Morning all,
I'm thinking of taking my 12yr old down to QECP to broaden his riding experiences a little beyond the blue & red at Swinley, but I know it's all chalk down there, so was wondering if anyone could tell me how slippery it's likely to be at the moment?
Probably frozen solid at the moments, but as soon as the sun thaws it slightly it’ll be lethal. swinley would be safer.
if you stick to the surfaced blue, it'll be fine. If you ride the red, then expect it to be tricky on the chalk parts. I was there yesterday and it's not as slippery as the last few weeks, but still got to keep your wits about you.
Blue is superb though if you want a fast flowy descent with plenty of grip 🙂
Loads of the QECP blue trail has all-weather surfacing now - a newly surfaced section re-opened last week. First climb might be a little slippy in places, but in a fun way.
It's still different to Swinley even with the new surfacing, especially the longer climb up and longer descent as a reward.
I went trail running all over it yesterday morning..
Under the trees in the upper section it’s lovley soft loamy and dry, come out into the main access trails and they were frosty but thawing so starting to turn sticky/slippy. The Blue run was nice and dry with the occasional small potted puddle here and there, the Red (the bits I ran) was slippy flint under thick leaves.
Stunning, utterly stunning this time of year.
You get a bit muddy, but not too much.
Go early, yesterday at 0930 the car park out front was full.. but the others had lots of spaces.
Blue is mostly surfaced so you'll be fine. The first climb will be mucky though,but you can stay on the bottom fireroad and join up just after. Overall it's a great loop -fast and bermy. Watch out for works happening at the path crossover on the top blue descent at 10ish today.
Red has more chalky surfaces so will be slippery in places. Still good, but much tougher than the blue with a lot of climbing. Harder than the Swinley Red for example, but shorter.
Anyway, it's a lush day, have fun!
The last bit of the red with the berms is super slippery as the frost collects in that bit of hollow.
Is blue passable on a cross bike (wide tyres but no skillz)?
You'd be fine on CX bike on Blue I reckon.
Enjoy.
Best wishes,
James
Yes, the blue is fine on a CX bike