The route I devised for the Winchester Forum Ride was pretty good even though I say so myself! It can be started at Cheesefoot Head.

Edit: it included fast singletrack through the woods, a gully and a memorable climb up Stephen’s Castle Down with great views.

A brief foray over in to bandit country* for me at the weekend. Had a couple of bridleways picked out to try that I hadn’t tried befoRe. Skinny slicks can make even the dullest muddy bridleway fun!

*Berkshire

not trying to piss on your chips…

lol at that pic. 😀 According to HCC Access Forum Minutes, they’re trying to create a route between BW and Botley. Mapping shows there to be some bits of footpath.

Am curious – why the need for a railway there? Looks to be a mill at Botley, were goods being transported?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishops_Waltham_branch

🙂

some of those photos look more positive…

Thanks for that link, interesting stuff. 8)

not trying to piss on your chips.

🙂
Looks like an adventure to me ! Can’t make out old railway line from the ariel photos as all you can see are the trees. If it’s impassable we can rejoin the path via the B3035/Botley Rd at Treefield Farm and Breach Hill – OS map shows paths crossing the river at both points,

Sounds like some interesting rides being planned, I need to get out there again, got out of the habit of night rides over Christmas and haven’t got back into it yet.

@bikebouy and Jam – still haven’t really found a ‘myriad’ of Singletrack in Botley woods. Been there a few times now and even though the fallen trees have now been removed it still seems like a small loop and nothing more. Am I missing something?

@john, tbh I haven’t been back after our ride there as I thought there wasn’t that much and not worth the hour plus ride there.

Where have you chaps been riding this weekend then?

Regular local bash around Micheldever, Farleigh Wallop, the Candovers, etc.

Nice little spin, despite the chilliness.

QECP again Friday and Sunday. Apologies for the repetitiveness of my riding 🙂

About 50k of gravel and lanes through the southern part of the Forest. 🙂

anyone out today: loads of people in the forest (about 1001 possibly!)

turbo only for me 🙁

I’m looking for any thoughts for Paris roubaix training. cobbles/ farm tracks which are close to pave? particulary flat tracks.

at the moment red lane (upham)/ parholt wood and mill lane (droxford) are top of the list; but i’d like some more cobble like stuff….

some more cobble like stuff….

The best pavé that’s close to Hampshire that I know of is here;
https://www.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&q=great+trinity+lane&gws_rd=ssl&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&ei=ehzhVOuhIYGtUIaygqAB&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ

Great Trinity Lane, EC4.

Might need a few laps, mind you! 😀

Cant think of any cobbles other than at cathedrals 😉 The only thing that springs to mind thats flat and knobly is the test way from Timsbury to Stockbridge, all flat off road and quite bobbly (not quite as bad as top section of parnholt).
Its not cobbles at all but might be worth a shot if you want to test the effect of tyre pressure etc.
i’m sure there were some fairly stony tracks on a loop i did out of swanage, maybe priests way? been a while since was out there.

Timsbury to Stockbridge, all flat off road and quite bobbly
Its not cobbles at all but might be worth a shot if you want to test the effect of tyre pressure etc.

yes. that’ll do.

Cheers guys.

Any Winchester locals able to point me in the direction of a garage where I’d be able to wash my bike?
I’m here for the next few weeks, so if anyone is willing to show me round (Mtb) or point me in the direction of some good rides it’d be appreciated.
In the mean time, I’m going to do the first 15 or so miles of the SDW and back for my first ride and start flicking through all 32 pages of this thread!

I’m also trying to do a bit of Paris-Roubaix training. Am currently in Australia on hols and finding that 20-mile gravel descents on road tyres are quite ‘involving’. During the washboard sections I’m reminded of Roy & HG’s ‘battered sav’ from their Sydney Olympic’s commentary…
Closer to home, I’d recommend some of the rockier sections of the SDW, at speed.

I can recommend most of Hampshires lanes anywhere from Bishops Waltham then north to Alton, west from Dean over east to Steep, keep off the B roads and stick to the lanes and most of it is potholed/gravel/flint covered “cobbles” 😆 Bit like Tuscany but wetter.. 😆

I’m using the New Forest for my gravel training, I’m doing P-R too and have done it 5 times in the past. The only training recommendation I’d offer is ride the lanes hard and fast and perfect bunnyhops and hard braking on rough surfaces.. T’is all I’ve ever done. And TBH is pretty much all you need skills wise.
It’s a different race P-R, you really do have to go hard on the cobbles, don’t fanny around nor get stuck behind billybob whose out for a pootle. Watch the on/off sections and the entry/exit of the sections, these are often the worst as the cobbles are normally loose or missing and invariably wet or puddles.

