Hampshire Riding

Been having a bit of a shit time health wise for the last 3 months and am hoping that things are getting back to normal now. Other than a little poodle out round Swinley, which is miles away from me I haven’t been out in ages.
Unfortunately the quick out and back root from the front door is as muddy as a muddy thing now and not much fun at all, so in guess I have a couple of questions:

1: is there anything out there that’s cheap and effective in the mud guarding arena, tried a mucky nuts front thingy and it didn’t really help.
2: for a proper ride is there anywhere in Hampshire that holds up well under winter conditions or am I going to have to get myself fit again in the mud?

Cheers

John

where in hampshire ?

I’ve been out today on the Surrey/Hampshire borders and it’s pretty dry, the bike is as clean as when I started the ride.

From the OP’s profile:-

Location Fareham

For planned rides sanctioned by the boss then within an hour of fareham. But ideally 40 mins drive so I can get out and back without being gurned at. Where on the border ATP?

Lords Wood? Head North towards the A272/A31? Meon Valley if not too wet chalky?

Meon Valley CG? What’s there? Is that the country park? Very handy of it is but I had never considered it for riding, cheers.

Oh, and as for Lords Hill, isn’t that just for people who have the balls to remove the tyres fm the earth from time to time?

Lw is pretty boggy but rideable. New forest is good if you want to get the miles in but fairly tame. Qecp is great but will be slippy death at the moment, still fun. Only all weather reliable trails i know of are swinley and the short track at moores valley near ringwood

Farnham area.

Meon Valley – Old Winchester Hill/Beacon Hill, also Hen Wood heading towards QEP. There’s also the dismantled railway line.

There’s a Lords Wood posse here, they could advise.

Ahhh I know where you mean CG earlier in the year my long training rides from the front door used to take me as far as QECP on the South Downs, there was a short fun section just after Winchester hill just before you went down a steep section through fields before you hit a trout farm and camping place. Have a feeling that may kill me after 3 months without exercise but if it’s still rideable might just have to mtfu.

You are being rather coy there ATP, was it legal riding?

Mostly 🙂

allthepies – Member
scaredypants said » where in hampshire ?
From the OP’s profile:-
Location Fareham

johnj2000 said » Unfortunately the quick out and back root from the front door is as muddy as a muddy thing now…is there anywhere in Hampshire…

OP: There are some routes that are better suited to the wet weather, even in the new forest – Not sure I’d drive far to get to them though and I doubt you’d get on well without a guide. Moors Valley CP has a 4-5 mile family “singletrack” cycle route that’s pretty much weatherproof other than the occasional big puddle and short boardwalk deathtraps. Riding that when it’s empty is good fun now & then.

The Lordswood rides posted on here carry on year-round – maybe they know drier routes than I remember

(is no part of QECP weatherproof ? – how about Rogate ?)

Thanks sp may have to give meon valley a shot, can take the children as well and try and lap them, well the 6yr old anyway, the 9 yr old will probably lap me at the moment.

Note: if anyone sees a male or female riding a Cotic Rocket around Meon Valley country park in the next few weeks please keep the “over biked” quotes to a minimum 🙂 actually my wife could probably pull it off, so she can have that and I will take the Whippet.

QE was actually pretty mid free this weekend, just a little sloppy in places. No need to wash the bike after 2 laps of the red trail though.
Lordswood is sloppy and squelchy, mud everywhere but still great fun. Certainly not just for jumpy types either, or else most of us riding on a Thurs eve there wouldn’t be able to!
100 acres (West walk) just outside Wickham has some reasonably good trails, although it gets very muddy pretty much all year round. Worth taking some sort of secateurs or similar though as much of the singletrack doesn’t see much use so gets fairly overgrown. I used to walk the dog there all the time and use it as an excuse to clear deer trails, but since moving over to Bedhampton I don’t get there anywhere near as much. Can head up the old railway from Wickham, and nip into 100 Acres for there. The main gravel tracks can be fun if you just want to get put and stretch your legs with plenty of little singletrack bits heading off from them. Open access policy too, so none of it is seen as cheeky. I have a letter from the FC which says as much, indeed it says that as long as I wasn’t using chainsaws or building big jumps I could clear any trail I liked to make it suitable for riding. Seems a shame it doesn’t get more use tbh…

CG, trails in Hen Wood? are they cheeky or legit?

I’ve been riding for around 6 weeks now after a 3 month lay-off so appreciate your worries. Worth studying the OS map and looking for easy tracks to start off with. OK, they may be boring and dull but the smiles will return.

Don’t worry about being overbiked – I amuse myself by riding the most inappropriate steed for the terrain, particularly if I’ve got off and pushed. 😀

Where you mention Meon Valley Country Park, do you mean Queen Elizabeth CP?

Good luck. 🙂

Thanks mattbee. Have tried 100 acres from the railway before and it’s quite fun but as you say it never seems to dry out. Maybe now it’s a bit cooler the hoards of walkers will have freed up the gravel tracks and that could do the job.

mattbee – no, the eastern side of the wood that’s actually a byway.

Good point CG I was referring to sp’s post which I miss read, moors valley rather than meon valley. QECP is just too hilly at the moment, all those up hill switch backs and tree roots would kill me.

Lots of good ideas above, when it gets really mucky head for Hindhead, its on the Green sand rather than chalk and clay and it sown not seem to really support mud

Loads of good free-draining sandy stuff around Farnborough/Aldershot.

Unfortunately, that’s about as far from you as Hampshire gets.

