themonkeysdidit

A leisurely start time today as both Warren and I wanted to catch the end of the Grand Prix before heading out to the trails. By the time we parked up it was probably gone 11 but this just meant the sun was out in all its glory and we had high hopes of dry and dusty trails.

We started out blasting down BKB and Reservoir Dogs. This is where our hopes and dreams of dust were dashed; anywhere under the tree canopy was littered with surprisingly deep puddles, ready to catch you out if you weren’t careful. After we were spat out back on to the road we began the climb up to the start of Christmas pudding. This was much drier (once you got past the first section) and by now we were flowing nicely. After eating the spray off Warrens back wheel as he ploughed through a particularly murky puddle we were back in Peaslake and I was picking lumps of – what I hoped were – mud out of my teeth.

Here we climbed back up to the top of Holmbury Hill and munched on some home made (cheers Gem!) breakfast bars* while we decided where to head next. As we still had plenty of time we decided to head out and pick a trail we hadn’t ridden before. This turned out to be a great plan as we found a nice new single track route that obviously hadn’t been ridden for a while as there were several points along it where you had to really crouch down the side of the bike to avoid the low tree branches. Following on from this we found another new track (to us anyway) that flowed incredibly well and ended in a nice and fast downhill section. I’ll try and find the name of this one as it looked quite popular. These new routes were so good, we climbed back to the top of Holmbury and did them again, this time we weren’t so reserved as we knew where we going and what lay ahead so could blast along much more. At the start of the second the trail we came across a fellow group of riders about to embark on the same route. They looked far more competent than us than us so we let them go first, and then had no trouble keeping up with them!

After a final climb back to the top of Holmbury we took the new Doc trail and finished down Telegraph road. This almost went to plan! The first minor problem was landing a jump at speed. We were flying pretty quickly towards the jump and I made a fantastic take off. However, the landing was more than my bike was designed for and I not only bottomed out the rear (oo-err obviously) but also the front. The rear wasn’t too much of a surprise as I ride a hardtail and the tyre preasures were low for traction. However, the front had (admittedly only) 100mm of suspension to go through before the rimms come into play and I used it all up! The obvious answer to both these problems is a new bike! Hopefully this year I’ll make the leap to dual suspension.

The final problem was caused by the colossal, herculean strength in my legs**. Powering up the slight slope at the start of telegraph road I ripped the chain in two, sheering one of the rivets. Luckily, I had a chain tool so we were able to make a quick repair and we raced off down the final trail back to the car.

*We use a recipe from Nigella’s Express book which are really tasty and give you the required energy kick, despite not being swimming in golden syrup.

**Obviously!

Afan MTB trails

With Gemma away on a friend’s hen do this weekend, we decided to pay Afan another visit. The last time we were there was back in July. Now we’d hoped for some sun last year as, even though it’s Wales, you expect in July you’d get a slight break from the weather. Not so. It rained more in that weekend than I’ve seen in a long time and we got thoroughly soaked. Coupled with the fact we were camping it made for some pretty challenging conditions – technically (the Whites Level climb in torrential rain is not easy), physically (I was/am unfit) and mentally (surely the rain must stop soon; everything I own is soaked). This time round we thought February in Wales was just asking for a slap from <insert your weather deity of choice here>. We therefore decided to just make a day of it, setting off early on Saturday morning and returning later that evening. Due to the early start, everything was ready the night before:

• Crappy commuting tyres off, awesome Bontrager Mud X tyres on – check.
• Powerade, mars bars bars and oaty cake bar things packed – check.
• Local Dominos pizza place in mobile phone ready for journey back – check.
• Beer in fridge ready for return – check.

Everything’s in place, lets do this!

06:00 – alarm goes off. Now I thought this wouldn’t be a welcome noise and that I’d have to drag myself out of bed, into the car and slowly come round while Warren drove to Wales but this wasn’t so. Instead we were raring to go. What’s more, the weather forecast was good. Not only was it not going to rain in Wales (honestly! I know you won’t believe me but it’s true) but it was even predicting blue sky’s and a temperature of around 9 degrees. That’s pretty much perfect conditions! The car was loaded the night before so we jumped in and headed down the M4.

