BKB on holmbury trail building

freeridenick – I'm agreeing with your last post. I tend to avoid those trails where possible now, they were good some years back! There is still some good riding to be had, it's way off track so to speak, and I would be careful who I told in fear of the 'sanitisation police' getting wind of it, and implementing their 'road bike' strategy to it. I'm sure you know where it all is though.

woodsman, if you can ride a road bike down it, its a road in my book 🙄 😉

What a load of twaddle!

You could ride most of the stuff on the Surrey hills on a road bike, you could probably ride most of Afan on a road bike frankly, it would be zero fun, but I reckon you could do it. Wet roots and mud would be the worst bits, but if there was none of that I reckon it could be done.

it's way off track so to speak, and I would be careful who I told in fear of the 'sanitisation police' getting wind of it, and implementing their 'road bike' strategy to it. I'm sure you know where it all is though.

What a load of cods wallop. What you should say is after "I've ruined it by not building it properly, I'll just move on to another part of someone else's woods and do the same."

If it is new it won't get "sanitised", but it may get blocked off.

The long-standing network of legacy trails will be kept, provided the delicate status quo can be maintained.

I don't think Yogurt Pots is "sanitised" to the point of being no fun, but neither is it a liability. Ditto BKB, in its new form.

None of the trails are particularly demanding, let's be honest, where they become difficult is when ridden flat out. And that's what makes it a great place to ride irrespective of your skill level!

I've seen the word challenging a few times on this thread the marketeers have got some of us good and proper.

I like to have a little tear down the double headed dog or deliverance and the odd jump and stuff but for me the real fun is riding wheel to wheel with my mates down some flowy singletrack at high speed getting the odd little bit of air here and there, Barrys and most of the sanctioned trails give me that buzz every time.

I am always pleased with myself when I ride a proper steep roll in hanging off the back or drop off a few feet somewhere but I suppose deep down I'm just a XC jeyboy!

The great thing about BKB and many of the others is that anyone can ride them and they get more fun the faster you go, I think the builders have done a great job. Sanatised? I don't think so, over used, probably..

I know there are people who want the thrills of huge jumps, big drops and all the rest, sometimes I'm one of them and it's all available within 30 mins ride of BKB if you know where.

Cocking up one of the most used trails is just not on, end of. As for people treating it like a mini DH track – HA!

njee20, can i watch you ride cliff richard or john steep on a roadbike 😯

I like how Njee puts it. I've ridden quite a lot of DH over the last few years and to be honest the thing I enjoy now is riding easier trails flat out. Full on DH courses are hard work, mentally and physically and the most demanding ones might not be a whole lot of fun for most of us. Right now, given the demands of fatherhood and work I am glad to not have to think too much about my riding and just enjoy pinning the surrey hills without having to concentrate on not killing myself. Ride the trails super fast and they get challenging enough though; a tree is a tree is a tree no mater where it is and there are trees on the Surrey Hills you could easily hit at 20mph+.

I think we sometimes idealise the Surrey Hills a little too much. It's a different style of riding to pure DH tracks or purpose built trail centres. Personally I'd miss the loose, loamy nature of the turns around here, and having ridden everything there is in Wales apart from Brecfa, I'd say that while the runs on Surrey Hills are nothing like as long, they are every bit as challenging and everybit as enjoyable as the welsh trail centres. So when people say it's not technically challenging, I'd say, 'well what is, what are you comparing it to?' because frankly there's nothing at Afan, CYB, Llangdella etc that is any harder. Even Cwmcarn DH isn't technically challenging unless you ride it real fast.

njee20, can i watch you ride cliff richard or john steep on a roadbike

Reread what I said.

You could ride most of the stuff on the Surrey hills on a road bike,

Of course there are jumps/drops that you can't, but BKB/Yoghurt Pots/Telegraph/Summer Lightning etc etc could all be done (if slowly) on a road bike in the right conditions. It would just be incredibly dull.

The only real barrier would be catching a puncture every five minutes, otherwise it could even be quite fast. I guess a cyclocross bike would be fine.

yes I know, only winding you up mate!

A cyclocross bike is indeed fine, I did try mine up there, just not as much fun as a proper MTB!

Much like in most situations really!

the old ending of BKB would be interesting on a roadbike. Let the brakes off and see if you could hold on!

I don't think the brakes would be that much help anyway!

It'd be worth a punt in the dry, the risk would be that the wheels would've got buried in the dust and you'd wash out rather rapidly!

I'm certainly not talking about 'built' trails, there is so much nice natural.

I'd doff my hat to anyone who could ride both parts of two head dog, or all the pies on a road bike – respect if you can.

As for the trails you mention njee20, I'm hardly surprised that you are so blinkered and opinionated, if that's your representation of the riding in the area.

Crikey, blinkered and opinionated!? Where's that come from!

I merely said that most of the most well known trails (if you prefer that caveat) are made difficult by riding them at speed rather than being particularly 'gnarly'.

