13th March 2005 Richard, Huey, Sue and others - North Chilterns /Oxfordshire bridleways

A long and hard ride this week. Huey has devised a route based on routes published on the Oxford Council site and the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty site and it's a potential 45 miles long. We set out at 10-30 a.m. from Bix village hall in Oxfordshire. There is a reasonable sized group of ten of us although it looks touch and go whether Mark and Alistair will be starting as Alistair's block has gone and his cranks are spinning as the pawls fail to wengage. After some spurious kicking of his long suffering S-works Specialized Enduro he decides to chance it. His bike has clear signs of having taken a pounding as Alistair is one of the owners / partners in trailAddiction.

We head down a quick road descent followed by a long gradual climb to Maidengrove. There are some nice sections through the woods where we pass a huge clump of walkers who make the usual 'where's your bell?' comments. The going is good and the trails are nice and dry. The route continues a litany of climbs and descents with the sketchy descent to the centrepoint of the route (just to the right of Watlington on the map) good fun.

The top left circuit of the route has some sections that are really hard going including the ploughed bridleway that climbs across a ploughed field and the long circuit around a field edge which is very draining.

I have made a slight miscalculation both in terms of my current fitness level (low) and the amount of food that I have bought with me (zero). Huey and his brother Jeremy are good to me though and share various snacks, bananas and powerbars - thanks guys. Despite this though I am really lagging behind along with Neil and Kevin. We are permanently 500 metres behind the other seven in the group.

Alistair's block fails again at probably the farthestpoint from home and he is forced to use the old ruse of zip tie'ing his cassette to the spokes on the drive side to give himself a fixed wheel. He pedals gingerly for the next few miles and keeps quiet when the zip ties break but his cranks keep working! Strange how some bike faults fix themselves.

Arriving back at the centrepoint, we reassess the route based on the fact that it is now 3 p.m. Three riders split for the road route back whilst Alistair and Mark agree to stop waiting for us and shoot off up the trail - they are clearly twice as fast as the rest of us.

The remaining five of us continue on the loop heading Northwest towards the M4. The whole of this next section is actually the best section set of trails that we have ridden with some great singletrack descents through woods. My waning energy is revived by a High5 Sportsbar which has the most effect on me I have ever noticed from an energy bar - from dead flat to ready to roll gain within about 15 minutes.

Arriving back at Maidengrove at 5 p.m. we opt for the road return to Bix and finally get back to the cars at 5-30 p.m. The others have made it back safely and long since disappeared - a shame as they missed a nice pint in the local.

We covered c. 35 of the planned 45 miles. The average speed was very slow and a look at the route profile shows why. A good route but we will miss out the middle section next time.

Download the map and route profile with waypoints marked.

Here's the story in pictures.

an artistic shot of the group

and a posed shot

Neil

Kevin

Neil's rarely seen triple clamp Rock Shock Judy's circa late 1990's

a slippery descent

 

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19th March 2005 Richard, Cas and Gary - Pitch Hill and Holmbury Hill

The weather is amazing this week - its a full 20 degrees warmer than two weeks ago and with no rain seen for the last week the trails are bone dry.

After bumping into Dirk and Dango at Caution Steep Slope we revisit all the old favourites including the rollercoaster / Parklife which I haven't ridden for the last six months in an effort to prevent it from cutting up too much. Telegraph Road has also dried up since my visit four weeks ago with Alan and is back to a fun, dry trail rather than the muddy slog it has been.

I show Cas and Gary some new stuff that they haven't ridden before and we finish the day off with a pint - great stuff!

Gary fails to get a shot of Richard launching off the ramp

Cas on T2

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27th March 2005 Richard, Huey and Sue - Pitch Hill and Holmbury Hill

Same route as last week but with different riders. Huey and Sue have made one of their rare visits to the Surrey Hills and I guide them around some of the old favourites. There's plenty of trails to be had on Pitch Hill and they are in a lovely condition at the moment - a dry surface but still moist enough to give plenty of grip.

We then head over to Holmbury Hill, pausing at the top for a bite to eat where we bump into trailbuilder Oink and his possee.

Parklife and Telegraph Road are in good shape and Barry Knows Best is riding really well after the efforts of another recent trailbuilding day. The last section is nice and twisty to give tyou a good challenge with a couple of large berms to help you maintain speed out of the corners.

Here's a couple of short video clips to give you some idea of the action.

Huey on the tricky short descent at Sleepy Hollow (Right click and save target as) - 788kb Movie file

Richard launches off the small drop at Judge's Seat (Right click and save target as) - 1.6mb Movie file

A nice 'movement' shot showing Huey on Trail 1, Pitch Hill

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