In my humble opinion, no motorway journey that begins with an early start is complete unless you’ve paid too much money for a too little quality fry up. So just inside Wales we stopped and gorged ourselves on anything they fried, safe in the knowledge we would easily burn it off.

Eventually we arrived at Glyncorrwg, set the bikes up and headed out to the start of Whites Level. Whites holds a certain je ne sais quoi for us as last time we were here, we tackled it as our second trail of the day, after getting soaked all morning on the first trail. We weren’t in best spirits and almost just gave up on the climb. Except we didn’t, and when we got to the top and started the descent, it was great – but very slippy. This time, we had fresh legs, the weather was good and the ground was firm. Suffice to say, we were really looking forward to blasting down the other side. So, on we went, from the bike shop in Glyncorrwg, towards the start of the trail, which is where our first problem hit; Warren’s chain snapped. hmm, not the best start!

After much faffing around manly fettleing we decided a new chain link was required so headed to the convenient bike shop back at Glyncorrwg. The new chain was fit (after a slight SNAFU with how to attach the quick release links) and we were off again. This time we made it to the top, Warren – in training for a marathon and triathlon – shot to the top of the Whites climb. I on the other hand – training for a stag do – took a more leisurely pace.

Once at the top you pass a most welcome sign: “Damn climb over”. From this point on it’s all single track down hill, and in my opinion, the best single track downhill I’ve ever ridden. We thundered down the steep bits, attempted jumps on the table tops and leant as much as we dare on the berms. There’s even a small bit of Northshore at one point which someone in front of us had crashed off of. At the time we offered our assistance, was told they were OK and so carried on but later learnt the air ambulance was required to take the chap to hospital. Various forums have picked up on it and thankfully, he’s OK, just a  few stitches required to his cheek. After the boards the trail goes on to a final bit of single track that brings you out near the start – it was at this point I got the first puncture and with no spare inner tube, had to walk the last couple of miles back to bike shop. I decided to buy a couple of tubes, just in case.

So once the tube had been replaced and the tyre pumped back up to marginal pressure, we headed off along the old railway line to the start of Penhydd. At this point it was past 1 and although not that hungry, we decided we should eat something, otherwise we’d struggle up the next climb. So a couple of jacket potatos later we headed off on to Penhydd.

This trail starts with some fire road, and then carries on with more fire road climbs. This was a big downer and we weren’t impressed at all. Especially as some of the height we were gaining climbing the dull fire roads was then lost by descending more fire roads! The outlook was a little bleak until the first blast of single track appeared. This shot our spirits much higher and although it was only a small patch, it did the trick and spurred us on!

Then, a couple of steep fire road climbs later we were at the top and suspected it was all downhill from here. And we were right. Not only that,  but the downhill was twisty single track and we were properly dialled in by ths point. We flew down the trail, and really nailed the sections. Then, at the end of a particular singletrack I got the second puncture of the day. Luckily, I’d grabbed a spare at the bike shop so it was a simple case of swapping the tubes over. Warren also had some of those pre-pressurized canisters that inflate a tyre in a couple of seconds. These things are awesome and well worth having out on the trails! This enabled us to scream down the last few descents before coming out of the end of the trail. A fitting end to what was a fantastic days riding!

It was 13:00 on Saturday, and it was cold! I know a lot of people get out on the trails from 08:00 onwards, but in my humble opinion, there’s nothing wrong with a good lie in at the weekend! So we arranged a 13:00 start for a blast around the Surrey hills on what turned out to be, a very cold but ultimately satisfying day.

