XC in kent- Any willing volunteers!!!

breezer

Its an absolutely ridiculous rule! and I nearly fell over in the bike shop when I heard someone ask for 2 bearing destroyer tokens, sorry, bike wash tokens and he was charged £3 ie £1.50 each, it was free initially! Tempted to find a tap somewhere in the car park and put up a sign to rent out my dirt worker!

Hmm let me see, how to describe. If you go from the start and think of them in sections then its after the climb out of section 4. 1 being the start bit, flat with that short uphill then flat, cross fireroad into section 2 which is one of the only remaining fun downhill bits, go through the lake (even today) at the end and over the fireroad into section 3 the dark wood which is quite long then you pop out, turn right down a fire road which goes round to the left and up a hill and you go 90 left into section 4, moan through that, down a short hill across the bridge and the uphill then pop out onto the fireroad where you normally go right, its straight ahead there and just cuts out some of the fireroad. The first half is good with some small jumps into berms that flow well but then gets too tight, some gravel has been laid but not enough width etc

RussAlf

breezer wrote:

Its an absolutely ridiculous rule! and I nearly fell over in the bike shop when I heard someone ask for 2 bearing destroyer tokens, sorry, bike wash tokens and he was charged £3 ie £1.50 each, it was free initially! Tempted to find a tap somewhere in the car park and put up a sign to rent out my dirt worker!

Hmm let me see, how to describe. If you go from the start and think of them in sections then its after the climb out of section 4. 1 being the start bit, flat with that short uphill then flat, cross fireroad into section 2 which is one of the only remaining fun downhill bits, go through the lake (even today) at the end and over the fireroad into section 3 the dark wood which is quite long then you pop out, turn right down a fire road which goes round to the left and up a hill and you go 90 left into section 4, moan through that, down a short hill across the bridge and the uphill then pop out onto the fireroad where you normally go right, its straight ahead there and just cuts out some of the fireroad. The first half is good with some small jumps into berms that flow well but then gets too tight, some gravel has been laid but not enough width etc

So lets see thats, £7.50 to park plus £1.50 to destroy your bike plus £1 for a can of coke. So £10 to ride round a mud filled over expensive FC land, GREATTTTT.

I think we should set up a dirtwoker stand, charge 75p a wash. Would put the bike shop out of business, though the dirt workers may over heat due to the amount of mud they will have to shift.

Thanks for the discription, i know exactly where that is. Though from my memory that a fairly flat area.

stevet1992

RussAlf wrote:

Im glad you ignored the signs about taking the bikes down to the cafe, we must rebel! Where abouts its the new section? when i get my fame back i may take an early morning ride round bedgebury "shock"

:shock: you still havent got your bike back, surely they should of fixed it/replaced it by now

good excuse to get a newer better one :twisted: then sell me the old one for 50p

Bmjboy

RussAlf wrote:

So lets see thats, £7.50 to park plus £1.50 to destroy your bike plus £1 for a can of coke. So £10 to ride round a mud filled over expensive FC land, GREATTTTT.

My blood just boiled by you reminding me of such ridiculous charges!....

Dirtworkers all the way then, and parking out on the main road chaps! (I hope some Bedge official-types do read these comments!)

Swinley has it so right when you compare things, even the fact you can get a whole meal for about £4 in the cafe. (and not some poncy foody type "brunch" for £11 at Bedge)...

Im angry anyway as my bike is still fooked in the brake department - ordered myself a proper Avid bleed kit as between me and the guy at my LBS, his homebrew bleed kit just wasnt working. I still fear its something worse than a bleed issue though.....

