I have an entirely free day tomorrow as the rest of the family are away, want to take the opportunity to get a ride in somewhere a bit further afield and fancied Swinley. Anybody vouch for the state of it after the last few days rain?

Went this morning. Fine. A few puddles about, but not much mud and the trails were rolling pretty fast.

Swinley holds up well in the rain.

Last time I was there in the wet I found I was not as confident on some of the Blue sections due to the crown in the trail. With hindsight I think moving over to the edge slightly may of been better than riding down the middle of the trail or maybe I’m just a wuss. Red had a couple of boggy bits but as said above generally ok.
Tomorrows weather says cloudy and a bit windy but not as bad as the 40+ mph 👿 predicted for the Gorrick in Andover.

Swinley holds up well in the rain.

Unlike bikes at Swinley in the rain which die quickly from the hideous sandy paste that covers everything!

Red 4 is a bog, but the rest is ok.

I’ve heard this “Swinley grinding paste” loads of times. Honestly, compared to unarmoured local trails round my way that can go to axle deep muddy shite at the drop of a hat, Swinley puddles and a bit of sandy residue are mere piffle!!!

My group did a ride with BOB pre Swinley makeover, and the local guys were apologising for the dreadful condition of the trails – they were the best I’d seen for ages!

Any mud will degrade bike components. If you drag your brakes anywhere in muddy conditions it will eat brake pads, especially if they are OEM organics.

Thanks chaps, that is my Sunday sorted out then. Just need to remind myself I haven’t ridden a mtb properly for 6 months and try not to hurt myself. I think it should be made compulsory that wives and children leave for at at least two weekends every year to allow this sort of luxury.

Probably a bit late now, but was there this morning and as the others report, its fine, few puddles in places. Skip from Red 1 up to Jump Gulley and on and you will miss the bog on the red.

Agreed with the crown of the trail, I’ve never liked the feeling of that personally, and it does feel worse in the wet, you just have to stay on the inside half of it and make it work in your favour. Its swings and roundabouts as its the crown that makes it drain well.

You need the crown on the trails to get the water to run off, with there being no gradient to do it for you.

It does means the wide-apex-wide cornering technique doesn’t work so well, as once you go wide on the exit you’re effectively on an off camber as well. Once you suss that and treat the inside of the corner as a mini berm it works much better, with the proviso that if you overcook it and go over the crown, it can go wrong again quickly.

Old Swinley had the grinding sand, but new Swinley if you stick purely to the official trails is rock hard cobble-like surface mostly. Barely need to clean the bike even on the muddiest of days and most of that is from the fireroad sections.

I rode there today and it was fine. The boggy section at the start of the red can be avoided by taking the fireroad parallel to it. Then its good going.

So if I come out of the section of the blue onto the fire road where you would turn left up a short way to pick the start of the red .
Do I instead turn right as if I was going to continue on the blue, but instead of turning back into the blue keep on going.

Is the gully itself ok . Last time I went the last section was boggy just as you turn right up and out of the gully.

Hmm, if you avoid the start of the red that way you avoid Tank Traps entirely which is one of the best trails in Swinley.

Tank traps is one of the most overrated things i’ve ever ridden.

Much rather sprint up the hill to top of deer stalker/baby maker etc.

So do I turn left and keep going past the start of the red then .

Meh, they’re all overrated in Swinley. Deerstalker is dull and full of breaking bumps, babymaker is not the epic dh trail some like to think (lol, ‘dh’ 😀 ). It’s OK, a few seconds of jumps and a push up the rubbish tip. There’s far better off the official trails but even then there’s nothing in Swinley that compares to other places around the area (Surrey Hills especially).

Chip – right at the end of blue 10 (Stickler) down to the star post and pick up the red from there. You could go left past start of red and then right on the parallel fire road but then you’re going right again on another fire road to the star point. All dull and muddy fire roads. Tank Traps would be more fun. If anything I’d rather skip Stickler which is pointless pedaling to make the berms on the flat work (berms are intended to let you maintain speed without braking, not make you pedal harder. Though they’re suppose to be on descents anyway 😉 ).

Sorry I meant to do Red 1 and tank traps then go left at the end of tank traps, you can then take the next fire road on the right, then a left and up to Jump Gulley. Gulley was runnig ok, a bit muddy at the bottom of a couple of transitions but rest is ok.

Did Baby Maker for the first time in ages today. It’s good fun but far from DH by today’s standards! Love the biggest table on it, it’s got a really good transition to launch off 😀

Thanks for the directions Kenny and Chris.

I do go to swinly quite often now, but never went before its recent transformation so don’t know any of the sections by name apart from tank traps and the gulley

And up untill my last visit only ever rode it from start to finish (blue/red/blue) in the order sign posted.
Is there anywhere that lists the old trail names alongside there new numbers .

As when ever anyone refers to them by name I have no idea where they are on about.

My favourite parts are, I think, 15 to 17 red ,
26 red

A bit in between , rooty downhill through quite a dense part of the forest that brings you out into a small circle before more of the same but mostly up hill.

