Surprisingly wet up there ths evening. Just had a quick hour on Holmbury – Parklife very wet, secret squirrel x3 still good if a little slippier than recently, T road OK. Trail down the middle (no idea of the name) pretty poor. But that’s biased as I thought I had broken my leg on it. Hit stump and had slow crash with leg caught between front wheel and frame. Body weight then applied the force…oooow!

Found a couple of new trails on the SE, one well ridden BW with rocky start among the bushes and a more secret one not far away. May be suitable after my skills course! Good job that is coming up as confidence took a hit with the leg clamp.

So you’re teamhurtmore. I was the chap with tatty old skoda and the black cotic heading out when you were leaving.

Nice to meet you skaifan. Hope you had a good ride, you both set off nice and fast on the cotics. Did you find some nice dry stuff? Hope your knee completely recovers soon.

(I had a little giggle at your mate blasting off without a helmet!! 😉 )

Sounds like you guys need to meet up with njee!

Was up there on the road this evening and it looked v wet and splashy.

That’s weird, was also up on Holmbury tonight (in the group in black and yellow), thought it was pretty wet. For some reason I prefer muddy trails in winter to summer!

Agree njee, there’s something odd about wet trails in the summer. At least my feet didn’t freeze despite swimming down Parklife!

There were a couple of guys in green. One on a stumpy and one on a boardman on Parklife and TR when I went off to do secret squirrel. Any one on here? Ditto the guys at the top, one on a nomad and the other in Italy shirt.

Leith was decidedly damp yesterday, and man, those trails are trashed. Been a while since I’ve ridden some of them and so many of them are looking in a really bad state especially not cricket and waggledance.

@Teamhurtmore – do u mean trails in the SE of holmbury? The one with the danger sign? I like that one but last time I rode it the gorse was too long and made for a nasty ride .. has it been cut back?

Yes that’s the one. Rocky start with gorse either side. I walked down the first bit to have a look but decided to wait for next week. I actually preferred the look of the other one close by. Not as obvious a trail nor as steep st the top. I walked the first 100 m or so to check it out.

Made me think that I need a better bike for the one past the sign 😉

Pretty chilly cleaning the bike when I got home. Summer (?) is fading fast as is the evening light.

Nothing was very dry. The guy I was with absolutely hates riding through mud. He wasn’t having much fun. He never wears a helmet. He’s a big boy now though and can make his own decisions!

I think that the helmeted riders only just outnumbered the unhelmeted ones on Holmbury last night – at least among the riders I saw! Each to his/her own, in my book, and I ride without a helmet now and again. I wasn’t judging him (he looked a good rider), just smiling at all the helmet debates on here!

I have full days on Sat and Sun up there, so let’s hope that today’s sun dries things out a bit. Like your friend, skaifan, I’m not a huge fan of these conditions! From the road, Pitch looked pretty dire as well at least the top of Supernove area.

Forecast: sun today, overcast but warmer tomorrow, overcast and showers on Sunday.

Have fun riding this weekend!

On a relevant note, there is a work day planned on parklife/yoghurt pots on 9th sept

I was out for a bit last night too was a little soggy in places!

xcgb – Member

On a relevant note, there is a work day planned on parklife/yoghurt pots on 9th sept

I was out for a bit last night too was a little soggy in places!

It needs more than a day!!

Or more man hours! Is that a volunteer day (including people who know nothing about building trails)?

I did a big loop from Leatherhead during the day yesterday…….getting to the Surrey Hills in the rain was a bit of a slog over the top (I was beat after an hour) but have to say once I got to Barrys, then up behind the Church and back down (sorry I dont know the names), YP etc I thought it was all in pretty good nick considering the rain. Barry’s is bone dry (thank you trail fairies) and SL is dry with big shallow puddles. 55km and I was shagged, the bike and me were covered in slurry so it isnt dry but its all very rideable.

You should try riding Epping right now, you guys are lucky to have Surrey Hills close to you believe me.

Might go back on Monday late morning if anyone fancies a spin.

It needs more than a day!!

Hardly, it’s about the best it’s been for the 15 years I’ve been riding it.

I was disheartened to see further time being devoted to YP when there are other trails that need attention… can anyone tell me why we cant have a dig day on telegraph for instance?

I quite like the puddles on ParkLife.

(Weds night on Leith Hill was a lot wetter under-knobble than we expected.)

Lovely fine day today, so far.

YP could do with a short back and sides though – rather overgrown on the start section…

Like most of the trails! Seems the combination of warm and wet weather has sent the undergrowth into a frenzy!

lcj: if you don’t like it, why not go about getting something organised rather than moaning on here that other people aren’t maintaining the right trails for you!?

njee: I’m not allowed to organise anything else, the Hurtwood Vounteers have the monopoly on legal trail building, on Holmbury at least.

It’s just frustrating that the manpower is being used to further sanitise trails (i.e. BKB) when others are deteriorating. YP has always been wet, that’s why its got its name. Only major earthworks will stop that but they will also ruin the fun of the trail when it is dry.

Can I suggest regular users join friends of the Hurtwood? the more bikers we get as members the better, we need a stronger voice dont forget you are on private land,lots dont realise that

http://www.friendsofthehurtwood.co.uk/

http://hurtwoodtrails.co.uk/about/

YP could do with a short back and sides though – rather overgrown on the start section…

Nature will deal with that shortly, it’s all part of the fun anyway.

(& doesn’t it feel like the trees have started to turn early this year?)

Hello again.

Yes we have turned our attention to YP. One of the reasons behind this is that a lot of work was carried out on it a few years back and we don’t want to see that working going further south. The plan is to give it a wash and brush up. That will mean a bit of trimming at the beginning to improve sight lines, this is mainly because walkers do sometimes use the trail and we want to minmise any rider-walker interfaces. Unfortunately, we can’t tell walkers to stay off the trail because the the right to roam.

We are looking at replacing one small section. Other than that,It will remain as is: a trail in a ditch with pots full of water. We wouldn’t want it any other way.

It’s just frustrating that the manpower is being used to further sanitise trails (i.e. BKB) when others are deteriorating.

There’s that word again. Aside from the first section, telegraph is ok for now. As for other trails such as those on Pitch hill and beyond, they were built by people who don’t use IMBA guidelines and it shows when it gets wet.

As for sanitising BKB, a number of us have ridden that trail for a long time and at no point can we remember it being a technical trail, even with the original ending.

By all means come along to the maintenance days, hopefully it will lead to a better understanding of how tricky it is to build trails that will last years and will take the pounding that they currently are.

Thanks.