Leith Hill – MEGA – who knows about this?????

chucker – Member
How many times can the same thing be said !

Indeed, but I’ll do it anyway –

A stupidly ill thought out event that places the whole issue of trail access in the Surrey Hills area at risk.

not a killjoy, I was kidding

A stupidly ill thought out

thought?

What they should have said
“Sorry guys, started out as a bit of a mates race for a few friends of Dave, who to be fair, puts a lot of effort into building trails in the surrey hills. However, its clearly got a bit too big and we realise its going to annoy many people and could put biking in the area at risk. So it’ll be the last we do. Apologies if anyone got caught up in it”.

What they actually said
“We had our fun, thats all that matters”.

I’d put this down to their obvious dislike of STW, but similar comments also appear on Strava. e.g.
“If ya don’t like when I ride ,where I ride or what I ride stop following me please,I ride me bike for fun “

Nice people…

dorkingtrailpixie – Member
jambalaya

You sound like a right laugh!
In very small doses perhaps ! I fully admit to having a total sense of humour failure over certain things.

The point I’m trying to make is I love my biking but this is nuts. So to a lesser degree are the size of the dirt jump I referred to which has appeared and the jumps and associated 6ft deep pit built in another area where I do regularly walk my dog and which is not public access land.

How about we just rename this Leith Hill Summer Solstice Insanity 😕

njee20 – Member

Sorry, but who has?

Tattoo Dave. He’s the only person to have ever wielded a spade, and were it not for him the entire Surrey Hills area would actually be marshland.

Because of this he is allowed, nay expected, to jeopardise future relations by organising illegal events on his terrain.

don’t see many others out with shovels in hand eh njee…

Do you know me? I don’t dig illegal trails no. I think that’s a good thing

no he’s not. Dave does make an exceedingly good trail, but i can assure you there are many others that have put in days if not months worth of work around Leith, Redlands, Holmbury and Pitch/Winterfold. UNfortunately those of us that went a little over the top building trails some 10-12 years ago have all had kids so it’s now the new generation – but there is a LARGE legacy amount of trails that pre-date this argument.

Anyone for a cup of tea at peaslake about 12 noon Saturday . 22 hours of posting could probably be squeezed into 30 minutes of intellectual conversation . Assumption and hindsight are funny things !!

Anyone for a cup of tea at peaslake about 12 noon Saturday . 22 hours of posting could probably be squeezed into 30 minutes of intellectual conversation . Assumption and hindsight are funny things !!

Very true Sui, plenty of trails have come and gone over the years.

no he’s not. Dave does make an exceedingly good trail, but i can assure you there are many others that have put in days if not months worth of work around Leith, Redlands, Holmbury and Pitch/Winterfold.

You don’t have to tell me that, it was Freeridenick who said TD is ‘the one who made the Surrey Hills what they are today’.

On the other hand the roadies do this:
http://vimeo.com/23613093#
and couriers do this:

I love having access to riding in the Surrey hills, in order to help preserve this right, im going to stand on the trail during the next illegal race and bitch slap every rider that hurtles past, with a spade.

And soak up the irony.

it was Freeridenick who said TD is ‘the one who made the Surrey Hills what they are today’

I checked on this. Turns out it was actually physics that made the Surrey Hills.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensand_Ridge

mattjg – Member

it was Freeridenick who said TD is ‘the one who made the Surrey Hills what they are today’

I checked on this. Turns out it was actually physics that made the Surrey Hills.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greensand_Ridge

nah tis lies that – it was trail pixies, everytone knows about trail pixies.

Next thing you’ll be telling us the earth is a sphere and we’re descended from apes 😯

descended from apes

we’ve certainly not ascended from them 😉

😳 damn this Dyslexia (probabaly spelt that wrong too) 👿

edit: first time I’ve been picked up my spelling which is a surprise 😉

sorry, wasn’t pickign up spelling – just trying to imply that humans aren’t really a ‘higher’ life form than apes and that ‘descended’ as in ‘lower than’ rather than ‘evolved from’ was a good description.

No no the double simarly was good 😉 (loco GCSE Biology grade C 1994) 😳

simile?

Agree with Chucker that this conversation would be a lot more constructive face to face over a cuppa. Is ‘t riding bikes great, by the way

Isn’t riding bikes great, by the way

Love it.

Someone strung some barbed wire across the Graveyard run in Peaslake (Surrey Hills) this morning. Fortunately is was discovered before anyone was decapitated. Shame people on here don’t get as animated about things like that, as opposed to a mate’s race. But there you go…

Someone strung some barbed wire across the Graveyard run in Peaslake (Surrey Hills) this morning. Fortunately is was discovered before anyone was decapitated. Shame people on here don’t get as animated about things like that, as opposed to a mate’s race. But there you go…

Could it possibly be that events such as those detailed in this thread lead non-cyclists to do things such as this..?

