Big MTB ride Leith Hill - Sunday 7th Dec

[Snoop Doug]

[quote="Sylv"]Don't take it out on Keira Snoop!

[Sylv]

I'm out in London evening before - hope i don't come up with the best excuse of them all!

[Andrew G]

No excuse Sylv, battery has been replaced and the car started, so all being well I shall be at chez Garde at 9am to follow you down there .

[Virgy]

I'm up for some off-road fun tomorrow. I'm coming from the Gomshall station to the car park. Haven't done any riding at Leith Hill yet - so I'm excited!

[Andrew G]

Quite a few folk out today and I had a great time. Thanks to Sylv for sorting it out (and the mulled wine and mince pies before the off ), and Ray for all his navigating.

I've only been to Leith Hill once before but it's really nice for mountain biking with some smashing trails. It was wetter and a bit boggier in some places than my last visit so I picked up a couple of bits of info.

1) Don't follow someone too close at the top of Barry Knows Best. I was following Marco a bit too closely so when he slowed briefly as he crested an up down up lump (don't know the technical term) I closed up a bit too much and didn't want to bump in to him. Woooah, quick flick right, hit a root with the front wheel, exit stage left (me - right for the bike). A short flight and a soft landing. Hmmm that was a bit embarrassing . No damage just a slight dead leg from landing on my phone.

2) The importance of suspension travel. My retro MTB has a pretty small amount of suspension travel and I'd like more on descents in these conditions. At the bottom of a technical descent it finished with a drop off. Problem was it had a dip at the bottom and the suspension bottomed out and spat me over the top, again . I'd moved the phone to my rear pocket by know so no dead leg , and no damage done.

Neither of the offs were bad though and having played rugby for years I've got quite big shoulders for a puny small bloke which seemed to serve me well, just involved a little bounce.

I did manage one more arse to mud moment on the final run back to the cars on a left hander my front wheel just slipped out in a boggy patch of mud. Marco said I probably had the front tyre too hard and as they're more cross country ones don't tend to work as well in the muddier stuff. Oh well a bit less pressure in them in the mud next time then.

Top marks to George and Jon for riding their cross bikes today - mad! Jon destroyed his brakes in the mud so left about half way through after the cheese straw break. George was funny and looked in his element. After the break he borrowed a MTB for a test from a shop who were trying to drum up business. Once on this he was like a big kid with a new toy, very entertaining, but some great riding too.

[Snoop Doug]

Brass monkeys

Well at 8am Sunday morning I got given a day pass. Hmm - shoved Mrs Snoops old mtb in the car and toddled orf.

Nice to see so many bikers out - on the road and off. Myself, I was poorly equipped for today, sh1te bike, wrong clothes, questionable attitude.

Nice mulled wine, tres bien.

I really enjoyed the first slog up the hill, bit squishy underwheel but nothing too worry about. We were on a trail (I think that's the best way to describe it) and I like going uphill. Tidy.

Then we went proper off road....into the woods. Roots, mud, twists. I feckin hated it. I was the slowest by a country mile and I just couldn't see the point of slopping and slogging along a gooey twisty undulatey strip of cack (see earlier for questionable attitude). I bailed very shortly after then proceeded to enjoy meself on a few trails for a bit. Ahhh, that's better. Still, it was blimmin cold and I toddled back home for a late late lunch. Sucker for sushi.

Game of two halves. Uphill and trails good, woods bad. Good to see a big bunch of ACC out freezing it up big time.

Snoop

[higg]

Great ride today. Thanks Ray for showing us round all those new trails. There seem to be more and more there every time I visit. Much respect to George and Jon for getting round on CX bikes, especially the last section of Barry knows best.
Snoop, I sorry the singletrack was a bit of a shock to you, it was one of the wettest of the day (but not the worst), let it not put you off totally, the off-road club run and the east croydon rides are much more straightforward.

The viewpoint at Pitch Hill

[img]http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v901/163/48/565591867/n565591867_1157363_9899.jpg[/img]

[img]http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v901/163/48/565591867/n565591867_1157362_9715.jpg[/img]

[Sylv]

Yeh sorry Snoop, like Aodan says have a go at the Saturday ride on your bike (not your wife's) on a dry day. For some reason I thought you'd been doing a fair bit of off-road before.

Good ride ride thanks all for coming

Snoop
George
Andrew
Aodan
Ray
Virginia
Jon
Mark
Marco
Bob
Christophe
Me

We could've doubled the size of the group if we'd joined the group which included Shau, Tony, Adam Dom and others!

[George]

Thanks for the mtb ride today guys n gal, very cold in the morning but once we got going and after some help from Sylvs Gluvine we were all hot n toastie.

Funny bits
Snoop throwing toys out of pram in a hissy fit and going home
Andrew falling flat on his face 3 times right infront of me
Aoden trying to clear uphill step infront of 30 people at top of pitch hill, not making it hitting a tree then cartwheeling back down the hill
Jon H in the AERO tuck on cx bike down Brian knows best decent

[Andrew G]

[quote="marco"]Andrew I was 2 behind you when you had that first wash out! Saw you slide out on one woopedoo and land at the bottom of the next one! Pretty impressive!

[Maria David]

Sounds like it was a great day out, and you had good weather for it. Would've joined in but had to fill my weekly obligation of throwing me and my bike round a muddy school playing field! Hope to be out on one before long.

Snoop, don't worry about the tough bits. A few more rides and you'll be fine. Hissy fits - glad I'm not the only one who has them - all part of the fun - or at least that's what I tell Aodan

Maria
www.2wheelchick.blogspot.com

[Jon H]

This was my first time off-road for about 5 years and my handling skills had got a little bit rusty in the meantime. As a result I had a couple of unscheduled dismounts and close inspections of the undergrowth.

As I rode around the car park to try and get warm before we started I discovered my rear brake was almost completely seized up, so I did most of the ride with only the front brake working. Well, it was OK at the start; by cheese straw time the pads had worn down so much that the lever was hitting the bars.

Thanks for a great day out. I'd forgotten what great fun a bit of messing about in the woods can be.

[Dombo]

Shame I missed this. when's the next one?

[Virgy]

Thanks for a great day out! Really enjoyed the trails! Could have done without the cold though, but it was pretty cool to see Ray's tires steam after a riding a stretch of trail!

A big thank you to Sylv for coordinating the day and the wine and treats at the start, Ray for picking the beginner-friendly trails, Bob for the bike handling advice, Marco for telling me about the ride at the Sat club run, and I really appreciated the help with my saddle from the kind guy (who rode in the Mountain Mayhem), but unfortunately, I didn't get your name

It really was a great group and some good riding! Can't wait to go again! Also, would be up for some rides around the E. Croydon area too

Virginia

[Mark Leedham]

I enjoyed the day out. Tthanks to Sylv for organising it and big thanks to Ray for leading us round some great new routes.

MARK