Wasn’t it great 😀

Had a shortish blast around Gibbet Hill and the Devils Punch Bowl. Cold but worth it. Photo attached taken at 0840 but feel somewhat belittled by BigJim, ahhhh his photos are beautiful.

Ouch…

+1 for Sonos. This is my industry And what I do a lot. I do like the squeeze box but for sheer ease of use and simple set up nothing touches Sonos for what you want to do. You need a Sonos Connect which retails for £279 plus some form of user interface. If you have an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad you just download the Sonos App for free, if not you’ll either have to use your Laptop, buy a Sonos Controller or buy one of the above. For cost effectiveness the iPod Touch makes most sense as you can do so much more with it. Make sure you have a hard wired network connection by your Hi-Fi, if not you’ll need a Sonos bridge (£39) to connect the system to your network, this will wirelessly transmit to the Connect.

Best bit is adding extra rooms and having the ability to play tunes everywhere wirelessly.

Ha, last thing I want is a demo. Rode five bikes and lost sleep during my buying process, very happy with my new bike so I’m not going to try anything else for a while just in case. Nice bikes have a tendency to be….nice 😀

Like your Firebire Hugor, I think the 5.7 is just about the best looking bike around with the same frame colour you have.

Sugdnar – meeting point on thread. Tuesday ride link

OK. Current plan tabled is to meet at the Rose and Thistle in Frimley Green. Postcode GU16 6HT at 0930 on Tuesday 20th.

Sugdnar, we have a guide and a meeting point. I’m on my iPad and can’t remember the name of the pub, I’ll let you know in the morning. Nice one, see you Tuesday.

Anyone else up for a ride on Tuesday next week.

So far we have five confirmed and we’re off to Porridge Pot Hill / Tunnel hill near Farnborough. 0930 start.

sugdner,

I need to update the other post. We’ve done a little behind the scenes emailing and it looks like we’re off to Farnborough. Porridge pot & Tunnel hill. Another place a few of us haven’t been.

Nice call for the 29th, can you join us on Tuesday or are you still stuck for time?

Blimey that was close 😳

Family day with relatives on the 29th but guess where… Windlesham, all of 10 minutes down the road 😛

Unless sh*t happens I’ll be there for 9am and should be able to do a good couple of hours before the phone starts ringing!

Oh, I’ll have the Silver Orange Five.

Oliverholder, I’m a ridiculously early riser so could easily make an 8am start even with a 45m drive but 9am is probably a bit more realistic…

I’ll need to clear it with residential management services but should be able to swing one of the days. 29th might be the best for me. My only request would be for an early start. Always easier to accommodate riding and family if the two don’t overlap too much.

LOL

You’ve stolen my thread… 😀

Yeah, I’m up for this and the sooner the better. 2nd or 7th would be fine for me.

I have to hold my hand up and admit that I’m not very good at communication, but the rest of my family is great so I don’t think it’s much of a problem. My Mum gets a little peeved when I haven’t called for a while and I just love winding her up with one word responses to her emails 😆

My old Man is a nightmare, you call him and after ‘hello’ it seems he want to go, but that’s just him. He’s cr*p on the phone.

Most important thing is do you actually get along when together? As long as someone makes the effort and you talk or see each other on a fairly regular basis them what’s the problem.

My XXL arrived yesterday. I have a 45″ chest and (cough) 38″+ waist. The XXL is more or less perfect. For £36 you don’t expect much so pretty chuffed really. Exactly what I needed and about £100 cheaper than the stuff I was looking at in the stores 🙂

theflatboy, not sure which is closest but Ascot must be pretty good. I’m sure someone would pick you up if need be. I’ll have to drive anyway so rack on the car with room for one more.

Looks like this is turning into two rides. I’ll start a new thread for Swinley in the new year. I’m in for that… 😛

Scud, how about a weekend some time in the new year? If we head off elsewhere next week I’d still be up for a bash with someone to show the way.

Thanks ti-pin_man. OK, that’s the earliest we start then…

By the way we’re five now.

Thanks Sugdenr, we have four confirmed now and some who will attend subject to where we ride, so I’m going to wait until the weekend and choose a venue that works for all. A lot depends on timing, as some will be coming from town we may not start until mid morning.

Perhaps people could let me know the earliest they are happy meeting? I’m a early bird so no problems my end.

“We ride with spd’s nailed to our bare feet…”

Who creates this stuff? Superb…

Oxnop, did you put that vid together? If so what was the tune? Brilliant.