Someone strung some barbed wire across the Graveyard run in Peaslake (Surrey Hills) this morning. Fortunately is was discovered before anyone was decapitated. Shame people on here don’t get as animated about things like that, as opposed to a mate’s race. But there you go…

I can’t help but wonder if the 2 aren’t related..

Just a thought.

So you’re for stringing barbed wire across trails as a response? Does that make them better or worse than the racers?

What are you on?

How do you come to that conclusion from what I’ve said?

It was just some mates having a laugh, it was only for a short while and no-one got hurt, so what’s the fuss about? Only Daily Mail readers would complain about that.

This ‘Dave’ fellow certainly did not make Surrey Hills what it is today, he’s only been building for a few years.
Most of the trails are ex-deer tracks or were put in over the last 15 years by the likes of Bent Udder and the team who do the maintenance on BKB and YP – with full communication and co-operation with the landowners. Taking the mature approach, rather than the ‘i’ll do what I like’ approach which tends to antagonise people.

And I’m not sure this ‘Dave’ does build a good trail tbh. The run down to Walking Bottom has berms on the downslope. If you take a look at that after heavy rain, those berms are just full of massive puddles cos they effectively form a dam which catch the water coming off the hill…

I suspect he just has a problem with authority and likes to ‘do his own thing’ in a rather petulant manner. Better off getting some therapy rather than wrecking someone else’s land and winding up people who’ve been happily riding SH for years

It was just some mates having a laugh, it was only for a short while and no-one got hurt, so what’s the fuss about? Only Daily Mail readers would complain about that.

More seriously: this has been a sad few days for SH hasn’t it.

There’s no defence for sabotaging a trail, it’s completely foreseeable that someone could get badly injured or worse. I guess the perpetrators are having their fun how they want and don’t care what anyone else thinks about it or what the consequences are.

Just like on Wednesday night eh?

Mattjg and Brooess, well put both of you.

And as to the pathetic “Daily Mail” comments above, do grow up.

I no not this painted fellow, nor did i attend this mega malarkey. I do see that the race was a bit insensitive in a sensitive area. It’s been and gone now, till next year! I don’t think it created any more of a potential accident than the strava phenomenom, thou it was far more brazen! But i definatly agree that the trails this Dave guy has created around the Surrey Hills area over the last couple of years are flippin ace. The official trails are in an entirly diferent, lower leage! So at the end of the day Tattoo Dave I salute you, and if you want to race you mates down leith, just do it!!!

To add another voice to the people thinking this was madness. 7pm would be exactly the sort of time I would be walking, most likely up that way with my little one.

Trying to make it legit has been tried before with Williams Extreme Events, that resulted in the ranger being forced to get rid of illegal trails that he had put up with for years. By being officially made aware of them what choice did he have but to get rid of them?

The official trails are in an entirly diferent, lower leage! So at the end of the day Tattoo Dave I salute you,

for building trails which turn into an unrideable quagmire cos he doesn’t understand the basics of making sustainable trails? 😯

His trails get no more shitty in the winter than the older more natural trails. if some one provided him with a real of drainage pipe, he’d prob include it in to his digging. these things cost money thou. If you hit the berms the post above was complaining about above with enough speed, there’s no need to get wet anyway!!!

clearly you’ve not seen the photos I’ve seen.
It’s simply poor trailbuilding, ignoring everything that IMBA have learnt over the years and publish for free on t;internet
You can defend him if you want but anyone who knows the IMBA guidelines will tell you sticking a berm underneath a downslope which sheets with water when it rains, is just going to create a puddle on the trail and a berm which will saturate with water and fall apart.

The older natural trails get damp because they went in through natural use so of course they’re not sustainable.
But to deliberately/or through ignorance, build unsustainable trails is just stupid – he’s wasting his own effort and showing himself to have a pretty poor understanding of trail building…

I don’t need to see the photo’s I’ve ridden that area every wed evening for the past 7 yrs.
While your getting upset about things not being up to IMBA standard, I’ve been shredding great trails!

I don’t need to see the photo’s I’ve ridden that area every wed evening for the past 7 yrs.
While your getting upset about things not being up to IMBA standard, I’ve been shredding great trails!

Aren’t you the rad one… 🙄

Constructive

Unsanctioned trails in not up to IMBA standards shocker!!

All this finger pointing. It seems so easy for all you keyboard warriors to sit accusing people of this and that , yet not once has that person actually been on here to say, “I constructed the mountain bike mecca of the Surrey hills, why dont I have the right to do what I want, when I want”.Its all assumption , and they do say “Assumption is the mother of all f… ups”
The said person has been dragged through here and blamed for every misdemeanour carried out in Surrey . What gives you lot the right to bring people into this debate because someone on here has said he built a trail…or a silly jump.
Giving someone a “slap” or a “bitch slap” with a spade is ok then.
Its proved one thing, you all love a “mass debate”. Get out and ride knob jockeys !!!!