Dango! I thought I was only grumpy Jim in my Esher days (and had my reasons to be fair!) Far more relaxed these days 8)

There are around 70’000 train passengers expected into Boxhill & Westhumble station. 6 carriage train takes around 800 people. Good luck if you are getting the train..

I would park outside of Dorking and cycle – that gives you the option of re-positioning if you want to. Dorking is a complete nightmare on a normal day, the road system can’t cope with the volume of traffic. It will be crazy to try and drive anywhere near the place Tommorow.

Could always watch it from home – see the whole race that way 🙂

Did it in May with one other person – we got lucky with the weather as it was warm, sunny and there was virtually no wind. The weather had been good for a few days so it was bone dry and fast rolling all the way.
Rode a Specialized Camber Comp carbon 29er which was absolutely fantastic – climbed brilliantly and was loads of fun on the the downhill sections (no technical but some are very fast) completed the ride in 10.5hrs, which was a bit quicker than expected.
Would be interested in doing it again, weather permitting of course..

Amasa Back climb then ride Rockstacker and back round to descend Amasa back the way you came up. The descent is fast, rocky, technical and it will take you several hours to remove the grin once you’ve reached the bottom 😀

Porcupine rim either as a loop from town or you can shuttle up to LPS / UPS and ride down taking in all the higher level singletrack / techy stuff and then finish with the Porc Rim singletrack which is mind blowing. Did this 4 times on the last trip, sooo good ! You can as mentioned above also do the Whole Enchilada which is all the way from about 10’000ft in the La Sal mtns down through Hazard County and eventually Porcupine rim. That’s something like 30 miles of downhill – it doesn’t get much better.

Slickrock is fun and a good workout so worth doing if you have a couple of hours spare. Good for warming up on and experiencing the grip! Careful though, it’s like sliding along on sandpaper if you do come off.. I can vouch for that.

Poison Spider including the Portal. Walk the life or death section and enjoy the downhill afterwards – another technical epic.

Rode some of the Moab Brand trails last time. They were fun but I just found myself wanting to be back on Porc or Amasa..

Gemini Bridges is worth a shuttle and ride back to town. There are some super fast jeep track sections and the scenery is amazing. There are some good singletrack sections that loop off now too.

May ride White Rim next time. Have not tried that yet and the boat trip back looks fun.

Have been 3 times and found the Chilli Pepper bike shop the best. Friendly, helpfull and they can arrange shuttles etc for you. We tried elsewhere too last time and got messed around a bit. Chilli Pepper / Coyote are so on the ball they even called our hotel one morning to see if we wanted to go back up Porc Rim !

Good luck with the ride, I hope the weather works out ok !

Rode the SDW in a day in May. Got lucky with the weather as it had been sunny / dry for a week before we went and there was hardly any wind either. Hope to have a go at the double next, just waiting on a few days of dry weather.. may be a while!

The Omega Man (1971) was a remake of The Last Man on Earth (1964)

Ok, so I am Legend is a remake of a remake. Still better than the Omega Man 🙂

I am legend. Better than The Omega Man.

Fudge, they are in Horsham, west Sussex. Decent riding nearby (Surrey Hills) and a fair few campsites too I think 😉

Can’t comment on the Covert but I’ve ridden the Dixon a few times and it’s a fantastic bike – extremely capable as an all-rounder and laterally one of the stiffest suspension MTB’s I’ve ridden to date. Contact Freeborn and organise a demo, they have medium and large available.

Funny how an observation can turn into a “gang up” on the original poster but in all fairness who cares whether other people walk, climb in granny, power up the hill flat out. We’re all stronger in certain aspects of our riding than others. For me it depends on the type of ride it is – if it’s a flat out XC ride then I’d rather try and stay on the bike whether that means granny ring or not. If it’s more of a chilled one and the group prefer to walk it then that’s cool. Funny thing is nobody would actually stop mid ride and question a complete stranger “why aren’t you riding up this hill” or “why are you using your granny ring” – maybe that’s the way to go ?

I rode the SDW on Sunday, West to East and really enjoyed it. Never really ridden on the South Downs before and tend to be more into singletrack etc but a friend invited me along and I thought it sounded like a good challenge. It’s not the most challenging riding in terms of technical sections and most of it is double track but there are some really fun sections, some super fast bits and some pretty challenging climbs. It’s a real journey and certainly got me more into the idea of doing more that my usual couple of hours on the Surrey Hills..
Anyway, managed it in just over 10 hours and was pretty pleased with that. Felt pretty good on the day but on Monday and Tuesday I was exhausted! Bike was a Specialized Camber Expert Carbon with Command Post and it was superb – perfect tool for the job.

Ignore the negatives! The fact that this chap is attempting 3 times in a row gets my respect that’s for sure.

4 times ? Maybe he will 😀

Only been playing with it a little recently and tend to use it as a tool to improve on my own rides (eg commute to work) rather than compete with others. If not taken too seriously I think it’s a good thing. Taking risks to be KOM, especially on the road is just sad !

That’s the stuff I was hoping for! Ride was 100miles ish and longer than the usual ride though the pain started about halfway in. Have always ridden flats and my feet positioning tend to point slightly outwards. Have never clipped in, something I’ve been thinking about though.

Will definately push for a sports physio as I don’t want this to become a long term problem. Also expecting the usual “take these, keep an eye on it and come back if it worsens” from the GP.