+1 for Fender Bender. I went for the slightly stronger 2.1. Works flawlessly. Nothing to the rear, doesn’t bother me and looks awful IMO, whatever your bike.

That’s four confirmed. Starting to shape up nicely.

If you picture the PB from above, the good riding I’m referring to starts near the old A3 on the left, a little south of Punch Bowl lane. On the opposite side of the PB from here is the wood that I’m referring to. I think you’re right about riding near the YH but we don’t go near there. We head down the arms and across the bottom.

We might be talking about different places, my ability to describe accurately is pretty rubbish. Your welcome to join us for a ride sometime and I’ll show you in person. The Cafe does a great breakfast if you need any other encouragement!!!

Re this pre Christmas ride…

So far we have three confirmed for Tuesday 20th. Venue still open so just availability and interest needed just now. If you want to join us please email me directly and include your mobile number. I’ll coordinate everyone and make a decision about the venue on Sunday subject to numbers etc…

Pretty bloody excited… thats a ride on Sunday and Tuesday 😀

Christmas rocks…

Ahhh, I think I know exactly where you mean, there are some obvious motor bikes trails in the woods to the left as you climb through the woods I described. I’ve never been to the top of that ridge so cannot comment. The good riding is on the far side of the PB.

There are several ways out of the PB up quite obvious tracks, but the best way out (IMO) is to get right to the bottom… Find a trail that leads all the way down to Hyde Lane. I only know one which is a hoot on a bike but I’m sure there are more. When you hit Hyde Lane turn left (west) and follow the road for a little while. Only about 500m as I do it. The lane heads south downhill then makes a fairly sharp U turn north, on this turn is a path that winds back up all the way to the Cafe through a beautiful wood. Just remember to take the left track at the first junction, can’t miss it.

teamhurtmore, there are some pretty cool routes that navigate the arms of the bowl and end up at the bottom. TBH I’m still finding new stuff as I only moved to the area last year and got back on my bike late this summer (kids!). It doesn’t offer the variety that Pitch, Holmbury & Leith have as it’s a smaller hill; but I do like my local routes. I spent three hours grinning like a child as I rode my new Five for the first time around my normal route …

The steep downhill runs off Gibbet are getting a little slippery but the rest is holding up well. I grew up in Forest Green and went back to Pitch Hill for the first time in ages the week before last. Guided by people ‘in-the-know’ we did the usual trails and it was starting to get a bit chopped up. The PB is fine by comparison.

Piss take – of course it is. That’s why we’re still at it…

I’m organizing a ride next tuesday in the Surrey area for STW members, perhaps we should have a little competition and the person with the worst bike buys the first round at the pub afters… 😀

Loum, nice one. I think Swinley is first choice as it’s a bit of a new adventure for some of us, definitely would like a guide otherwise Gibbet / Punch Bowl would be fun. The trails are in good nick.

If you’re in pop me an email so I can get in touch.

We need to find this guy…

Words fail me…

Shortcut, is that you in as well? I’m going to pump the forum for a day or two until we have a confirmed team. If you’re up for it send me an email so I can coordinate.

Piha, should be fun… 😀

Sugdenr, I can lead around Gibbet and Peaslake but Swinley is new to both myself and ti_pin_man, would be fun to have a look see. Two questions…

What time would you need to be away?
Do you know a good pub to finish at?

I’m planning a morning start, say around 9am/10am with lunch time finish so people can be away around 2pm/3pm, earlier if necessary. If we go to Swinley someone will need to step up and guide to make it a worthwhile visit, don’t really fancy blundering around and missing the good stuff!

OK, that’s two of us and we’ve provisionally arranged for Tuesday 20th. Location TBC but Swinley Forest / Gibbet Hill / Peaslake are all possibilities.

My plan is to pull together a decent XC route with a beer and sandwich waiting at a nice country pub at the end. The more the merrier so pipe up if you fancy a blast before Christmas.

Yes it does. We clubbed together and bought some with the return on our hedge fund.

that’s hilarious… 😆

ti_pin_man I’ve sent you an email. Maybe we can pull together a small group of STW riders for a blast and a few Christmas beers.

Sorry thats_not_my_name, flat out this week preparing for time off… will let you know how much fun it is 🙂

But you can adjust on the fly, not just the top / bottom of every hill. Hit a sudden drop or steep technical rooty section you can have the seat 100mm lower in a second without stopping. Reverb was the best pound for pound addition on my new bike, you appreciate it all the time. To hell with the weight.

I think he was having a laugh… As we all are, this tread has disintegrated.