London Calling

cooldad

Since when has Popstar been rational? No crack required.

cooldad

So?
Tunnel Hill tomorrow?
Where - DK is the expert.

sandy hill

Id be up for TH but from what time? Need to do Daves Delight again before I grow the kahunas for Pants Down.

cooldad

10ish?

Anonymous

Don't know about expert. I still keep getting lost there. Generally wander about and stumble across the stuff.

Grand Prix is tempting but can record that.

cooldad

SH can direct. Grand Prix can be taped. Then you can watch Vettel win later.

Anonymous

Vettel, mumble mumble.

Webber okay, but have to stick up for my former employers and local team. Even if they're crap at the moment.

sandy hill

10 at Potter's layby?

cooldad

Fine with me, just one thing, what and where is Potter's layby?

Anonymous

Is that the one we met at before some time ago (where Cooldad had the argument with that woman who couldn't cope with basics of reversing a car)?

Edit: Ah, or by that Potter's place on Mytchett Place Road. That's where I often start. Or in the Basingstoke Canal visitors centre car park next to it.

cooldad

I have absolutely no idea.
Presumably the one on Mytchett Place Road?
Got a reference?

Bottom bracket tool (subliminal message)

Anonymous

I'd already forgotten! Put it out ready to bring.

Anonymous

Round about here?: http://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=51.285991, ... 9&t=h&z=17

http://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=51.286046, ... 5,,0,14.98

Road has layby on the side, or as I say otherwise in the canal centre car park.

cooldad

That would be the place, turn round and there's Potter's Restaurant or something, hence Potter's layby as SH has just somewhat sarcastically texted me.
Post code is GU16 6DD

10am tomorrow.

BB tool (still subliminal reminder)

Blind Danny Johnson

Hi guys,

I've just come back from a snowboard/mountain bike holiday in Tignes, French Alps and it was amazing! The mountain biking was incredible. I rented a proper downhill bike, my first time on one, and rode the green and blue downhill runs. These are the easiest grades but I must admit it got pretty hairy in parts (in my opinion anyway!). I loved every second of it though and was wondering if there are are any long fast downhill style sections at Swinley? I've found some stuff but not much of it has been very long. I found a few maps with some trails named and some just marked on. Can anyone advise me?

Thanks

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cooldad

Some longish trails at Swinley, and some downhillish trails, but nothing long and downhill, there just isn't the height.

Blind Danny Johnson

I kind of figured. What are the names of the longish/downhillish ones though please?

thel33ter

Longest ones are probably Dear Stalker and Babymaker ect. But even those are only 30 seconds to a minute long depending on how fast your ride them. Awesome pic BTW.

cooldad

Longest are probably Seagull and Whole Nine Yards. But they are singletrack, not downhill.
Closest real downhill is Aston I think.

Blind Danny Johnson

thel33ter wrote:

Longest ones are probably Dear Stalker and Babymaker ect. But even those are only 30 seconds to a minute long depending on how fast your ride them. Awesome pic BTW.

Thanks

That jump felt good. The trails were amazing at Tignes, I've never experienced anything like it.

Blind Danny Johnson

cooldad wrote:

Longest are probably Seagull and Whole Nine Yards. But they are singletrack, not downhill.
Closest real downhill is Aston I think.

Thanks I'll check them out. I've heard about Aston Hill, have you been? I only have a hard tail bike do you think I'd need a full sus to ride there? I wish I'd saved longer now and bought a full sus bike but I was impatient to get riding a mountain bike. I'm going to upgrade my front forks and then get a full sus frame I think, eventually...

cooldad

Depends whether you are talking about riding downhill or Downhill.
Anything will go downhill, for Downhill you need a chunky frame and silly amounts of travel.
Been to Aston but I just did the XC/red run. Left the more heroic types do the real stuff.

Blind Danny Johnson

cooldad wrote:

Depends whether you are talking about riding downhill or Downhill.
Anything will go downhill, for Downhill you need a chunky frame and silly amounts of travel.
Been to Aston but I just did the XC/red run. Left the more heroic types do the real stuff.

I do mean Downhill rather than riding downhill but I face a huge problem which is that I live in north London and don't have a car...! I'll just have to upgrade my bike to something in between and ride terrain that is in between until the odd trip I can sort out to proper Downhill spots every now and again.

thel33ter

What bike is it? You can do all the trails in Aston on a tough ~140mm hardtail and a chunk of skill.

Blind Danny Johnson

Anyone watching the Windham World Cup on Freecaster at the moment?

Anonymous

As said, no long downhills in Swinley.

I'd argue there's no proper downhill at all in Swinley. There are trails that go downhill, some of which is a bit more freeride, but it's generally a trail centre kind of place and not very hilly. The "expert" stuff is mostly rollable by anyone except some of the bigger drops.

There are more downhilly bits in the Surrey Hills, but nothing long and it's all spread out with long slogs to get between them.

