Ride report: Sunday 25 January – Holmbury and Pitch Hill
It was supposed to be a XC dash to Newlands corner to include Abba Zabba and Blind Terror 2 but the rain came down and one by one the excuses ‘flooded’ in (did you see what I did there?). Some of them were quite genuine although we will be expecting a Doctors note for Colin to prove he really has a broken finger.
Some confusion ‘reigned’ as well and Jem had to divert to Holmbury at the last minute as there’d been some confusion with some guys, who we know are better than us, who thought they wanted to meet us over there this week. So knowing all of this I caught Tony at the end of his road and sent him to Jem’s and off we trekked over to Holmbury to meet up.
The rain stopped as we travelled over and my only real concern was I generally consider the pack we were meeting to be much faster that my normal speed. I shouldn’t of worried as I wasn’t too far behind and we sped off to cover new stuff at Holmbury, Pitch Hill and also into Winterfold Woods.
I can’t really tell you much about where we rode but hopefully Colin will put the route that I recorded on my GPS up on Bikely [now added, Matt]. I know we did Christmas Pudding, I think we did T4 and we went down a lot of rooty steps. A lot of water and mud was involved.
Several brake pads gave up the ghost including mine and interestingly we also had several handlebar failures. Well I say handlebars but I guess it could have been stems or even forks. Certainly when I turn the bars left I expect the bike to make some effort to head that way!
All in all a cracking ride and I think we’ll meet up again soon.
Thanks to Clive for sorting it all out and to Rob, Nick, Nick, Graham and Andrew for joining Jem, Tony and myself in the mudfest.
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
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Tony says:
Absolutely right Dave.
My steering mis-function was a highly entertaining “oh look at that tree coming towards me” moment as I ploughed straight on at a bend with the front hand rests – they couldn’t be described as handlebars at this point – pointing off at about 90degrees.
Oh and I found out that Trailrakers are rubbish on wet roots. Highly entertaining ride.
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Posted on January 26, 2009 at 3:12 pm
Matt says:
The observant will spot the fact that Dave’s picture was not taken this week, seeing as how there’s a dust trail behind him.
I used a shot from last week’s ride so if you add water it’s still pretty accurate.
Sorry to have missed the ride, route looks good, like our Pitch and Pint summer night rides but with Holmbury thrown in.
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Posted on January 26, 2009 at 10:36 pm
Dave says:
To be pedantic I think that Trailrakers really fail on wet roots that have been striped of their bark. Continental Edge aren’t much better but I doubt there is anything that is!
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Posted on January 27, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Andrew says:
Hey Dave!
I just looked up the MM site after Sunday’s ride. I like the route plan from your gps. The elevation profile combined with the mud explains why my legs were still hurting this morning.
I just started riding on a more than casual basis this year and the ride was certainly a step up on the difficulty (both endurance and technicality) scale from what I’d done before but great fun. You forgot to mention that although the rain stopped before the ride it started again about halfway through to add to the enjoyment.
From your and Tony’s posts it sounds like nearly everyone came off at least once – usually into a holly bush – you should see Nick’s ear. Although to be fair I couldn’t see Clive and the Cycleworks boys most of the time as I was so far behind them, so they may have stayed on. When you worried about the speed of some of the riders I can see what you meant but you obviously hadn’t counted on me. Graham told me it was a mixed ability group and I had hoped that might include riders less fit than me. Still the more rides I do the sooner I’ll be keeping up, just hope I didn’t slow everyone down too much.
Andrew
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Posted on January 27, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Muddymoles says:
Ride report: Norbury Park and Box Hill in the snow
Jem and Tony go mountain biking in the Surrey snow, making a welcome change for those of us more used to winter mud.
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Posted on February 2, 2009 at 11:18 pm
Related: Ride report: Norbury Park and Box Hill in the snow | Rides | Muddymoles: Mountain biking (MTB) in the Surrey Hills and Mole Valley