Riding at swinley

Me and you occasionally clash 29ers anyway MrV.

Loving that video. Must try and get down to Swinley sometime soon. Looks like a cross between Thetford and Woburn 😀

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/155137358#

Don’t go on a Saturday morning. Was more traffic out than on the M25. Didn’t help with the local club BOB’s putting out a group of 25 riders and using all the main trails… SLOWLY…. Seriously, i could have jogged faster than some of the group. I’m all for newbies to the sport of course, but FFS introduce them in an area that doesn’t hold up the rest of the population of local MTBers.

3 Ambulances were filled at the jump gully when we were there… Another criticism…. if you’re 50+… don’t try jumping doubles !!!!! it WILL end badly and you WILL end up in hospital.

Apart from that, great ride… conditions are superb over there curently.

dude, riders have to learn somewhere and Swinley is a perfect place to learn.
And most people work mon-fri

Or go Early doors , 0700ish
I never knew there were doubles in the jump gulley .
Bet its running fast and probably mud free now.

I’m all for newbies to the sport of course, but FFS introduce them in an area that doesn’t hold up the rest of the population of local MTBers.

Yeah, gotta keep those beginners off the super rad gnarly trails at Swinley, woe betide anyone should want to bring new people into the sport, or that people should be allowed to go out there and <spit> have fun on the trails (that you probably didn’t even bother contributing to by buying a permit 🙄 )

Agree totally, it’s a great place to learn… but not necessarily the bits that mean other peoples enjoyment is spoiled too.

Yeah, gotta keep those beginners off the super rad gnarly trails at Swinley, woe betide anyone should want to bring new people into the sport, or that people should be allowed to go out there and <spit> have fun on the trails (that you probably didn’t even bother contributing to by buying a permit

Try reading my post before writing your reply hey ?

p.s I have a yearly pass and have spent time there helping build trails.

P.S.
Do you really think riding in a group of 25 is acceptable ? i had to wait almost 7 minutes according to my GPS info

“several more behind”
“another 5 coming”
“some more…”

Now i know it’s not a race, thereofre waiting isn’t wrong… but making people wait 6-7 mins is just insane ?

Big groups of riders are a pain anywhere. Especially (as is often the case) when they seem not to realise they are in a big group and just p*ss everyone else off by generally farting around and resolutely refusing to yield. Happening a lot on Leith Hill of late.

I go to Swinley at 0800 on a Saturday and it’s nice and quiet (shown by the low number of other riders (and ambulances) you can see in my video ^^)

Weeksy

Rather than ranting about new riders going slowly on the Bob ride, why didn’t you just head of in a different direction?

its not like there isn’t any other tracks which you could ride better, faster and cooler than everyone else

Don’t forget that you were a beginner once as well

I had a great ride at Swinley yesterday, I think it was my 5th or 6th trip and we are just beginning to find the ‘good stuff’
Some of the other riders did make me laugh.. particularly those on hideous illuminous orange/Yellow fives, wearing full face helmets and riding trails my mum could ride!

Rather than ranting about new riders going slowly on the Bob ride, why didn’t you just head of in a different direction?

its not like there isn’t any other tracks which you could ride better, faster and cooler than everyone else

Don’t forget that you were a beginner once as well

Because you don’t know you’re on the same trail as people until a group of 25 are coming towards you… and none of them give way.. no sir… that’s your job… not theirs.

P.S my post never started as a rant about BOB riders/groups, more of just a generic post about it being busy.

I have to say but taking 25 rides (some of them newbies) into an already congested area is a little selfish. By all means bring people into the sport (hey we were all newbies once) but have some thought for others.

Perhaps BOB & similar should limit the group size?

Well they are going to start charging to park at the Look out

Swinley is busy and continues to get busier, that’s the downside of cycling becoming more popular; the area being regarded as great riding for the south-east and it sitting in a heavily populated part of the country. It will continue to get ‘worse’ for volumes of riders in my opinion, even with the changes to the ticket/car-parking situation.

The BoB ride on Saturday was an ‘intro’ ride for prospective members, so the speed and capability is probably lower than a normal group outing. Rightly or wrongly, these are often quite large groups, but they are there to show people the trails that BoB worked hard to build and continue to develop and maintain.

As mentioned above, there are plenty of other trails to ride, and 7 mins for 25 people to pass seems an infeasibly large time where you couldn’t make any progress, or turn around and follow them off that trail.

It is a feature of Swinley that a lot of the trails are ridden in both directions.

none of them give way.. no sir

bit of a problems giving way when you are being guided – gotta hope that they guys up front wait for you…

might be best to avoid riding at TH at the moment with all the MOD issues at the moment:

http://www.mbr.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/P018019_trailhead.jpg