BKB trails on holmbury hill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-KLDo-yZO4

Made me chuckle once or twice….. The “oh” noises in particular! Have you figured out what the noise of metal on metal is? slap of chain on chainstay? Clutch mech not ” on”?
Nice smooth trails…..and so dry……….

Golden Birdies.

I miss the old ending

[Video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHMAA2e9kjY[/Video]

(not me or my vid, but used to love that descent. Rooty and messy)

Too much pointless skidding for me.

When dry, no skids, just a rooty DH run flat out. Well, maybe skid at the end to avoid smashing into cars on the road, which is why they had to change the ending 😉

The new version is an utter mess on the end berms, due to skidding.

Kenny that was the golden age. One had to be there and it wasn’t called “BKB”.

He rides about as well as my Grandmum…. yawn.

What’s with the pink shorts?

Before MTB became chic and when you could park in WB car park?!?!

Yeah – when there had been almost zero trail digging but we thought it was a brilliant place to ride just the same.

It was too gnarly for some [cough]hora[/cough]

Its OK Dango that’s a cheap shot at someone who had just comeback from a stay in Guildford hospital. I thought you’d grown up.

I walked that at least once too.

Are you looking for pebbles 🙂

Were you having problems with a fork that wasn’t quite right?

There was something rewarding about riding Surrey a few years back.

Before the whole GPS mapping thing took off and you had to go ride the area and explore to find the real gems.

I was lucky enough to enjoy several years of shift work the same time as a couple of riding mates so we spent many happy days there, often the only ones if the weather was a bit off.

It is not that I don’t see a benefit in the new era and it is still an area that rewards effort and exploring.

I’m gonna have a bit of a soap box moment…. feel free to ignore.

As for guys walking trail sections and riding like a Grandma…. well we all start somewhere and for some people it is a hobby they enjoy just once a week so they are unlikely to become ard core enduro riders.

Patience and encouragement are good.

That said if you are learning the sport it is worth remembering that there are others that are quicker so be thoughtful about when you drop into a trail and let people through if you are holding them up on a longer trail.

And finally…. on the subject of Surrey Hills.

Please show respect for the local residents and use the car parks. There are flipping loads of them dotted about and an additional 3- 5 minutes ride will see you to some that are normally empty.

Parking in Peaslake is quite frankly lazy and in the long run will result in a backlash.

Be thoughtful, respect all other countryside users and hey…. have fun.

When I first started MTB properly a few years ago and had some time off work, I enjoyed “discovering” the Surrey Hills without maps and help. Found several dead ends at times and some real surprises.

Don’t worry hora, I am happy to admit as a bit of a mincer that I had three false starts on the early roll in near the top of BKB on my first attempt! Ditto the drop on Evian (several times!). Needed to learn how to take drops properly at that time!!

There was something rewarding about riding Surrey a few years back.

Before the whole GPS mapping thing took off and you had to go ride the area and explore to find the real gems.

There’s gems still there and, despite them now being on Strava, they are still not that easy to find and don’t see too many riders, the difference is they may not be on the ‘standard’ hills (Pitch/Holm/Winter) that everyone seems to flock which is fine by me…local trails for local riders 😉

**** me some of you southeners seem to be even more mincey than that **** in the picture up there. 😉

Not all mincing in these Hills 😉

https://vimeo.com/115128849

😀
Loving the tiger suit.

No I’m good. Annoys me when people make capital out of someone’s low point in their riding (2004) post-accident. Funnily the folk who poke never podium (or even near) at DH/etc races 😆

No need to stand on a podium to see that you iz a champion mincer. 😉

I’m talking amateur races too 😆

I love it when people act elitist when they can get close to a podium in a middle aged amateur race. Makes poking fun at others when they were down tragic.

Whenever I read or hear other riders having a pop at someone for not riding something they’re not comfortable doing I always hear the echo-like voice of Jedi…

“…saying MTFU talks to the animal in us…and that’s the quickest way to hurt yourself.”

… or something along those lines.

Sometimes he even appears as a floating, translucent Buster Bloodvessel in a monks robe but that’s probably because I can’t remember what he actually looks like.

Last time I rode that trail was on 9/11. My mate and I had planned to ride straight after work. Tv had been on all day in the office showing the incredible scenes as they unfolded and by 5pm all air traffic had been shut down but nobody really knew what was going on and whether more planes were hijacked. We thought that if it was the end of the world as we knew it, perhaps it was best to go out riding anyway!

Normally the skies over surrey are full of planes and the road traffic noise is quite high but it was dead quiet and no other riders were out . Eerie feeling.

Anyway we had a great ride and soon after both me and my mate moved away so now when people mention BNB I always think Ahhh the Osama Bin Laden trail!

I rode Yoghurt pots last summer. At the bottom two lads said ace isn’t it? I replied its holding up well since I rode it last about 10yrs ago. These lads were about 18. I felt suddenly old…

like it or not though “MTFU” is 95% of what is involved in improving your level of riding.
all the skills coaching in the world doesn’t change the fact that jumping/drops require very little in the way of “skill” its all about committing to the obstacle most jump related crashes involve the rider changing their mind as they approach the take off.

b45her has a point, you can read all the theory you can get your hands on, enjoy some great teaching sessions but ultimately at some point you’ll have to be brave and tackle trail obstacles yourself.

MTFU and then trying something when you haven’t a clue what you should be doing is foolish but saying MTFU to yourself once you know the theory and just need to put it into action is effectively self teaching and has worked for me and I’m sure loads of others over the years.

“MTFU” is 95% of what is involved in improving your level of riding.

saying MTFU to yourself

Agree with both. My point was the unnecessary goading you sometimes come across.

For the record, I have never had any coaching or read any theory about how best to ride like a god. However, I did have the benefit of riding motocross as a nipper so I suppose that helps a bit. Not that I’d consider myself a good as a riding god’s toenail, you understand, but I was apparently born of a bike. Well, it’s been said my mother was a bike but as I type I’m starting to glimpse a whole new meaning to that…

Ortho wards process a lot of people who MTFU’d.

The answer to MTFU is probably found in the amount of regret you have that you didn’t ride it because it was actually within your ability.

If the obstacle is something that you would have real problems with, or you felt that you weren’t riding ‘right’ that day, then you won’t have much regret.

You also have to gauge how much ‘fun’ you would extract from forcing yourself to ride it when it is outside your comfort zone that day – is it worth several months of possible rehab and not riding for a little bit of ‘fun’, verses the amount of fun you would have had in those several months of normal riding, or riding that stuff when in a more ‘sorted’ state.

Most of the time the answer is to not risk the injury.

Plus no-one makes fun of people buying longer travel bikes and 29ers to make the terrain easier.

I get the living daylights ripped out of me for running a 29er…. even today the guys were not taking the piss but casually stated ‘yea those wheels smooth everything out, no wonder you were faster’

Never mind training hard and working on technique over 10 years…. tis the wheels that done it…

Anyway, on thread… rode Barrys/Birdies today and apparently matched my best…. amazed… maybe they are right!

I get the living daylights ripped out of me for running a 29er…. even today the guys were not taking the piss but casually stated ‘yea those wheels smooth everything out, no wonder you were faster’

Come ride with us we’re mostly on 29ers.

Must cause a tear in the space continuum surely?

Well you’d think some 26er riders would take the **** but when we look behind there’s no one there.

That’s the tear. You’ve killed them.

**** me some folks take things a little serious.
I’m ripping a bit of piss out of Hora.
It’s not like he’s real.
No one can be that stuupid can they? 😉