Anyone know of MTB clubs/groups that ride XC in the Dorking/Reigate/Tadworth/Epsom area?

I want ride decent pace XC (not fat guys chatting at surrey hills trailheads astride £5k long travel santa cruz) and am struggling to find any groups locally. Also trips to trail centres would be good too. It gets a bit boring and not challenging riding solo all the time.

Cheers

A little bit further afield but if you look up Beyond Mountain Bikes in Cranleigh, they have rides on Thursday nights usually around the Surrey Hills area but also head off to Swinley and Tunnel Hill some weeks.
They usually organise the rides on the shop Facebook page.

Tunnel hill Thursday night ride with the fast group.

Be warned though it’s fast, not just non-stop riding, but non-stop and fast on both the single-track and the climbs. I’ve tagged onto the back of it a few times, and after 20 minutes I was completely dead, and this was back when I was fit!

Muddy Moles ride evenings from the Bookham area, and Dorking Cocks are based in, er, Dorking

http://www.mtbsurreyhills.com/index.asp

http://www.muddymoles.org.uk/

Dorking Cocks, Diary of a MTBer and MuddyMoles (my riding group) are all in Dorking, Bookham, Ashtead respectively. Although we all have fat guys on £5K Santa Cruz (this is Surrey after all) some of who are fast and some not. Come along without any preconceptions and everyone welcome.

Nirvana Cycles in Westcott do an XC style ride which sounds like it’s at your pace

Is the Nirvana Saturday ride throughout the year?

From my experience (a few years ago now) the Nirvana fast ride does not hang about! 3 hours+ head down. Not shy of the tech stuff either, plenty of that in the Surrey Hills if you know where to look. Which they do! 😀

May as well ring them, Ladders. Might be a reason it’s not on (short of riders?) that week, if you’re going to be travelling to get there.

I ride informally with friends most weekends doing that sort of thing. Mail in profile it you’re interested. will be out Saturday morning.

Mtb night rides from bike beans cafe in Ashtead on Tuesday night. Not the fastest but always fun.

Thanks all. Muddy Moles look like a good bunch although getting to the meeting point would involve 5 mile ride (I’m in Walton on the hill) so would be a painfully early start for a sunday. My comment about fat guys on £5k bikes makes me seem like a bit of a d*ck. Hopefully I’m not. Not even especially fast – but I want to be.

Not sure Nirvana would appreciate me turning up for one of their rides on my Canyon!

I ride with Redhill CC. Saturday rides are not necessarily race fast, just because there’s often a reasonable sized group to slow things a bit, but there are certainly fast people present. Definitely friendly though, and I think probably (although I stand to be corrected) the widest ranging club in the area in terms of where we ride.

Ridden with the moles a few times too, very nice guys.

Redhill website

It’s a nice off road route from Walton on the Hill to Bocketts with some good descents. Definitely worth coming over.

Don’t worry about the Santa Cruz comments we take the piss out of our Santa Cruz (aka Mondeo) owners.

Not sure Nirvana would appreciate me turning up for one of their rides on my Canyon!

They won’t care. I did my first Nirvana ride on a £350 hardrock with v-brakes and 80m travel dire forks. Not a single comment on the bike. It was not an xc ride either. It wasn’t long before they’d sold me something better mind !

The Cocks ride from Nirvana every Wednesday at 6.30 throughout the year. It’s usually pretty fast and often fairly techy. You’d be very welcome and we won’t hold your bike against you. You’re also very unlikely to see a Santa Cruz 😉

sounds like medders is a Cock in the making.

lol. would be proud to be cock! But sadly Wednesdays at 6.30pm I am normally still sat at my desk in town just starting to think about getting changed to ride home.

Njee – thanks for the offer. Will email you – cant do this Saturday but will try and join for another day. Don’t mind getting dropped – its the best way of getting quicker.

Am riding sunday and will see if can get over to bocketts for moles ride. Failing that it my usual Walton-Langley vale-stane st-boxhill-headley-reigate hill double loop on my lonesome.

My comment about fat guys on £5k bikes makes me seem like a bit of a d*ck. Hopefully I’m not

Plenty on £5k bikes around SH who aren’t fat and are frickin fast.

Then you have people like me… 😀

Well, I’m certainly not fast, but like to think I’m not that fat, but could do with shifting the belly. The £5k Santa Cruz however 😉 (okay it’s not worth half that now).

But you’re right about the chatting at end of trails. Does get a bit too much sometimes. I’m half half and mix it up between weekend warrior chat and faff on the SC, and then more non stop stuff in the week on the hard tail. Call it XC, I don’t know. It’s a silly term anyway. It’s just a pile of singletrack linked together continuously. Doesn’t have to be technical gnar though. That’s not round Dorking way though. Usually round the MoD lands, Tunnel Hill etc.

Medders,

Do I recognise that name as a scr??

I live pretty locally and to be honest I so t think you will find a group that rides fast Xc. Have ridden with the domtb group on and off for years and have ridden with the moles a few times as well. The larger the group the more faffing. I did a few Xc races and found riding with 1 other was the only way to keep the dithering down. I need a kick up the behind to get out more so am happy to head out some evenings after 7/730 and show you some alternatives including the route to the moles starting point. There are 30-40 mile cx routes to leith hill and back, peaslake and back, new lands corner etc

As has been said above, there is a Nirvana Saturday XC Ride which starts at 9.30am from the shop – this is also essentially a Dorking Cocks ride as all the regular ridrs on it are also Dorking Cocks.

Do I recognise that name as a scr??

yup. Although apart from the pro race thread, BR has lost its mojo. SCR got taken over by 1st cats taking it all far too seriously.

thanks for the offer – sounds like a great plan and would appreciate being shown new routes as I have neither the patience nor the time for finding them. Am away next week but will PM week after to try and sort a day.

Glad to see this up here, was about to ask a similar question as I have lost riding buddies over the years and need to get back out off rode.

Been spending too much time on the road and running in recent years.

hope its ok for me to contact a couple of the people who have offered up themselves to help to contact directly. Will do so at the weekend