As said above, Hindhead holds up pretty well, and so does Black Down south of Haslemere. Neither of them are in Hampshire, but both considerably closer to you than Swinley.

Drop down here into Gosport at Alver Valley
Loads of hidden stuff in behind the box track, open, under cover, duckboards, bomb holes, etc
Runs from Sultan over to Cherque Farm.
Drop out the side and over to the Bayside Cagin for tea and cake then back in to burn it off 😉
Easily cover 6-8miles without realising i

Dropped Pin
near Grange Rd, Gosport, Hampshire PO13 8AS
http://goo.gl/maps/0spZP

Give Fareham Wheelers a call, plenty of mtb’ers in packs riding in groups fast and slow, plenty of places to hack along only minutes from your door.

Thanks all, some good ideas close to home like gosport that I didn’t know existed. Hadn’t give. Haslemere a thought either and have a friend out that way so I can kill 2 birds.

When you do want to go back to QECP, there are easy ways up the hills!

I do plan to drive to the top car park to avoide that initial climb the first time back, mork. Any other tips will be greatly received 🙂

QE was great today, as were most of the local trails – the one boggy area was Harris Lane (south of Ditcham Park School) as that does not drain well at all. I would also recommend Kingley Vale – there are plenty of trails there that are fine no matter how wet it is.

Today’s ride was all good – http://app.strava.com/activities/95680524

Just north of petersfield is surprisingly sandy given the chalky death a bit south of town.

I don’t know the area that well and got really quite lost in the woods one night but there are some decent get out and ride trails up there.

My recollection is riding out from Fareham on non cheeky trails is quite difficult. I live nit that far from there and if I am short on time I am embarrassed to say the road bike is more likely to get pulled out.

Gd, how I get out of fareham is to leave my house ride down to the bridleway near the fishermans rest. Follow the bridleway until it breaks into road and then the road until wickham railway. About 7 miles down the railway you hit the SDW and then on its as you would expect, all of it is legal but not much is fun. Interested to know which woods you were lost in?

John thanks for that.

Woods I got lost in are just north of petersfield and quite small. Just checked the os map, I started near Durford wood. With some convoluted double backing and random turns I found myself a little confused. There’s rogate common and then the areas north of there as well as some stuff a bit further West that I haven’t got a map handy for.

I started from a little car park just off the B2030 near hill brow.

If you want to join up with other locals, try http://kingleyvalemountainbikers.ning.com/%5B/url%5D

Thanks for the tips, I’ve had a quick look round Meon Valley but found it a bit boggy so gave up.

Hadn’t give. Haslemere a thought either and have a friend out that way so I can kill 2 birds.

This is a good plan. From there do a loop linking all the commons in the greensand hills – all free draining with great riding. So Hindhead, Thursley, Hankley, Hindhead, then descend into Golden Valley, climb out to Ludshot, then maybe Bramshot into Hammer and out to Linchmere/ Blackdown and back to Haslemere. Or variations of all this.

Basically this is pretty much all on well draining ground. Lots of trails, and a lovely area to ride with plenty of variation – tight singletrack, open views, woods, roots, some rocks etc. Lovely! No need for mud tyres, maybe a neoguard or crud-catcher on the muckiest days, but that’s it.

hammyuk – I’m in Ryde. Is that worth the ferry fun to get to?

Fraid not Pimpmaster – there’s ample for a good few hrs easy fun but if you are taking the time/expense coming over then best head for qecp, etc as there’s a lot more there. Mind you could fit both or more in 😉
I’ve been here 10yrs, walked the area but only recently discovered the MoD sections that are now open to the public and where all the fun is at.
Best part for me is it is less than a mile form either my office or house at the end of a lovely straight flat road 🙂

Cool – I’ll bear it in mind. Cheers!

As Yunki said, its worth giving Hindhead and the Punchbowl a go, there plenty north of here too out across Hankley and towards Milford. In fact anywhere from the north of Petersfield holds up well as its more sand based, Durford/Rogate/Borden Wood has a lot in a small space the Rogate DH on its doorstep then try Chapel Common, Weavers Down, Liphook, Linchmere, Marley and Black Down are all good. However I’d avoid the Hangers side of Petersfield (Steep, Froxfield, Hawkley, Selbouurne) unless you like sticky mud.

Hey John,

Crud Catcher front and rear are keeping my ass reasonably clean at the moment.

I live in Lordswood and have occasionally gone out with ‘Thursday Night Posse’ boys. They are capable riders and LURVE the mud – which is just as well cos there’s lots of very sticky mud, roots and deep ditches in there LOL. It’d be quite tough work (especially at this time of year) for someone who doesn’t ride regularly and is not fit.

If you’re looking for a more relaxed riding (avoiding too much the mud), then I’d reccommend the Forest between Ashurst and Beaulieu. There’s loads of non-techie, not-too-muddy riding from Ashurst to Bucklers Hard and back (about 27 miles.)

If you can cope with a bit more mud and a bit hillier, then the Millyford Bridge, Stoney Cross, Red Shoot side is good to – Maybe taking in Fritham, Frogham too.

I’m regularly out in those areas during the week at the moment so I can tell you (so long as your not seeking technical thrills) there’s lots of nice rideable trails to get you out in the fresh air.

Timmy (Old Git 52 with 1 x 10 LOL) 😀

ps. Forgot to mention: Funtington/Kingley Vale has great riding and is not far from you. I went there a lot there in the summer but haven’t been since the weather turned so don’t know what it’s like in the wet.