So new grips and bar ends went on this morning, then I had to walk away....... just isnt fair!

breezer

Thats why I park in the layby on the A21, got my friend to buy me a tea (he offered) and own a dirt worker although didnt take it with me and the bike got no mud on it anyway

I would worry about putting the bike shop out of business, have you seen their hire rates and there are always tons of their bikes being used. Prepare yourself..

http://www.quenchuk.co.uk/bike_hire.html

It is quite flat but theres a small downhill then it climbs a bit, the fireroad goes down then back up

RussAlf

stevet1992 wrote:

RussAlf wrote:

Im glad you ignored the signs about taking the bikes down to the cafe, we must rebel! Where abouts its the new section? when i get my fame back i may take an early morning ride round bedgebury "shock"

:shock: you still havent got your bike back, surely they should of fixed it/replaced it by now

good excuse to get a newer better one :twisted: then sell me the old one for 50p

Tell me about it :twisted: it will be 4 weeks tomorrow. To think i used to ride twice a week.

breezer

lol, I commented to my friend how the soup smelt nice but not at £3.95 for a small bowl!

I desperately need brakes for the Inbred, having to rely on raw skill at the moment to get round the bends but there is a limit to that supply

breezer

I would get involved with helping as going by their forum they have a good group of volunteers BUT all I see on there is posts about we need to get the FC to do this, need their permission to do that, they will just bring in another builder who wont listen to us and will just dump down more gravel ETC so whats the point when the FC seem to not care at all...

Also there was a comment about how it originally needed to be done so quick than a surveyor person just marked out the route on the trees and a builder type person went through cutting and just laid gravel....and how their plan worked, get the people in then you have them hooked so you can build up more attractions Go Ape etc (which is good I will admit) then dont give a sh1t about the original users ie the mtb'ers

I recall a recent MBR mag I think it was about a FC place near Lock Lomond with a few hundred metres of north shore stuff, all nicely done with chicken wire etc, compare that to Bedgebury.....

argh

RussAlf

Just been looking at quench cycles prices:

Brake Pad fitting £7.50 per brake

£15 to change the brake pads? ehhh?

breezer

rofl. I will do it for a fiver for anyone on here that brings their bike to me :P

breezer

oh lol look at all the other service ones, no point picking any out as all hilarious. I know its their business but 'kin hell

Bmjboy

Ive only got a rear brake atm, dont trust myself to go out on that alone!

We've got a hoooge Thermos between us lot, get at least 3 cups each out of it, havent bought a tea/coffee for a long time now, and coupled with the dirtworker, we need no services. My van is a rolling bikers service station - we even had a chat about getting a microwave put in it! mmmmmm..... Rustlers!

I dont mind paying for things when out, but not when people are taking the p*ss.

Call me old fashioned, but my last visit to the Bedge cafe needed me to find a dictionary as I didnt know what half the stuff on offer was, and my knowledge of world cheeses, isnt great either!........

None of this solves a duff brake, but ranting does help!

breezer

I had to do a ride once with just the rear brake when down in Bristol when at uni. I rode 5 miles on the road then literally 50 metres into the first bit of woods a front spoke went bending the wheel a lot. Because I had these weird brakes that seemed to push a pad against the rim?? I had to disconnect it. You simply dont slow down with just a rear and I had to force a crash to avoid a bigger one later on. However, have you tried riding with just a front, its scary, so unnerving and you think you are going to crash in every corner!

I have a thermos but not used it yet?? I am looking for a van atm, want a Berlingo but preferably a hdi one but they go for more than a grand. Not that massive but 66" rear iirc so should get 2 or 3 bikes in with bars turned 90 degrees so plently of room for just me and spares, somewhere to change after a ride etc

stevet1992

:shock: you guys complain about the prices

but down here in ashford the LBS (only one apart from halfords) charge up to 2x more then some of them prices, he wanted to charge £35 to have a fork fitted ashford sucks, no decent singletrack, full of knobheads and expensive :evil:

breezer

If you went to Halfrauds to have a new fork fitted they would probably take a hacksaw to your bike and put them on the rear like a mid 90's Manitou

and here for Steve who is probably too young to know what im on about.... (I will own one of these 1 day, they are pure s3x!!)

Bmjboy

breezer wrote:

I have a thermos but not used it yet?? I am looking for a van atm, want a Berlingo but preferably a hdi one but they go for more than a grand. Not that massive but 66" rear iirc so should get 2 or 3 bikes in with bars turned 90 degrees so plently of room for just me and spares, somewhere to change after a ride etc

My Thermos cost about £7 from Tescos (missus found it for me) - I always assumed they where expensive - this one has 2 mugs and a tea/coffee holding compartment. We take a spare bike bottle with a bit of milk in - something quite odd squeezing your milk into a mug!!

