I recently rode in the Essex "mud sweat and gears" series and noticed that although there were many rides from the south east of Essex (Southend and Rayleigh area) there isn't a club (other than the road orientated Southend wheelers) to cater for our mountain bike needs. Is anyone interested in starting one? or meet up for regular rides.

If only we had something like the Olympic mountain bike event being held in the area to generate some interest!

Is there much riding to be had down there?

Most of my riding is done around Danbury/Little Baddow area near Chelmsford. Some nice singletrack to be had but a change would be good!

There is obviously Hadleigh down (Olympic venue) and also Hockley woods although it can get busy with walkers on a sunday.

No clubs that I know of, just various groups that go out riding the local woods.

I think thats what the MSG series and the eastern region MTB league has been set up for nicemonkey..

We do a 15 mile loop most weekends, takes a few bits of road to join up but finishes in old Leigh for a cuppa, always welcome to join us for a sight see, its nothing awesome but a decent ride out…

retro, swap you a tour of our loop for a tour of yours, ridden over Danbury a few times and found some great stuff, but sure I missed a lot.

Other local places that I ride and are good is:-

Throndon (got a great loop there)

Langdon (another great loop there much better than the MSG race loop)

The lack of riding in the Rayleigh/Benfleet/Southend area forced my move to North Scotland;-), now I has all the singletrack and steepness I need right on me doorstep, and very few dog logs to worry about.
Stopping at the cockle sheds in old Leigh during our Sunday Hadleigh castle hack brings back the memories.

Dont show off spudgun, I can still walk to the beach and launch my boat!! 🙂

There's a lot of bits and pieces. Benfleet, Leigh, Thundersley, Daws Heath, Hadleigh, Hockley, Hawkwell & Rochford all have rideable areas – but the problem with much of it round here is it all 'cheeky' or undefined and needs to be linked by roads, in and out of gates, or avoiding walkers. It helps to be willing to stop and smile a lot. It can be very stop start at the weekends. The old dears get rather irate around here when you creep up behind them and ring your bell….

I know there is a big ride every Tuesday night at 7 from Grips bike shop in Rayleigh. I am not sure where they go but the past few weeks ive seen 10+ mtb riders outside the shop all tooled up and ready to go.
May be worth giving the shop a call to find out more info. I may tag along one week to see what its like.

Apart from that i am one of the group that goes out with tinsy at the weekends on a local loop that starts near Belfairs Woods and finishes in Old Leigh, its a nice little ride for where we live but im keen to ride other routes in Essex.

jim, we really need to get to Thorndon the last ride I did there I found some really, really good singletrack… when super shed is done we will have to go there one sat instead..

ok mate am up for that, Adam also wants to do a loop round langdon again soon as his mate (who has been out with me and luke a couple of times) lives that way and wants to know what he can ride round there.

Fellas, if yer ever up my neck o the woods, Inverness (unlikely I know). give us a shout and ill swap your olde Essex banter for some Scottish trails wi a southern twist. Dont forget a pot of cockles and mussels for me though:-)

id be interested in meeting up for rides – time allowing Ive got another sprog about to make an appearance, but I can usually do sunday mornings – the earlier the better – and I can prob get some other guys (newer riders/racers) out as well…

tinsey – you doing thetford winter series?

is anyone doing the CTC Butley 25 just over the boarder in Sulfolk in two weeks?

bigdawg, I might do 1 or 2, but more interested in a MSG winter series, in the same boat as you and time is always precious, the wife has me feathering the nest day and night….

Always welcome to join our ride, its usually sat morn at about 8.30 but sometimes its sunday….

but doubt I am riding this weekend as being bob the builder.

Ive spoken to alistair @ MS&G – he is trying like mad to get a winter series organised but he wont have any races this year – hes looking to start them in January (real winter!). The first thetford race Im pretty sure I cant do (ill have a less than a month old baby indoors – im guessing bike leave will be cancelled!) but will be looking to do the others, just a pain getting there…

Thats the thing even the MSG series became a day out, OK when the kids rode and we made a family day of it, but not even sure Thetford has a kids race does it? Only did a couple of them and they take up all day with travel etc…

Did Alistair give any indication on how we receive our prizes? 🙂

I might drag this thread up the next time I'm in Essex visiting family. Normally ride in Hockley woods cos my dad lives in Rayleigh. What are the woods opposite the swimming pool at the top end of Thundersley, seem to remember some gradients in there that would be ok?