There are also some quite fast Bermed parts of the blue towards the end.

would be good to the names.

I’ve heard this “Swinley grinding paste” loads of times. Honestly, compared to unarmoured local trails round my way that can go to axle deep muddy shite at the drop of a hat, Swinley puddles and a bit of sandy residue are mere piffle!!!

My experience is different. Chiltern mud affects my chain and rear pads very little. I can measure the wear on a chain after a wet session at Swinley.

Deerstalker into Labyrinth

Some other ‘named’ parts

Blue 10-11 is stickler (the flat twisty bermed bit)
Red 8-9 is Seagull
Red 1-2 is tank traps
Red 20-21 is deerstalker into labyrinth
Also reuses other parts of trails that were named, but not necessarily all the trails or even sequentially. I’m surprised there hasn’t been a bigger movement to give them all names, isn’t that what we’re supposed to do?

Thanks,

from Kenny’s previous thread stickler is the flat windy pedaly section with the bridge of death just before the red .
To the right of deerstalker there is a trail cut deep with a large table top. I am guessing that’s baby maker .

And another one more to the right,
Pretty much straight down with a series of small jumps on the right with space to bypass on the left .

Thanks Jon, i am a bit slow typing.

One to the right of Babymaker is Axle Run (there’s a big rusty axle at the top if you look close enough. Never really used now but was the first DH run at Swinley (back in the day when Z1 BAMs were considered a DH fork).

Some of the newer trails do have official names but none of them have really stuck yet.

Well I went and I had fun. It’s been ages since I have been able to take the bike out as earlier this year I was training for the ride London 100 so lots of long cross country stuff and road work. Following that I got ill and haven’t ridden since until today.

Skills are less than impressive so I chose the blue trail, was very rubbish on the first loop but the 2 nod and 3 rd were really good fun as I got to know the trail. Didn’t like the bit that had berms and twisty bits all on the flat but apart from that it was great.

Am now wondering how much harder the red is????

Am now wondering how much harder the red is????

Not at all, just longer really.

Rode Swinley this afternoon. First ride on my now singlespeeded Genesis ioid, with new Soma Swallow bars (in narrow 😯 ). Made for some entertainment as I adjusted to this new set up, but it was so nice to be back on one gear (The 29er Kona Unit was of course stolen). Now riding 32:17 and it climbs soooo fast with the new bars. Was running 32:18 on the 29er and I was worried that I would need a 16 cog, but I am a true spinner.

Red 4 is a bog, as already mentioned. Red 15 is one of the nicest swoopy sections, but I notices a lot of brake bumps forming. Blue 15 is my favourite though.

Red is no harder than Blue, just a bit longer. The end of Labyrinth (red 20) is worth a miss, it’s just a little too much twisty woods riding for me. I leave early at the first opening you come to.

Went today,
Did the blue as far as the start of the red,
Then followed the red as far as the end of tank traps.

Did the left right left to the gulley and stayed there for about three hours before directly heading back to the carpark then home.

The gulley was dry and firm and a spiffing time was had. And I only crashed the once due to getting a bit over excited.

I was amazed how busy it was, couldn’t get a car parking space for about 20 mins. You probably whizzed past me on your single speed as I laboured up the inclines, I did struggle a bit. Was on the Rocket as well which hasn’t seen the light of day for a while, and is a fair bit heavier than the hardtail. Great fun going down though.

It was very busy but still very enjoyable. In true Elite Cyclist style, I dropped Teen1 on all the climbs, but let him pass me as he is so much faster on the descents!

I was dropped by just about everyone on the climbs 😳 have to hope for a decent winter to try and get some fitness back. Problem with this is that I am ok on the downs, more just stupidity than skill, but kept getting stuck behind the ones that passed me on the ups.

😀 Bridge of Death

There’s also the Rock Garden of Doom on the same trail 😀

Was there this morning too. Very busy but good fun. Nearly ran over some prats dog that was running up the trail, the twisty downhill bit before the labryinth. Complete idiot taking his dog, which obviously isn’t some amazing trained trail hound as he was calling for it down the bottom of the hill whilst it was running in the opposite directionon a red. They really should put signs up banning it.

I was awesomely fast uphill and downhill today, well actually my chain kept falling off so I was mostly swearing at my bike and jamming my fingers between the chain and cog. Still fun though.

Brilliant to see so many parents out with their children as well.

If anything I’d rather skip Stickler

I think that Stickler is like marmite, you either love it or hate it. I’d suggest that everybody gives it a go once to see which side of the fence they fall.

Personally, I love it, I can really get into a Zen like rhythm and feel like I could keep pedalling forever, but I can appreciate that it’s not everybody’s cup of tea.

stickler = the flat bermed single track that goes on for ever but not long enough?

Heaven!

Miss Stickler and you miss the Bridge of Doom and ‘Rock Garden’ of death 😯

Personally I think it’s a good skills building trail as you need to get into the flow for it to work. I often set challenges like riding it without braking or concentrating on entry and exit points at corners.