down the rocky descent passing the horse enclosure before taking the fast left hander which leads to that hidden singletrack in the trees. You know, that stuff where the trailside branches touch both shoulders and you crash through the brambles with your head down low. Back onto the Greensand way and down to the bottom before crossing the road and up the the short climb that leads to Holmbury Hill.

Passing another cricket pitch we take the singletrack climb on the right before swinging back onto the bridleway, turning right at the junction and right again onto Reservoir_Dogs and then Barry_Knows_Best. BKB is surprisingly dry given the rain we have had this week and the sharp kicker that were built a few months ago have now changed to rounded humps that give you the choice of launching or rolling over them.

After a quick break at Peaslake its up the side of Pitch_Hill to take in the Holy Trail and some of the other singletrack including that great trail which has the 2 foot ramp on it (at the top of the hill, within sight of the trail head).

The pace is relentless now as we head down to Sleepy Hollow and cross the road to find some of the new trails in Winterfold Wood that Mark of uponthedowns showed me back in May. This trail has 3 bombholes in a row followed by some beautifully carved singletrack that is rarely used.

From here we climb back up Pitch Hill before retracing our steps over the 3 hills. A mammoth 25 miles was covered with much of it on testing technical singletrack only using fireroads to connect the good stuff together.

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11th July 2004 Richard, Keef, Martin, Andy, Ed and some others whose names I forget! - Surrey_Hills

You know, it's great to be back!

A nightmare few weeks saw me breaking my camera at Chicksands, followed by my PC crashing and me losing my FTP software. Despite backing data up regularly, I have had trouble re-establishing the link with my site host and so there haven't been any updates for a while.

But don't worry - the riding continues with an XC spin with Huey 2_weeks ago, a 25 miler with Rav last_week and this week sees another great day out on the Surrey_Hills, visiting Holmbury_Hill and then all that is good about Pitch_Hill including Caution_Steep_Slope and Judge's Seat followed by a return over Leith_Hill.

29 miles of leg-burning hardcore XC / freeride lite action!

I managed to get some decent_air off the ramp at the top of Pitch_Hill and then the smaller drop at Judge's Seat. We also discovered a trail we hadn't ridden before on Holmbury_Hill which someone thought might be 'Chocolate Jesus'. No idea if it was or not but it was a great trail and will be visited again in the near future.

A couple of heavy crashes saw first Ed tree-hugging at Sleepy Hollow and then Andy hitting the deck hard in the last of a 3 bombhole run. Andy was particularly lucky as he managed to get a nasty gash just under his eye - could have been nasty if he was a bit shorter.

Richard jumps the ramp at the top of Pitch_Hill

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everything really does look like this to Keef when he's riding - Send to my mobile

Andy leads the way down a green and verdant Telegraph_road - Send to my mobile

Martin looks cautious on approaching the steep roll-in on the 'Holy Trail' - Send to my mobile

Ed rolls the jump - Send to my mobile

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14th July 2004 Richard and Tom - Pitch_Hill

Today's riding summed up the whole of the year for me. I left home this morning for the morning commute with the weather overcast but mild. However within a few miles the rain started pouring down and 15 miles later I arrived at work soaked and miserable.

The ride home was dry but uncomfortable as my kit was still soggy from the morning. The sun started to come out about six pm and as I was browsing the net, I spotted this on a local forum:

"Anyone up for a ride one evening this week? Pitch or Leith mainly tech stuff drops, roll ins etc, wanna try and improve what little skill i've got to a reasonable level"

As I can do the steep roll-in and the smaller drop at Pitch_Hill I thought I could give some tips to someone who was obviously a learner. I responded and agreed to meet Tom at Pitch Hill car park.

Imagine my surprise when I rolled up to spot Tom sitting on his Cannondale Gemini with six inches of travel out back and seven inches of Marzocchi Junior T's up front. He took the steep roll-in with ease and then the larger drop at Judge's seat without even blinking.

The weather by now was fantastic, really warm and sunny with dry trails. My words of encouragement gave Tom the confidence to succeed on the smaller line at Caution Steep Slope and Tom introdced me to the trail known as John Steep as we completed a few XC miles to make it an evening.

Richard taking the smaller line at Judge's seat

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Richard on the steep roll-in at Caution Steep Slope

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21st July 2004 Richard and Sam - Reigate Hill

Being a father of two young sons, I decided it's about time I started getting the eldest one into mountain biking. His new bike is on order and we are both desperate for it to arrive but in the meantime I take him up to Reigate Hill for an evening ride with him on his Toys R Us special.

Starting from the NT cafe we follow part of the big_8 route circling around the North Downs Way and through Kingswood before heading back to the car park. Sam is riding much better these days and now at 13, has reached the point where the testosterone is kicking in, building up his strength levels and he is able to keep up a good pace.

A nice evening ride with the family!

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