Sunday, and wonder of wonders, plenty of sun. Having decided a couple of weeks back to take a trip over to Leith Hill the fact the weather was fine was the icing on the cake.

Figuring it was best to make the most of it before The Flood returns, we started at Staveall car park and pointed our bikes down the Mother toward Holmbury Hill. What a wake up call! I haven’t been down there for some time and had trouble just seeing where I was going as the heavy rains have washed loads of rubble and loose stones down the track, added to which my contact lenses were struggling to stay in contact with my eyeballs.

If someone has a solution that really works for Mountain Biking if you need prescription lenses I’d love to hear.

After that we hauled our asses up to the Reservoir and headed off down Barry Knows Best toward Peaslake, my Orange Five feeling great and perfectly controlled on the final lumpy run down to the Peaslake road at the bottom. We then headed off to do Death Star, with Hannah finally asking if we were trying to kill her! I managed to clear it all the way down for the first time thanks again to the fantastic front end control I was getting from Rock Shox Pike’s and the Hope M4s. What a confidence boost, at last I know what line to take!

A trip to Peaslake has to include a stop at Peaslake stores of course, had a great homemade flapjack that hid the spot nicely, then back up to the top of Holmbury Hill for a blast down Park Life. The opening rollercoaster there just seems to get better and better.

Finally, a run down Telegraph Row left us with an agonising climb back to the car park to round off a great morning. Nice to give the bikes a proper work out for a change, I’m loving my Five now it’s all started to bed in.

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.