Today was a big day of riding but it really was an extension of my whole week.

Tuesday was a Ranmore night ride with Lloyd and Tony; Wednesday was a 38 mile round trip commute to Redhill with heavy panniers; Friday was a quick trip to Leatherhead, followed by a Gears ‘n’ Beers evening with Lloyd, Tony, Richard and Stuart and then there was Sunday. In total, some 112 miles.

It sounds a lot until you see what Tony managed these past three days…

Even so, today – Sunday – was quite a ride. By the time I got home I had 29.5 miles on the clock and 3,500ft of climbing. With a surprisingly warm and sunny morning, I sure felt the effects of that.

Starting out today were myself, Lloyd, MarkC, Richard, JamesW and a just-in-time Karlos. We managed to find Lee out on the hills later who tagged along for the rest of the ride, making seven of us in all.

We started out with Alfred Pennyworth which is quite the regular trail for us now. I was invited to lead Lloyd who was experimenting – as in none of us were sure if it was recording – with a GoPro.

Immediately my riding tightened up, unsure if I was too fast, too slow or just right. The thing is Alfred Pennyworth is running so nicely just now its hard to hold back.

Next it was a long climb up to Ranmore on the Ranmore Common Road for Rumble in the Jungle. This is another trail I much enjoy although James was a quantum faster than me as usual.

There’s a few jumps that flow nicely with the trail and at one point a narrow pair of trees to fit through. On Friday night I ‘kissed’ the right hand tree with my forearm, leaving a raised lump and some bruising so today I was extra careful. I was still breathing hard at the end.

Back we climbed again, this time for Swiss Tony next to Golden Nugget. Another great trail that I was glad I chose to follow on as I haven’t ridden it for months. As the surface is mainly clay it tends to be pretty slippery during winter.

Lloyd did well to hold a big slide out of his rear wheel but he had things well under control, while Karl was enjoying putting his latest bike through its paces.

Turning once more to climbing, we chose the off road route to the church and then headed for Rip van Winkle. This trail is much more contouring than straight down and I got a better run on it than Friday night.

You need some fast direction changes at times and as things rapidly dry out that means things can get loose. It still turns steep toward the end but the flow is good. Ultimately it leaves you with a steady, long climb back up to Ranmore with the option of busting your lungs or keeping things more conversational. We chose conversational!

At this stage we’d managed four decent trails and three long climbs and we hadn’t even crossed the Ranmore Road yet…

We soon changed that. Next up was the short first part of Wire in the Blood; Part 2 (much steeper and more challenging) was fun on Friday night but would take us too far downhill for our purposes today.

Instead we turned along the North Downs Way, along to White Down and Trouble in Paradise before working our way across to Sauvage.

Along the way we found Lee and an older woman on a hybrid bike, slightly off-piste looking for the Drovers Road. After pointing her toward Newlands Corner we headed off to Sauvage.

It’s only the second time I’ve ridden it recently but I know Sauvage (too) well and felt I was flying today, eventually catching up with Karl for whom the trail was brand new. I think he liked it!

I wasn’t prepared for Lloyd’s next choice, Wonderland, or rather his plan to winch up via the Impossible Climb. I think for the first time I glimpsed a way of making it further than I managed but it needs lungs, legs and a lot of technique to keep the front end down.

I’m not sure which of those three let me down today!

I was happy with Wonderland as a reward though, it was riding really nicely but you never know if Stickman/woman has been out and about. Take care.

Back up to Ranmore, this time via the sawmill climb. What goes down has to climb back up and coffee was calling after all.

So it was further along the North Downs Way to head down to Shere via Petrol Pump.

This is another of my favourite trails and coincidentally another trail I haven’t ridden for months due to ‘circumstances’. I gave it a good go until brought up short near the end where some tree pruning logging has completely blocked the path. By that stage my rear brake – overdue at least a good bleed – was complaining anyway.

The Dabbling Duck was calling and while it was busy, we managed to time things between early roadies and the lunch crowd. I opted for cake, then swapped to a Brownie which was a bit rich for me when the cake turned out to have already been consumed by earlier customers. I should have stuck with the healthy option of bacon and egg roll like any sensible person would.

Mind you, the sugar was much needed as we traipsed back to Ranmore. Much consternation occurred when it looked briefly as if Lloyd was set on White Down but he was teasing us. High Med was a more civilised option.

From there, Flinty Badman rounded out our days’ trails before the final climb up to Bookham.

Flinty is yet another trail I haven’t ridden for about 6 years, preferring Any Given Sunday/MacBad in recent times but each trail has something going for it. Flinty has the log jump of course, far less intimidating than past years after time and modern bike geometry have each worked their magic.

By the end of the ride I had 29.5 miles racked up and that weekly total of 112 miles. I was glad to take a break this afternoon but if I can keep going at a slightly lower weekly effort I will be very pleased.

A great morning of riding with good company, thanks all.

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About the author

Matt is one of the founding Molefathers of the Muddymoles, and is the designer and main administrator of the website.

Having ridden a 2007 Orange Five for many years then a 2016 YT Industries Jeffsy 29er, he now rocks a Bird Aether 9 and a Pace RC-627.

An early On-One Inbred still lurks in the back of the stable as a reminder of how things have moved on. You can even find him on road bikes - currently a 2019 Cannondale Topstone 105 SE, a much-used 2011 Specialized Secteur and very niche belt drive Trek District 1.

If you've ever wondered how we got into mountain biking and how the MuddyMoles started, well wonder no more.