Redlands Trails

Downs Link

Way back in August I took some time off work to get in training for the Lemming South Downs ride, which was set to be my big ride of 2008.

I rode the Downs Link as the second of two days in the saddle as preparation for the Lemming, which was a two day event.  The first day, just for the record, was a classic North Downs mountain bike route over Box Hill, through Denbies and onto the Pilgrim's Way, across to and over Holmbury Hill and then on to Leith Hill.

Having done a good day on the hills I decided to ride from Dorking to Brighton offroad using the Downs Link. The Downs Link is a route which connects the North Downs at St Martha's Hill with the South Downs and then runs on to Shoreham by Sea, it mainly uses a disused railway line. For my ride, as it was mid-week, I rode the North Downs Way to St Martha's and then picked up (after a wrong turn) the Downs Link.

From St Martha's to Bramley the trail is heavily used by horse riders and, especially after the wet summer we had, very churned up by horse riders and difficult to ride at any great pace. There are however some good views back towards St Martha's and the church at the top of the hill does look dramatic and reminds you of the pilgramage journeys made in the past. From Bramley the route joins the disused railway and although less interesting and in no way really mountain biking, it is a pleasant ride. The semi-hard surface makes for very quick riding and because you've got no car worries you can really get your head down and ride fast. As a result the Downs Link is an excellent training ride. The scenery is nice. Don't expect a ride that will test your hucking skills, this is more akin to road riding, without the road and car hassles, but it is a good way to enjoy a solitary ride without having to refer to the map all the time and to put a lot of miles into your legs. 

Way back in August I took some time off work to get in training for the Lemming South Downs ride, which was set to be my big ride of 2008.

I rode the Downs Link as the second of two days in the saddle as preparation for the Lemming, which was a two day event.  The first day, just for the record, was a classic North Downs mountain bike route over Box Hill, through Denbies and onto the Pilgrim's Way, across to and over Holmbury Hill and then on to Leith Hill.

Having done a good day on the hills I decided to ride from Dorking to Brighton offroad using the Downs Link. The Downs Link is a route which connects the North Downs at St Martha's Hill with the South Downs and then runs on to Shoreham by Sea, it mainly uses a disused railway line. For my ride, as it was mid-week, I rode the North Downs Way to St Martha's and then picked up (after a wrong turn) the Downs Link.

From St Martha's to Bramley the trail is heavily used by horse riders and, especially after the wet summer we had, very churned up by horse riders and difficult to ride at any great pace. There are however some good views back towards St Martha's and the church at the top of the hill does look dramatic and reminds you of the pilgramage journeys made in the past. From Bramley the route joins the disused railway and although less interesting and in no way really mountain biking, it is a pleasant ride. The semi-hard surface makes for very quick riding and because you've got no car worries you can really get your head down and ride fast. As a result the Downs Link is an excellent training ride. The scenery is nice. Don't expect a ride that will test your hucking skills, this is more akin to road riding, without the road and car hassles, but it is a good way to enjoy a solitary ride without having to refer to the map all the time and to put a lot of miles into your legs. 

A little bit of work, and a whole lot of learning

BKB berms
Originally uploaded by bent udder

Last Sunday, Ian Warby from CTC came down to show us a few trail building tricks - it's been almost four years since Ian was last down showing us how things are done, and lots has changed in that time.

With a small group, we learnt a whole lot of things about building and repairing trails. Ride down BKB/Golden Birdies/Reservoir Dogs and you should have a much better time of things - even if it's not immediately apparent what work has been done.

We also took a look at a new section of trail that's been in the works for a while. I won't say much here, because it's by no means completed yet, but the extra input will make for a far better trail once it's open.

Ian also showed us some pretty smart organisational chops, which should help us manage trail days and work with people who fancy a bit of building much more effectively. Some of it is blindingly obvious - once you've been told - but is fantastically helpful. One problem common to all volunteer trail building orgs is the issue of completely random numbers of people turning up on build days. It makes planning really difficult, from schedules of work through to baking enough cakes and making enough sandwiches for the builders. Ian showed us a trick that gets rid of this - something that's been one of our biggest headaches since the very beginning.

A week is a long time

A week is a long time in politics, so the saying goes. It is also a long time on the North Downs and since last weekend the hills have had an opportunity to dry out nicely and yesterday the trails were in cracking condition and very quick.

Sadly this report is not all good news. The mountain bike route that sits to the right (as you are climbing towards the Tower) of Wolvens Lane has been used by a motorbike. The motorcyclist must have used the trail when it was still damp because it has chewed the line up pretty badly in places.

The worst damage is on the last climb onto the mountain bike trail you do from the main Wolvens Lane that then drops you into a plateau of yumps and ends at the four-way junction for dropping down to Billy is a Runaway. The biker has gone off the side, chewing up the little ramp.

None of it is the end of the world, it'll just slow you down a little.

Learnie is lesson in over built

Learnie Red Rocks is one of a spate of new purpose built trails in Scotland and one of the most northerly man made trails in the UK. Luckily some work sent me to Invergordon recently, so the 10 hour drive from Dorking to just north of Inverness was made with the hardtail in the boot.

Like Summer Lightning and more specifically the 7 Stane trails, Learnie is built on Forestry Commission land and has been open for one year. On our Saturday visit the trail was well used. But what's it like to ride? There are Green, Blue, Red and Black trails at Learnie and my feeling is that the Blue and Red trails, which are of most interest to cross country riders are over built.

