Hi, I have been riding these trails up at Pitch Hill near Peaslake (Surrey Hills) for a while now and always get confused as to theeir names. Can anyone name the trails I have very crudliy drawn on a map of the area. I’m pretty sure the blue one is Graveyard (at least on the lower part) but it’s all those T’s I can’t place?
Plus if anyone can draw a few more of their own on there and re-post it would be good to share.
Cheers

The first rule of Pitch Trail Club……

To be fair, if you look on Strava they’re all there anyway!

What is Strava?

I’m not sure but the green one might be called “Don’t draw the locations of cheeky trails on maps and post them up on the internet”.

Could be wrong though.

Ah the innocence of it all. *sigh*

Signed up for an hour, and already calling people gay. Well done.

Considering the tension around some of the trails in the area, particularly on Pitch Hill posting their locations is widely accepted to be poor form.

Like I said, look on Strava

Signed up for an hour, and already calling people gay.

Actually, I think it was a confession: are we all going to be this gay?

dont you know you must be one of the nights of nee to get any info on cheeky trails 😆

or sign up to strava these days 🙄

#disclaimer, dont know the background but point the OP in the right direction someone, rather than a ‘its my cheeky trail, you cant ride it’ d1ck mentality

strava is the right direction.

And there have now been 3 mentions and a link. You can lead a horse to water…

DezB, I must admidt I’m confused.
Thanks for the Strava tip.
Guys, I apologise for being rude so early in, it usually a bit longer.
I wasn’t aware of any ‘tension’ around the trails other than the usual idiots trying to build jumps by digging out the surrounding ground.
Either way, there’s no secrets up there, at least not for us regular riders of the area and Hurtwood estate.

So why do you need a map of the trails 😕

And anyway the point is that although the locals know the trails it’s not really the done thing to publicise them widely, such that the non-locals, and by association, anyone with a vendetta against bikes will also know where they are. Publishing their whereabouts quite so blatantly just gives more reason to destroy trails and cause general problems for cyclists.

Hi, I have been riding these trails up at Pitch Hill near Peaslake (Surrey Hills) for a while now and always get confused as to their names. Can anyone name the trails…

He doesn’t want a map, just to know their names.

So you’re a regular rider in the area and you’ve never seen a trail purposely trashed? Even one of the trails you have helpfully drawn on your map was trashed by the ranger 6 months ago.

Welcome to STW! 🙄

Blue one is BKB innit?

Lots more to explore 😉

that should confuse the googlers ..

anyone with a vendetta against bikes will also know where they are

cos there all on here…asking what tyre questions…

get a life peeps 🙂

I’ve seen it but wasn’t aware that the Ranger did that in a spiteful vein. Always, maybe misguided, believed that they were just managing the forest and occasionally that meant one of the trails would get hit.
I know the Hurtwood Estate prefer to work with the riders to keep them on the better known trails. If a Ranger purpousfully destroys a trail surely he is only forcing less respectable riders to carve new trails into the protected areas.

cos there all on here…asking what tyre questions…

get a life peeps

Personally I don’t really care, but I can see that publicising controversial/illegal trails can have no benefit whatsoever for mountain bikers!

nope, but it does let other peeps have a go at some more ‘fun’ trails…which is surely a positive!?

Not if they all get destroyed. What’s wrong with asking to be shown them, or riding with folk who know them, why must they all be publicised online?

I understand the basic point about publicising trails but really Pitch is hardly secret, nor are any of the trails marked secret or unknown. And go to P&S and they argue why bother with any other hill, go and ride the trails and others indicated!! Can’t imagine there is anyone on here who has restricted him/herself to the “official trails” on the Hurtwood – so he who casts the first stone?

Although the top of the T trails (first two sections, but wont give away the colour) was trashed by recent forestry work. Jambalaya and I tried to clear bits of the middle section yesterday but gave up as a lost cause until the proper clearing has been completed.

Just had a peep at Strava – some interesting naming going on there.

OP, dont worry about the names. Just enjoy riding and finding more trails. J & I were up there yesterday and merely introduced each other to well known trails that the other had misses (Evian and Supernova). That’s the best way of getting the balance right IMO.

such that the non-locals, and by association, anyone with a vendetta against bikes will also know where they are.

What association is that ?

It’s far more likely that local dog walkers etc are going to be the issue rather than non local mountain bikers 🙄

Yes, but my point is that dog walkers or whoever may not know about all the cheeky trails. If they want to cause a nuisance we are providing the information they need. Whether its a real issue or not I don’t know, but the Hills are busier than they’ve been at any point in the last 10 years, and those tensions are still there.

Nice work, DezB!

The white one is called Joss Ackland’s Spunky Backpack.

😆

We think there should be a trail called Jools Holland. There is no logic for this. Just thought it’s the sort of name trails should have. You may choose which that is.

Whether its a real issue or not I don’t know

If the issue we are talking about is letting “anti mountainbike locals” know where the trails are by publishing them on a mountainbike forum….