We’ll get the weather out of the way first. It was cold. The car temperature sensor didn’t get above -1.5, and that was at the bottom of the hills, higher up on the exposed tops it was much colder. But, we had plenty of layers, I even made the jump to Lycra for this particular ride and it was only really cold when we stopped – a great motivational tool to get your self powering back up the hills. The harsh cold did mean everything was covered in hard frost, giving the trails a sprightly bright look to them and making them hard, and fast – ideal riding conditions for this time of year.

We started out from the car park at the end of Telegraph Road and headed up the fire road towards the top of Holmbury Hill, switching off the fire road to a single track climb about half way up to make it more interesting. The climb was harder than expected due to the cold air burning our lungs and the fact that this was the first ride following the Christmas and New Year over indulgence – still, we eventually made it to the top without sweating too much beer/wine/turkey etc…

As it was the first time Bod had ridden these trails we took him on the “All Killer – Now that’s what I call the best trails in the Surrey Hills ever – no Filler“™ route to show off the best bits of our local single track. This starts with the descent down Reservoir Dogs and then joining up with Barry Knows Best. Quite a few riders were out too as we passed a couple of Down Hill-ers practicing near the berms half way along Barry Knows Best. Disappointingly I still struggle to take the final descent at the end of Barry Knows Best with any speed but I picked my way down it. As we took a breather at the bottom, a couple of riders went passed us. To my horror I noticed one was riding a Commencal Meta 5.5! I didn’t make eye contact, just in case…

We then took the road into Peaslake where there was the usual large crowd of MTBers gathered outside the store, drinking warm tea. We swung up the hill to start the climb up Pitch Hill and towards the start of Christmas Pudding. It was another lung burning climb but the bloke banter easily helped pass the time and take our minds off the fact we all had to be in the granny ring. After taking the off road short cut to the start of Christmas Pudding we began the immense fun and adrenalin rush of this single track. The only minor incident was when I stopped to adjust my saddle height near the start. I expected Bod to stop behind me but he over took just I was swinging my leg over (the bike, not Bod!). This almost resulted in a Chuck Norris style spinning round house kick to the face but luckily I only managed to take out the plastic cover of his bar end. We all made a valiant effort at the forked tree jump and giggled as the riders behind us (all on much better bikes and with far more safety gear) all went round it. Still, they were going faster than us and would probably beat us hands down in some kind of race (so long as it didn’t involve any jumps, tee hee).

On the last single track section I was determined to keep up with Warren, and managed it. And of course it had nothing to do with his gears jumping constantly all day and everything to do with my technical prowess and fitness. After this it’s the final scream down the road back into Peaslake. This is often the fastest part of the day but today we were held up by a car. A brief stop at the bus shelter to re-adjust the sensor for my speedo (hence we road a minimum of 10.04 miles – I don’t know how long it wasn’t working for, probably at least a good 7 miles or so, all taken at a minimum of 20 mph ).

The final trail in our best bits tour was the Yogurt Pots and then ending down Telegraph Road. Unfortunately this did mean making the climb back up to the top of Holmbury Hill but we were in no rush so flicked to the granny ring and span our way to the top. From there we headed down to the start of the Yogurt Pots. Over the past 6 months or so, this trail has changed significantly with new paths bypassing a lot of the steep sided “holes” (that give the trail its name) altogether. There also seems to be some pretty hard core trail erosion in places – such as the sudden drop off that caught Warren out a month back. With the Yogurt Pots behind us it was one final blast down Telegraph Road, ending at the cars. Telegraph Road is always an excellent trail to finish on due to the speed at which you can take it and the sheer number of little jumps that can be made all the way along it. It does have the odd scary moment however as one slightly mis-calculated landing means you’re only half on the trail and with the frost and ice, making the turn to get back on the trail isn’t an easy procedure. Still we got to the end without any serious mishaps and hurried into the cars and the warmth.

It turned out we made a couple of discoveries on this ride:

1. Mud X tyres are a million times better than the stock Specialized ones that came with my bike.
2. Both mine and Warren’s bike could do with a good gear service!

I think my gears can be sorted with the age old technique of taking them apart and putting them back together again – watch this space!