theotherjonv – they’re probably both money-orientated, I guess not many of the local businesses even care what people living in the area say, so from their point of view it must be “the more the merrier”, which the cyclists help them to gain with every penny spent. I can be screaming to my heart content with absolutely no results and I’m aware of it. It would really be good, if everyone respected each others privacy and a right to enjoy their life wherever they live. It’s not the end of the world and there are other big problems in life so I’m not moving anywhere, cyclists are not going to start cycling on the other side of the hill and property values in Peaslake are not going to fall any time in the future 😉

Probably annoying to have a few bikers slow you down a bit when you go to collect your morning papers. But, would it be better to have a pub and local shop that struggle to stay open due to lack of customers, shut down, get borded up. Like pretty much every other shop in the UK.

The next thing then would be a local Tesco’s being opened instead!

Sounds like someone needs to open a cafe out of the village centre to move the crowds out.

I guess not many of the local businesses even care what people living in the area say, so from their point of view it must be “the more the merrier”, which the cyclists help them to gain with every penny spent.

Yet in your opening post

Peaslake Village shop would be happy without you here (it’s always been!)

So who do you represent then? Are the Village shop happy that you’re coming onto MTBing websites and telling us that the shop doesn’t want our custom?

BKB 700 riders a day? Or is that 70 riders in full Fro gear sessioning it?

Funny how trudy makes a point of going on twitter every Friday to remind the bikers to visit and buy cheese straws.

Someone bright will understand Peaslake really was a quiet place once

Yep, that time was not 8 years ago. Get over yourself. It’s totally dead during the week and if you really can’t see the benefits the riders provide then you’re a fool.

Hey peas laker, you think you’ve got if bad. The residents of Shere have had to gatecrash the Saga forum to tell the old dears they are not welcome, blocking up their village and buying cream teas.

theotherjonv – what’s so difficult to understand? Noone irreplaceable, bikers go, the walkers will come. And for some strange reason there’s not that many of them in here anymore… Became cyclists? Don’t think so. All that’s said here is my opinion, noone else’s. If someone thinks similar – prooves I’m right. And I’m not saying that the shop doesn’t want your custom – it does, it’s their business, and they’re happy for you to bring some coppers on Sundays. But trust me, it would survive without you there. IMO 😉

Thinking that the bikers keep the shop and the pub/hotel open is just misleading. Figures don’t lie. They’re not open on Sundays only, are they?

njee20 – Trudy works for the shop, so how can you be expecting her to do something else? It may be dead during the week on the tracks in the hills, with most of the cyclists working 9 to 5 in another part of the world. The village is never gonna be dead again. It’s been discovered and it’s going to be exploited even more, with illegal tracks amongst other things that are not welcome here. Now enjoy your cheestraw and don’t leave a mess behind you. It wasn’t here when you came.

How many locals have you seen complain? I was sat outside the pub a month ago and two locals engaged me in conversation and laughter.

In Dorking I had a laugh with an old posh lady customer in the hardwear shop and in the pub near our campsite a couple of miles away again locals made the first move at conversation.

The miserable **** in peaslake arent the locals. If there are miserable ones theyll have come down from london like the moutain bikers.

I can remember 5 years ago talking to a local in Peaslake and he told me that he and a number of others paid a regular sum to the shop purely to keep it open.
Anyway I’ve been cycling out and around the Surrey Hills since 95. Peaslake really hasn’t changed much – except for more leased German cars and locals driving stupid SUVs.

Peaslake Village shop would be happy without you here

Funny how trudy makes a point of going on twitter every Friday to remind the bikers to visit and buy cheese straws.

Trudy works for the shop, so how can you be expecting her to do something else?

You are rambling and changing your argument to suit, and coming across as a fool.

Fortunately most Peaslake locals aren’t anything like you and extremely friendly when I say hello. In fact, in all the years I have been riding in the Surrey Hills I struggle to remember any unfriendly locals (apart from a farmer on Winterfold once).

I imagine the locals dislike new money moving in more than bicycle riders

No, Stop!

As a mountain biking community we have to be attuned to the concerns of local communities, and accept that we have an impact on the communities and the places that we ride, some will see it as positive, and some will see it as negative, and the fact is that both may be making valid points.

The user figures for the surrey hills are phenomenal, its a massive draw for riders who live in a very built up area. I also have no doubt that user numbers have increased over the last few years.

Now, whether we like it or not, a lot of our community are relatively young, loud and boisterous – and when in Peaslake often full of energy and adrenalin, and we also have to accept that a minority act like cocks, both in the village, and out on the trails.

