New and looking for off-road / MTB rides...

[ceejay]

Hi all,

I've seen the off-road page on your main site and it looks really good, but I can't find any details of rides there or on these boards. Are there any off-road rides coming up?

Thanks!

[Sylv]

Hi ceejay

Yes there is a mtb section in our club, with quite a few of the people (including me) doing both on-road and off-road cycling. In the wintertime I tend to go more on the road because of the bad weather and mud etc. but would still go mountain biking from time to time as it's so much fun.

We have rides on Sunday mornings (usually meet outside East Croydon rail station at 10am -10.15 on Sundays, unless otherwise specified). Those take on various (great) trails in Surrey and the North Downs, and rides are generally 2-4 hours long, ridden at the level of the group, ie waiting for beginners, stopping every now and then etc. Nothing too technical but interesting stuff.

We don't have them every single weekend though these days (unlike the road ride which are every Saturday @ 9am 9-15 from Coulsdon South rail station), so the best I can advise if you can is to keep an eye on this forum in the "general" section, and watch out for posts proposing or announcing rides. This will generally be by myself (Sylv) , Aodan (higgs), marco, Grahame or a few others.

Sometimes the rides will be training rides so at a faster pace with no stopping, but that will be clearly mentioned. At the moment I am racing cyclo-cross on Sundays so am not going to be going out riding mtb much, but I see that there is a proposition from Aodan to ride from Coulsdon South to Charlwood (where our road ride stops for a coffee and cakes) off-road sometime soon on a Saturday morning - a good route for beginners.

Also we try to organise other rides from time to time, I've been talking about doing one around Leith Hill, which has some great trails (but can be challenging for beginners.). Again best is to keep an eye on the foum, or I can try and email you about them if you prefer.

Now the rest of the stuff I haven't mentionned yet:

You can just turn up and ride, and then after a few times if you fancy joining the club just ask for a form and pay a membership (£20/year). Please bring water, some food and tools/tube, best to wear a helmet.


Let me know if you have any other questions - hope to see you on the trails then!

Sylvain
mtb sec

[higg]

The off-road "club run" will be happening again Oct 11 & 18 and maybe more frequently if we can build some momentum. Route is not too technical and has a few stretches of road to link up the bridleways but very little traffic. 2-3 hours to get from Coulsdon out to Charlwood and 1-1.5 hours on the road back. Not a real hardcore MTB route but an interesting alternative to the 100% tarmac club run.

[stu23]

Sylv

Did you guys continue with your mtb rides over the summer?

I remember there were a fair few mtbers hanging about especially new ones, they still about?

ps, did get the job in chamonix and it was awesome!!

[Sylv]

Good. There were some rides through the summer, most with marco and Aodan's help.

I'm gonna get onto things asap and put a sticky with mtb info here as have been having email interest recently.

And now that i'm gonna be training by riding more slowly I'll have time to do some more relaxed mtb rides for the club.

[stu23]

In that case I'll drop by at christmas for a "sunday classic"

[ceejay]

Thanks all, sounds great. I'll just have to hope my "vintage" bike doesn't cause too much laughter...

[Sylv]

no you get bonus points for that (that's my new catchphrase ...)