Forum menu
I start my ride last night, with geetee1972 & hei hei, he mentions he has received text messages advising of a mega event on Leith Hill in the Surrey Hills. We all dismiss this thinking - No, cant be happening.
At about 8pm(ish) we find a guy at the tower on Leith Hill as entrant No. 36 (he said the last person to enter, so 36 took part) with a number board saying Leith Hill Mega.
Anyone know anything about this? sounds comical, but know doubt fun and good on who ever for orgainising it!
Would be nice to know next time its run again.
The text messages I got were from someone called 'Dave'.
I got a little flurry of excitment in my tummy.........
Ah Dave.... <sighs> 😥
😆
You still searching for him Gee? 😆
psychle - we almost laughed in the guys face when we saw his Mega number board, but then had to ask what the deal was....but he clearly had stumbled across the event and just decided to take part, rather than set out to be part of it. He said it had a proper running start with the bikes all upside down around the tower.
Sure it would've been fun, but probably not a 'sanctioned' or legit event, probably something organised locally/underground (mates perhaps?). Wonder how they were running it re. timings etc?
It's not a bad descent down from the Tor through to the cricket pitch, then through the bombholes into waggle dance/deliverance, on to summer lightning and then onwards down the trail that runs beside the 4x4 path till you turn off on to the BW down to the Rookery... wonder if that's the route they were following?
I can just picture a Mega at Leith - all trying to out boutique/bling each other 😆
wonder if that's the route they were following?
Yep pretty much that was the route they were following, although the chap said they were missing out a lot of the 'good bits'. Not sure what he meant.
How strange! I'd be well up for that!
Did you not hear about it before, on the front page of the advertiser last week. 😆
I got an email about it last week, but couldn't make it. would have been a good laugh!
Sounds like a laugh!
Much shorter, but I reckon the better route (for those who know the area well) would have been...
Tower, head down to Donnie Darko, onto Windy Willows, turn right onto the bridleway, left towards the road (only a very, very small climb here), right onto the road for 200mtrs, right onto Velouria and then down Bassanova to finish! That flows really nicely. You could extend that by dropping down to Broadmoor, climb up to Wolvens and finish down the Rookery.
There's a really good link up on Redlands but more jumpy/downhill. Just too contentious at the moment though.
Could be fun, uber bling niche mega event 😉
Prizes for the most number of CCDB's, Boss forks & XX spotted he hee
Prizes for the most number of CCDB's, Boss forks & XX spotted he hee
😳
DTP that's the route we rode last night and I was thinking the same thing as you. The redlands route would be awesome as well; you could time just the DH sections:
Section one - that rooty off camber section that dives into the series of bus stops down the fire road.
Section two would be Foot & Mouth
Section three would be what we call Fire Beater (because of the broken spade at the top of the trail apparently). It's the one with the drop over the fallen tree half way down, but not to be confused with the tree drop at the start of Mangrove Alley.
That's probably a total 5 minutes altogether.
geetee1972
Was thinking of...
start at the beginning of Deja Vu/Turning Japanese (shared start), cut off left and drop onto Countdown to Ecstasy, onto the re-built White Jam for the top section (avoid losing the height on Foot and Mouth) and then onto Fire Whacker.
Haven't timed it, but we reckon somewhere around 7 minutes of freeride/downhill fun times!
Where's all this gnarly stuff then? I know nothing of it, sounds like I'm missing out!? Probably just as well actually, my skill levels are rather low at the moment, would probably just wipe myself out 😳 😆
Came 10th out of 35
Lung busting fun!
Such a laugh, can't wait for the next!
this just popped up on my vimeo:
Looked fun that, heard Bernard Kerr came first.
Yes that looks massive fun - I'd be up for some of it if theres another one
And people wonder why all the new trails get closed down by landowners...
sweet video duncan, great race. flowed well. definitely made the most of the terrain. top marks to the folically challenged one!!lets do it again soon bruv.hopefully ill be a bit fitter next time and be able to keep up with somebody who has a better sense of direction than ive got!
how often is this run? are there other down hill events held there?