I’ll go with “not”

Although, if the issue is that people want to keep the trails for themselves, rather than let other mountain bikers know where they are…..

Then yes. Publishing them online is an issue.

Interesting conversation.

The ranger (and Hurtwood Control) is actually very tolerant of mountain bikers – with caveats.

If you look at the deed covering the land managed by Hurtwood, it basically says that the HC is established to encourage outdoor activities – originally walking and horseriding – amongst the general public. Over the years that has also included husky racing (no, really) running and, latterly, mountain biking. there’s a right to roam (within limits) anywhere on the Hurtwood, similar to the Rights of Way in Scotland.

If you live in the area or ride the trails, I strongly suggest you consider donating to the Hurtwood, and attend some of its meetings. You’ll find them a nice bunch. Handa Bray, who owns much of the land managed by HC, is very pro-biker.

I mentioned a caveat, and here it is: One activity can’t have a negative impact on another. That means that, say, mountain biking and mountain bike trails can’t have an adverse affect on others’ enjoyment of the Hurtwood – and the same goes for other trail users, too.

In the past, that’s meant that big jumps, north shore stunts, big drops (ie the coffin drop on Pitch, which ended up paralysing someone) have been closed. Aside from the impact on others there’s also a significant insurance risk.

Please bear in mind that online chat about the trails here, and word-of-mouth, has caused a huge increase in mountain biker numbers over the last fifteen years. It’s a cause of some friction, and as mentioned, sometimes there’s a fair amount of heat. So please, keep it quiet. 🙂

If you want to find out the names of trails, ask people in the ground when you bump into them – fair to say that local riders are a pretty friendly bunch, and it never hurts to strike up a conversation with other people on the hill – whatever they’re using to get around.

HTH.

Udder – Which one was the coffin drop on pitch? Trying to think of a big jump which was knocked down lately. Surely not that small gap that was at the end of the newish section tacked onto the fast flowy trail on pitch. Heard someone stacked it on there hence why it was knocked down but didn’t realise they did that much damage.

Please bear in mind that online chat about the trails here, and word-of-mouth, has caused a huge increase in mountain biker numbers over the last fifteen years. It’s a cause of some friction, and as mentioned, sometimes there’s a fair amount of heat. So please, keep it quiet.

is it not that more people have joined the sport and ‘cheeky’ trails are just plain more fun than trail centres!?

dont disagree just dont like the its our trails stay away mentality of some

Njee – twas a good discussion – good riding 😀

I think the coffin drop he is referring to is near the windmill – a fella got paralyzed there a couple of years back and it has been fenced off ever since.

Bent Udder – good post.

I don’t get all this “the trails should be on the net so anyone can go and find them” stuff. It is a lot more satisfying to look at where might have some decent gradient, and go for an explore – look for tyre tracks here and there. Aside from what I can only imagine building your own trail would be like, there can be little more satisfying than coming back from an exploratory with a bunch of new trails to ride. I’m not against other people knowing about the trails – I have shown many people many trails over there, just I don’t think posting them on the net is a good idea. And yes, I know the OP wasn’t asking for locations, but names – however, I couldn’t really help with names, as I don’t know many of the names myself, apart from descriptions, silly names me and my mates have made up and what may or may not be on strava.

Of course, I am sure we are all aware of point 8 on the Hurtwood Code of Conduct –

Riders must not create new trails, please use the existing network.

I guess the Ranger will go mad when he finds the stuff we saw yesterday.

Please bear in mind that online chat about the trails here, and word-of-mouth, has caused a huge increase in mountain biker numbers over the last fifteen years. It’s a cause of some friction, and as mentioned, sometimes there’s a fair amount of heat. So please, keep it quiet.

So it’s more about not letting other Mountain bikers know then.

And not much to do with not letting “anti mountainbike” folk find out.

Just so it’s clear.

Now that’s classy.

Well done.

Surely more easily found trails means more riders and more ‘lazy’ riders, making assumptions here but If you won’t put the ‘effort’ into going out and finding trails or getting someone to show you them, then perhaps as a generalisation that would include more riders who are less respectful of keeping trails in good nick?
Again, making assumptions

Plus, more riders = more riders being shown around/told = more use/damage = more tension with locals

If you want to find them, you’ll find them?

Runs away ..

Now I’m not a pitch hill local and I’ve never ridden there but I’ve heard about it, of course.

If I turned up with a few mates, what would cause the least friction, us riding known mtb trails or blundering about all over the place just following our noses & maybe riding “less interesting” paths faster to make them fun (’til we meet a walker/horse) ?

(and, addit: Did we know that strava can keep rides private? maybe you should encourage folk to do that if you really don’t like it as things stand)

So what you’re saying is unless we post up the locations of all the cheeky trails on the net you will get your mates together hammering around the bridleways, mowing down walkers and startling horses?

It is simple:

1) you want cheeky trails
2) you want their location on the Internet
3) you want them to be there when you get to the location

Surely you can see why all 3 of these things cannot happen at the same time? In the words of Keith bontrager – pick 2