I’ve lived in rural communities all my life, and can 100% understand how the behaviour of a minority of the MTB community can and will bring shame on all of us, and colour peoples attitudes towards us.

This is not all down to NIMBYism – its an issue that we hold the keys to, as we are the ambassadors for our sport whenever we head out on our bikes, particularly where dozens of us turn up in a small village every weekend. Yes, there are clearly good things about us being there, there are also inconsiderate tossers that strip off in car parks, bang doors, leave litter and shout and swear – every one of them damages our reputation.

The fact is, that as ambassadors, its also incumbent on us to look at the impact that we have on the trails as well – there are valid concerns about poorly sited trails and about erosion, we know already that unofficial trails and jumps have cropped up, and that closed sections of trail have been reopened by riders who decide they know best. There are also (often overplayed) fears about wildlife disturbance, especially in areas with designated status. If we don’t want regulation, then we have to keep our own house in order (recent developments in nearby Swinley forest being a good example!)

The issue of MTBers has been raised at the Peaslake Community Council, so it’s just not crossfire80’s views. I know in the past there was issues with people sitting on the war memorial and garden walls to munch their cheesestraws or to prop their bikes against. To help overcome these problems, they did improve the seating around the bus shelter and provide the bike stands.

scott_mcavennie2 – the words about Twitter are not mine. Put your glasses on.

Zulu-Eleven – and this is what I mean. Both sides should respect each other.

I’ve been cycling quite a lot when I was younger and I do understand your passion. I used to like the idea of bikers coming here for Sunday, this was bringing life to the dead village, making it look different etc. But it’s too much, it’s too crowded, too loud and not enjoyable. From not only my point of view.

This old argument again zzzz

I think a lot of the problems are just down to people in general, nobody seems to tolerate or consider others anymore

thats_not_my_name – I agree. The trouble is, the bench is for… 10-12 bikers? Bike stands – four? Eight maybe, can’t remember (luckily the bus shelter is not needed on Sundays as there’s no bus service then). It doesn’t show the scale of the issue, which has been raised before and it doesn’t look like it’s solved yet. I can easily see someone trying to organise the place and I doubt the cyclists would support it.

The problem is that you undermine your own arguments. You told us that the only person, who’s glad, that we’re here, is Howard and his bank manager, and the shop would be happy without us here and then you tell us that it’s the more the merrier with every penny spent a good penny.

You tell us to live and let live (and I agree with Z-11 that a number of the cyclists that visit don’t do the majority of responsible, polite, considerate cyclists any favours, and we as a community need to look at ourselves too) – but you also told us that we aren’t welcome and you going to let our car tyres down.

Before you start representing the views of your village or your shop you should really think about whether they’d agree with you. Just as a few badly behaved bikers don’t represent the way the majority of us behave, I’m ignoring you as an outlier to how the Peaslake community view us. And to one other point if someone else agrees with you it doesn’t mean you’re right, it means there’s now two of you thinking like that instead of one.

I’ll think you’ll find that Peaslake residents and FriendsoftheHurtwood don’t like bikes

End of

I’ll think you’ll find that some Peaslake residents and FriendsoftheHurtwood don’t like bikes

Now I might agree with you.

Yeah, the best thing you can do is put the words we haven’t said in our mouths and tell the world how badly hurt you were on the web forum.

I’m only saying what I‘m thinking and what I can hear from other people living in the area. Stop ignoring the problem and pretend it doesn’t exist. It does, whether you or me like it or not.

There’s lots of debris and sharp stuff lying on the roads, I saw a 4×4 with a flat tyre yesterday, so surely a car or a bicycle tyre (have seen it here many times before) can get hurt, can’t it? Saying to be going to do something and stating the fact, that someone can think about sabotaging the cars is two different things, don’t you think? 😀 Noone’s gonna talk to you if you try to talk them into rubbish like that.

Crossfire – I never said the words about Twitter were yours. Maybe you need to put your own glasses on?

Crossfire = nimby mong

I’m a Friend of Hurtwood as are many other riders, some live in and around the village. We like bikes. Some of us enjoy a walk too. I enjoy the beauty of the hills also, even get out the camera.

(interesting to note that this path is now a trashed mess – not by bikes but from logging machines 😉 )

However like any community, some will not approve of bikes, some don’t like change and sure it’s maybe not as quiet as it once was. However all the locals I’ve met have been very friendly and welcoming. I don’t see any dissatisfaction from the store, the pub, the church folk. Same goes for walkers (some local, some not). Often there’s friendly banter and jokes, often about how shattered the riders look climbing up the hills. The wide open space that there is there seems to avoid much conflict and the vast majority give way to each other.

The only issue there is in the village centre is a minority of people parking by the shops & pub and not using the car parks.