I drive a swb Vivaro (mainly for my business) but its got a converted thule bike rack inside to clamp 2 bikes into. Could easily take 6+ bikes in it. When empty of bikes its a mobile changing room and cafe! and the best bit of all, you can litterally jetwash and sweep out all the mud when you want.

stevet1992

breezer wrote:

If you went to Halfrauds to have a new fork fitted they would probably take a hacksaw to your bike and put them on the rear like a mid 90's Manitou

and here for Steve who is probably too young to know what im on about.... (I will own one of these 1 day, they are pure s3x!!)

i MUST get one of them they look so nice 8)

at the local ashford they would just superglue your current ones together :roll: they would say aaaa who needs suspension bunch of BMXers in there

stevet1992

breezer wrote:

If you went to Halfrauds to have a new fork fitted they would probably take a hacksaw to your bike and put them on the rear like a mid 90's Manitou

and here for Steve who is probably too young to know what im on about.... (I will own one of these 1 day, they are pure s3x!!)

i MUST get one of them they look so nice 8)

at the local ashford they would just superglue your current ones together :roll: they would say aaaa who needs suspension bunch of BMXers in there

coppirider

breezer wrote:

and I nearly fell over in the bike shop when I heard someone ask for 2 bearing destroyer tokens, sorry, bike wash tokens and he was charged £3 ie £1.50 each, it was free initially!

Even more reason to join the club isn't it? You would only need to make 7 visits in a year to Bedgebury and you would be in pocket and you get all the other benefits as well like free bike wash and shower tokens.

http://www.boarsonbikes.co.uk/theclub.html

Ali

Bmjboy

coppirider wrote:

breezer wrote:

and I nearly fell over in the bike shop when I heard someone ask for 2 bearing destroyer tokens, sorry, bike wash tokens and he was charged £3 ie £1.50 each, it was free initially!

Even more reason to join the club isn't it? You would only need to make 7 visits in a year to Bedgebury and you would be in pocket and you get all the other benefits as well like free bike wash and shower tokens.

http://www.boarsonbikes.co.uk/theclub.html

Ali

It does make sense to join, but not everyone wants to join a club just to get access to biking trails.

I always cycle with friends, so technically only 1 of us would need to join and maybe split the annual fee (sorry if this sounds negative in terms of circumvention of fees) - But there would be no incentive for others to join if you ride with your own group regularly.

Food for thought.

RussAlf

coppirider wrote:

breezer wrote:

and I nearly fell over in the bike shop when I heard someone ask for 2 bearing destroyer tokens, sorry, bike wash tokens and he was charged £3 ie £1.50 each, it was free initially!

Even more reason to join the club isn't it? You would only need to make 7 visits in a year to Bedgebury and you would be in pocket and you get all the other benefits as well like free bike wash and shower tokens.

http://www.boarsonbikes.co.uk/theclub.html

Ali

Must resist from replying.

Bmjboy

RussAlf wrote:

[
Must resist from replying.

Speaks volumes in itself Russ!!

coppirider

Bmjboy wrote:

RussAlf wrote:

[
Must resist from replying.

Speaks volumes in itself Russ!!

i can almost hear you sniggering in the corner like little boys.

As you said Bmjboy it makes sense to join, so to be honest you've got no right to moan. :roll:

deadpool2e

RussAlf wrote:

coppirider wrote:

breezer wrote:

and I nearly fell over in the bike shop when I heard someone ask for 2 bearing destroyer tokens, sorry, bike wash tokens and he was charged £3 ie £1.50 each, it was free initially!

Even more reason to join the club isn't it? You would only need to make 7 visits in a year to Bedgebury and you would be in pocket and you get all the other benefits as well like free bike wash and shower tokens.

http://www.boarsonbikes.co.uk/theclub.html

Ali

Must resist from replying.

LOL Good old Russ.

Had a really good ride today and am very very pleased with new frame and full face helmet. See pic below.










Wait for it
















Here you go................




