Surrey Hills organised downhill event

Really Jedi? You don’t think there is a market for people to stop during their timed run on a DH/Enduro event and ask how they can go off a 2′ drop without crippling themselves? How strange.

Jedi, eyeing up a new field of dreams? 😈

You could call it the Chalky Hill of shattered dreams

You could call it the Chalky Hill of shattered dreams collar bones

That’s catchy, well done 🙂

My over-active mind is thinking about how this could possibly work at a DH event. Basically, Tony would have to ride along next to the competitor shouting “Mental Skill 2, Key Core Skill 3, Key Core Skill 2”, etc., and then get a fiver off them at the bottom before having to leg it back up the hill for the next competitor.

Forgive my naivety, I’m trying to work this out… how can a drop be ‘boarded’?

I get it with doubles and what not, but surely a drop is a drop, are they adding ‘downslopes’ to all of these drops? In which case they will no longer be drops, they will be downslopes!

I can’t think of any way you can make a drop easier, whilst keeping it as a drop, without just adding a chicken run.

I can’t think of any way you can make a drop easier, whilst keeping it as a drop, without just adding a chicken run.

If you go faster, the boarded drop is still a drop. If you slow right down, you can roll it. I know a few local drops that are only that if you’re carrying speed etc.

My over-active mind is thinking about how this could possibly work at a DH event. Basically, Tony would have to ride along next to the competitor shouting “Mental Skill 2, Key Core Skill 3, Key Core Skill 2”, etc., and then get a fiver off them at the bottom before having to leg it back up the hill for the next competitor.

Couldn’t he follow someone down during the practice session and then point out any basics at the bottom or whilst riding/pushing back up. Or stop halfway to run through some points. Practice being practice i presume its not timed so stopping halfway wouldn’t have any impact. Having never done one of his skills days i have no idea how he lays out the training. The method above seems to work for ski instructors around the world and there’s a crossover between the two sports in that they’re both gravity assisted, static viewing doesn’t really work and the terrain is ever changing.

Forgive my naivety, I’m trying to work this out… how can a drop be ‘boarded’?

I get it with doubles and what not, but surely a drop is a drop, are they adding ‘downslopes’ to all of these drops? In which case they will no longer be drops, they will be downslopes!

I can’t think of any way you can make a drop easier, whilst keeping it as a drop, without just adding a chicken run.

You might be over-thinking this a bit.

shout out while you’re riding??? how strange 🙂

I once heckled riders at a Hit the North evemt. I got some funny looks from some competitors with words like ‘get off the **** brakes its a climb’ 8)

Pook and John C do you remember?

Grievous Angel makes the news. Slighty shoddy reporting as its hardly new!!! cant see where 100 metres of trees cut down…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/71958789@N00/6195629768/sizes/l/in/photostream/

‘Bandit runs’ 😕

Not the best press. 🙁

Perhaps they were thinking of BMX Bandits?

in 12 years of riding mtb i have heard some cringing termanology but ‘bandit runs’ wtf i think someomes having a laugh with the dorking ad reporter.
it really is complete bull how these things are always reported as troubled bored youth vs the authorities. kids have nothing to do so they build ‘bandit runs’ what an absolute crock. most ppl on here will have a good idea who built the trails in question and those people can hardly be described as bored kids. when will ppl realise mtb is an adult activity. its like the dorking ad have decided what the story is going to be before / instead of doing any research

Okay, a few point here…
1) There certainly wasn’t 100mtrs of trees felled in that area, that’s just a plain lie. The lines destroyed followed natural features in the main with, granted, a few jumps built with old logs lying around from previous forestry work.
2) The badger set was built by the badger after the jump was made, not the other way around. Riders generally went around the badger set after it was built.
3) These trails were only found and destroyed by the Ranger after Rich from Williams Extreme Events showed them to the Ranger as part of his plans for the mini-downhill event he was planning for the area and had received permission to build.
4) MVDC, The National Trust and English Heritage had all given the go-ahead for this organised event on that site. It was the local Ranger who objected after initially agreeing the site.
5) Nett result is that the proposed downhill event has now had to be pulled and Rich is currently trying to find a new venue.
6) The irony here is that by attempting to ‘formalise’ the trails, we’ve now lost them. This then reinforces the view that it’s better to build and be quiet rather than negotiate proper access.
7) Dorking Advertisers reporting of these events is therefore biased, ill-informed and largely factually incorrect.

what dorkingtrailpixie said, 100m of hacked down trees my arse!! and the jump in the picture was built way before the badger arrived.

