[Closed] Surrey Hills at Bursting Point?

I'd rather sit quietly and enjoy the view 😉

All those sweaty young men, eh?

As for parking today, it was fine in the afternoon. I would assume the Remembrance activities in the morning had something to do with it (you did all remember? !)

However one odd thing I've noticed is strangely when it's wet and muddy it's more busy than when it's dry! What happened to the fair weather riders? 😉

Actually that also suggests that most people there are the hard core, possibly more local types rather than the fair weather Audi driving bunch from London 😉

wrecker - make sure you book your place in advance to avoid disappointment

However one odd thing I've noticed is strangely when it's wet and muddy it's more busy than when it's dry! What happened to the fair weather riders?

That's because most of the trails are shit kicked from overuse and lack of maintenance.

I feel sorry for the guys who build the trails (who some morons in this thread won't to stop) that do all the trail work only to have a load of brake dragging squids turn up and get stoked every weekend but never lift a spade. I guess it's the Audi driving, self entitled attitude that's all to common in the sarf east.

aP - maybe it's one of the reasons why there's so many of you around, who knows? 🙄

Can't be bothered to read all 7 pages, but have we done the 'local car parks rammed because of unfit MTBers'?

When we use to ride there we'd park over Ranmore/Box Hill and ride a decent loop with Peaslake as one of our three (Leith, Peaslake, Newlands) 😆 cafe stops. If folk could actually read maps and explored they'd find there is a lot more out there.

BR - thats what I do, surprised most people dont. But from my ride on Sunday I saw about 15 people on the trails, mostly near the 'hotspot' of Holmbury / Pitch on their all mountain rigs with pads etc so no wonder they can ride more than 10 miles before giving up.

I went out in the hills all afternoon yesterday. While riding our fantastic local trails I must have seen at least another 4 other riders. Possibly 5

Its all a bit....

😆

thats what I do, surprised most people dont

People from outside the area need maximum bang-for-buck from their day. They read 'Peaslake' and 'trail-centre' often enough so that's where they come. The bandwagon starts to roll, businesses start up to exploit it and stoke it, and it feeds back into itself.

As for the central issue here for me: if walkers feel they can't enjoy the area in peace and safety then that needs to be dealt with, and I have some sympathy with that point of view.

Access is for everyone, but right of access isn't the same as "you can do whatever you want and screw anybody else".

Apologies that i haven't worked out how to respond to a particular post and get that square box thing...

Quote from Crossfire80

"You won't be laughing when you realise 2 out of 4 of your car's tyres are flat, unless you cycle here all the way down from London. There's no CCTV anywhere, maybe it's the best time to move your camera from the helmet to the dashboard. Good luck to you"

Well - thank you very much - several nails in my car tyres on Saturday. Damage is £550. Doesn't matter whether its an Audi or not. I've been riding in the Surrey Hills since 2001 and this is no way forward. Interesting observation is that the damage was done to 2 tyres...... Remarkable coincidence yeah..... A call to police beckons...

Wow.

[b]crossfire80[/b] - Member
I'd rather sit quietly and enjoy the view

I've been living in the area for 25 years and Peaslake stores has always been a biker hub, originally road biker dominated now it's a bit more even mix with the increased presence of mountain bikers.

If you and fellow residents don't like the extra traffic you believe is caused by Pedal and Spoke you can take that up with the council, likewise the parking around the monument area.

There are lots of places to walk in the hills around Peaslake where you'll never see a biker, I know because I walk the dog there regularly. When I ride in the area as noted above I typically come across a mere handful of fellow bikers and only at rest points like the hill tops.

I was saddened to read about the "nails in car tyres" bit. Is open warfare about to break out?

Compared to when I first started riding in the area, way before the new construction around the bus shelter or the building of "Summer Lightning" or "trail building" of Bazza, I used to get a feeling of being somewhere relatively remote where I could get that solitary country ride feeling. There used to be no more than four or so other bikers stopped in the centre at any one time and even at the weekend, I'd meet no more than three or four other bikers out on the trails.

Given that that was what I loved about the area before "MBR" put their stick in the spokes back in '99, I do understand the ire of those who've invested a great deal of money in in buying property there, or who's family have roots in the area. It's changed into a busier, more energised spot than the one they loved.

But hey. The atmosphere has changed. So has the riding, so I try to adapt because I love the area too. It's better to embrace change and seek the positive side, isn't it? Even [i]I've[/i] got used to acknowledging that there are other, you know - people, there and having the occasional conversation! 8)

... crossfire?