Happy to meet up for a ride, perhaps we can both show each other some new bits. I'm out Sunday from Peaslake if you care to join?

I could well be up there on Sunday – I'll be with the Nirvana lot if I do make it. I'll look out for you, shouldn't be many on drop bars and skinny tyres.

Oh sh1t, my side just split with the hilarity.

goodbye

What are the Nirvana lot like? I've sort of spoken to a few of them on occassions and I've always got the impression they were a little clicky and not always the most friendly bunch. Am I being overly sensitive?

… and not always the most friendly bunch

If woodsman is anything to go by I think you might be right 😉

Mixed reports from the Nirvana lot, I've never really had a problem with them, and know some of the guys who ride with them regularly, but I've also heard reports of being who are a bit off the pace just being left behind. Which IMO isn't really on on a group ride. Simon can be a bit miserable some times too, but he's northern!

I'm sure Woodsman will now tell me I'm a moron, as I seem to have offended him (blows a kiss to woodsman).

While were on the subject of BKB can i just ask why the hell was the demo day routed down BKB, i assume thats what all the fluro green markers were for given they left the Peaslake carpark and went straight up the top of BKB & there was a sign for a demo day on that day.

Me and my mates rode it on the Saturday evening after the demo day had finished and we all commented that if was ALOT more eroded than the last time we rode it a few weeks before. There were skid marks all over the place including down the rooty roll in at the top and also at the entrance to the S bend before the large 2nd berm.

To me it was madness to send wave after wave of riders, most on bikes that they would never have ridden before and so were unfamiliar with the performance of down so an already well used trail that it in danger of becoming a victim of its own success.

Isn't there other trails that could have been used for this ?

Nirvana = generally miserable and clicky from what I have seen. Although to be fair Simon is fairly proactive on the trail building front

And he really really knows his way around!

bigsi, its already a victim of its own success – maybe better to now just accept that this is the main trail in the area used my demo days/teachin groups and keep them off other trails?. But really it needs top to bottom grading like the new section to cope with the traffic

but he's northern!

Is Simon the guy from the shop?

He's from a place about three miles up the road from where I grew up so he can't be all that bad!
I've spoken to him a few times and he strikes me a being someone who knows his own mind and doesn't mind who knows it. But like most people who might appear gruff on the outside, i'd wager he's a decent enough fellow if you got to know him.

freeridenick – agreed. The middle bit is fine (when taken at any speed on any bike 😉 ) but the top bit is getting quite eroded. Just as long as its not flattened out completly, just a bit here and there to make it more durable.

Its still the most fun way to get from the res to the cake shop/pub though 😛

Popped into Nirvana a few weeks back for a new hanger. Pretty friendly, good service, generally quite happy. Not ridden with them though.

Simon comes across as miserable, but he can also be very helpful and knows his stuff.

Most people who regularly ride with the nirvana lot do come across as miserable and very cliquey though. I wouldn't ride with them – not my cup of tea at all, and if woodsman is anything to go by then appearances are not always deceptive.

Woodsman : "But, the publicity (informal or formal) that this trail is receiving is far more than it warrants."

TBH I've never heard any publicity saying it's an amazingly brilliant, technical, challenging or otherwise fantastic bit of trail, other than at speed. What I've heard is lots of brilliant stuff about how they've worked with landowners to make sustainable trails that have a future, where the alternative was much worse and pretty much the definition of unsustainable. So they rightly get a lot of attention for that.

I'm glad it's not just me who thought woodsman came across as a bit 'prickly'!

He's actually a really nice guy 😉

ther is a much nicer, longer and faster trail running paralel to BKB

And he's abit tasty on a bike too.( Woodsman that is)

I'm sure he is, perhaps he'd like to take up my offer of a ride on Sunday and show me all the trails I'm obviously missing…

I've never heard any publicity saying it's an amazingly brilliant, technical, challenging or otherwise fantastic bit of trail, other than at speed. What I've heard is lots of brilliant stuff about how they've worked with landowners to make sustainable trails that have a future, where the alternative was much worse and pretty much the definition of unsustainable. So they rightly get a lot of attention for that.

+1.
In fact, +2 and +3 and more.

There is a crew that ride out of Nirvana. They ride xc fast. They don't respond when you say hello. They call themselves the Dorking Cocks. I had to laugh. Nirvana is a fine shop mind. Simon just says it as it is. Always happy to give 'em me hard earned and rate their mech very highly.

I have to say Simon and his crew know their stuff when it comes to builds and fixing, etc – have been using them since 2003.

Heard mixed comments about their rides though; Sat friendly and chilled, Sun fast and unforgiving (or the other way round).

On the subject of BKB, I really don't know what all the fuss is about. Sure, it used to be a good link-up trail to Peaslake/Pitch (always gave me that Endor/speeder-bike feeling) but it's hardly ground-breaking (even though I do continually find myself doing it when in the area).