4th January 2004 Richard, David and Paul - Pitch_Hill.

It's a Happy and dry return to Pitch_Hill for the first ride of the New Year. It's a peculiarity of this area that despite the mud and puddles of Holmbury and Leith Hills, Pitch_Hill is amazingly free draining.

We decide to explore some of the dozens of singletrack trails in the area. This involves a little back-tracking as you are never sure where the trails are going to exit but it is great riding.

The highlight is finding a bridleway at the foot of one steep descent that takes us back to the crest instead of having to shoulder our bikes as we did last_week.

Despite the dry conditions, the bike still seems covered in mud as I load it into the car and will need a thorough clean but that's a small price to pay for such good riding.

Paul at the entrance to The 'Holy' trail

David

David's lack of match fitness forces him to walk down some of the gnarly stuff

Paul goes log hopping

10th January 2004

My Marzocchi Z5 Bomber forks are well overdue for an oil change so I bought some finish_line fork oil in Halfords. I actually bought two bottles - 5wt and 10wt and mixed them together to obtain the correct 7.5wt.

The Cane_Creek Aheadset was feeling a bit graunchy last_week as well so I decided to service it at the same time. Unfortunately, as I was removing the forks the thin plastic dust cover/shim that sits in between the forks and bottom bearings decided to break in two so I headed back off to Halfords.

Many thanks to the guy in the Sutton branch who gave me another shim for nothing.

Seeing as I was in a maintenance mode I decided to give the Hope_freehub body a service as I haven't touched it since buying it in October_2002. I opened it, degreased then regreased it and refitted everything including the shims and pawls within 10 minutes - easy.

Finally I reversed the pads on the Hope_discs as I inadvertently put them in the wrong way round (they wear in to work best in one direction) and they were adversely affecting the braking performance.

I'm now looking forward to testing my mechanical skills when I take the bike out for a serious ride tomorrow...

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Marzocchi Z5 Bombers (2001) in the middle of an oil change. Check out how dirty the oil is (container in the foreground).

Hope Freehub with body and pawls removed showing that good ole thick greasing that Hope are famed for.

Keef

Paul disappears up the climb to the NT Cafe at Reigate Hill

Paul sports a home made mud pack

18th January 2004 Richard, Paul, Keef and Ed - MBR_North_Downs_Killer_Loop

It's a cold but bright sunny morning as we roll into the car park on the A25 at 9-15 a.m. to tackle the MBR_North_Downs_Killer_Loop but I'm suffering from a red-wine hangover and a 2 a.m. finish last night.

We completed this route in May last year but fancied tackling it again, starting from a different point and in a smaller group and have been joined by Ed, one of Keef's work colleagues on his Specialized Rockhopper 2003.

Exiting the car park, we roll along the road through Westcott, passing Nirvana_Cycles on the way before turning left onto Rookery Lane.

This is a long gentle drag which we usually descend as it turns into a stepped, rocky climb 30 metres from the end.

Turning left again, we head up the Greensand Way to Simon's Copse turning right onto a nice fast descent that can be difficult to judge in the heavy shade of the trees. A left takes us on the long climb up to Leith_Hill Tower.

We are now on familiar territory and pass the tower and down the other side towards Holmbury. A couple more trails lead us onto Barry_Knows_Best which is in great condition today. Well drained but damp enough to be enjoyable although Keef ends up damaging his crown jewels on the head tube as his front wheel washes out (don't feel 'em boy, count 'em!).

An extended stop at Peaslake for Keef to recover sees us making a change to the route because of time limitations and we cut across country to Gomshall before rejoining the route and the relatively simple roll back into Westcott.

But that's not all the diaryofamountainbiker riding going on this weekend, no sirree Bob! Mike - dialled_bikes - Huey and Sue were out with a group from singletrackworld on a similar ride starting from Westcott an hour after we had left (lazy boys ride) whilst a group of riders from our good friends at uponthedowns were in the area too.

Check the forum for details of future rides if you wanna tag along.

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Ed on Reservoir_Dogs

Keef on the log rollover

Taking on refreshments whilst planning the route change at Peaslake Stores

more hidden singletrack on Leith_Hill

It's all big blue skies as we head for home

23rd January 2004 Richard, David and Keef - The Search for Abba_Zabba

A surplus of holiday at the end of the year sees a day off work and more riding out in the hills.

Starting from Boxhill & Westhumble station we head through Denbies and up onto Ranmore Common then onto the North Downs Way. This is when we realise how boggy the trails are and it's a hard slog to reach White Down and start to look for Abba_Zabba.

I have only ridden Abba_Zabba once and that was back in September but I spot the first of the singletrack entrances off White Down.

As we exit onto the next bridleway we discover that it has been totally churned up by the logging operations and varies from large ruts and puddles to a thick porridge type substance that is totally unrideable.

After some time spent looking for the next entrance we decide to retrace our steps and try another area. After some good riding around Ranmore Common we start heading for Westhumble.

At the top of a steep and muddy climb, Keefs tyre deflates as we are standing there soon to be followed by Daves tyre and then mine. We realise that we have taken a bridleway past a thorny hedge that has been heavily trimmed and count 10 holes spread across our six wheels.

This depressing series of events leaves us with no spare tubes, uses most of our repair kit and leaves Keef with an inner tub that will not inflate no matter what we try.

That's when you know it's time to head for home. The ride was good in parts but not what we were expecting.

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The climb up through Denbies

Keef

more wide open spaces

25th January 2004 Richard, dialled_Mike and the singletrackworld crew - Pitch Hill

After the pain of Friday's_ride came the pleasure of Pitch_Hill and a meeting of many same minded people. Mike_W (Cotic_Soul) and then Nick (sexpest) led us on a great route that included even more singletrack on Pitch_Hill that I haven't ridden before.

A great day and a great ride. The pictures tell the story (click to enlarge).

Jim

It's only 5 minutes into the ride but dialled_mike decides to show us the strength of his Kobe_Ti frame

whilst Bubba takes his Morning_Glory for a walk

before heading for the Gallows

view from Pitch_Hill

Andy on the Gallows

Tanya and dialled_mike

lambluvva demonstrates the bodyswerve

(Sooty &) Jim

Tanya on the chute off the front of Holmbury_Hill

lambluvva on_one

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