There is some nice flow, a switch back or two and the decent back to the car park is great fun with table tops that really push you and frame into the air, but the overall feel of the entire route is one of being too road like, yes its quick, but lacks challenge. There is never a moment when you have to concentrate on the line ahead or suddenly have to fight the bike (I was riding an ali hardtail, a good full sus would feel more akin to cycle path cruising).

The Black Run began with one of the most extreme drops, its like riding down the tight stair case of a castle and was not built with my type of riding in mind, so I won't pass too much judgement on the Black.

Learnie is well worth visiting though because the Black Isle is a fantastic part of Scotland, the views across the Firth are incredible and I was treated to wheeling Osprey above my head. This type of trail centre allows you to ride with little local experience. But it is an exercise in over building and reminds us why roots are great fun.

Give Chrysler/5 Ways a rest, please

Last week I rode on to the increasingly popular trail at the top of Holmbury Hill known as either Chrysler or 5 Ways. Having entered the trail I immediately regretted it. The recent rain we have been experiencing on the North Downs has really soaked this trail and it is rapidly turning into a mud bath.

I regretted entering the trail because I knew I was damaging it and as a result it would soon be, frankly a crap ride. It is beginning to look like Parklife/Yoghurt Pots did when too many people rode it all year round, especially after wet periods. Chrysler looks shockingly like Parklife did before it was damaged too much to be worth riding.

If we stop riding it now for a few months it will dry out and repair.  I hate asking people not to ride trails, it is so much like asking not to ride your bike, but it will be worth leaving this trail alone for a little while.

Redlandstrails.org - under, ahem, construction

We're moving Redlandstrails.org to a new host at the moment, which is why it's missing from teh internets. Sorry about this. Normal service will be resumed shortly.

Hosepipe restrictions lifted

After rummaging through Sutton and East Surrey Water Company's delightfully last-century web site this morning, we were a bit confused about the hosepipe ban, which is still in effect despite the lifting of the drought order.

It turns out that from 8am tomorrow morning, the hosepipe restrictions will be lifted. apparently, they only applied to motorcars anyway, so all this time spent cleaning bikes with a brush and bucket when it was raining and cold, we could have just used a hose and been done ina  few minutes. Arrrgh!

Anyway, good news: if you live 'round the Dorking area and inside SEWC's remit, you can get busy with the hosepipe from 8am on Thursday.

Trek demo bikes swiped

Some nasty piece of work stole seven Trek demo bikes on the 21st December near Milton Keynes. The full thread is on Chocolatefoot' Sick Freeride Forum.

Here's Skaguy's original post - read the list, and give Trek a call if you are offered one or see any. In particular, keep an eye open for Ska's personal ride, the only silver 2007 Trek Remedy 66 to be imported into the UK.

Seven bikes were stolen from my Trek demo van last night (21/12/2006). They cut the side door skin open and forced the lock making a right mess of the van.

The bikes stolen were:

Trek Session 10 S White
Trek Session 10 M White
Trek Session 10 L White
Trek Remedy 66 M 2007 Silver (was and will ever be the only one in the UK)
Trek Fuel EX 9.0 M 2007 Raw Carbon
Trek Fuel EX 9.0 L 2007 Raw Carbon
Trek Top Fuel 9.8 M 2007 Silver
Garry Fisher Hi FI Deluxe GS (women’s) L 2007 Green

If anyone knows, hears or is offered any of these bikes please get in contact with Trek 01908 282626, wayne underscore clen-murphy at trekbikes dot com or reply to this post. Any information is better than none. If you use a forum that this isn’t posted on please copy and paste it up.

Cheers for your help guys and girls. Not only do I have the inconvenience of having to replace and build the bikes but the Van is now off the road over Christmas so I have no transport. The Remedy was my personal bike too so I can’t ride ether! Grrrrrr! Let me at them……..
   

Dusk 2 Dawn...

Well, Team(no website plugging here).com managed to put in 14 laps over 12hrs and finished 18th out of 49 in the pairs section. It was a cold starry night, the place was close to bone dry and even though I didn't think it just after finishing, I quite enjoyed it. The single-track was very good, the whole 9.2 mile course was well thought out, it's just a shame that the single-track had a hell of alot of undulations in it. This started to get to you both physically and mentally as the race wore on, as you were constantly taking hits on the descents and at times losing any rhythm when riding on the flat/climbs. Thetford mtb racing are discussing trail maintenance with the FE, but have got their work cut out.

I was so tired at the end that I packed up and left, before the awards were handed out. Still will more than likely be there for 2007.

Crash, Bang, Wallop!

After riding through some singletrack today, me and the gang headed down a relatively steep rocky fireroad descent on Holmbury hill. This track crosses another fire road before heading up the other side of the hill. After all the rain the descent was especially rocky. Coming towards the bottom I noticed a group of mountain bikers on the other side. I later recognised one of them, who belong to the  Sussex Mtb group. One of the group had come down the descent with such speed that as he hit the trough at the bottom it threw him from the bike and he landed on the side of his head quite a distance away. They asked me if they could get an ambulance. It would have been quite difficult to get one to that particular spot.

The eventual outcome was that he didn't need one as he could remember who he was, where he was etc. He managed to get back to where their cars were parked. I later found out he had badly bruised wrists, a black eye and a suspected fractured cheekbone.

I think it may be time to go on a few first aid courses.