Ride report: Sunday 20 March – Keeping it local
Lack of motivation during the getting up process meant that I arrived after PaulM at the car park. That IS late.
When I got there I found Baz, JohnR, NewJohn, Laurence, BigAl and PaulM making the total of 7 to begin with. This fluctuated a bit during the course of the morning…
So with two new riders I made sure it was clear that this was a “ride at your own risk” experience and off we set. I’d pretty much decided to keep it to a local route so we set off heading up Admirals Track towards the two wooden bridges and then up to Ranmore. Here we hit our first and luckily only problem of the day as I punctured my rear tyre on what must have been a sharp shard of flint. Latex was pissing everywhere and there was no way this was going to seal so without a repair kit it was in with a tube and off we went again.
At the top of Yew Trees we were briefly joined by Andy, Graham and Nick for about 500m before they turned off to head Guildford way. I badgered Nick for the South Coast ride route we have planned for May so hopefully I’ll be able to fill in more details on the forum soon. We pushed on along Badger Run and Collarbone before reaching the resovoir and Abba Zabba.
Here Laurence decided the his PVFS was making it difficult to keep up and so with quick reference to a map he headed back while Big Al, NewJohn and Baz completed Abba Zabba. Baz proved that his Scott is NOT the bike for that. Although he managed to hold it together, he confessed one muscle was working overtime to hold everything in!
Next was Blind Terror 2 (I think) followed by the easy route on Numbskull and over the road to Blind Terror where I headed in and had a great run. I missed Baz add further weight to the evidence of his unlucky bike. It’s that area and that bike, just not a great combination.
All safely down there, we headed on at speed to High Meditteranean. to climb back up and take in “And Then There Were Three” down into the vinyard. I’m sure there is an extra tree down but it’s still a great trail and when the ground drys just a little more it’ll be fast as well. As we swapped a few stories another cyclist appeared, non other than MarkW, obviously on a secret training mission. So briefly back up to 7 as we headed down into the vinyard and off to climb up to the Alpine trail.
The Alpine Trail proved to be in good condition providing you kept your head up and facing forward. Don’t look right and down! I also think I realised how Matt got the end so badly wrong last year and narrowly missed repeating his off piste adventure myself.
From there we slogged it up towards High Ashurst with me and Al walking while the others struggled up. Not sure if anyone cleared the climb or not. With cake called we carried on to Box Hill to join the masses of road riders taking of refreshment. Big Al recommends the coffee cake but I stayed with the old favourite of flapjack.
After some debate and sizing up of trail conditions we decided that China Pig was a go-er and headed there next before treking homeward. Conditions were not ideal but not too bad either and apart from the very worn off camber section we all made it through in one piece. This just left the climb up through Norbury park with JohnR and NewJohn taking the steep option past the Mobile Mast.
All in all about 26 miles and 2250 calories for me! Nice ride.
About the author
Dave's been riding seriously since about 1997 and is one of the founding Molefathers — along with Matt and Mark — that came up with the idea of a MTB website for Mole Valley riders.
He's had several different bikes but it's now mainly 29ers in Dave's stable, apart from an Orange 5.
Current Bikes: Orange 5, Salsa Spearfish and Kona Big Unit
There are 12 comments on ‘Ride report: Sunday 20 March – Keeping it local’
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Big Al says:
Great ride today Dave , although one to many beers for me last night made this a tough one for me. Stella has a lot to answer for !
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Posted on March 20, 2011 at 8:45 pm
John R says:
Here are a few of the snaps I took today:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/muddymoles/sets/72157626310252704/
It was quite a ride and I think Barrie provided the highlights, including his slide to miss the tree part way down Blind Terror, or going round the corner halfway up High Ashurst to find Barrie lying on the ground taking a crafty rest. I hope your brusies are a bit better tonight!
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Posted on March 20, 2011 at 10:02 pm
Dave says:
Yeah, I think Baz should swap the Scott for one of these
http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/FROOC456P/on-one-carbon-456-frame
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Posted on March 20, 2011 at 10:25 pm
Matt says:
Sounds like a good ride, plenty of miles even if it stayed close to home.
Was a good day for it but I decided I’d keep my boys company today as I’ve not been about much recently – evening rides and school meetings adding up. Wanted to be out, but wanted to see them more!
Did manage a short loop of Bookham Common with them and the missus, which they loved.
Oh and it’s now officially… SPRING!
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Posted on March 20, 2011 at 11:17 pm
Muddy John says:
It was so warm I had to unzip the arms from my Gore jacket part way through the ride. I think that is the official definiton of Spring starting!
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Posted on March 21, 2011 at 8:45 am
PaulM says:
yes, great loop today Dave! Not holding back on making use of the improving conditions, nice one. Did you mention i was at the start before you 🙂
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Posted on March 21, 2011 at 12:42 am
Dandy says:
I love that look of, “Oh shit, what am I doing?” on Bazzer’s face just before he heads off down Abba Zabba 🙂
Sounds like he eventually made it down in one piece, though he was doing his best to end up in A&E again!
I was up on Holmbury yesterday, should get a report and pics of the new Pace posted soon.
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Posted on March 21, 2011 at 9:51 am
Barrie says:
Hi All
Great to be out again and catch up with all, good route Dave. OH I do like to provide a little entertainment!…
AZ was fun, although your right Dave one muscle opened up in a huge way!.., lucky to get away with it, but BT was a little tricky, the Scott’s back end bounced up and put me on course for the tree on left, halfway down, managed to just avoid it but the correction had me off in another direction, sore fore (great roasties on my left forearm and leg!) It certainly not a great area for this bike and me attached to it. Once out the complex it was pretty easy going but the decent down towards denbies, not difficult or steep but I could really feel the backend lifting and bouncing around wanting to throw me forward. The Scott is still a handful. The climb to high ashurst was painful, just when I thought I had cracked it, I spun a route, could not get my foot out and fell on my left side again, which is pretty sore! Then john came round the corner and though I was having a sneaky rest and lie down.
Dave the 456 maybe a good option!
cheers
Baz
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Posted on March 21, 2011 at 11:47 am
MarkW says:
Yep you caught me out on a secret training mission…with you boys clocking in 38miles last week I think I need to! I will endeavour to get my sorry arse out of bed and see if I can extract the nicolai from the loft and head down to Bocketts…….
Good to see you guys!
MarkW
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Posted on March 21, 2011 at 1:37 pm
MarkW says:
PS: Forgot to mention was slightly shocked to discover, whilst on my ride Sunday, that Summer Lighting on Leith Hill as been totally de-forested, its like having sex with the lights on!!! and takes a bit of getting used to!
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Posted on March 21, 2011 at 1:47 pm
Dandy says:
Sorry to hear that, Mark. Was it like … wait for it … riding in a neatly trimmed back garden ?
If you can’t beat ’em …
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Posted on March 22, 2011 at 1:49 pm
MarkW says:
It’s the way you tell em………..!
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Posted on March 22, 2011 at 8:57 pm