Aston as said is the nearest proper downhill. If you want to do the DH trails, you're best off with at least a reasonable suspension bike 5"+ and slacker head angle, sturdy bike, and a full face helmet strongly recommended! Bear in mind most people there are in full armour and big DH rigs. There is the XC trail, but I wouldn't go there just for that. P.S. You need to pay a fee to ride there. Cheaper if you buy online.

Been there once, just with my humble GT which is a trail bike really. Did borrow a full face, but came off a few times and bust up the chest a bit.

PORC is perhaps the other big DH place in the SE (Kent). Never been there.

If you want big long stuff like you'll find in the Alps you need to find real mountains, i.e. Wales or Scotland. Cwmcarn in Wales has a good DH run. Though there is Gawton down in Devon which is supposed to be good though not sure it's long stuff though.


P.S. What is it with Londonders? Surely the place must be the greenest on the planet as they never seem to own cars

Blind Danny Johnson

thel33ter wrote:

What bike is it? You can do all the trails in Aston on a tough ~140mm hardtail and a chunk of skill.

2011 Hardrock Pro. All I could afford at the time... Not the toughest hardtail I suppose but I'm going to work on sorting out a decent set of front forks and then upgrade the frame to a full sus and hopefully I'll be good for places like Aston etc.

Regarding the chunk of skill... 8)

Only kidding

Blind Danny Johnson

deadkenny wrote:

As said, no long downhills in Swinley.

I'd argue there's no proper downhill at all in Swinley. There are trails that go downhill, some of which is a bit more freeride, but it's generally a trail centre kind of place and not very hilly. The "expert" stuff is mostly rollable by anyone except some of the bigger drops.

There are more downhilly bits in the Surrey Hills, but nothing long and it's all spread out with long slogs to get between them.

Aston as said is the nearest proper downhill. If you want to do the DH trails, you're best off with at least a reasonable suspension bike 5"+ and slacker head angle, sturdy bike, and a full face helmet strongly recommended! Bear in mind most people there are in full armour and big DH rigs. There is the XC trail, but I wouldn't go there just for that. P.S. You need to pay a fee to ride there. Cheaper if you buy online.

Been there once, just with my humble GT which is a trail bike really. Did borrow a full face, but came off a few times and bust up the chest a bit.

PORC is perhaps the other big DH place in the SE (Kent). Never been there.

If you want big long stuff like you'll find in the Alps you need to find real mountains, i.e. Wales or Scotland. Cwmcarn in Wales has a good DH run. Though there is Gawton down in Devon which is supposed to be good though not sure it's long stuff though.


P.S. What is it with Londonders? Surely the place must be the greenest on the planet as they never seem to own cars

I got full body armour and a full face helmet with the bike I rented when I was away and I'm so glad I had it because I came off a couple of times and although they didn't hurt it would've been devastating had it not been for the armour.

A car is far too expensive for me to own in London being as I ride my bike for nearly every journey I make, I'd only ever use the car at the weekends but I have to say I'm tempted so I can ride more often.

thel33ter

Blind Danny Johnson wrote:

thel33ter wrote:

What bike is it? You can do all the trails in Aston on a tough ~140mm hardtail and a chunk of skill.

2011 Hardrock Pro. All I could afford at the time... Not the toughest hardtail I suppose but I'm going to work on sorting out a decent set of front forks and then upgrade the frame to a full sus and hopefully I'll be good for places like Aston etc.

Regarding the chunk of skill... 8)

Only kidding

You could do the Red at Aston fine, but the rest would be too much for the bike, unless it was rolled very slowly, and even then some of the bits are stupidly(awesomely) steep, steep enough to almost certainly throw you over the bars.

Blind Danny Johnson

thel33ter wrote:

Blind Danny Johnson wrote:

thel33ter wrote:

What bike is it? You can do all the trails in Aston on a tough ~140mm hardtail and a chunk of skill.

2011 Hardrock Pro. All I could afford at the time... Not the toughest hardtail I suppose but I'm going to work on sorting out a decent set of front forks and then upgrade the frame to a full sus and hopefully I'll be good for places like Aston etc.

Regarding the chunk of skill... 8)

Only kidding

You could do the Red at Aston fine, but the rest would be too much for the bike, unless it was rolled very slowly, and even then some of the bits are stupidly(awesomely) steep, steep enough to almost certainly throw you over the bars.

The bike I rented in Tignes was a Kona Operator DH and it was awesome! Riding my Hardrock now I'm back feels rubbish but better for the roads of London. I definitely feel like every time I was pushing myself and going as fast, or sometimes faster, than I could handle that the bike was not being tested to it's full. It was a great feeling actually because I'd go over some rough, steep terrain or a jump at a certain speed and the bike would allow me to flow over it better than I expected so next time I'd go faster etc. An amazing experience.

What bike do you ride out of interest? Also is Swinley where you mainly ride?

How about anyone else, what bikes do you use for Swinley style terrain?