XC in kent- Any willing volunteers!!!

deadpool2e

Does anyone fancy going swinnley Forest or Surry Hills or Blue Bell Hill next Friday morning if anyone is off as my usual weekday riding partner has gone and injured himself (you know who you are) :twisted: I want to bedin my new forks

andyturner28

RussAlf wrote:

Cheers Flip, as soon as im healed we shall sort something out!

Biology Lesson Part 1
Andy, unfortunately its the opposite. Where i have broken it is a major point where alot of tendons attach to the bone coming over from the shoulder. So when ever the muscles contract as if to pull my arm up it is essentially pulling the broken bone away again. As seen in the diagram lol


Had a check up yesterday at the hospital and luckily it is still healing in the correct place, if it had moved at all i would have to have a operation and a screw put in place. Its important for it to heal in the correct place because of the tendons. Got a check up again next week to check it still hasnt moved. Saying this it is alot better only one week in, im still confident ill be fine for afan.
Tube is utter missery, i hate it, poor fold up is looking at me in disappointment. Im tempted to ride it one handed, not sure how the folding/unfolding will work with only one arm. lol[/img]

Oh yeah, bit of a bitch after all :shock: You are indeed bloody lucky you didn't do the tendons. Really hope it heals up in time, it won't be the same without you there.

Mark- I would love to ride Friday morning but can't get out of work. Are you free in the evening instead? You never know, we might manage to drag the others out too

What forks have you got?

deadpool2e

I got 09 Fox Talas 15mm qr with pro 2 front hub, took it for a blast today and feels sweet. didnt realise how bad my old one was.

Evenings are very hard as i have to get the kids from school cook dinner and clean the bike....oopps....dont tell the wife the last bit or she will make me do house work

flip_flop

RussAlf wrote:

Mereworth woods loop



Ive heard its very good to, lots of singletrack swooping everywhere similar to blean but a bit morevhilly. Not riden it yet but thats a loop i want to do soon.

Hey all Just stumbled across this old post...

The Seal Chart/Godden Green area is a decent ride in itself (over towards the left of the loop) Some steep descents and rocky sections with some cool singletrack in the woods. It's also very good in winter as it all drains very well. There is actually more to it than there looks on the map.

From what I recall Mereworth has plenty of stuff without having to leave the wood and it's all pretty good – you could probably get a good 40+ miler by linking up the two with the road sections in that loop and riding all of the trails...

Probably a good 2 hrs riding in each area plus a half hour riding between them...

pittpony

Morning all,

Is anyone up for an evening ride tomorrow? Blean suits me well but I'm open to negotiation as long as i can get there

impished

I should be good for that 8)
Blean might be a bit muddy after todays downpour :roll: . But then, that's MTB'ing :twisted:

You thinking the normal 6:30-6:45 ish?

pittpony

Yeah it'd have to be about 6.45 for me as i can't get away from work too early tomorrow. Hmm, Blean in the wet - it'll be like the old days! :roll:

andyturner28

Hell yeah, i'm up for that Blean is going to be an absolute swamp again though, but if it is sunny tomorrow it might dry up a bit. I was over there last night and it was surprisingly dry concidering the rain we have had. I would suggest BBH but i still have to give you and Mark some money, so will be a bit skint after that me thinks I must start doing the lottery again!

Bmjboy

Hi Guys - Does anyone have or point me in the direction of any gps or map routes for Bluebell Hill and/or surrounding areas?

My mate wants an off-road route and I swear someone on here has plotted a route in this area?

Many thanks in advance

pittpony

One - armed Russ would be your man for that. We've put together a couple of good routes round Bluebell Hill but there's so much more to explore!

mbnut

deadpool2e wrote:

Does anyone fancy going swinnley Forest or Surry Hills or Blue Bell Hill next Friday morning if anyone is off as my usual weekday riding partner has gone and injured himself (you know who you are) :twisted: I want to bedin my new forks

Hello... i'm up for a ride on Friday daytime, i'm happy to go anywhere for the day.

I've been out with the guys once so they can tell you that i'm not what you might call quick up the hills but i get there... personally i prefer going down the bloody things!

Let me know if you are up for a spin... cheers

deadpool2e

Cool, maybe do bedgebury (shut up Russ) if you want. however if it is forcast for heavy rain (I dont do rain) i will give it a miss. will contact you by Thursday latest or PM me your mobile number so we can discuss.

RussAlf

urghhh Bedgebury

Ill dig out a gpx route of bluebell hill for you.

one and a half arm russ

Matt-B

Hello All!

