Chicksands rant…

What’s with the attitude of the owner/organiser here?

The bloke that stands in the car park all day seems to have the arse at everyone. Went on a rant about why haven’t I booked etc…
Took it on board and went to leave, then he proceeded to tell me everywhere is booking only and then proceeded to kindly let me in (woburn, aston hill and swinley you can arrive and drive so this is nonsense, I’ve been to all in the last month…).

Place is then littered with signs saying ‘jumping skills required’ for trails which are all fully rollable or avoidable, seems a bit elitist…
Dirt jumps huge signs saying don’t brake, jump short, pull off the line part way through etc (everyone is doing this all day long!)
More signs saying don’t build or touch trails or you will be prosecuted (not sure it’s the owners of chicksands that will be deciding who’s prosecuted…)

I see the points all singularly but the militant approach isn’t really needed.

Anyway, rant over.
Place has lots of potential, Could do with a bit of tidying in places and a smile wouldn’t go a miss!

Just a strange vibe compared to the friendly woburn set up which is arguably much more varied and chilled.

Maybe it’s just me….

I saw the thing on their socials about booking and did exactly that, via their website. Selected the date, payed my monies and got emailed the pass. When I got there I found out that I had booked the ‘wrong pass’. Id got the day pass, rather than a weekend pass. The one I needed was on a totally different part of the site to the shop bit that I booked with. He did let me in, but wasnt happy about it.

All those signs are because people are hurting themselves on the regular, the drops especially. Lots of them covid newbies who have only been riding a matter of weeks

He’s always been good with me, friendly to the nippers etc, maybe he was just having a bad day.

Suspect all the signs are there to avoid legal strife and keep the place open, Woburn may be more ‘chilled’ but it does also tend to get bulldozed periodically when the landowner gets fed up and it got very very close to getting flattened again this summer because people wouldn’t stop riding there when it was closed.

Yeah, they can be a bit grumpy, but I imagine they have to deal with a lot of idiots judging by their Facebook page (how do I book? / do I have to book? x10,0000 – JUST GO TO THE F***ING WEBSITE).

Signs? Meh, again a lot of idiots to deal with – at least with signs they can’t say they weren’t warned.

I find it very friendly up there, especially encouraging to young kids with all the pump tracks etc., and the grumpy old men have never bothered charging my 6 year old.

Conversely I’ve found the Woburn jump park very unfriendly (though not been for a long time). Certainly after the last time it was bulldozed a few years ago, the seemingly self appointed ‘committee’ seemed a charming bunch. Rules for the committee at time included “Only committee members can park in the no-parking lay-by”, addition of gap jumps to all the mellower lines to keep the less cool kids out & compulsory committee member weed smoking while glaring at everyone else sessions.

You mention Swinley as a good example so I’m assuming you haven’t encountered their car park attendant militia (although I’ve heard this has now improved). It must be a difficult time I’m sure for these organisations to enforce restrictions but it seems some have gone completely overboard. I’m assuming it’s in reaction to continual non-compliance or abuse from covidiots but arsey attitudes is surely not going to help compliance. I’ve only been to Tidworth since March and it was super chill.

The signage seems a little crass but I can only assume it’s in frustration where previous attempts have failed. It must be extremely annoying to have unauthorised trail modifications or bikers riding well above their limit, potentially putting the whole bike park in jeopardy. Plus the signage shouldn’t really affect one’s enjoyment of the park.

I get that it’s easy to look up in advance whether booking is required or not but on a very general note it’s becoming hard to keep track of every government rule and the individual policies of every establishment one visits so there is bound to be some slight ignorance here and there.

One of the signs, and why its needed. You can see paramedics attending to a lad who wasn’t on an appropriate bike (he was fine, just shaken and had a knock on the head)

One of the signs, and why its needed.

Sadly the world is full of idiots.

I’m assuming it’s in reaction to continual non-compliance or abuse from covidiot

Nicest traffic free private road route near us was closed in June for the same reasons 🙁

Went there for the first time on Saturday. Had a fun morning session, guy on the gate was pleasant enough.

Some of those trails with the “jumping skills required” signs might be rollable but I can see you’d have novices getting wheels off the ground if they went too fast (and then they panic, dead sailor and crash). Better to warn and have people roll down it slowly first time to have a look than to catch them out and have an ambulance visit.

You can see paramedics attending to a lad who wasn’t on an appropriate bike

every 12 year old who is awesome on a poorly fitting Carrera was once just an 11 year old with a high pain tolerance.

I think even experienced riders would be on their hoods on that one. And maybe a road bike wouldn’t be the best option.

The bloke whos usually there seems to be a decent sort.
Ive come across a complete dick there once, started laying the law down and telling me xyz was a crime when it isnt. Alsked him what his problem is, what hes trying to prove etc, havent seen him back. Perhaps you were unlucky and got Mr Tosser

The first big table on the 4x track is rollable but I’ve seen plenty of people mess up on it, I don’t think it’s a bad thing having a few warning signs. I think Chicksands can lure people into going beyond their capabilities because a lot of the trails are smooth and seemingly easy.

He’s a nice dude , maybe just a bad day . Always good with my lad and me . Totally agree with the above comments on signs absolutely needed you may be able to fairly judge the trails and risk being an Experienced rider but it attracts a lot of underbiked and overconfident riders or just those ignorant to the risk . I fractured my spine there 5 years ago so can attest that it can go wrong quickly and I’m well rad to the power of gnar

Rollable doesn’t mean “you’ll be fine if you can’t jump”. As long as you get the speed and approach right and do roll everything, fine. But when you go up to the rollable feature and think “I bet I can do that” or “I think I’m going slow enough to roll it” or grab the brakes even though it rolls, that’s when your lack of jump skills on a rollable jump trail are an issue.

Fair points and responses!

Maybe just an oversight of some of the bigger issues on my behalf!

Cheers!

He’s always been fine with me although I haven’t been since covid.he must have to deal with lots of idiots recently.ive always found the atmosphere friendly and welcoming.

The guy in the carpark has always been decent enough to me, but I have encountered an absolute prick riding the jumps that seems to be a regular. Overall I’m always a bit disappointed every time I leave because I go to woburn before and the trails there are much more suited to my riding. I haven’t been to either since before Covid so maybe hes had to deal with a lot of idiots.
I have been to Windhill and Rogate multiple times since Covid and the booking might be a bit of a faff, but the people running it and the riders are all decent, specially Rogate!

Hang on, are we talking about Tom Dowie here? He’s completely lovely!

Nah, Tom lives in Scotland now and only comes down to coach once a month or so.

It’s usually Paul manning the car park. If not it’s Steve, who I have a feeling is Tom’s Dad.

Ah, didn’t know that. He had the tremendous misfortune of seeding 2 places behind me in the EWS, which meant he had to overtake my in almost every stage, and he was a tremendous gentleman about it- even the time I caught up 2 people at the same time and it was all a complete fiasco