I’m trying to use Swinley to train for XC and am coming to the conclusion that although it’s better than nothing it’s not great.

The problems for me are that large sections of it are fast, unforgiving and not something you can push the limits and fall off on without much pain/damage. One of these days I’m going to lose concentration on a faster bit and have a big stack.

I could do laps of Labyrinth/Deerstalker but that gets a bit repetitive (even though it is very good) and even that is not somewhere to push the limits too much given the number of trees in close proximiity.

Is there anything nearby that’s easy to access that’s softer and more technical – Crowthorne? Unfortunately I missed the Autumn Classic – is the course easy to follow?

Fitness training, or skills?

For the former, the road.

For the latter I’d say Swinley is pretty good – anywhere you want to push hard crashing will hurt, but I’d say most people will get scared before having a massive crash at Swinley! It’s rather bermy after all!

But swinley is quite representitve of XC racing, I can’t honestly see how you could train better than there for xc racing.

Skills and skills while breathing out my *$se.

I don’t recognise much of Swinley in the Gorricks…. maybe a bit of tanktraps and deerstalker/labyrinth but the bermed concrete isn’t representative is it?

They don’t do XC racing there any more, the only venue which actually used any of the Swinley trails anyway was Surrey Hill, and that fell out of favour as Swinley got more popular as a riding destination.

XC race courses are so diverse it’s impossible to find one place that represents them all.

No, but not all of swinley is bermed concrete. All the other stuff still exists, its still there. Riding blue red blue may not be ideal, but swinley is still the same forest it has always been

You do also ride right past Crowthorne Wood, so you can turn off and go for a mooch there, but it’s not more or less representative of XC racing per se, just very slightly different.

Cheers – looks like I’ll continue to go for it on Stickler, hold something in reserve for the motorway, have fun in the more natural woody bits and explore Crowthorne.

For the latter I’d say Swinley is pretty good – anywhere you want to push hard crashing will hurt, but I’d say most people will get scared before having a massive crash at Swinley! It’s rather bermy after all!

[video]http://youtu.be/1twoWkOwEbY[/video]

OTOH I really wasn’t ‘on it’ that day, you know the feeling when your legs just don’t want to go as quick as they should, and nothing flows? That was one of those days, topped off by dragging the brakes over that bit of loose gravel and boom-crack.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/hk7hnv]Untitled[/url] by thisisnotaspoon, on Flickr

Most, not all! Plenty of ambulances in attendance at Swinley!

Ouch – might go even slower…..

I don’t know why I felt the need to watch that given that I’m heading there tomorrow, but I did anyway. Ouch…

What are the conditions like there at the moment? Fancy a trip maybe next week. I only live near Newbury but haven’t been there apart from the odd race in years gone by.

Fitness training, or skills?

For the former, the road.

This.

You are never going to replicate a race scenario on your own even you go to one of the race courses. For that you need forty or fifty others all trying to go faster than you in front and behind you. Which you can only really get in a …. well, race really.

So you want to go faster at Gorrick style low distance races , as opposed to 12 /24 hr events.
Intervals, hill intervals, 1hr max efforts on the road bike plus some skills training for improved braking and cornering.
Get a HR meter , work out your max HR , try and sit at 85% – 90% of that on an xc ride to replicate the intense effort of trying to stay on the wheel in front.

Thisisnotaspoon, if it makes you feel any better I crashed in the same way at the end of the new bit (whose camp?) I lost a fair chunk out of my shin on a badly cut cable tie, easy to get complacent at swinley with the easy flowing trails/high grip surface.

Nigh on impossible to train at a specific venue, my local riding is either speeder bike fast through trees you will clip your bars on if you’re not on it or the same but a mud fest littered with slippy bark free roots.

You then go an race at Cannock which is basically the same, Lee Quarry which is a rocky death trap (slight over exaggeration maybe) Manchester urban parks where dodging stoners and dog poo is the order of the day or Mountain Mayhem where it’s a bit like local / cannock but with a few more slick limestone pebbles.

Fitness training, or skills?

For the former, the road.

This.

+2

So you want to go faster at Gorrick style low distance races , as opposed to 12 /24 hr events.
Intervals, hill intervals, 1hr max efforts on the road bike plus some skills training for improved braking and cornering.
Get a HR meter , work out your max HR , try and sit at 85% – 90% of that on an xc ride to replicate the intense effort of trying to stay on the wheel in front.

+1

Thanks – some interesting ideas but as I said it’s for skills and skills while breathing out my *$se not trying to do race specific training other than wanting to get off concrete.

You could try going over to Bedgebury, if you don’t mind the drive. That’s a fairly pedally ride with some twisty singletrack.

What are the conditions like there at the moment? Fancy a trip maybe next week. I only live near Newbury but haven’t been there apart from the odd race in years gone by.

Rode there yesterday. Very wet. The red “diversion” near the old Seagull was like riding on half-set concrete.

Most, not all! Plenty of ambulances in attendance at Swinley!

Broken that arm 3 times now, quite proud to have walked out/home/to the van after all three.

Thanks – some interesting ideas but as I said it’s for skills and skills while breathing out my *$se not trying to do race specific training other than wanting to get off concrete.

Find some other racers and go ride with them? The Trolls Thursday night ride is quite* quick.

Either that or just do laps of Swinley and record it on Strava. I (very briefly) held the lap record when it first opened at about 1:20 before it rapidly went under and hour when some fast people turned up.

*I went out once and was breathing out of orifices I didn’t know I had.