Was it not bikers who built some illegal trail through badger sets and cut down tress not so long ago. Different strokes for different folks.
I saw bikes heading up the Pentlands at the weekend. With the rain we have had that must be as boggy if not more than the Surrey hills. It will be difficult to stop it I am afraid even though the trails do get cut up and end up 6ft plus wide. Swinley is a good example of this and last time I saw BKB it was not a patch on what it used to be.
Why dont they charge to use the car parks on weekends?
because someone will have to police /run it, and they are concerned that it will just make parking on the roads even worse as people do it now when there is a free car park 1 mins ride away!
Up to 700 riders a day were using Barry Knows Best last summer as measured by electronic counters beneath the trail.
I know that when I'm out and about round Peaslake I might ride BKB 2 or 3 times so I question those numbers.
TBF even when the car parks are at their busiest you never meet that many people out on the trails.
Iwas at peaslake at 9 and again at 11 yesterday and TBH it was the group from KW that made it look busy 20 mins later and it was quiet again.
it's the mild weather, this time last year it was like a ghost town..
Iwas at peaslake at 9 and again at 11 yesterday and TBH it was the group from KW that made it look busy 20 mins later and it was quiet again.
Weren't no KW there when I couldn't get the Audi through due to riders stopped on the road at about 11.30. No problem though, I just mowed a few down to help lessen the impact on the area. 😈
When you say audi is that the same as car but considerably richer than yaw?
More worrying were the clowns trying to ride up one of the trails on winterfold on their enduros. 👿 KTM/Honda rather than specialised 😀
Car park down by pedal and spoke does seem to be a lot busier of late albeit haven't really noticed it so much on the trails. Presumably getting busier down that way because all the building is going on over there and everyone likes to finish at the bottom of the hill by the shop.
Madness. In the Peak District you can go for a 3/4hour ride and literally see less than four other riders.
Bonkers.
Yes the word Car has been replaced in Surrey with the word Audi.
We were in a BMW. 😉
I really was in an Audi 😀
Pedal and Spoke do not sell 1/3 of all UK bought Santa Cruz
that's what Howard said the Santa Cruz rep had told him.
In the Peak District you can go for a 3/4hour ride and literally see less than four other riders
I don't see many other rider in 45 minutes of riding either 🙂
I'm sorry to gloat, but .... Oh, actually... who am I kidding...I'm not sorry at all. Some beautiful empty northern countryside I was riding yesterday:
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In fact, its the view from my back garden 😀
looks grim - prefer the Surrey Hills 🙂
Binners - but your trails are all eroded and bumpy and need repaired 😉
Nothing 3ft wide of gravel wouldn't sort out eh Uncle Jezza 😉
Binners, beautiful....shame about the eyesores they've erected in the background....whoever decided that wind farms could be a realistic way of generating energy needs taking outside and shooting....preferably while being made to look at the hideous contraptions.
gloat all you want.
deviant - perhaps a coal fire powerstation would look better, or a Nuclear one ?
Cycling is getting more popular. The majority of the population live in the South East.There is a bike shop, Tea Shop and Car Park in Peaslake. The weather is very mild for January. More people have Saturday and Sunday off than other days. There are far less daylight hours at this time of year. How many more reasons do you want for it being busy on a pleasant January weekend?
Interesting comments about the bike shop driving the type of bikes in the area. I think it is more the way the market is moving but the guy in the shop did recommend 750mm wide bars for the area. I am "guilty" of being there on Sunday at around 1pm but was parked at Leith Hill and riding in a group of 4. Again we saw very few people on the trails other than a couple of fellas who pointed out a new to me bit of trail near Summer Lightning. Top blokes!
One more thing it is much easier to cycle up the fire road from the bottom to the top of BKB rather than going into Peaslake and up Radnor.
Finally to those who haven't been before, I would recommend that you all go up north and leave us some room 😉
Oh while you are up there, can see if they can build some more nuclear power stations in all that open space.
Ooooh now i would just love to ride across some of those fields, must be really exciting. 😉
deviant - at the risk of opening up this can of worms again, I quite like them. It was really misty up on the tops yesterday. You couldn't see the bloody things, you could just hear the blades whistling past you. Surreal.