I was born in Friday Street and now live in Abinger Common, so I think I've got a fairly good angle on these issues. A couple of points:

crossfire 80 - I don't think it is reasonable to expect Peaslake to be a sleepy place with next to no commerce or visitor activity. Just because you were lucky enough to buy a silly-priced house in a beautiful place, doesn't mean that place is an idyl for the wealthy. In the past there would have been much more going on there. Plus, if you have caused criminal damage, or have sanctioned or encouraged such, you deserve everything coming to you.

(Some) riders - inconsiderate parking is not on - go and park up the hill somewhere if the village is looking a bit full. You have a bicycle!

And - a hell of a lot of confrontation would be avoided if bikers would stop (or go down to walking pace) when they encounter walkers. Just do it - then wait until you have the space back to yourself and then get on with enjoying your ride.

well said Glen.

There's no need for any cyclist to park in Peaslake, and in fact I find the store much nicer as a mid-ride stop than start/end point anyway.

Pretty much anywhere between Dorking and Guildford - that's about 10 miles - puts you on good trails in the network.

This thread is the gift that just keeps giving. Are you familiar with the concept of bald men fighting over combs? 😆

No. What do you mean?

Sorry Woppit. I'm just being smug and gloaty northerner again. All our southern cousins getting proper worked up about going riding somewhere where there aren't even any proper hills anyway 😉

Binners, the difference here is the real or perceived threat of damage to other peoples' property, surely?

I am surprised that this has not been moderated.

A valuable contribution to a sensitive and controversial subject from a valuable contributor with an objective viewpoint.

Well we did ship you a bit of Derbyshire down for your sports day....

[img] [/img]

But don't tha be thinking tha's gerrin' any more

😉

Yes, binners. We know you don't think the SH are worth riding in. You keep telling us. We get it. It wasn't very interesting the first time though in, when was it, 2002 or something? Please stop trying to hijack the thread with your not very relevant opinion.

I assumed it was a new opinion, trying to be 'hilarious'. Bit sad if that's a regularly voiced stance. Still, at least he'll stay up north!

says a lot about city life when surrey hills rates as good riding

says a lot about city life when surrey hills rates as good riding

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[i]Sorry Woppit. I'm just being smug and gloaty northerner again. All our southern cousins getting proper worked up about going riding somewhere where there aren't even any proper hills anyway[/i]

You don't need 'proper hills' to MTB, just good trails - and the North Downs is criss-crossed with superb MTB trails/singletrack.

soobalias WRONG.

The Surrey Hills are great. A month ago I rode a route that I last rode 7yrs ago. I didnt take one wrong turn and all of it was achingly beautiful.

Never mind north vs south, it sounds like an idiotic local is sticking nails in peoples tyres! At best its a few hundred quids worth of vandalism, at worst someone doesn't notice before getting back in their car. In fact, wasn't there a serious crash a while back for similar reasons?

Let us know what the police say Carlos45

Agree with hora, did the grizzly lung buster route on here last weekend, stunning autumn countryside with plenty of hills, I was with a northern rider and he was a broken man after 6 hours in surrey.

plus we don't put our beer through those silly sparklers.

I feel sorry for the guys who build the trails (who some morons in this thread won't to stop) that do all the trail work only to have a load of brake dragging squids turn up and get stoked every weekend but never lift a spade.

Perhaps they should build trails to a better spec?

Horatio....

I didn't see the nails till later that day. This was a few hrs after returning home when the tyres looked pretty damn low on air pressure down one side. The guy in the garage showed me the nails. I would have put it down to bad luck until I read this thread this am. Way too much of a coincidence if you ask me.......

Quote from Carlos45

Well - thank you very much - several nails in my car tyres on Saturday. Damage is £550. Doesn't matter whether its an Audi or not. I've been riding in the Surrey Hills since 2001 and this is no way forward. Interesting observation is that the damage was done to 2 tyres...... Remarkable coincidence yeah..... A call to police beckons...

If you really want to carry on the subject - it wasn't me and I've got no clue, I mean no clue, who that was. And I feel sorry for you and for the person who did it. There's lots of CCTV footage from Guildford area to proove where I was on Saturday plus other hard evidence so if you want to do it, bring it on. Provided you're not lying or it wasn't coincidence. But all in all it's a waste of your time IMHO.

Mentioning flat tyres was a reaction for an arrogant post before, I can't imagine anyone being so stupid to do something like that just because someone else rides a bike. On the other hand - I guess most of you is just blind to see the problem that has been rising for a long time. And if Carlos's car really was damaged, then maybe this would make you think twice before bringing bad behaviour to a very peaceful place like Peaslake. Of course, you can carry on and pretend everything's fine. It'll not help anyone.