I am actually located in NW London (unfortunately for my MTB), but I am in Kent for a wedding this Saturday night, armed with hire car. I was thinking about dropping the girlfriend somewhere on the Sunday and cramming in an hour or two of riding before I head back to the city - any particular routes or areas you guys would suggest? I haven't been out properly in a looooooooooong time, but just got a new bike so would like to fit some riding in!

Cheers,

Matt

pittpony

Hi Matt,

Where is the wedding? I'm sure there will be something nearby but in case you hadn't guessed we're not big on hills here in Kent Let us know and we'll be able ot recommend somewhere

Matt-B

Well whatever is in Kent it will be better than what is here in London!

Wedding is somewhere between Maidstone and Tunbrudge Wells... Not sure exactly where, although I will have a car so no problem getting places.

impished

Nick/Andy you both still on for Blean tonight? GONNA BE MUDDDDDDDYYYYY :twisted:

6:45 as usual?

pittpony

Matt-B wrote:

Well whatever is in Kent it will be better than what is here in London!

Wedding is somewhere between Maidstone and Tunbrudge Wells... Not sure exactly where, although I will have a car so no problem getting places.

Aha well you're quite close to Bedgebury then. Might be a good bet as your other half can go for a walk, have a coffee or something. You'll get mixed reviews of the place. Personally i quite like it although i'll admit its nothing special. The £7.50 car park charge is horrendous but you can cheat and park in a layby close to the single track.

Ade - still on for tonight. See you at 6.45(ish), Rough Common. Looking forward to it 8) Not looking forward to seeing Andy if he thinks he has a point to prove after a few weeks of forum banter

impished

I had a sneaky little trip to Bedgebury with a mate on Saturday.
I must say I really enjoyed most of it. The only thing that dissapointed me was (see if you can guess what's coming ) THE GRAVEL :evil: . Why, oh, why have they chucked gravel on some of the fast corners so you can feel the front going as you hit em. :shock: I know they had to do something to reduce the winter wear, but the gravel used seems to be large stones with the occasional brick-size lump just to really test those suspension set-ups :roll:
And the new gravel trail through what used to be IIRC "Gloomy Wood" is laughable! If it was on the side of a hill or even had the very slightest bit of incline it would be a fun bit of trail with berms, switchbacks and a couple of small jumps. But it's not on an incline. It's flatter that Holland :!: And that's FLAT
But it is still worht a ride and most of it is fast and flowing. Get youselft down to Bedgebury Matt-B. You won't be sorry :P

Matt-B

impished wrote:

Get youselft down to Bedgebury Matt-B. You won't be sorry :P

Yeah, I had a look at bedgebury - it looks to be perfect - thanks for the advice guys! One thing though, does it get very busy on a Sunday? I have read in a few places that it gets very busy on a Sunday and you have to get there early in the morning. Only problem is, that isn't really an option, as I plan to spend the first few hours of the day sleeping my hangover off... Or am I going to have to suffer and get up early?

pittpony

Based on my experience it doesn't get too busy. I've not ridden it on a summer Sunday though so I'm not sure.

Hope you enjoy it - let us know what you reckon. RussAlf loves the places and enjoys hearing others rave about it too. He especially likes the gravel that Impished mentions

Matt-B

pittpony wrote:

Hope you enjoy it - let us know what you reckon. RussAlf loves the places and enjoys hearing others rave about it too. He especially likes the gravel that Impished mentions

Haha, I've read far back enough in this thread to know this to be untrue!

Anyway, I'll pitch the idea to the other half tonight and see what she says... Will let you know how I find it!

impished

If the weather is nice you'll find the car park packed, but as soon as you hit the single track (look out for the big flag showing the start) you soon realise that most people are there to ride round the family trail or swing through the tree or whatever else they do in the woods
The other good side to this is you can always take the missus and ride round the family trail and h-hm, :roll: get yourself lost and accidently find yourself on the singletrack :twisted:


1 little tip. When you get to the bottom of the 1st section you'll notice the trail appear to head right onto a bit of fireroad. Don't go that way, go left and up the short sharp hill.
I'm sure you'll know what I mean when you get there.

andyturner28

pittpony wrote:

Based on my experience it doesn't get too busy. I've not ridden it on a summer Sunday though so I'm not sure.

