[Closed] New trails at Swinley

So is it faster to double up before the berms or compress them on R15? Always feels like I get too high on the berms and lose speed.

Ok, so who flagged it as hazardous?

Learn something new every day, I didn't even realise there were hidden Strava segments!

Why are they hidden? Is it as obvious as it seems, there being a huge amount of duplications in there.

Hob Nob - if you've held the KOM for that long then it's safe to say that you're a faster / better rider than the rest of people that ride at Swinley?

Unfortunately for you, I'd also guess that the limited money and manpower that is available for trail development at Swinley is probably better spent on stuff aimed at a broader range of riders than the top (insert very small number) %.

Not saying that everything has to cater for the lowest common denominator but it has to be a viable proposition from the perspective of CE and TTS - I doubt that making the existing trails 'interesting' for the elite (for want of a much better term) would meet that aim.

Si

Only KOMs I get are with dodgy GPS or I've done a run next to a segment that's just straight line and clocks 10 seconds for a trail that should take more than a minute even fastest 😀

Usually they get flagged though, or the trail is marked as hazardous if too many get similar.

Anyway R15 segment I can see, interesting despite the "gnar jumps" nature of the trail, half the top bunch are all top XC racers 😉

Could never do it that fast. Literally does my arms in with all those cobbles. Though I usually take the hard tail round there. A 170 travel heavy AM bouncer is just too much for the place.

Anyway, 3444 / 11394, around a third down. That's my yardstick as most trails I do I'm around a third down the list.

Rubbish, 104/11982, 56s.

Strava chats rubbish anyway.

Excited for the new trails, firmly believe they should not be the average punters version of "progressive", tabletops and chicken runs, causes too many accidents, it's never usually the difficulty of the obstacle that causes accidents, it's lack of commitment and preparation by the rider, make it so the rider has to commit, can pretty much guarantee they're gonna do it unscathed. Plenty of other stuff to get technique and a feeling of capability.

Plus cuts down on trail maintenance if people who can ride it are the only ones that can ride it. No chicken runs to block or maintain, less excessive braking too.

There going to be so many more tragic gnar dogs, LOLs.

Problem is there's not a lot of stuff between tame and what looks to be pretty big (its all relative) stuff in Swinley. DK is right - looks at trails like red 15 and most of the top 20 are on XC 29ers. Swinley has nothing thats any real challenge. Sure some bits and bobs like Wilkins leap are beyond the normal rider, but they aren't injuring anyone either as failing to achieve it for most people is just a moderately easy take off to flat landing.

I'm looking forward to it but I am not convinced it won't lead to a lot of injuries, and sadly more likely to get it closed is rubbish left in proximity to the most popular walking spots, and the inevitable conflict with walkers etc. The location is the issue. Should have buried it somewhere in the forest where it was accessible to ambulances/rangers easily, but not near other people.

Whats scarier is the rate at which R15 racks up the counter .... 11394 > 11982 > 12010 in the last hour.

It would be a good idea to fence off the Freeride area to avoid walkers wondering in there by mistake. Also would help difine it as an advance riders area and stop people skiping the qualifing features.

And for the rubbish just provide a bin at the top and the bottom of Freeride area.

So is it faster to double up before the berms or compress them on R15? Always feels like I get too high on the berms and lose speed.

Definitely faster, although there's two lines into it, either what you've found and go high round the berm, or aim for the inside and almost cut the corner.

I think the inside is faster, but I did it on the Pitch and I'm not convinced it's how it was meant to be ridden! And I think that was before they re-modeled it with the new berms at the top of that drop so the berm at the bottom feels tighter now (to me anyway).

Feel like I should go and push myself a bit more to get under a minute! Although I suspect I could probably save 10s by just pedaling more and not coasting the first few corners.

And for the rubbish just provide a bin at the top and the bottom of Freeride area.

Nope.

If you can carry it in, you can carry it out. The trail pixies aren't there to carry your rubbish home for you.

Having said that I once took bin bags down to the gully on a Saturday and picked up litter around people. No one helped, and the place still looked like a bomb site. Some people are just dicks.

I know trail pixies should be collecting rubbish but this is a managed woodland with bins. This area is near the centre just add some bin then get they can be emptied one a week. Don't give people an excuse to litter.