There are certainly a group in the village (or maybe from the wider community) who are quite vocal about their distaste for bikes. They’re the ones who branded riders “drunken swearing hooligans” in an article in the local press and the general opinion of the village at the time of being anti bikes was taken from what I understand was a meeting where the anti minority was wholly representative. I’d love to know where they get this “drunken swearing hooligan” opinion from though.

Anyway, the deal was open access to all thanks to Reggie Bray some 90 years ago to enjoy the hills for “air and exercise”. It’s a unique arrangement, works extremely well and everyone seems to get on with each other, and everyone should be proud as it’s a good example to the rest of the far more restrictive country.

This conversation’s going nowhere, as you can see by the nobeerinthefridge constructive post. It’s 10:30am, the village is already looking like central London, people are walking round the bus shelter like on a Oxford Circus crossing and the veterans are just about to arrive having nowhere to leave their cars. This is all that matters. SAD.

deadkenny – put some 10-15 bikers in your beatiful shot, and see how it changes.

Not a major issue. Still looks like a lovely place and the locals on any day like this are still friendly and welcoming I find.

As for Remembrance Sunday, I’ve kept clear of the place to avoid congestion, but I’m sure there are some who’ve forgotten. Then again they hopefully will be joining in.

I might get a group of us to venture over from bristol. Nice to meet other bikers 😀

Putting words in your mouth? If that’s aimed at me then sorry, but I’m only quoting your earlier posts.

wrecker – make sure you book your place in advance to avoid disappointment 😉

deadkenny – not a major issue means you can see some issue in it, which is good. For me being pushed to use a road to walk, as the bloke in the pic, because the only safe place, which is this bit of pavement in front of the bus shelter, is taken over by the cyclists, is just wrong. I guess something bad, like an accident or collision, has to happen to get the ball rolling and start sorting the mess out. I hope noone’s gonna get badly injured.

Well put Z-11

Crossfire – I had some sympathies with you to start with but the more vitriolic comments have let you and your argument down. I can understand the frustrations of living in a honeypot location like Peaslake and yes it does get over-run at times and “some” mtb display extraordinary signs of arrogance and contempt in the Surrey Hills and (judging by some comments) on here.

But it all about balance – and I think MTB also need to understand the sensitivities of local residents and vice versa.

Hey crossfire, have you been to Grindelwald or even the Lakes? They’re truly stunning places that get chocked full with climbers, riders, hikers etc every weekend. Yet you’re loosing your sh*t over a T-junction, a shop selling cake, and a couple of mounds either side that people ride bikes on.

I think you need a reality check as you clearly don’t understand the world you live in. It’s only going to get busier.

theotherjonv – a phrase “is probably Howard” quoted as “is Howard” means something else, doesn’t it? “To be going to do something” doesn’t mean “It may happen”, does it? Seriously… 😯

JCL – I know this is happening and noone’s gonna be able to change it on their own. What’s so difficult in understanding people not being satisfied with the quiet, peaceful place taken over by a group of “strangers”? It’s going to happen anywhere you go.

Crossfire80, to justify my post, any adult (I assume you’re an adult?) who considers letting people’s tyres down, is showing mongish tendencies. Care to disagree?.

Can’t see where the FoH dont like bikes idea comes from

http://www.friendsofthehurtwood.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=150&Itemid=248#BCOC

I wish bikers followed this code of conduct better.

Crossfire
3 answers please:
1) Do you live in Peaslake (dumb question?)
2) Do you use the Hurtwood, ever?
3) Are you a paid up Hurtwood subscriber?

crossfire80 – Member
You won’t be laughing when you realise 2 out of 4 of your car’s tyres are flat, unless you cycle here all the way down from London. There’s no CCTV anywhere, maybe it’s the best time to move your camera from the helmet to the dashboard. Good luck to you

One of the more ill-advised and silly comments posted on STW for a long time (despite the subsequent attempt to backtrack). I see that this is your only “contribution” (sic) to this forum to date, so perhaps I should not be that surprised.

Maybe Paul Hyde or members of Surrey Police need to come and have a quiet word?

4. Do you have any constructive suggestions to sort your issues out?

I had a degree of sympathy even though i think your argument and self contradiction are weak. But back tracking as you are now and claiming your comments were not meant in the way they clearly were, is just pathetic

To avoid doubt, a cut and paste quote:

You won’t be laughing when you realise 2 out of 4 of your car’s tyres are flat, unless you cycle here all the way down from London. There’s no CCTV anywhere, maybe it’s the best time to move your camera from the helmet to the dashboard.

Hardly a warning to be careful for debris on the road is it?