Hope you enjoy it - let us know what you reckon. RussAlf loves the places and enjoys hearing others rave about it too. He especially likes the gravel that Impished mentions

And i especially liked the extra deep bit if rediculousely huge gravel which ate my front wheel, sending me flying over the bars and onto my knee :evil: It's only just healed and this was about 5 or 6 weeks ago!
Seariousely though, there is some fantastic sections, but they are all interupted by that stupid gravel. I can see the reasoning behind it, as i have seen lots of pictures of what it was like after lots of rain, but as i have said before it is like sticking a tiny plaster on a massive open wound! They need to properly sort the drainage out, which i know would cost lots of money, but that gravel makes some bits unridable, and if lots of other people feel the same way then they are not going to go there any more and pay the extortionate parking fee and they will have less money than when they started.

Hope you have a good time anyway. I personally will only go there again to practice my jumping in the freeride section. There are some nice berms there too, wish we did that last time we were there.

RussAlf

pittpony wrote:

Based on my experience it doesn't get too busy. I've not ridden it on a summer Sunday though so I'm not sure.

Hope you enjoy it - let us know what you reckon. RussAlf loves the places and enjoys hearing others rave about it too. He especially likes the gravel that Impished mentions

ahahaha

You know i love a bit of bitching about bedgebury lol

flip_flop

andyturner28 wrote:

pittpony wrote:

Based on my experience it doesn't get too busy. I've not ridden it on a summer Sunday though so I'm not sure.

Hope you enjoy it - let us know what you reckon. RussAlf loves the places and enjoys hearing others rave about it too. He especially likes the gravel that Impished mentions

And i especially liked the extra deep bit if rediculousely huge gravel which ate my front wheel, sending me flying over the bars and onto my knee :evil: It's only just healed and this was about 5 or 6 weeks ago!
Seariousely though, there is some fantastic sections, but they are all interupted by that stupid gravel. I can see the reasoning behind it, as i have seen lots of pictures of what it was like after lots of rain, but as i have said before it is like sticking a tiny plaster on a massive open wound! They need to properly sort the drainage out, which i know would cost lots of money, but that gravel makes some bits unridable, and if lots of other people feel the same way then they are not going to go there any more and pay the extortionate parking fee and they will have less money than when they started.

Hope you have a good time anyway. I personally will only go there again to practice my jumping in the freeride section. There are some nice berms there too, wish we did that last time we were there.

When Bedgebury first opened it was the same - gravel everywhere and not fun to ride. After a couple of months it really packed down until the winter when it turned to sludge (as it was built cheaply and quickly). I don't go anywhere near it between November and April - there's just no point as the trail is built on clay and gets trashed.

I know the chap (Boris) in charge of the trail maintenance and he has had Ian Warby from Aston Hill over helping with the training. Ian Warby is generally considered the main man when it comes to man-made trails in the south-east. Boris wasn't involved in the initial building (when they had to get it built in as short time as possible) but he knows his stuff and they are putting serious effort in, so I'm sure it's going to get better and better. He's an experienced XC rider and they know what bikers want so although it's a slow process they will get there in the end.

Having said that I haven't been to Bedgebury for a while so would be interested to see how these berms turn out...think I'll wait until late summer when it's packed down as I'm liking the natural stuff at the minute Makes all the difference having a GPS to play with... and maybe gloomy wood will have grown back by then (not likely) *sniff*

flanners1

I am up for a blat Mereworth, 7oaks, etc Live in TWells so will keep my eyes open on this thread.

deadpool2e

I went to Bedgebury last night and it was not to bad , apart from the old gloomy wood bit, however the berms in that part are starting to bed in now and can see it will be a good section once that has happened (better than the old fire road approach). The free ride section was very very sketchy due to the wet wood, but I managed to do the long log for the first time.

flip_flop

Flanners1 wrote:

I am up for a blat Mereworth, 7oaks, etc Live in TWells so will keep my eyes open on this thread.

Hi Flanners.

T Wells based here - up for a blast around the Warren or Pembury sometime? By all accounts Russalf is also TWells based so sounds like there are a few mtb refugees here

Might have seen you about before - what bike are you riding? Giant XTC here.

flip_flop

deadpool2e wrote:

I went to Bedgebury last night and it was not to bad , apart from the old gloomy wood bit, however the berms in that part are starting to bed in now and can see it will be a good section once that has happened (better than the old fire road approach). The free ride section was very very sketchy due to the wet wood, but I managed to do the long log for the first time.

So have they routed it back through Gloomy Wood after it was all chopped down - or am I confusing it with the other pine section?

Sounds tempting anyway...