Hey Spudgun1 the Moray MBC ae coming through on sat to do the trails around the mast. Email me if you want to hook up for a ride. We might even have one or two white settlers with us so you won't feel too outnumbered 🙂

richpenny, you mean Thundersly Glen I recon…

Did Alistair give any indication on how we receive our prizes?

no but he did confirm the results on the website have now been finalised (ive been relogated to third!!) – I expect theyll be contacting us shortly, Ill give him a nudge if ive not heard by saturday… Soulnds like theyve had a nightmare with the results though – some riders werent even added up properly…

thorndon is full of singletrack. you can link thorndon up with a bit of Weald Park if you don't mind cruising along Brentwood High St.

Danbury is a good bet too. not a massive area but plenty of trails carving through it.

essex is a bit flat, isn't it. also too many fields around.

Essex Roads club have a MTB section, not ridden with them but they are based in BillyRicky

A bunch of us do a regular night ride in Thorndon, 6.30 tonight in the rugby club carpark if you want to join us.

Hello tonto, I will try and get to that one week, is it every thursday?

I used to do a thursday ride with the bike trax lot, before I moved to Leigh..

Pretty much every week unless we do epping, moving to danbury when it gets too slippery in thorndon.
Just page me on here if you fancy it.

hi tonto – have you got any rides planned over thorndon, weekend or evening? if so be good to tag along.

there's good riding to be found 🙂

hiya tonto 🙂

We are riding in Thorndon tonight, meet at Brentwood rugby club car park (CM13 2AQ,) 6.15 for a 6.30 start.
You are welcome to join us, it will be slippy 🙂

good riding indeed!
Wotcha J 🙂

that would have been good – havent got any of my stuff with me. maybe next time your all out let me know and i'll shoot over.

Are you sure SEandCW are road only? They were a major factor in the early mtb racing scene running the MBI winter series years ago.

Hi Everyone,

i discovered this forum on google the other day looking for a club to join! Has anybody started a club yet? or any meets happening?

I live in hockley and regularly ride the woods here but it is pretty short and unless i ride before 8.30 there are lots of dog walkers! I sometimes do a route through hadleigh castle country park and across to two tree island which is good but im looking for more people to ride with on a regular basis as riding alone is a bit boring!

If anybody is interested in a regular sunday ride or already goes on one where guests are welcome please get in touch.

Cheers

JC

What cycling shoes for Epping Forest??

Anybody ride in the area around Billericay (Norsey woods maybe?)

There's also what appears to be a fair amount of woodland near Mill Green which is across the A12 from Ingatestone. Anybody ride around there?

Edit: Here

Not personally ridden the woods around Mill Green, but I have heard of people being asked to leave when they've been in there. If jumpy/skills stuff is your thing then this place is not far from Mill Green http://www.radicalbikes.co.uk/default.htm

Cheers Cheesy, the Essex Trials and Jump centre looks 'rad'!! 🙂 Would have loved that when I was a bit younger and less prone to breakage! Probably a bit beyond me at the moment.

Regarding those woods, there's a couple of bridleways in there, so I might check them out anyway.

I've got a loop starting from Galleywood Common which takes me through Margaretting, Stock, then back down to Ingatestone. There's a fair amount of road, and aside from a few bits of woodland it's mostly boring doubletrack so I'm trying to make up a longer loop.

As an aside, the ROW around here are really poor for riding. Lots of Bridleways which are really roads, go nowhere or are covered in soul destroying gravel. Of course there are loads of juicy footpaths but they're patrolled by a troop of irate do-gooders and surfaced with dog-shit!

Reminds me of my 18 month stint @ SoS in teh mid 90's, spoilt by the Pentlands, I stuck to road riding!

thorndon park isnt too bad, about 4.5 miles from south green on the back roads,ie' dunton rd, botany rd, not the a127, allthough its better in the week as its busy at weekends
danbury is pretty good but a fair distance away, otherwise just explore the bridleways behind barlylands going towards hanningfield res,
if you go down cox's farm rd off southend rd when the road bends left theres a dirt rd on the right turn on thr dirt rd and thers a bridlway about 100yards on the left, follow that, not epic but ok for a quick blast/pootle and if you keep your eyes peeled theres a few hidden play spots dotted about

If your starting from Galleywood, you should pop a bit further east and do Danbury

Cheesyfeet – Member

If your starting from Galleywood, you should pop a bit further east and do Danbury

Yeah, Danbury has some really good bits – I used to ride there quite a lot but got put off by how busy it was getting over the summer. Probably a bit better now it's turned cooler.

I'm sure there must be more there than I've found, people have told me about really technical descents and difficult climbs. Mostly what I've found is just normal woodland singletrack (albeit swoopy and fun to ride)