Here's the view looking back. Its not bad. Please excuse the quarry 😀
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Trimix....gas, coal, nuclear...not fussed as long as its cheap and positioned out of the way.
Sticking wind farms all over the countryside smacks of politicians wanting to show how achingly green they are.
I only ride SH during the week and hardly ever see a soul!!
Good case study for sustainable development though - frankly good to keep BKB/Parklife/T Road as honey pots (Surrey's Bowness) and leave the rest to the more savvy locals! I probably ride BKB one visit in 5 at most. There is so much else to do.
.
Right. I'm going to ride NDowns next weekend 8)
I doubt many of us soft southern riders would fit the criteria for riding in the north anyway remember...
^ chuckle
LOL At Gavin! 😆
There's something missing though! There's no obvious establishment where I could stop for a mid ride quiche and frapachino 😉
Sounds like an ideal business oppurtunity to open an alternative tea room selling cheese straws.
It's inevitable, but needed posting.
Laughed more at this one than the northern one...
Laughed more at this one than the northern one...
Feel a reaction coming on 😉
The better know Surrey Hills trails have just become a victim of their own success, and Peaslake the current MTB hub due to location, shop for spares and decent cake. The village is also easier to find than many of the car parks so newbies to the area probably head there and that becomes their base for future visits.
Its been busy for YEARS. Its not a recent thing.
It's still heaven during the week... 😀 Did I mention that? 😀
Sorry all the people complaining about Peaslake being rammed. How long have you been riding around there? I can remember having to sit on the kerb to the right of the store over 5yrs ago.
"Trimix....gas, coal, nuclear...not fussed as long as its cheap and positioned out of the way."
I do hope you're kidding eh?
Swinley gets chockers busy at the lookout, but it's mostly families and walkers, once you get out on the trails its not bad, I went for a 3 hour ride on Saturday and had to pull over about 5 times from people coming the other way, so it's no big deal.
Never been to Pitch or Leith Hill though, sounds good, might head there for a change 😀
Peaslake on Sunday
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7154/6672146339_9e011e5ae3.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/74018864@N08/6672146339/ ]the-village-shop[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/74018864@N08/ ]tallgavin[/url], on Flickr
It's a shame parking charges wouldn't work (and I agree they wouldn't) because in a utopian world that would seem to solve all the problems!
It's a massive place, but really it's fed from 3 or so major car parks, while many of the smaller ones are empty. I have noticed that the Winterfold ones are busier now though, even the Alderbrook one right at the western edge of the hills. Still once you get even 100 yards from the car parks it's still generally very quiet, far quieter than any trail centre.
I don't think you were being ironic with your pictures Binners, but I much prefer our vistas to yours, but lets not let this degrade into a North/South debate, I'm sure you have an appointment at the Job Centre to keep anyway 🙂
I'm sure you have an appointment at the Job Centre to keep anyway
Come on. Thats a tad low in this economic climate.
Why not just arrive early early, park on the opposite side of Leith Hill and ride around silent trails taking in Holmbury hill etc etc etc?
Why not just arrive early early, park on the opposite side of Leith Hill and ride around silent trails taking in Holmbury hill etc etc etc?
Living in the sticks to the east, that's pretty much what I do 🙂 No need to even take the Audi! Nice little 30-45 min warm-up and I'm into Redlands/Leith and ready to rock! Hard to beat a flowing 4hr loop taking in the finest trails en route to WF and back 🙂
Have we done the all the gear no idea thing yet? That always comes up when we do Surrey riding. I saw a man with an expensive shiny bike riding slightly too slowly on a trail that is well known to everyone, who the hell does he think he is, if he were even half a man he would have been riding far too quickly on a trail he built himself using his eyelids for shovels which none of you plebs know about because you're too mainstream etc etc...
[i]......silent trails taking in Holmbury hill etc etc etc? [/i]
Trails around Holmbury are largely silent 'cause they're more boring than TJ rattling on about the law on dogs.
Come on. Thats a tad low in this economic climate.Why not just arrive early early, park on the opposite side of Leith Hill and ride around silent trails taking in Holmbury hill etc etc etc?
Or ride out from where you live.... 😉