Nedrapier that is very interesting as I have ridden an inline for years and the bike I was on had a layback..

Appointment booked, just hoping for a few opinions. There must be plenty on here who’ve had similar.

There’s no set rule – ride what works for you. Anyone who tells you otherwise is talking rubbish. I have a hardtail and a 160mm full suss, overall prefer the 160mm full suss – faster, more traction and therefore more efficent.

If people are honest from the start and admit they have seen something for a good price online then it gives the LBS a chance to offer the price match and build a relationship with the customer and in many cases can lead to a regular customer.

If the customer is sneaky and uses your stock to size things up and then buy online it is a bit out of order in my opinion. Most of the time you figure out pretty quickly if the customer is doing this and again you can attempt to win them over as a customer.

If the customer is basically just an arse and does what the chap mentioned above and brag about buying elsewhere they are purely trying to get a reaction, not dissimilar to a forum troll and they obviously aren’t the sort of person you’d want in your shop anyway, so they may aswell be told to get lost.

Just my opinion..

Take a look at the Devinci Dexter or Dixon – excellent bikes and lifetime warranty on the frame included, plus a little different to the norm.

If you have a good LBS then it’s always worth getting an opinion from there = far more qualified than STW experts 🙄

Worth a try but it’s unlikely to be the rebound. Talas forks don’t tend to top out even with rebound backed right off.

Surrey Hills are a complete mudfest.. BKB is one of the only trails that is coping with the constant rain / use. Some of the other trails are fun to ride with the slippery mud/roots but the erosion is terrible and the “avoid the puddle” riders are just making it worse.

Rode Swinley on Monday. Have to say the manmade stuff there has been built really well. All the berms have drainage so the trails were pretty much dry and tonnes of fun – plus everyone was friendly which was nice 😮

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As long as it rolls.. Use reliable kit and know how to fix stuff so don’t tend to have any issues.

Got a friend telling me we’re doing it in a day at the end of May, just hope it is dry for a few days before we go for it.

Stumpy every time 😉

Trev, I think we’ve all had spells where we haven’t been feeling it. Force yourself out on the bike a couple of times and it won’t be long before the buzz is back – guarantee it.

Thanks Gordon, great pics and report. I was heading off to bed about an hour ago (off riding early in the morning) but just sat here and read / viewed your entire trip!

Must hook up and do that ride down your way soon..

Good story and some great pictures too. A good friend of mine got me into north shore stuff back in about 2000 and after watching films like Kranked and NDX repeatedly a few of us started building and riding some stuff here in the UK. With some other stuff that was built close by meant we had a great little UK shore thing going on for a couple of years. It all got taken down eventually (that’s another story) but we finished in style and a group of us did a 3 week trip to Whistler / Vancouver Island and finished with a week on the North Shore – amazing. I actually preffered the North Shore to Whistler in many ways, it just had an amazing feel to it and quite simply makes you ride better – if you are lucky enough to live there then hats off! Enjoy and keep the ride reports coming 😀 I’m loving trail riding at the moment and haven’t ridden any woodwork for a while but will certainly get over there again at some point – your post is a good reminder of why..

Nat Geo
Empire

An interesting thread.. For the most part I agree with Bwaarps first comment – whatever works best for you.
Personally I find the outside foot down works well for most situations, and for flatter corners getting a little more weight over the front of the bike, that’s just me, I’m no Steve Peat.
Braking whilst cornering is a mistake I used to make, once I got out of that habit I definately got faster overall.

11 years old now and not great quality but a self-take and brings back some good riding memories 🙂

Not an action shot, my mate chilling for a minute – Moab, Utah 2011

Liking your work, nice vid!

Specialized Hardrock Disc is a decent starter bike

Sounds like your battery is fully charged. Mine usually red while charging then goes out once charged.

I installed the easy edit software at first but don’t bother with it now – just use a micro sd to USB adaptor or card reader and run clips via media player classic, edit with premiere etc.

Agree with mint imperial. 60fps at 720 is best.

Ah yes Amasa back, also one of my faves! Was out there in October, rode Rockstacker too this time which was a nice extension. You’ve got me now, I need to post some pics too!

Nice Digger, and I thought 3 trips to Moab was a little Obsessive 🙂

Second pic down, Porc rim or something else ?

And yeah, it’s definately got the wow factor.

Have not ridden Tahoe but can certainly vouch for Moab. If you like the following I strongly suggest you go 🙂

Long all day rides

Endless fast flowy singletrack with countless natural jumps and drops

Huge rock gardens

Mega tech sections to negotiate

Techy climbs

Techy descents..

Amazing views

Rides that include almost 30 miles of downhill starting in snow peaked mountains and ending with probably the most awesome section of singletrack you’ve probably ever ridden

Feel free to drop me a mail if you want more info, as you may have guessed I am a big fan, just this week decided to go again next year 😮

Have been to Moab 3 times, I’d say that helmet cam video is a very “real” insight into what the Portal is like. For the most part it’s perfectly safe to ride and no different to loads of Moab trails, but in the middle area there are a couple of slighty more tricky obstacles which wouldn’t be much if it wasn’t for the fact that there most definately is a high risk of death should you slip / fall / make a mistake. Personally I walk the section with the real exposure. I’ve no doubt I could ride it all, but it’s a little different when you are actually there..
The best section is actually the tech downhill section after the Portal anyway 🙂

If you’ve not been to Moab all I can say is go, it’s awesome.

And then jump back on the Camber 🙂