I didn't clock anything new in that? Or were you making a more general point bent_udder?
Love the dog walker just after the start - didn't bat an eyelid - hope we don't look like that all the time... (see above)
You should stay at home and watch telly you bent udder!
Class!
God forbid some people had some (organised) fun.
Was the most fun I have ever had at the surry hills, udder man = sad man. Many thanks to those who sorted this (you know who you are) it was the bollocks.
😛
Is udder man the pratt who would get out of the way?
looks excellent fun - is this another BR4R Jake?
The tower is a very high profile point to start from if you want to attract the attention of the anti-bikers and the route as shown on that video immediately down the steep side is simply not safe for a 36 bike pack to race down. Unless you've ponced along since getting on your bike at the tower youre going too fast by the time you get any visibility over the hill to see anyone walking up...i really hope they had spotters at least. There were plenty of other options they could have taken to be off the walkers paths and a bit less visible.
It's awesome fun for sure and i've long wanted to do something similar, but either dont shout about it afterwards or give a bit of thought to the route.
Is udder man the pratt who would get out of the way?
Udder man was one of the first people to fight for improved access for mountain bikers on Leith hill, by working with the land owners, so I can imagine he'd be a bit peeved if there are any more stunts like this as while it may only be a minority doing it, it reflects badly on all.
its not BR4R and I dont know who sorted it but it was a very good crack, and no body got hurt or had a problem. Was just some lads having fun on there bikes, its not reflecting badly on anyone.
Who ever sorted it many thanks and send me an invite next time.
Sorry udder man
Gutted I couldn't make it. Bloody M25 traffic.
Heard it was great craic though.
Was just some lads having fun on there bikes, its not reflecting badly on anyone.
Being a little more discreet would be good.
+1 for Bent_Udder as one of the most active people in the area helping to keep us access.
And he has a point. Events like this give the antis ammunition...
Just seen the video. frankly given the amount of contention around mountain biking in the area, a group that big charging around one of the most popular bits of Surrey Hills is really just deeply unhelpful.
Try and understand how it feels for someone out for a quiet walk with kids or dogs, people...
[url= http://www.friendsofthehurtwood.co.uk/mtb-code-of-conduct.html#BCOC ]Hurtwood MTB code of conduct...[/url] Groups of no more than 6...
high5 the organiser and the riders 🙂
Cox.
As above, more ammunition to the antis, which is the last thing we need
As the op notes, I was one of the riders who saw rider #36 at the tower after the event. Whilst part of me thought this would be great fun, I agree with udder on this one. Ok so 36 riders this time with no issues, but what happens when 50 or 100 turn up? As mentioned above, there is a lot of sensitivity about biking in the area, and it's far too easy to latch onto this type of event and create negative stories.
Keep it underground, don't do it in the same place twice and I don't have too much of a problem with it, but to make this a regular thing just invites trouble.
Duplicate post!
+1 what udder and heihei said
Idea is great. Getting on with it quietly is great. Shouting about it on web forums - very not great.
Real world Bent Udder is right. Anybody hear about David Millars 13 minute lap of Richmond Park? Averaging ~12mph over the speed limit. Got splashed all over the BBC and now the plod are cracking down on speeding bikes in RP. Similar idea, although hopefully not so mainstream if stuff like this on Leith gets made public domain.
This does indeed look like a lot of fun, but I have to conclude on the side of the perceived "killjoys". Having 36 or so riders involved in a mass event in a high profile spot like Leith Hill Tower and having a free-for-all down the hill past the dog walker (without any marshaling or warnings it seems) is merely asking for trouble. As has been mentioned, there is a clear code of conduct on Hurtwood and it is extremely selfish to abuse this and risk access for all.
I dont understand the under-current of selfishness in mtb these days. The consensus seems to be we have rights, bu$$er the rest.I am fed up with having to defend cyclists be it road or mtb but at times we get the hassle we deserve.
Having said this and on the point of hitting "send" I started to think about the Leith Hill half marathon. I run in this and this is anti-soclal to the extent that it blocks the paths at the start, so perhaps I am a hypocrit? But at least runners are not a danger to other users.