Ride round-up – Wednesday 11 April
No, your eyes are not deceiving you, and no, Dave has not bought a new bike. Well not yet anyway. What you see here is a retro shot of Dave back in 2003 (when the woods were wild and the Moles only just invented), riding a Marin Mount Vision.
It was the first of many purchases for Dave who has yet to be officially recognised for his contribution toward developing the thriving online shopping channels we use today. So many of you may – I say may – have more money in your pockets today if buying stuff online wasn’t so damn easy.
Speaking of which my Five is about to undergo a heart/lung transplant in the form of new chainset, cassette, chain, front derailleur and cables in a bid to rid me of the approximate shifting I’ve been suffering from for a long time now. More on that soon but first… time to report on some riding on Wednesday night.
Now, as usual there was a Moles ride on Wednesday but I’ve been on a bit of a mission over the past month and a half to get one of the founding Molefathers back where he belongs, in the woods on a bike. This has been greatly helped by a sniff of Mayhem wafted under his nostrils but as we all know when returning to riding, flat out blasts across the Downs with a baggy-forked bike that still only has 30mm stanchions that don’t seem to hold pressure is a bit off-putting.
So I decided to get out a touch earlier for a gentler paced ride with MarkJ, roping DaveC into joining us and sticking to the immediate vicinity for route choices. We kept things simple on a route we’ve done several times recently, round a loop of Norbury, then up to the sawmill and another loop, this time round Updown Wood and back up past Norbury House. Personally I’ve quite enjoyed riding at 70% effort, enough to get a workout without wearing myself out.
The weather was threatening nasty stuff – rain even – but we seemed to be dodging most of it. DaveC was on his Kona Big Unit singlespeed while I was fully tooled up for the gnarr on my Five, if you can forgive the gear issues. We saw two deer standing close together in the middle of the trail in Updown Wood, unperturbed by our approach for a surprising time before they darted off in different directions, while looking across toward Leatherhead and the Mickleham tops you could see the hills lit with the setting sun even as our riding progressed under louring clouds.
Elsewhere, the regular Moles ride was heading out, on a route in the opposite direction, toward Ranmore, then Sheepleas, Horsley, Effingham and back to Bookham. JohnR and DaveW (and probably JonH) were on that one for sure. And finally, under the radar some half hour after that, Lee was also out (was he alone you ask?), for a ride to Ranmore and back.
Back on our ride, we too met up with some old friends as we returned into Norbury Park after an undulating blast along Jem’s favourite. We bumped into Graham and Nick who we normally see on a Sunday somewhere between Bookham and Newlands Corner, so it made a nice change to see them this far east! As we chatted the heavens decided now was a time to drop some water. It wasn’t particularly heavy but enough to wet the trails and as we found out later, even generate some mud.
Getting underway again, we headed down to the A24, then through Mickleham Village to Juniper Hall. The damp hadn’t really affected the chalk too much but it felt a little greasy as we hauled up from there all the way to the Mickleham Gallops, with us all sticking together for an unbroken climb to the top. That’s unusual for us as we normally find various reasons to stop for a breather.
As it was, we stopped briefly at the top and then continued onward. At the end of the Gallops, the bridlepath surface started to change. It’s still very dry, but the top surface felt as though there had been recent rain on it as it seemed a touch slippery. This continued as we neared Life on Mars and my original idea of looping round and doing two laps seemed much less enticing.
As it was I still managed to clock 1:59 along the newly adjusted trail but was giving away around 13 seconds from my all time best. The time was lost in the turns near the top which had suddenly gone from super dry and grippy last week to an unpredictable slither-fest this week, thanks to that rain. Really, it’s laughable to be talking like this as the trails remain so dry overall, but I was starting to feel like a Californian in my approach to damp!
So, a bit more effort was used keeping the bike pointing in the right direction but it was still a lot of fun. After waiting for the Dave and Mark to catch up we set off down Alsation at a speed which managed to speckle us with something I’ve heard referred to as mud. That’s something to tell your grandchildren when you get old(er)!
Back to Leatherhead then for the conclusion of an enjoyable 15 mile saunter round the hills. Elsewhere, more Moles riders were quietly returning to base. As for that picture of Dave on a Marin Mount Vision, well I was reminded he used to have one back in the day after reading about the latest Quad Link 3.0 version of the Mount Vision XM8 today on Bikemagic!
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.
There are 15 comments on ‘Ride round-up – Wednesday 11 April’
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Dave says:
…..almost right!
