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Date: 4th May 2008
Riders: Richard, Dave, Gary, Rob and Lee
Big 8 and Rob's Rabbit Route
Weather: 19.5°C

 

It's overcast but humid and after having snow at the start of last month we are in short sleeves today.

A trail combining the best bits of our two favourite routes is completed at a lightning fast pace. Much easier to achieve in a killer team of 5 than in the massive groups we have experienced for the last few weeks.

XC jeyboy; look at those socks Rob's front wheel looks a funny size Lee on his first visit to Epsom and surrounding area Dave and his Orange 5 on the way to Kingswood

Rob in the bombholes Dave's first visit to Track 40 Gary Lee loses his head

Date: 11th May 2008
Riders: Richard, Dave, Rob, Mat, Steve, Gary, Phil and Lee
Two Lumps or Three? Leith Hill and Holmbury Hill
Weather: 26°C

 

The weather has been glorious all week and an early 9 a.m. start from the Landslip Car Park sees us head out onto quiet, dry and dusty trails.

It's another Dave special route i.e. find the longest climbs we can and go straight up them, as we head up to the top of Leith Hill, back down Deliverance across to Summer Lightning, (well me and Lee anyway) before speeding down to High Ashes Farm and across to Holmbury Hill, shouting a quick 'hellooo!' to Rich Lonegroover as we tear past him. On the way being 'spotted' by another group; 'are you diaryofamountainbiker?'

Up to the top and then down Telegraph Road, up to the top again, over the crest and down via Reservoir Dogs and passing yet another group who were looking for Rich Lonegroover and asked again; 'are you diaryofamountainbiker?' (it's so great being famous) and Barry Knows Best to Peaslake, pausing to help the bloke who back-flipped off the Orange 5 onto a stump and break for tea and cake.

Here we got the full sales pitch from Chas Gordon of Loct child saddles before climbing back up Holmbury Hill, down the Yoghurt Pots, pausing to lose the small, smelly dog that had attached itself to us and down the fast, wet descent to Upfold Farm and the long, long climb all the way back up to Leith Hill Tower. Down the steep'ish roll-in and climb back up to the final descent back to the car park.

A great ride that took just under three and a half hours and left us sweaty and with aching legs but huge grins on our faces.

Lee at the bottom of Deliverance Dave leads from the front on Summer Lightning Mat and Summer Lightning Gary

Dave on the open part of Summer Lightning Rob gets his body positioned for the next corner Mat leans into the corner Steve on his Specialized M4 hardtail

Gary Lee somewhere on Holmbury Hill Steve Phil trying to work off his hangover

Rob on Telegraph Road Lee leans into the berm on Barry Knows Best Chas Gordon and the Loct saddle

Lee of fthe side of Leith Hill Tower desperately seeking shade

Date: 17th May 2008
Riders: Richard, Andy, Olivia, James and Chris
Ranmore Common, Leith Hill and Holmbury Hill
Weather: 13°C

 

This week saw three different rides taking place, all advertised on the ride diary section of the forum. Sam and Grant rode their Big Hits at Esher, Dave led an XC ride from the now legendary Dead Man's Bench whilst I took a new group of riders on a monster ride kicking off at Dorking station on Saturday morning.

The last few week's have seen a spate of 8-30 a.m. or 9 a.m. starts and as a certain well-known local cabbie said to me, it makes the ride seem like hard work rather than fun. A much more sociable meeting time of 10-45 a.m. allowing me to get up and enjoy breakfast before popping out for a quick haircut, back home and even a chance to wash away the worst of the mud on the bike from last week's ride before jumping on the train at Epsom and meeting everyone.

The ride was to introduce Olivia, an old work colleague to mountain biking. She bought along Chris who it was soon obvious was a top rider and James who had done a bit of mountain-biking before. We also picked up Andy, a new member of the forum.

From Dorking station we headed up to Pilgrim's Way and along the ridge for a few miles to warm up before arriving on Ranmore Common. Along the road and into the woods to make our way over to the more extreme trails of Abba Zabba et al. No, I didn't chuck the new-comers down there but Chris was clearly an experienced rider and he and I rode the more extreme trails whilst showing the other three down the 'technical' descents (harshly described as chicken-run's by some riders!).

I think it's always good to show new riders some of these trails but always suggest that they steer well clear. We don't want them thinking it's all too easy do we? I did find myself having to re-assess some of the trails though and try to look at through the eyes of a new rider as Chris and I would suddenly find ourselves alone up front as the others would pause to walk a section of trail that we had ridden without even thinking about it.

But that was the whole point of the ride, encourage them to try some new stuff and despite a few minor falls, they seemed to be enjoying it even after James cracked his nuts on the stem!

From Ranmore Common we headed cross-country to Westcott before beginning the climb up The Rookery and onto Wolvern's Lane. From here it was a long haul up to the Tower and a quick break before heading down via Chocolate Jesus and the Quarry towards Holmbury Hill. The troops were getting hungry and lunch was only '20 minutes away' or so I kept promising, so we took the most direct route up Holmbury Hill before coming down Barry Know's Best and rolling into Peaslake for a well-earned late lunch (2-45p.m.). Andy felt guilty about being the slowest up the climbs but again, the point of the ride