Hi

Just wondering if it’s worth a ride over there tomorrow or is it a swamp? Swinley was really dry this evening so I’m hoping it’s not too bad.

GB

It was fine.
Rode Pitch/Winterfold and all really nice except for the bit which joins onto the top of Supernova. It’s full of dips and they were full of puddles. Supernova was in fact puddled on the berms but a bit of daring enabled most of the water to be avoided by staying high on the berms.
Had a smashing day. Ended up on the steep side of Pitch watching a national standard downhiller hucking ridiculous air over gap jumps – am talking clear a mini-bus hight here (and looking chilled about it). So cool to see the other end of the spectrum from my usual xc biased viewpoint.
We manned up a bit on the trails back to the carpark after seeing this.

Great conditions over there today.

Great – thanks guys. Sounds like I could squeeze in another all-dayer before the gloop sets in…

GB

Will keep an eye open for you Gee , will be up there tomorrow too.
I doubt i will see you for very long as you travel at twice my speed.
Hoping for a grand day out.
overbiked on an ano black 575 + white Fox 32’s

Was walking over Pitch and Winterfold today, was stunning with blue skies and clear visibility. Dog had a great time in the puddles. Hardly saw any bikes in 2 hrs, perhaps 6. As usual Holmbury will be the driest, would say avoid Ranmore and the wetter parts of Leith. Rideable but be respectful of trails I’d say

FYI – It’s the Peaslake MTBO tomorrow.

http://www.peaslakemtbo.com/

Car parks will be more jammed than usual, and it’s usually jammed at weekends.

Though you might be interested in doing it anyway.

And yeah, trails are fine. Few extra puddles but no swamp, bit slippy on the downhills.

Rode 30 miles out lf dorking today. Redlands, Leith, Holmbury for hours and back the same way. Bloody magic it was. A few puddles but me feet stayed dry. There’s some great riding opening up on Holmbury if you’re prepared to look for it

Hey rob, I am over that way on a lesson tmrw morning, maybe see you out and about…

I saw Gee in Walking Bottom car park as I was driving out.
It was OK , a few naughty puddles in the hollows but overall very ridable.
Did manage to bin it on Deliverance though, basic ineptitude.
Cracking day out , not a huge milage but 4 hours of quality singletrack and no rain

Great ride – we did 76 miles in 7hrs… That’s got to be one of the last “Standard Sunday Epics” on nice dry (mainly) trails until the new year…

Top of Supernova was the only wet bit really.

GB

It’s not been good for some time, in part because of the mess the loggers have made. Best to start on the top of the downhill part. I head from end of Carpet Land / Endor across the road and ultimately up towards the start of the downhill part.

@gee – miles or kilometres ? I’d be very happy with 76k in 7 hrs

Miles. I ride offroad from my house over to the Downs, then do my usual 40mile loop, then ride home.

bl00dy hell ! I’m even lamer than I thought !

40 mile loop – thats alot odf surrey hills riding – got it on strava?

Wow I feel properly rubbish I struggle to link up 30-35 miles over there even taking in all three hills and a bit of Winterfold.

http://app.strava.com/rides/23596424

Didn’t bother with Leith but that would add another 6-8 miles or so.

GB

That is a fair ole ride… respect

!! 😯

Though way too much tarmac for my taste but then to cover all that it would be even more of a killer to try and off road it all the way. Then again there are limits to where you can off road it some of that route anyway. Interesting the bits round from Send prison, Ripley and down. So many times I go past the woods there and think there must be some nice off road potential.

What kind of tyres do you use for that, as you’re hitting the trails but the tarmac would be a fair drag on chunky trail tyres?

@gee – “fair play to you” doesn’t seem to cover it ! If ride out from Guildford and do a few trails each on Holmbury, Pitch and Winterfold and return that’s 60k and 6hrs riding, roughly half your speed and half the distance. Oh well …. 😳

Thanks for posting and for not clogging up the car parks in Peaslake !

We’re so lucky to live in this area. Army lands on one side, Surrey Hills on the other…..NDW, Devil’s Punchbowl all within riding distance.

I do a 35-45 mile loop from Guildford mainly on off road tracks to take in Newlands / Marthas / Blackheath / Winterfold / Pitch / Holmbury / Leith / Whitedown and then back along the top to Guildford.

Distance generally depends on how much time I have available and therefore which trails to include / exclude on the Surrey Hills, but whatever I choose it seems to take a fair chunk of the day and nearly kills me.

Last time out was mid Aug, 5 hours out (4.5 riding), 38 miles covered, 1200m climbing, and a lemonade ice lolly at the tower tea hut.

Blimey Gee, you pound out some serious miles on a regular basis!!

The ride home is the only tarmac bit – the ride out and around the Downs is pretty much all off road, so I just ride my normal Mtb with Ralphs. I’ve done most of that loop on my cross bike and it’s nowhere near as fast on the trails.

The ride home can also be off road along the N Downs way then looping home via Ash Ranges and Tunnel but I was pretty knackered last weekend so just went home on the road.

GB

I can remember @gee turning up for a ride from my house in Haslemere back in September 2005. The Summer Time Special, I called it, and through Jackie at Beyond Bikes there were 3 others I’d never met.

@gee pulled a singlespeed out of his car as I was finishing my brekkie, and I was laughing at the levels of pain this guy was going to be in. Oh, I thought I knew it all.

I was crying by the end as he torched up the Golden Valley to Hindhead and I could barely walk up to my garden.

Also with us was Lydia Gould, a famous Winchester stonemason, mtber, and mid-climb chatter who ended up doing the SDW Double unsupported in 27.5 hours. She was continually talking, and her choice nugget was an apple and cinnamon pie recipe that she kept going on about.

Lydia: ‘First you preheat the oven, sift the flour, add water, slice the apples…’
Cakefest: ‘I’m dying over here, give it a rest, eh.’

The 3rd guy was called Rob and had run the Marathon des Sables. No worries for him.

Still, we did it with no maps, and certainly no Garmin. Aah, the good ole days.

Hi Ashley,

I remember that ride – N Downs, S Downs… All over! Never done that route again, which is a shame as it was a really fun day out.

GB