It’s actually a 98 Marin East Peak with, I might add, a rather lovely Mavic 517 Lemon rim and blue Hope hub. Trust me, the wheel came that way. Also, if I’m not mistaken, it has my original C2 Hope brakes (forks and brakes came from Moses Mould). Oh yes, the forks, they’d be the 2003 Marzocchi Marathon S, possibly one of the plushest forks I’ve ever ridden.
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Posted on April 12, 2012 at 7:49 am
Dandy says:
Apologies Dave, I nodded off part way through that last comment 😉
Let me know when you plan the next rehab ride, as I’m way off the current Mole Mach speeds 🙁
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Posted on April 12, 2012 at 11:06 am
KevS says:
Hmmm … Is that one of those 70’s type skiing jackets Dave is sporting there?
Not that D’Andy or myself can remember the 70’s for a multitude of reasons!
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Posted on April 12, 2012 at 11:59 am
Dave says:
Oi! That’s my Endura jacket you’re talking about!
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Posted on April 12, 2012 at 1:16 pm
Dandy says:
If people say they remember the 70s, Kev, they can’t have been there 😉
Ok – I know that should really be the 60s, but even we’re not that old.
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Posted on April 12, 2012 at 5:42 pm
Lee says:
I guess it’s under the radar until you upload it to Strava! I held off until the rain had stopped – got wet enough on Monday thanks – and headed out for a solo jaunt to keep my own rehab ticking along. (I scouted part of the route I’m doing in a May sportive a couple of weeks ago and realised I am way, way off the pace). Nothing crazy last night for obvious reasons – up and over Ranmore and Box Hill via TTWT and back up over Norbury. Decided against China Pig and headed down HV instead. Happy to clock double digit+ average speed, but then that’s the single speed way for you.
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Posted on April 12, 2012 at 1:22 pm
JR says:
Jon H, Dave W and I all showed up at Hylands for the regular Moles night ride. This was a milestone ride for 2012 as it was the first of the year where the sun was still up – only just – as we headed up Crab Tree Lane.
The sky was clear blue east towards Box Hill and darkly thundery west towards Horsley, but Dave W was keen to follow a route Matt’s Effingham route that he had loaded into his Garmin. So we headed east along the top of Ranmore and sound found the dry trails around Polesden had become a muddy slide-fests along Badger run and Collar bone.
Needless to say none of us made it to the top of “Pole Hill” the near vertical climb from the sawmill, although Dave W got a long way up, especially considering he is recovering from a broken rib.
The run down to the A246 from Sheepleas was a good as ever, despite the obligatory cries of “where do we go now” in the wooded singletrack section. And we finished by crossing Effingham and Bookham Commons to make a total of 17 miles.
A decent ride and we were lucky to dodge the downpours, but those who had removed their mudguards for the summer drought did look like they’d had a bad case of Delhi Belly. And it’s nice to have a ride through the countryside without the relentless pressure of “where’s the next Strava segment?”
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Posted on April 12, 2012 at 4:01 pm
KevS says:
To quote JR … “And it’s nice to have a ride through the countryside without the relentless pressure of “where’s the next Strava segment?”
Amen to that JR.
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Posted on April 12, 2012 at 5:51 pm
Tony says:
I can remember MTBing in the 80’s. Retro DaveC was tastefully dressed in comparison. No fluoro, no purple, not even any bar ends.
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Posted on April 12, 2012 at 6:17 pm
Dave says:
Is this what you’re talking about Tony?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VzZkKE9Z35g#!
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Posted on April 12, 2012 at 8:03 pm
tony says:
Ahh….that takes me back. You could probably ride down that no problem now on any decent full susser.
I had loads of gear like that!
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Posted on April 12, 2012 at 9:26 pm
Matt says:
That’s hilarious!! I know that downhill is far steeper than it looks but I take my hat off to those guys who clearly had no idea what they were getting into. Ouch!!
Some seriously out of control riding with no suspension, saddle up the arse, canti brakes and no SPDs to keep you feet on the pedals…
Whereas what they really need is an 8 inch travel rig for shredding the gnarr, as any Surrey Hills rider will tell you 😉
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Posted on April 12, 2012 at 9:43 pm
Gordon says:
Love the video. I think I am maybe 20 years too late as I’m sure I would have fitted right in.
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Posted on April 12, 2012 at 10:26 pm
Pascal says:
Fantastic video. Especially like the track wheel used by the guy at 4:30 – maybe it gave the extra speed which took him past his brake point!
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Posted on April 12, 2012 at 10:48 pm
tony says:
That’s not a track wheel but a Tioga disk drive. A super expensive mtb specific disk wheel that was the epitomie of cool back then especially when ridden by Tomac.
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Posted on April 13, 2012 at 8:04 am