So cyclists end up with bad publicity in the local press and two decent trails have been lost thanks to this event which most locals guessed they were never likely to get permission for anyway. Yay, go Williams Extreme Events! 😐

“we’ve found over 100 metres of them have been hacked out through the wood to create this course.”

As others have said, this is blatantly untrue.

Has anyone contacted the head ranger to ask why they lied to the paper (if the bit about the trees is indeed that)?

Seems they’re going to be using this as an excuse to take wider action againsty cyclists and built trails.

I darent’ go onto their online forum thing to find out what comments have been made about mtbers.

3) These trails were only found and destroyed by the Ranger after Rich from Williams Extreme Events showed them to the Ranger as part of his plans for the mini-downhill event he was planning for the area and had received permission to build.

Wow. Nice one.

From the William’s Extreme Events site….

Hi everyone
I wanted to let you all know about the events that happened earlier this week regarding the first round of the Surrey Stomper .
Unfortunately the local Ranmore Ranger had demolished most of the trails and has made such a fuss about events on the hill, that we have been forced to move the event to another location at the last minute,
Where this is hugely disappointing and inconvenient for all the time and effort spent on this on this, we are not going to let it ruin the series.
We are currently in talks with a couple of the estate owners in the same local area, which are also renowned for their steep tricky and fantastic trails, and will postpone slightly and kick things off again in a few weeks.
I will post the new area and date as soon as we get it cemented. Every thing else will be going ahead as planned.
Apologies to all, and let me know if you have any further questions on the usual lines.
Cheers,

Rich

So what are peoples views in general about this proposed downhill event then? I see it one of two ways…
1) A bad idea as it draws attention to trails that have been there for years hence them getting destroyed. Leave the status quo as it is and just get on with things quietly and in a ‘locals only’ manner.

or..

2) This is a good idea as it brings more riders into the area and helps open dialogue with land owners and gets us access.

Really don’t know myself, can see both sides. If the Hurtwood area is anything to go by as a ‘control’ to this then I tend to think the former.

I can’t see that bringing more riders into an area with a high proportion of cheeky trails and a number of access issues already is goign to cause anythign but damage to the mtbers cause.

It’s not like the Surrey Hills aren’t already well used!

Why did Rich just not contact private land owners originally – there’s no access issues, the ‘shared use’ issues are minimised.

From what I’ve heard the council were in support of the event, but it’s the NT who did the trashing because it’s on their land.

I think we can guess from Rich’s reply where the ‘new’ location is likely to be.

From what I’ve heard the council were in support of the event, but it’s the NT who did the trashing because it’s on their land.

The NT did give permission at a higher level, it was the local Ranger who objected and the higher level gave way under pressure from him. It was the local ranger who then trashed the trails.

I personally think it’s a bad thing.

It’s a very sensitive area, which is already well used, and has well known ‘conflicts’ between land owners/user groups. Having events like this will only give ammunition to the horse riders/walkers etc who will manage to twist it to make cyclists look bad I suspect.

The last thing we need is more riders really! I’d love to be proven wrong though, and wish Williams Extreme all the best in promoting future events.

Can’t really see what good could possibly come of it to be honest.

The NT did give permission at a higher level, it was the local Ranger who objected and the higher level gave way under pressure from him. It was the local ranger who then trashed the trails.

I really can’t see the nt having given more than a tentative ‘maybe’ without input locally ie the ranger.

While the series is a good idea, I reckon wwaswas is on the money- private landowners were probably the only way to go.

Anyone know whether those were the only two sections broken up on the hillside?

I don’t see what’s wrong with a locals only approach. It’s not even really locals only – it’s really an anyone who can be bothered to come to the location and find the trails approach.

I found them all myself… i’m not even particularly local. Do some leg work – they’re pretty easy to find. Or were before Mr Ranger went on a trail of destruction.

Anyone know whether those were the only two sections broken up on the hillside?

I was up there on Sat and found nothing else touched on Ranmore.

Rebuilding is going to be put off until the new year.

Rebuilding is going to be put off until the new year.

