First time at Swinley Forest - long post
MarcBC
Posts: 333
Whilst I have had my bike for 8 months, I have only just started to use it in the last two months. Today was to be my first look at true off road cycling. Swinley Forest is only 30 miles from me and so seemed to be a good place to go.
Not perhaps the best weather for it, by hey may as well start somewhere.
Three of us met up, one guy a semi retired MTB racer; still very fit and two of us not so much. Cup of coffee and a Snickers bar, put the bike together and lets go!
I already been out on a couple of cinder track rides, 20+ miles each time and do indoor cycle training at a fairly tough level every couple of days. None of this "training" prepared me for the energy sapping mud. :shock:
The intention was to stick to the fireroads, but that soon went out of the window with just one wrong turn. Gettin lost there is not difficult; using the noise from firing range as guide only helps if one know where one is on the map. Not knowing that means more single track and mud and tree roots. CLimbing through fences is another facet of MTBing I had not appreciated.
At 18stone with 2.1 Nobby Nics on and being unfit, I was too slow to "float" over the top and just sank each time I went through ponds and mud patches. With the lack of energy, and perhaps too low a gear I either could not move the bike quickly enough to get enough speed to out the other foot up or I just spun the wheel in deeper. Extremely tiring (if not boring!).
At one point Andy (the fit one) put his foot down to wait for me and it just sank up to his knee! My winter Specialised boots are almost waterproof but they also keep the water in!
After a couple of hours of this I was too tired to continue and we made it back to the Look Out.
Some of the tips I picked up included stay loose and relaxed on bars on the decents, the bike will get down without a problem, don't rush off at too high a pace to start off with, that just wears one out more quickly.
Anyhoo, the long and short of this is what a rush
and I will be back there again
Well and truly hooked now but boy have I got some work to do to get to the End2End in September!
Not perhaps the best weather for it, by hey may as well start somewhere.
Three of us met up, one guy a semi retired MTB racer; still very fit and two of us not so much. Cup of coffee and a Snickers bar, put the bike together and lets go!
I already been out on a couple of cinder track rides, 20+ miles each time and do indoor cycle training at a fairly tough level every couple of days. None of this "training" prepared me for the energy sapping mud. :shock:
The intention was to stick to the fireroads, but that soon went out of the window with just one wrong turn. Gettin lost there is not difficult; using the noise from firing range as guide only helps if one know where one is on the map. Not knowing that means more single track and mud and tree roots. CLimbing through fences is another facet of MTBing I had not appreciated.
At 18stone with 2.1 Nobby Nics on and being unfit, I was too slow to "float" over the top and just sank each time I went through ponds and mud patches. With the lack of energy, and perhaps too low a gear I either could not move the bike quickly enough to get enough speed to out the other foot up or I just spun the wheel in deeper. Extremely tiring (if not boring!).
At one point Andy (the fit one) put his foot down to wait for me and it just sank up to his knee! My winter Specialised boots are almost waterproof but they also keep the water in!
After a couple of hours of this I was too tired to continue and we made it back to the Look Out.
Some of the tips I picked up included stay loose and relaxed on bars on the decents, the bike will get down without a problem, don't rush off at too high a pace to start off with, that just wears one out more quickly.
Anyhoo, the long and short of this is what a rush
and I will be back there againWell and truly hooked now but boy have I got some work to do to get to the End2End in September!
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Comments
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Cool deal, I rode Swinley for the first time on Saturday! Spent 3 hours finding my way around, rode some fireroad, messed about at the drop-ins and rode the trail to the jump gulley, loved it, can't wait to get back and check out some more of the trails there.
I'm also new to mountain biking, propar mountain biking that is, been riding the roads on a hardtail for a couple of years but just recently got myself a Giant Trance 1 full sus and Saturday was my first propar trail rideing, got covered in mud, loved it!0 -
yup it's not a bad little area, i like it as if i have to drive to get to some hills/mud then shorter is better plus it has cafe/toilet and once out of range of kiddies etc it's fairly empty, the downs can be very busy...0
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Good effort,
But may i say brave taking the nobbie's out in the mud, I decked it from my bike every rde for 3 rides when i had a pair this summer, still on my shelf nearly new 3 rides on um lol0