See you there 😀

@Mark88 There’s a Newforce club ride ride starting from the John O’Gaunt pub at Horsebridge (6 miles west of Winchester) this Thursday at 6:30. Approx 25 miles in 3 hours

Hampshire’s strade bianche, I like it.
Sounds like there a few of us doing P-R – I might start a what tyres thread soon…
My mate who did it in 5hrs or so recommended using the sides of the roads and Schwalbe Marathons.

Ohh start a thread !! 8)

Well P-R is all about the weather. 3 times I’ve done it and it’s been cold and dry, once was pisshing down and proper windy 😐 the last time was just blustery.
Each has their own way of riding it. I’ve ridden on the edges of the cobbles on the dirt and in the middle and in the grooves and (on some sections) the lined brick edges. But it’s just hard whatever. If it’s wet I’ve always ridden the cobbles in the middle or in the groove, yes you slip occasionally but you have more options to escape/save than if you are pinned in on the edges. If it’s dry everyone, I mean everyone, rides the dirt edges and you’ll find unless you are in a fast group you’ll get “encouraged” to get off and ride in the groove or middle of the cobbles..
Small word of warning, crashes. You either will get caught up in one, see one, be involved in one. It’s just part of the game and really you shouldn’t get angry or pissed off if it happens to you or you get stuck behind one. I broke my elbow in an exit section from cobbles to tarmac 30k’s from Roubaix and it created chaos behind me and I was in a fast group.. Jeeze did I get shouted at 🙄
I’m not going to recommend tyres, although I use Clement Strada 25mm LGG’s pretty much all the time only changing if it’s been super hot and dry for at least 3 weeks.. 😆

We really ought to do a Hampshire Strada Bianche, sure we could come up with a route that would include lanes, gravel sections, flowing roads all over the Downs.. Hmmm… thats got me thinking.. 😀

@Mostly, that’s literally just up the road from my parents. If there is any route that can be shared it will be useful as I have a bike there dying to be used.

For Jambalayer here are links to a couple of my Strava routes for the area:

One
Two

Mostly Balanced – Thanks, but I’m working evenings and most weekends at the moment. I’ll keep an eye on the website, hopefully tag along on a weekend ride some time soon.

I spent this afternoon riding round Crab Wood and West Wood.

Mark88 Avoid QECP just now, It really isnt great . Wait till we get a week of dry weather as its glooptastic everywhere.

@Mark88. Crab and West Woods are good. Did you find the singletrack round the perimeter of West Wood?
It’s not just the gloop in QECP it’s all the off camber roots and chalk that makes it horrible in the wet.

I rode the blue and a cpl of sections of the red at QECP last week and it was ok. There is one gloopy bit just after the red and blue split but the rest was ok. I imagine the first half of the red has some sticky bits mind.

Where are crab and west woods?

West of Winchester.

Are they legal CG?

John – I was going to link to the HCC routes that go through the woods except they’ve removed them. 🙁 BOO!! That’s an excellent resource lost.

I haven’t been off piste so can’t comment.

Never had a problem riding around west woods, i walk, run and ride there a fair bit.
Crab wood on the other hand has no cycling signs on some of the entrances and i dont cycle in there and i dont think anyone else should as they have gone to effort to deter it. There are tracks in the area which are fair game though which i wont comment further on.

@mostly balanced – yes I think so, is there a segment called ‘crabwise’ on it?
@singlettackmind – thanks for the heads up. I’ve already planned to meet an old friend there in a couple of weeks so fingers crossed we get some decent weather in the meantime.

@dobo – I didn’t notice any no cycling signs, and I entered through a couple of different enterances. There was a few other tyre marks as well.

Sorry to hijack, but has anyone who’s done Paris Roubaix before got a gpx they’d be willing to share? Searching on Strava seems to come up with some odd results and I can’t quite make out which are the actual sportive long route.

Weighing up the pros and cons of P-R v RVV as a ‘treat’ for a significant birthday next year!

Nah I didn’t get my 810 until last year.

I’ll check with mates though..

I’ve got the 2010 route GPX.. mate uploaded it to here… You can DL the file easily.

If I knew how to add it here I would.

Link.
P-R 2010 route guide incl GPX

I rode the blue and a cpl of sections of the red at QECP last week and it was ok. There is one gloopy bit just after the red and blue split but the rest was ok. I imagine the first half of the red has some sticky bits mind.

Rode most of the red loop this morning and apart from some filth on the early sections it was all rideable (well except the couple of drops that I chickened which are clearly totally impossible ;)). Nice ride and got a semi guided update/some company for the rest of the ride from someone I stopped for a chat with early on.

I had forgotten how great focused / man made trails could be after nearly a year of nothing but natural or in the countryside stuff. The trail builders have done real good.