Swinley Forest / The Lookout

cooldad

Good for me, I'll see you there and we'll see how it goes.

ThePriory1978

cooldad wrote:

Awesome directions DK. It's near the tree, no not that tree, the other one.
Still thinking of going out tomorrow?
@Thepriory I'm planning a bit of a ride there tomorrow if you want to do some exploring.

Many thanks for the offer, would of been great to make you aquantance's but after an excellent ride today I spent the afternoon in A&E. Nine stitches in my chin and a mashed face. Trying to claim DK's crown, but still some way to go.
So another time fo sure.

@DK Thanks muchly for the directions. Duly noted and in my saddle bag.

Anonymous

Ouch! Was that Swinley again? Seems to be claiming a lot of people recently. Still, Frimley hospital is pretty good.

cooldad

Yeah to top DK you need at least intensive care and a full body cast, and I'm certainly not going out of my way to compete with that.

Atz

ThePriory - What did you do and where?

ThePriory1978

Yes, it was Swinley again.
Annoyingly I wasn't doing anything scary, going down a singletrack trail invetween the reservoir at the top of the hill heading down towards Jump Gulley. Had a minor lapse of concentration a 'I wonder what's over there moment', turned to face where I was going again and wack, there was a small jump ramp I didn't see coming. My face hit it before I had time to react. Am annoyed at myself for being such a plonker. I now look 'pretty'.

sandy hill

It's the time of year when the need to cycle to the coast rears its head.

Meet at the carpark for St Martha's Mount,just outside Guildford, at 0730hrs for a 0745hrs start.

As it is a Bank Holiday there will be plenty of 'traffic' on route, so this will be a leisurely bimble down to Brighton via Shoreham. It would be fair to say that little experience is needed just a working bike and a good set of legs. There are numerous refuelling opportunities en route so there is no need to carry the world. The total distance is a little over 38 miles flat miles of the Downslink (an old railway line) with only three hills with which to contend.

Once in Shoreham its Bacon Butty time before heading along the coast to Brighton for a few hours chillaxing bfore taking the train back to Guildford.



Or you could go to a DIY store or garden centre.

flybywire

I'm riding at swinley tmrw 8am before it gets busy .. is there anything organised to join in? interested in new/unknown trails and riding advise :P

othello

deadkenny wrote:

If you follow the long route towards The Gully which crosses a few fireroads along the way (forget what it's called), you get to one part that crosses a fireroad which is fairly tree covered and often muddy, though probably not at the moment. Instead of going straight on, you turn right and head a short bit down the fireroad and look for an entry on the left. That's the start of Stickler.

I always used to ride Stickler in reverse, starting from the fireroad where tank traps starts. Must try it that way around. Always was a fun little blast, though the wooden bridge used to be a bit 'dicey' shall we say!

Atz

I don't think there's a bad way to do it. The only bit that has a "proper" direction is the tank traps themselves. One problem with doing the Stickler on the way into the forest for me is that a really nice bit of singletrack that runs near to the whole nine yards gets skipped (it's no fun in the other direction).

anjs

Even tank traps is bi directional

Atz

It's no fun going up it and you're likely to run into a load of people coming the other way (BTW, tank traps for the sake of clarity is the swoopy gully that ends with the concrete traps and is no more than a minute of riding)

Anonymous

The gully ending is difficult the wrong way round. There are two small drops to get up for a start. The rest is okay but most people are going the other way.

The Stickler runs either way though, but I always tend to do it towards Tank Traps to link the two. I think the new bit on Stickler runs better that way too, but people do it either way. The few times I've done it there seems to be large groups riding it.

Seagull runs both ways and neither direction works well. One half runs better one way, and the other half better the reverse.

ThePriory1978

deadkenny wrote:

Seagull runs both ways and neither direction works well. One half runs better one way, and the other half better the reverse.

I disagree, i really like Seagull its simple but i like the way it flows and it can be taken at great speed, keep the momentum on the small ups is the trick, dont drop it to granny ring.
Works best going from Lower starpost 5 towards Satans grotto imo.

Anonymous

Satans Grotto - grumble :evil:

Another of my injury zones

anjs

yes horrible bit of track

Atz

I'd agree with DK. The first half in either direction works very well. The bit in the middle doesn't work particularly well in either direction. If you go from the Crowthorne end it's probably the best direction though. In any case, the whole thing was better a couple of years back but that's life with such a busy place

cooldad

Great ride today with thel33ter. I'm enjoying Seagull at the moment, the new surface has made it a lot more fun.
Only gripe at the moment are Deerstalker and the other trails there. Braking bumps are just getting worse and worse. Even thel33ter on his tractor muttered today. Need some love and care.

Atz

Could always take a shovel with you. The other week Pieman and I bumped into some bloke fixing the berms on babymaker

cooldad

Thought messing with the trails had to be official.

Atz

I don't think the guy fixing the trail had the look of a Gorrick or BOB lycra rider

cooldad

Need some serious work though, couple of truckloads of that yellow stuff would help.

Rouge Penguin

Some of them are getting really torn up and wont be long before the pedals are grounding in the Labarynth area.

Do they do running repairs or is it off season only?


(its my first seasons in Swinley, so still finding my way and the details).

Anonymous

Rouge Penguin wrote:

Some of them are getting really torn up and wont be long before the pedals are grounding in the Labarynth area.

Mine frequently do anyway, but then I have big wide pedals and the floating BB on the GT puts them very low down anyway.

It's what results in so many dings on my shins

Brig

I've just built up my old school DH bike I used to compete on almost 10 years ago and would like to try riding something else than Richmond park... It's staring to get quite boring!

Can you get to Swinley forest without a car? Is it far from Bracknell train station?

Atz

Not too far. Martins Heron station is closer and the usual train stopoff though.

ThePriory1978

Martins heron station is 1.8 miles from The lookout centre entrance to Swinley forest. No more than 15mins on a bike. Its all mild uphill so you'll be warmed up when you get there and you can roll all the way back to the station when your done.

benpinnick

Crowthorne and Camberley are on different lines from the Martins Heron, and offer reasonably quick access into different points in the forest.

Brig

Thanks all! Think I will try it either this or next weekend. Are the trails easy to find from the Lookout?

Anonymous

Nothing is marked and you could easily go around all the fire roads and miss them all.

I found some of them initially by just keeping a look out for trail entrances on the sides of fire roads then exploring. I found more going down the fire roads from the right side of the Look Out. If you go to the left and end up on really big wide fire road down you'll miss a lot, though it will take you towards the so called "expert" area.

Far easier if you find people to go with who know the area. Loads of us here for example.

Also check out the London Calling thread as stuff gets arranged in there too.