Will upload more pics and some vids tomorrow

Andy & Nick how was the rest of your ride? wish i could have joined you and not gone.

RussAlf

coppirider wrote:

Bmjboy wrote:

RussAlf wrote:

[
Must resist from replying.

Speaks volumes in itself Russ!!

i can almost hear you sniggering in the corner like little boys.

As you said Bmjboy it makes sense to join, so to be honest you've got no right to moan. :roll:

It doesnt because i wouldnt go, theres far better riding in kent and the surronding countys. Its like day light robbery paying to ride at bedgebury, you pay your money but you get nothing back apart from a half hearted "mountain bike trail", an unfreindly bike killing jet wash and a cafe that doesnt even want you there. I could go on and on and on.

I will resist.

andyturner28

coppirider wrote:

Bmjboy wrote:

RussAlf wrote:

[
Must resist from replying.

Speaks volumes in itself Russ!!

i can almost hear you sniggering in the corner like little boys.

As you said Bmjboy it makes sense to join, so to be honest you've got no right to moan. :roll:

Hmm, Bedgbrury or Swinly/Surry next, thats a tough one Think it's pretty much the same distance to both from here so if you find me at Bedg then i have gone completely mad!

We had a fooking great ride at Swinley today, first time i'v ridden there when it's pretty much bone dry (well, frozen!) and it was soo fast and fun. Got way more confidence on the jumps now having spent about half hour after lunch in the jump gully, and cleared the double about 10 times in a row and am now getting air on every jump I am soo chuffed about that, as the last 2 visits i have bricked it through the gully. Next time i definitely want to air some of the drop offs!
Then had a delicious Lasagna, jacket potato and salad for £4.85, the bike wash is only 50p and the car park is free, and i didn't leave with a hole in my knee from 2 inch gravel like the last time i went to Bedge!

andyturner28

deadpool2e wrote:

RussAlf wrote:

coppirider wrote:

breezer wrote:

and I nearly fell over in the bike shop when I heard someone ask for 2 bearing destroyer tokens, sorry, bike wash tokens and he was charged £3 ie £1.50 each, it was free initially!

Even more reason to join the club isn't it? You would only need to make 7 visits in a year to Bedgebury and you would be in pocket and you get all the other benefits as well like free bike wash and shower tokens.

http://www.boarsonbikes.co.uk/theclub.html

Ali

Must resist from replying.

LOL Good old Russ.

Had a really good ride today and am very very pleased with new frame and full face helmet. See pic below.










Wait for it
















Here you go................




Will upload more pics and some vids tomorrow

Andy & Nick how was the rest of your ride? wish i could have joined you and not gone.

Was really good thanks. We headed strait over to the yellow brick road, then spent about half hour in the jump gully and done about 10 runs there, then went back the other way up YBR and while i was fixing the inevitable puncture Nick found a few drop offs, which were good fun. By that time we were both knackered so headed back to the car. That was nearly 6 hours in the saddle though, which is my longest ride since the SDW. Thanks a lot guys, was a really really good ride, can't wait till the next one!

impished

deadpool2e wrote:

Had a really good ride today and am very very pleased with new frame and full face helmet. See pic below.




Wait for it








Here you go................




Will upload more pics and some vid s tomorrow

LMFAO

BTW Deadpool, I added you to my PS3 friend list. In case you didn't guess, I'm the one called ibtipsy

impished

Sounds like you had a real good ride. Almost makes me sorry I bothered dragging my ass to Blean for a quick blast
Re-found a few bits in Clowes wood that I stumbled across ages ago.

Bmjboy

coppirider wrote:

As you said Bmjboy it makes sense to join, so to be honest you've got no right to moan. :roll:

My point was "overall" it would make sense to join, but many people do not want to join, and those that choose not to join are paying a hefty penality for it.

As mentioned also, there are a lot of places to ride other than Bedge, most are cheap or FREE and offer more trails and fun. Swinley is top of this list, and affordable.

If Bedgeburys official stance is "Well, join the club if you dont like the prices" then I certainly would ride elsewhere if that is the attitude towards everyday riders.