I've just moved to the area and yet to ride the Trails, although visited the Look Out with the kids. Jesus, I thought Cannock sand was bad, but the area has sand [i]and[/i]flint which can't be great for drivetrains off piste.

Anyhow, is there a best place to join the trails half way round if riding south from Windlesham? Or is it just a case of get on a fire road and follow your nose?

I know trail pixies should be collecting rubbish but this is a managed woodland with bins.

I've just moved to the area and yet to ride the Trails, although visited the Look Out with the kids. Jesus, I thought Cannock sand was bad, but the area has sand andflint which can't be great for drivetrains off piste.

It's not too bad, off piste is 90% mulch/loam, very little sand. And since the new trail was built doesn't get too cut up by traffic.

Anyhow, is there a best place to join the trails half way round if riding south from Windlesham? Or is it just a case of get on a fire road and follow your nose?

If you look on google maps kinda just south of the middle there's a really big obvious rectangle, this is the reservoir. The NE corner of this is the top of R15. That's the most obvious landmark at least on aerial photographs (you'll pass other bits of trail on the way if you come from the South East)

I know you can access it from Bagshot and Camberly (from the rough estate behind Collingwood Collage), I suspect the golf course will block access directly from Windlesham, and north of that is the main road, which does have access points but would be a nightmare on a bike.

From Windlesham get to Bagshot. Church Road, Vicarage Road which is a no through road but becomes a fireroad through the gate, and that is the road coming in on the bottom right corner of the map in the link, which will put you on the red route fireroad linking 26 -> 27

Cheers for that - think I can see a way in via Bagshot, then a straight fire road for 2 km, hang a let to the reservoir.

EDIT: Cheers Jon, yep, that's the route in I looked at.

Well I've just enjoyed a spin round Purple, bit windy, quite gingey, got wet at the end.

This thread just made me look up my strava times at swinley. Depressed how fast I was back in 2014....most sections I'm top 1%.

Only rode there once in 2015 (basically became a roadie)

Vow to get back there sometime this year to see if I can defeat my old times.

Oh - and great news on trails, personally I'd prefer more stuff with mass appeal, but any investment is welcome.

Looks truly miserable out the window.

Had a pop at R15 not uploaded it yet. 😛

Nope, slow today.... 😀

There are no bins anywhere else in the forest outside the car park/cafe. Every other user group manages to take their litter home with them.

Dog eggs are an education thing, people assume they're OK to leave and they'll biodegrade. Made more confusing by some areas (including FC land) have signs up asking owners to just flick it off the path/into the bushes whereas others ask it to be removed either for sanitary or biodiverity (it over-fertilizes dunes for example) reasons. So to an extent can be forgiven.

The gulley (and latterly the areas at the top of Deerstalker/babymaker) are/were just an embarrassment, even when the trail pixies left bin bags tied to trees.

thisisnotaspoon - Member

Looks truly miserable out the window.

I've just bailed on this afternoons ride... i'll be on the torture rack in the garage instead.

Definitely faster, although there's two lines into it, either what you've found and go high round the berm, or aim for the inside and almost cut the corner.
I think the inside is faster, but I did it on the Pitch and I'm not convinced it's how it was meant to be ridden! And I think that was before they re-modeled it with the new berms at the top of that drop so the berm at the bottom feels tighter now (to me anyway).
Feel like I should go and push myself a bit more to get under a minute! Although I suspect I could probably save 10s by just pedaling more and not coasting the first few corners.

Cheers, one day I'll session it. It's funny since the mention of this a couple of the segments including r15 have been flagged. I'm never likely to get a KOM on It but it was nice to be fastest so far this year. (All 3 weeks of it)

The gulley (and latterly the areas at the top of Deerstalker/babymaker) are/were just an embarrassment, even when the trail pixies left bin bags tied to trees.

Bins & rubbish - think back to how you behaved as a kid.

Though maybe some were delightfully behaved, but a lot I knew would just chuck stuff on the floor and when told to pick it up, just "meh" or an insult. There's no understanding of the consequences at that age and an assumption adults will clean things up.

But even with adults. I keep seeing people just chuck bottles and cans from their cars or vans. Just why?

Adults on bikes though... gel wrappers. Especially certain people in races. Got a pocket they took it out of, shove it back in! Takes a second. Really gets on my tits 👿