Ride Report: Monday 5 April – Pitch and Slide
For me the Sunday ride happened on a Monday. Bank Holidays can be confusing.
Granted if I had gone out into the rain I could have done a Sunday ride and a Monday ride but I opted to stay in the dry and do some ruthless tidying in my garage.
So Monday found us in Hurtwood Control Car Park No2 waiting as assorted riders turned up with their steeds. I arrived to find Keith, James and DaveW already there. Keith was on the Cycleworks Orange 5 demonstrator and I’d taken my 5 out of mothballs so it didn’t feel too left out. DaveW also had his 5 out for the day. AndyC soon turned up followed by Iain (long time, no see) and JohnR. That completed the initial ride group. We headed up to the Windmill via the car park drop in. Much standing around and looking was invested as the mud made conditions slippery at best.
On the climb up to the Windmill DaveW spied that one of the big drop offs on the left had been opened up and he quickly dispatched that twice, once on his own and again to show the rest of us how it’s done. From there we headed to Two Headed Dog where most of us did the easy route and then DaveW did the steeper one just to show the other stuff wasn’t a fluke!
My sense of direction isn’t great over in Winterfold Woods but I know that “Gone in 60 seconds” is now just “Gone” as it has had logging work in the area. The bomb holes provided the normal challenge and after some initial tree hugging, Keith sailed through the complex of three showing that the 5 is indeed a forgiving bike.
Back over in Peaslake we did some more trails before the T trails beckoned. These are pretty muddy at this time of year and it was a battle of will with the roots. At the end of T4 (I think) I convinced the pack to trun right for Death Star and the noobs headed to the end of the trench on foot to watch our various exits. I did my normal hard left over the roots and headed down while most of teh otehr did a more straight down route and then headed back up to do T5. I opted for tea and cake at this point knowing that T5 would be a mud bath.
It was as we sat at the Peaslake Stores that Andy661 arrived with a mate (sorry, name eludes me). After we’d refueled we heaed up to Holmbury with JohnR taking the 5 this time. Logging work around the resovoir left the area muddy and hard work, especially after the break. We reached the Trig Point and headed back to do Yogurt Pots which I was expecting to be a bit of a puddle fest. To my surprise though it flowed really well and was a complete blast. JohnR seemed to enjoy the 5 judging by his comments and increased speed and traction.
I opted for us to do a quick loop to the left down a neat little bit of twisty singletrack which exits almost exactly where we were standing after exiting Yogurt Pots. Just enough grip to hammer through there and smailes all round again. Interestingly JohnR, now back on his own bike, exited with more speed and attack than I am used to and I had to remind him he wasn’t on the 5 anymore. Never let it be said that we’re a one make group but the 5 does work really well on all sorts of riding we have around here. I smell another purchase in the offing.
We opted to miss out the first section of Telegraph Row and headed via fire road to pick up part two. This was much less muddy and the final stepy, rocky, rooty gully was fast and for Andy661 unforgiving. I found him on the right bank with a cut nose, from his helmet peak, picking himself off and dusting himself down. To add insult to injury a pair of 9 year olds hammered past, on in a full face lid.
We now headed back to BKB for the ride finale. BKB seems to ride better every time I ride it and even todays conditions didn’t unduly worry it. The berms flowed and gave plenty of grip. At the bottom Keith, James, DaveW and myself said goodbye to the other and we headed for teh car park while they headed back up to take BKB in one more time.
About the author
Dave's been riding seriously since about 1997 and is one of the founding Molefathers — along with Matt and Mark — that came up with the idea of a MTB website for Mole Valley riders.
He's had several different bikes but it's now mainly 29ers in Dave's stable, apart from an Orange 5.
Current Bikes: Orange 5, Salsa Spearfish and Kona Big Unit
There are 9 comments on ‘Ride Report: Monday 5 April – Pitch and Slide’
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Andy661 says:
Dear All
I’m on the mend now but do look like i’ve been scrapping!
Enjoyable ride despite the spill. Finally starting to find the climbs do-able and hoping the spd’s will help further.
Should be joining the P7 Owners Club any day so evening rides should be on the cards too.
Off to the Malverns in a fortnight but will see you again before long!
Cheers
Andy661
ps: My mate is another James, who was on the Rock Lobster.
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Posted on April 7, 2010 at 9:44 am
Andy C says:
Too much enthusiaism on the Monday morning ride, followed by lugging a large amount of garden waste to the tip later in the day (kindly prepared by the good lady) resulted in my dodgy back giving me a reminder that it it needs sorting out properly before longer, harder summer rides.
Our little group of 4 were so enthused by the day that we not only revisited BKB after you left us, but Death Star again too. James (S?) showed the way as I explained the trickier points to Andy R & James 2. As I ploughed straight on over the crest (as I normally do) to the final rocky exit, I had to jam on the ‘sponge & cakes’ to avoid James’ prone body that lay in the final compression and was entangled with his bike. No major harm done, though I suspect he will maybe take the bail out left option in future.
I’d had an unseen off on BKB earlier, partly caused by a little too enthusiastic ‘air grabbing’ over some roots which resulted in me letting go of the handlebars (not recommended) as the front wheel pinged sideways when I landed on a second root. A trip over the bars followed, though my forearm guards took most of the impact.
Maybe I’m learning to get my hands out of the way at last!
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Posted on April 7, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Dave says:
Bailout option?
BAILOUT OPTION?
Any rhino can steam straight down the rocky section. It takes skill and finesse to negotiate the tricky, rooty stepped option on the left……I think you’ll find!
Bah….
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Posted on April 7, 2010 at 3:10 pm
kc says:
What a great test for me and the 5!
I made two mistakes though.
First I forgot to put my tracky bottoms on and left the car drivers seat as muddy as a muddymole can. This left with me a three hour job of cleaning the wife’s car as penance!
Secondly, it slipped my mind to inform said female of my intention to order a 5. Not a good idea when you have asked her to return the bike to Cycleworks and they proudly tell her I have ordered a new bike!
See you when I get released!
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Posted on April 7, 2010 at 7:03 pm
John R says:
Ohhhh I enjoyed the Orange 5 – thanks Keith.
I will definitely have to arrange a proper test ride.
– JR
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Posted on April 8, 2010 at 12:51 pm
KC says:
Funny! I don’t remember ordering a pink 5 Diva Pro. Could this be “er indoors” getting her own back?
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Posted on April 8, 2010 at 1:16 pm
DaveW says:
Dave – the steep drop/roll in on the way to the windmill from Pitch is ‘Caution Steep Slope’ after the sign at the top.
The other bit I was particularly pleased with, but which you didn’t mention was the middle drop at Judges Seat. I was chuffed to clean that twice – slightly more elegantly on the second attempt (i.e. without being unable to unclip as I stopped near the hedge at the bottom!)
Keith – sounds like a schoolboy error! Bad luck. You should give Cycleworks a b0llocking for divulging. Hope she lets you out to play soon. Which model and what colour did you order in the end?
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Posted on April 8, 2010 at 10:19 pm
kc says:
So I went in to Cycleworks today and did the deal on the 5. You will all just have to wait for colour and spec. Apparently SWMBO went into return the 5 just as Dave was filling in the details of the order in; the file was open with lots of scribbles and my name at the top, so Dave had little choice but to tell her that I had ordered a new bike!
Anyway I shall be out tomorrow after a week of being a good boy!
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Posted on April 10, 2010 at 4:03 pm
Dave says:
Well at least we know it’s a stock colour given the delivery time!
;o)
I’ll be looking for some “bullet” or “arrow” like performance!
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Posted on April 14, 2010 at 8:40 am