I’d give it longer than that. I reckon the Ranger will have his eye on that area for a number of years now. Gut feeling says it’s the end of riding on that part of Ranmore for a long time.

There were issues with the NT already as regards access and cheeky trails already, right?

The ranger will have known about the trails on the land I would guess, having worked for the NT as a Warden a long while ago they’ll have a pretty good idea of the entaire area they cover and notice any changes or purhaps that was just me.

The issue I’m wondering about is whether the event has caused the trails to be destroyed, think it maybe rather unfair to blame Rich for this.

The NT’s recent policies toward Mtbers does seem to be more progressive than it has ever been before so the opening of dialoge with them can only be seen as a good thing, no?
The ranger is most likely to have taken issue with the badger set at a guess regardless of the trails having been there before them.

Feel free to correct me on these points, and I don’t have any affiliation to Rich or Williams Extreme events either.
My knowledge of the area is from a few years ago when I lived and rode the trails on a regular basis.

I’d give it longer than that. I reckon the Ranger will have his eye on that area for a number of years now. Gut feeling says it’s the end of riding on that part of Ranmore for a long time.

Yep, agree with DTP. Just been for a stroll up there and the damage itself looks fairly superficial but with signs like this up I would say the ranger is going to be watching for a long time to come.

The ranger will have known about the trails on the land I would guess

Given his response and actions, I’m not convinced he did which, tbh, does surprise me particularly as the trails have been around for quite a while. It always frustrated me that riders tended to leave skid marks as they came back on to the main path as I thought this would highlight the trail but this didn’t alert the ranger.

Down at the very bottom of Grievous Angel there has been a bright blue tent pitched for weeks, presumably used and left, but nobody has really noticed it. I would have thought it would have been spotted and disposed of quickly…things can easily go unnoticed.

It’s hard to see what good the event would have done, except for the few people who may have made a small profit, and I’m not sad to see the (temporary) back of it.

This isn’t some shapeless forest in the back end of nowhere. Surrey Hills is an AONB that gets a lot of use and pressure from many groups already, it needs careful management with a view to conservation so it’s available to the people coming behind us to enjoy just as we do.

Economically it’s one of the UK’s most affluent area, any argument on bringing in tourism revenue for the benefit of the local economy is redundant.

The ranger’s just doing their job.

If badger sets are protected then it make no difference if the badger was there before, it’s there now. Give the stripy fellas a break eh.

There’s plenty of space and great riding out there for everyone, and should continue to be so if we’re all a little sensible, and sometimes, a tad discrete.

And the people who build these trails know they’re likely to have a finite lifespan.

From the beginning of this I was under the impression an event on that land was a bad idea.

Should it be wet it will be horrible to ride anyway! And we all know the legality of the trails is questionable so why draw attention to them by holding and event there. Far better, if you really must to do something in Redlands or one of the other private areas where riding is tolerated and the land owner turns a blind eye. Then to make it clear the land is private and access is ONLY granted for the event etc.etc.

So by running this event by conjecture, local press trolling and rumour its going to royally put back attitudes towards mountain bikers in the area?

Always a bad idea in my view. Irony is that GA had been barely used in the past few years!

Redlands or one of the other private areas where riding is tolerated and the land owner turns a blind eye.

Absolutely not. Redlands, in recent years, has been one of the most policed pieces of woodlands in the area both by the Forestry Commission but more so by the chap who has the shooting rights up there. Redlands, in my opinion, needs an even more cautious approach to riding there than many other areas of the Surrey Hills. Anyone who’s been confronted by the chap who has the shooting rights will testify for this – he’s VERY aggressive! Softly, softly please with Redlands. We’ve seen the Police up there several times this year making threats to confiscate bikes and prosecute. My understanding is at present, anyone caught trail building on Redlands WILL be prosecuted.
The land owner doesn’t turn a blind eye, he lives abroad so therefore doesn’t know the day to day events up there. He’s also trying to get out of the lease he has with the Forestry Commission and is using bikers as leverage. The Forestry Commission have a duty of care and if he can prove that they aren’t policing the area, he can potentially get out of the lease. It’s therefore in the Forestry Commissions interest to not allow biking.

Yes, because everyone other than the cyclists will only see it as a bad thing, and it will portrayed as thus.

Dear event ‘organisers’, support for your event seems to be errr, underwhelming, from your potential customer base!