Ride Report – Swinley – Sunday 17th August 2013
Team Mole wasn;t very enthusiastic about a ride this Sunday. No particular reason but the Grand Mole and myself sat on the fence waiting for a decision from some of the others before committing. Andrew and JR took charge and decided on Swinley.
A later than normal 9:00am start was appreciated by Julian who travels for an hour to reach us but Swinley was already busy and the parking warden was already dishing out tickets as we got ourselves together. JR, Andrew, Julian, Kev, Lloyd, Karl and I made up the magnificent seven riders for today’s extravaganza.
We headed off and warmed up with a quick lap of the green to get our legs in some sort of readiness. I find the blue chucks you straight into some full on climby sections and it takes me a while to get the legs really going, usually somewhere round the outskirts of Crowthorne!
Today was no exception and the Stickler had me pleading for respite. I do think a few sofa’s half way round might add a place to rest and somewhere to break the monotony of this section.
We proceeded on to the red section and made our way out towards Crowthorne. There we headed off from the red and onto Corkscrew for the first time in a few rides. Conditions were still dry even after last nights rain.
This was Julian’s first time over to Corkscrew and only his second time at Swinley.
Karl was on his “new” 69er Marin full susser and seemed to be enjoying it.
Once back on the red I had my sites set on Deerstalker and my first run down was smooth and fast, leaving Kev trailing in my wake as he fluffed a few lines. We all exited and wnet round again, some choosing to do Babymaker and some Deerstalker again, followed by Labyrinth or an exit and fire road.
Here Karl took a liking to an Orange Cove ridden by a female rider. Having discussed whether it was a Handjob or a Stiffee, Karl asked and got the rider to admit to it being a Handjob, destickered. She seemed very capable or riding her Handjob as well!
Moving swiftly on we made tracks to what Andrew informed me was Blue 14 and the Gyro hammered down there as well before making tracks to refreshments. All in all a swift ride of some 15 miles and smiles all round.
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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Andrew AKAK says:
Really enjoyable morning – I guess it helps if you like Stickler and Labyrinth. Apparently “let’s warm up on the green” means “i’m going for a PR”.
Although John won the unannounced climbing contest on Jobber hill Strava gives me a 4 second advantage so there’s something for everyone!
Nice to get out to Pip’s Bench and Corkscrew for a change of tempo away from the trail centre.
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Posted on August 18, 2013 at 5:37 pm
Big Al says:
Hi All,
Sounds like you had a good ride , feels a bit weird reading a ride report before its happened due to time difference.
I really like stickler but you have to go for it and rail those berms and keep off the brakes .
I’m really missing my bike but I guess it’s good to take a break once in a while .
I’m planning on riding BH Mon morning over at peaslake , can’t wait .
Cheers Al
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Posted on August 18, 2013 at 7:37 pm
Muddy John says:
A great ride, thanks to Andrew, and a very timely ride report. And well done on the snaps, Kev.
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Posted on August 18, 2013 at 9:30 pm
Karl says:
A great fun ride with some great people. Something for everyone, and Dave seemed to particularly enjoy his smooth and quick ride down Deerstalker on the Gyro along with much else. Akak and JR launched afterburners, and whizzed up Jobber at speeds I can only dream of..
No special times for me personally, but I did enjoy thoroughly getting some air wherever I could, and liked the flow of it today muchly..
Apparently the rider down at the gully had fairly light injuries I’m pleased to hear.. No collar bones or neck probs. Good.
Big Al, commenting all the way from Hollister beach, California, how fab! Didi you get any surfing in Al?
Thanks for the cake Julian, and the tea, Akak.
I’ve noticed, that some wishy-washey mincers have flagged the mildly tricky sections at Swinley.. Bah humbug, I say…
Chin chin.
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Posted on August 18, 2013 at 9:37 pm
KevS says:
After the initial slap in the face that is the Swinley wakeup call from car park to bike to first trails full on … we settled down to just plain old raggin it! 🙂
A great day out in a tight knit group of athletes (what?) and it was nice to ride Swinley in the dry for once.
Personally I think some of Swinley has become sanitised and repetitive but it has its place depending on what you want from a ride.
Roaming off piste to some of the older trails with roots n stuff seemed more natural to me than just hammering along stickler.
Swinley will always be a useful alternative when the weather turns soggy again … but lets not think about that yet.
Note: AKAK is too fast to capture on iPhone camera.
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Posted on August 19, 2013 at 11:51 am
Jonesy says:
sounds like it was a good one!
i had the outlaws staying, so couldn’t get out this weekend
i’ve only done swinley once, and thought it was a bit synthetic…i’d like to go back and find some of the older stuff once time. i did’t realise there was any of it left. i thought they’d just built the new trails over the old ones
nick
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Posted on August 19, 2013 at 1:42 pm
Dave says:
I think there is old stuff in Swinley but some has “Do Not Ride” signs. Crowthorne woods is not part of Swinley though and Corkscrew is over there. There is other stuff as well but I’ve not ridden it enough to easily find it.
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Posted on August 19, 2013 at 2:00 pm
Markymark says:
Pukka, just got back from my hols so hopefully another Swinley sesh is planned soon and i’ll have some of that.
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Posted on August 19, 2013 at 4:44 pm
Dandy says:
I’m with Kev, Swinley is for when the Surrey Hills are just too much of a mud fest and I don’t have the time to head to one of the South Wales trail centres. Nothing wrong with the riding there, just that I prefer our local trails as long as they’re not too soggy,
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Posted on August 21, 2013 at 12:07 pm