Cushtie on Holmbury Hill

Dom on Pitch Hill

Mark upon the downs

'Ventana Rob' on Pitch Hill

Cushtie on Summer Lightning

CAUTION - Steep Slope

Prince Albert review

Prince Albert spec

Kit reviews

Buy some new forks

Mark, somewhere on Pitch Hill

Sleepy Hollow

Do not adjust your sets - Mark really is this 'core nowadays

22nd December 2004

Woo hoo! I have now found my new favourite MTB'ing activity. It's night riding (no, not Knight rider).

Those of you that have been following my adventures for some time may recall that way back in December 2002 Keef manufactured a set of the Keefylites for me telling me to 'just buy a battery for them and put a connector on the end'.

Well, ever since then they have been sitting on a shelf in my garage without me bothering to do anything until a few weeks ago when Mark mentioned night riding.

Mark took them off my hands and has fixed a connector onto the bare wires and lent me a spare battery to see how I get on.

He dropped them around tonight and so I immediately fitted them to the bike, fitted a bottle cage for the battery and set off for a spin around Nonsuch Park.

Aside from surprising a few late night doggers (that's what you call dog walkers isn't it?) the light performed well. There are two lamps, a spot and a flood light but it's only necessary to use the spot light. Mark promises that a fully charged battery will give me 2 hours burn time. Well, I was out for 45 minutes and it was fine.

Further testing will take place shortly and you know where to look for the updates

Technical details:

Battery - 13.2 Volt NiMh 4 Amps

Spot Light - Mark to advise

Flood Light - Mark to advise

the two lamps mounted on the Pablo Escobars

side view

this is all doggers see

the bottle cage battery - 13.2 Volt NiMh 4 Amps

26th December 2004

****EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW****

We took time out over the festive season to speak to dialled mike about the ups and downs of the first 12 months for dialled bikes...

Mike in typical full flow

28th December 2004 Richard and Mark - Swinley Forest

A cold but bright Bank Holiday sees Mark and I heading towards Swinley Forest near Bracknell, Berkshire. This is my first visit although Mark visited a few times earlier this year.

The car park is buzzing with riders and with the rider centre (closed today), bike wash and car parking facilities is reminiscent of the Welsh trail centres.

Unfortunately there was a heavy rain last night after a week of dry weather before the temperature dropped and there is a lovely crunching sound from the tyres as we head across the frozen snow and crack through the puddles as we head off across the fireroads looking for a route that Mark is familiar with. It takes a while and a few false starts but we soon find our way onto some really boggy trails. Luckily these are only on the trails nearer to the car park and as we head deeper into the forest there are plenty of firmer trails to explore.

We continue exploring, taking advice on where the next bit of singletrack is from fellow riders before we turn for home.

The terrain is mainly flat, with a maximum of only 120 metres although there are a few short sharp rises. I think we were unlucky with the weather but I really enjoyed the day and look forward to returning in drier times.

If you are going to visit, make sure you take someone along who has been there before to point out the best trails and to guide you around an area that can be confusing to a newcomer.

"The money shot" as I think they refer to this in certain circles

This is typical of the trails in Swinley Forest

Mark powers through some singletrack

Richard tackling one of the winding descents

Mark

I was lucky to escape with my rear mech and all spokes intact after picking up this stick. Check out how it's even got between the seat stays

a shot of some of the doubles. Right click and save as to view video one (1.69mb) and right click and save as to view video two (822kb)

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