Croydon to Coast off-road # 3

[Dom]

Anybody taking a presta pump?? Mine just broke and dont have time to get to a shop to buy a new one...

[Elliot M]

yeah i have a super duper fits both valve types without fiddling with adaptors pump

[Dom]

Cheers Elliot.

[Will]

I think Sylv has been off work ill, so if you have sent him an email and not got a reply, that will be why.

If you have any questions about the ride, feel free to post them here, or email me directly, or use the "pm" thing, etc.

[Steve]

With the Saturday ride, I thought I'd get some more practice in to try and survive past Leith Hill.

Went out last night for a great ride - I've been investigating a few trails round my way for a while, but I've now managed to put together around 25 miles of offroad (country, mostly forest, singletrack, minor gravel roads, grand union canal) - all within the M25 in NW London and before you get to Rickmansworth. There's still around 3 miles of road, but I'm examining maps to remove these too!

If anyone would like to try the route out and its really not that far, just a swing round the M25, your welcome.

[Will]

I'm not actually planning on going over Leith Hill, but instead coming off the north downs above Gomshall, and heading over to Cranleigh via Peaslake and up & over Pitch Hill. So basically, a little to the west of Leith Hill.

If you want to bail from around that area, then easiest stations would probably be either Dorking or Guildford.

[Dom]

Cool you gonna include caution steep slope in the ride then?

[Will]

Yes, we're going right by it, so seems a shame not to.

We'll also pass Abba Zabba, Blind Terror 1, Blind Terror 2, plus that huge new run we discovered last week.

[Dom]

May use flat pedals instead of cleats then......

[JayneToyne]

i presume theres an "easy" route around this then? not mental drops offs or silly scary stuff?

I dont want to regret giving up a day of track racing by laying face down in a ditch with my legs twisted around the nearest tree/thistle patch/mangled bike.

my flat mate Helen (elliot and sylvain met her at herne Hill) is hoping to come along too. so if she does come along, feel free to try and corrupt her with daring her to do some scary stuff...

[Dom]

Jayne definitely easy route and to be honest just joking about Steep as I doubt this is a ride where people want to stop and watch some numpty hurt themselves.

And only reason I hope any of us end up face down in a ditch is due to beer afterwards.

Sad question I know but people planning to use SPDs or flats? (I havent ridden SPDs off road in years)

[Will]

Yeah, don't worry! Dom and I are just joking about!

The whole route will be easy. There will of course be a few steep ups and downs, but that comes with the territory! I've chosen it to be as simple and flowing as possible, as that gives us all the best chance of completing the ride, which is the main objective!

There are two very short sections where people can take an optional diversion if they want to. They are the bits that Dom and I are referring to. I though that some people might be interested to see a bit of the more "fun" stuff. But there will be no need to ride any of it. I've planned the route so that it is all optional.

Hopefully that will have put you at ease!

[James Cushtie]

You can cross me back off the list... suffered like a dog at Eastway last night, so I think riding 70 miles without training might be a tad overambitious... I'll be thinking of you as I crash my car into a van in the Ikea car park...

[Dom]

You can work on getting your forum up and running!!!

[Steve]

I'll have cleats on my bike being a recent convert. no plans to put flat pedals on. could this be tricky? I know if the ground is particularly dodgy they are hard work, otherwise they are fine for reasonable single track of course. Anyone else keeping to the cleats/SPDs?