I’ve got a “selfish” day off on Monday as I’ve not managed my regular group ride/ any real riding for 2 months due to work and family stuff.

Plan A is to get out for a 30-40 mile outing on the mountain bike and be home for tea. Plan B is the road bike but think I’m a lot less keen on that unless trails are really poo.

Can anyone give me any pointers on where to avoid / where’s riding well at the minute so I don’t spend the entire day knee deep in filth?

Off on the SDW from Petersfield to Winchester tomorrow as well as QEP. From what I hear QEP is quite wet but given the flooding on the roads I’m not surprised.

right now i’d stay off the SDW, away from claggy bridleways, and stick to the “sandy triangle” (hmmm) between petersfield, haslemere and midhurst. not a huge amount of height but some good little areas for mtb.. some cheeky. if no idea check along the shipright’s way including longmoor. today i checked around hangars and all i’ll say is.. yeah my KOMs are probably safe until next year 😯

QECP is as bad as you’d imagine. Mud tyres or road….

I did this last week.

Caught the train to Ford, rode up the Arun to Amberley Station, turned left to Bury and caught the SDW to QEP then rode down the lanes back to Havant Station and train home.
Conditions, well the Arun path was dry and sticky in places, the SDW in the exposed areas was dry with run off sticky bits, in the trees and wooded areas it was dry ‘ ish but the rutted areas were deep and sticky wet gloop, though these were few and far between.

Took 4.5 hours of a poodle, in no rush, just happy to be out.

Rode the SDW from QEP to Winchester and back yesterday. Should’ve taken an hour less than it did. Two stretches were so boggy it was like riding slicks in the snow. Properly knackered me out, legs are dead today

Boggy bit? Bet it werent nice at the bottom of Old Winch hill, towards the railway line. It gets proper **** there.

Dave (?) – yes that was the worst bit. There was another bit, Gander Down I think that was boggy too. I had a MudX clog up. Didn’t even know that was possible!

Hi Emyr. Yeah, I’ve vowed never to go back to that area in the wet! Saw your Strava, bl**dy good going. I’d wait until some dry spell though 🙂

Last time I tried it I only made it to Beacon Hill and that was in the dry. I’m regretting not takin the road bike out now!

haha superfli i thought i’ve seen bad. that recent? was on SDW a bit today, wasn’t anything like that bad east of QECP. i remember it getting much worse towards winchester though.. one more thing i like about the Guapo (not to bang on about it) as it has no brace at seatstay, so no mud issue there, and bb area doesn’t seem too bad. RS forks never have enough clearance though esp. when you stick a fender bender there. might be time for mud tyres…

that sort of mud is just no fun :/

I will be riding Kingley Vale wednesday evening if anyone is interested. 2-3hour XC ride with a bit of Stoughton DH on the way.

Could someone expand the SDW and QEP acronyms for me?

Southampton/N.Forest rider but looking to go further afield. 🙂

SDW = South Downs Way
QEP or QECP = Queen Elizabeth Country Park

Did Selborne to Hawkley loop Sat pm and generally ok but quite a few boggy patches. Shoulder of Mutton hill better than expected…

Ahh, cheers!

@plyphon Try Kingley Vale at some point, some good XC and some very well made DH too.

I know this sounds joke considering I lived in Southampton all my life – but I’ve only just discovered Lords Wood haha!

Where do you ride? I ridden LW about 5/6 time not been back since a lot of it got flattened.

Still plenty of great stuff at Lordswood. Well worth the trip from pompey way, I do it as many Thurs eves as work allows as although it gets muddy as hell it’s not the slippy yet claggy chalk mud tht makes QE etc so ‘great’ in the winter!

@ Plyphon, LW (Lordswood) good in the dry and grimsville in the wet – needs a bit of maintenance to get it back to where it once was 😥

Have you tried any thing north of LW (Hut Wood) there are a few trails or Stoke Park Wood (Bishopstoke) has some trails in it but not been that way for years

I’ve not been north of LW no – I’ve only been through the new forest way really.

A lot of flat boring stuff but some good speed/fitness to be had.

The trails at LW were great fun tho, can’t wait to go back if/when the rain stops.

Just got back from 20 odd miles over the SDW…
Running fine. Given the weather.
The chalk was surprisingly grippy despite being damp, and pushing the torque on the SS!

DrP