Summing everything up again - there's nothing wrong with mountain cycling, Peaslake does get overcrowded, especially the centre of it and the car park and the image of majority of you suffers from the minority behaviour. Maybe the latter is the bursting point mentioned in the title of the thread.

Have been a regular Surrey Hills rider for about 15 years now. It's definately busier now than it was. When I started riding up there I remember Leith Hill being the busy hill, then Holmbury and Pitch was the quiet hill - so have always done more of my riding on Pitch Hill when doing smaller loops.
I noticed what seemed like a surge in numbers when the work was carried out on Barry Knows Best. Maybe I'm wrong, but I am sure more riders started visiting the area after that, and Pitch is definately busier now than it's ever been.
Personally I don't get the need for everyone to park in Peaslake, or walking Bottom car park. I get that for [u]some[/u] riders it's all part of the "show" - hanging out in Peaslake, bike posing and talking the talk etc but surely everyone doesn't need to cram their vehicles into the village or WB car park to do that - there's another large car park at the top of the hill and the Windmill Pub also encourage bikers, do food etc, not to mention all the small car parks in the area.
Away from the village, the trails [u]are[/u] an issue - the errosion is just awful and that has got really bad over the last 2 years - I'm talking official and not official trails here. We all ride them all but as JCL rightly said, they get the ass kicked out of them all year round with zero maintenance and they just won't last unless something is done (and I have offered) Barry Knows best may not be the most tech or fun up there, but it's one of the only year round trails that copes with the traffic (just a shame so many riders insist on braking into that last right-hand berm!)
Have never witnessed any problems up there between riders and walkers, horse riders etc which is encouraging. Sad to read some of the posts in this thread though - damaging someones car, whoever that was is plain low, cowardly and pathetic - thought that sort of thing was only done by low life chav scum that unfortunately habitat my home town 🙄

Sorry Woppit. I'm just being smug and gloaty northerner again. All our southern cousins getting proper worked up about going riding somewhere where there aren't even any proper hills anyway

Binners I wouldn't mind but you're not even that good a rider so quite what you're getting gloaty about it beyond me. Besides the trails here are way more technical than most of the Peak District. They aren't rocky I grant you and the total vert isn't as much but hey, compared to the alps you could level the same argument to the peaks, Scotland, lakes etc.

Not all of the Surrey Hills is at bursting point. Never see many riders at the Punchbowl or Puttenham Common, and none at all on Hascombe Hill.

There's more than just Peaslake!

[i]I didn't see the nails till later that day. This was a few hrs after returning home when the tyres looked pretty damn low on air pressure down one side. The guy in the garage showed me the nails. I would have put it down to bad luck until I read this thread this am. Way too much of a coincidence if you ask me.......

[/i]

Surely you could have picked up the nails someway on the way back?

Yoghurt pots was never in top repair/condition but its pretty ****ed now mid-section 🙁

Out the bottom of Yoghurt- straight over and dogleg left provides a great alternative to the Telegraph run.

Oh and Iwill say it again, Surrey hills is full of flow. Most of the peaks are devoid of bends- just fairly straight rocky widr descents (sadly).

Flowy,speed carrying tight technical foliage with rollins. Awesome

b r

Yep - could well have done.

Going thro two tyres would be very bad luck.

"I am a Peaslake resident and British Legion member. Together with several of my colleagues I attended the service at the village war memorial yesterday and we were very touched to see so many of your members present, specifically for the occasion. One hears frequent mutterings about the numbers of bikers cluttering the village at weekends, but it is also heartening to discover that many of those outsiders who use Peaslake as a recreation centre are sufficiently responsible to respect also the life and customs of the village, in this case the annual remembrance service for those who fell in two world wars. "

http://www.kingstonwheelers.co.uk/kwccforum/viewtopic.php?p=99731#99731

End of thread...

The Surrey Hills are great. A month ago I rode a route that I last rode 7yrs ago. I didnt take one wrong turn and all of it was achingly beautiful.

You opted to miss out on all the new stuff then?

I reckon the reasons Peaslake is getting more rammed these days are because:

1) Pitch and WF are believed to be more trendy than Leith and Holmbury (and Redlands)
2) Forums like this give more credence to the above because it seems to lend some sort of reverence to the area
3) With the above in mind, many riders either don't bother checking out Leith and Holmbury or when they do, they give up finding the best stuff (particular on Leith) because they can't find it

Just my tuppence.