A regular ride in Essex.

VWsurfbum

morning, 9.30 ish? gotta make some effort being mothers day?

ploppy

does anyone here do the tuesday night ride from outside grips bike shop in rayleigh?

Timma

VWSurfbum wrote:

morning, 9.30 ish? gotta make some effort being mothers day?

Thanks for mothers day reminder gotta get missus card from little'un

Can we make 10am instaed :?:

muddylegs

ploppy wrote:

does anyone here do the tuesday night ride from outside grips bike shop in rayleigh?

Yes I go when the weather improves. They are great rides with some good riders and they do like to go out for a while.

MTBKarl

You got any more info on the grips ride? I live about 5 mins down the road and have shopped there a fair bit. Would be a good ride for me I think.

Also don't worry rich it has not put me off. You still out saturday?

rich.bikeryder

cant do my rear hub has died needs replacing could use wifes GT but the wheels wont take it i dont think might be looking at a couple of weeks (taking hers out for a test run tommorow to see ) if you go have a great time ride some for me :twisted: will see you soon no doubt

VWsurfbum

Timma wrote:

VWSurfbum wrote:

morning, 9.30 ish? gotta make some effort being mothers day?

Thanks for mothers day reminder gotta get missus card from little'un

Can we make 10am instaed :?:

yeah why not, after all she'll still be a mother half hour later?

Timma

Excellent

Where do you want to meet.

How does the ski/kart car park sound?

VWsurfbum

of course! i know a few people who ride out from there at 10, a good bunch of lads.
i'm looking forward to it being slightly less like a swamp in there. Gonna crack open the Genius again, been riding a 29er for a few months now and i need to get back on my proper bike.

muddylegs

MTBKarl wrote:

You got any more info on the grips ride? I live about 5 mins down the road and have shopped there a fair bit. Would be a good ride for me I think.

Also don't worry rich it has not put me off. You still out saturday?

What info are looking for?
I think it is a 7-15 start they ride around the Rayleigh/Hockley area, very muddy at the moment if you ride with the guys up front expect very rapid pace. But there are several others who know where they are going who ride a bit slower. Good fun.

MTBKarl

Cheers for the info. I don't think I will go out if its as muddy as you say. I may pop into grips sometime in the week and talk to them about it. Sounds like something I would be up for in the summer that's for sure.

Timma

VWSurfbum
Sorry can't make it this morning as missus has been up all night being sick.How inconsiderate!Hope you get this before going out.Anyway have a good ride

VWsurfbum

Timma wrote:

VWSurfbum
Sorry can't make it this morning as missus has been up all night being sick.How inconsiderate!Hope you get this before going out.Anyway have a good ride

cheers buddy just checked. i'll still go but take it a bit easier on my own.
hope the missus gets better.

IhateDNS

Grips When I was in the shop some months back. There was two trips out Tues a road ride and Thurs a off road ride.

btw I been lurking for about six months reading this thread. So when I'm happy with fitness I be joining the Saturday morning gang

I not been out since Dec I'm waiting for the sun :roll: Mostly ride round with rich.bikeryder over at Thorndon. I'm cracked time I ridden from Brentwood train stashion.

VWsurfbum

thorndon was awesome today, fast and grippy, lets hope it stays dry for next week?

rich.bikeryder

was there many out today, dog walkers ,joggers, mtb riders ??

ploppy

the offroad ride outside grips starts on tuesday night at 7pm sharp (unless soemone rings to ask them to hang on for 5 mins).

good bunch of blokes to ride with, nothing is taken seriously and the pace is quite quick, although some riders like myself hang by the back of the group. we do stop a fair amount though.

it is still fairly muddy in parts of hockley woods although last week had seen a dramatic improvement with only the odd patch catching you out, although daws heath area was still greasy.

i think they meet up on thursday for a road ride somewhere in canvey but i have yet to do this one.

for more info i'd personally speak to matt in grips as he knows more about it.

i think they also go for a slower off road ride around hockley woods on saturday morning, im hopefually going to do this this weekend so i let everyone know what the conditions are like if anyone is thinking of going around that area.

IhateDNS

Looks as if I got my days mixed up

what it like in Hockley woods is there a tracks I didn't think it was a bike friendly place lots of dog walkers. I been a couple time in the passed as walker then popped into The Bull (pub)


Is this after hours when the gate closed ? Not that your can close the woods

ploppy

well put it this way, its chuffing dark when we go and i dont think have ever seen a walker in the two months or so that i have been riding with them. things may change in the summer though. as for closing it, we dont go through the main gate, we go up through bull lane then past the prison.

i dont think hockley woods is bike friendly which is a shame because some 'do-gooders' decide that its a good idea to put logs across the paths where we ride. makes them good fun to jump over though!!!

rich.bikeryder

no woods are mtb friendly logs are all over my trails spent most of yesterday clearing them (too big to jump) gonna put snares on the track to see how they like it getting there dog caught

ploppy

haha, awesome. the logs are usually good fun to jump over except for when they put them at an angle, tends to take the back wheel out.

kona_matt

hi everyone, been watching this thread and trying to find a free sunday (tricky with a 6 month old nipper around!) to join you guys at thorndon as i don't know the area that well. have mostly been riding hadleigh and danbury last few years. still no luck with a free sunday but the night rides from grips sound good. i grew up in rayleigh and have just moved to hockley this week so as soon as we've finished unpacking and i've cleared a path to the bikes at the back of the garage i'll be there. hockley woods are about a 1min ride from my door step.

ploppy

im sure the guys would be happy to meet you there or you could just pop over to grips, not too far from where you live

ploppy

the grips ride was awesome last night, a lot lot lot dryer, even the part that goes through daws heath and pound woods was dry(ish). it ended up being a very fast paced ride especially on some of the down hill parts.

im going to meet them on the saturday too, they leave grips at 9.45am.

kona_matt

ploppy wrote:

the grips ride was awesome last night, a lot lot lot dryer, even the part that goes through daws heath and pound woods was dry(ish). it ended up being a very fast paced ride especially on some of the down hill parts.

im going to meet them on the saturday too, they leave grips at 9.45am.

ooo, i've got a mate coming down for a ride this weekend, don't think he'll be here that early though. in fact, his bike is in bits and we need to put it back together first so very doubtful i'd make that.

may join you on the grips ride next tuesday

dogboy73

How come I've not seen this thread before?! :shock: I live in Hornchurch, Essex & I've been looking for more local rides that are decent. I often go over to Thorndon Park & sometimes Hainault. I don't know much else that's local. We go to Leith Hill, Dorking when we can but some decent local rides would help me get out on the bike more often. I'll be trawling through these pages for info

On a side note - We went out to Warley Gap last night for a munch at Izumis chinese buffet. When we arrived a couple of guys were just setting up for a night ride around the local woods. Need to try this myself

rich.bikeryder

warley gap tip....good lights and a clean pair of pants

robertpb

We are under starters orders for the 9am Saturday ride at Thorndon meeting at the ski slope/kart track car park, or for the foodies Izumis car park.

Conditions are dry in most areas, and the going is faster.

dogboy73

That would be cool. Can't make it this Saturday but I'd like to get some guidance as to where the good rides are in that area. Thorndon is okay but I sense there is much to explore a little further out

I wonder if the 2 guys I saw at Warley Gap on Tuesday night visit these boards? That would be a coincidende having just seen them over there before discovering this thread.

robertpb

dogboy73, you need to come on our rides to find out what there is around Thorndon, I think I've got the handle on it after 26 years of MTBing there.