London Calling

bartimaeus

I am planning to be up for Sunday, and if this does all work out I will be along with my nephew. If there is the opportunity of a guided tour it would be very much appreciated.

cooldad

Yup that's why we decided Sunday, for your nephew bit.

@atz our christmas party on Saturday, off to France really early (you'd be proud of me, like need to leave home before 5) get back late so will hopefully be able to drag my bones up on Sunday.

bartimaeus

Christmas must come very early in the Surrey Hills... will there be snow?

Anonymous

Need to chat to a man in a particular bike shop this weekend, but otherwise free either or both days.

Blind Danny Johnson

cooldad wrote:

Trying to organise SH somewhere on Sunday.

Count me in for a Surrey Hills Sunday session...

Blind Danny Johnson

popstar wrote:

BdJ you have intrigued my soul with news about Trax venture. Must visit that place and give a verdict.

Hayes Hawks BMX track on the other hand, wasn't suited to MTBikes riding. Mr TuTu was too big a bike for that, total overkill.

Here's some pics of the afore mentioned MTB pump track:

http://dirt.mpora.com/news/winter-diggi ... track.html

It looks pretty cool although some of it still looks a little tight. There are some nice doubles and berms though...

cooldad

Bartimaeus wrote:

Christmas must come very early in the Surrey Hills... will there be snow?

Hope not, we organised the sun for the weekend. We do have a conventional xmas party as well, but just for fun the co takes us over to France for lunch (and a few drinks) as well.
Not complaining.

cooldad

Except about having to be in the city by 7am to catch the train..

cooldad

So Sunday morning, SH, time? Not too early, but Bartimaeus needs to sort out his nephew and I guess the rest of us can fit in. 11ish?

Atz

I'll be out Saturday morning. Really fancy getting the FS out but depends on how I feel when I get up. Might bash around Swinley for a few hours then get on with the new project.

Anonymous

cooldad wrote:

So Sunday morning, SH, time? Not too early, but Bartimaeus needs to sort out his nephew and I guess the rest of us can fit in. 11ish?

11 is fine but I'm flexible.

Saturday will be out too I think somewhere. Also could do a few days in the week.

pieman71

defo up for sunday,
11 sounds good as maybe a few beers saturday, early start for the rugby and all that.
When and where?

ThePriory1978

Sunday looking good. Big group. I also hope to be joining, hangover dependant.

cooldad

Peaslake is probably the easiest.

bartimaeus

So Peaslake at 11 on Sunday? Sounds good, and I see you have organised some splendid weather as well.

Where in Peaslake do you meet up? I'll PM cooldad my mobile in case things go awry.

Looking forward to this - it's always fun to explore somewhere new.

cooldad

Organised. Sunday, Walking Bottom, 11am.
BDJ, The Priory, DK, Pieman, Bartimaeus and nephew, me.

@Bartimaeus meet at the carpark in Walking Bottom road in Peaslake. Google map thingy as below. If you find the Hurtwood Inn (GU5 9RR) carpark is just up Walking Bottom on the left, big one you can't miss it.
I have an old BMW and a Kona, DK has a bright red Honda.
Give me a call if you get lost.

@BDJ do you want a ride from the station?

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=walking ... CBwQ8gEwAA

Blind Danny Johnson

cooldad wrote:

Organised. Sunday, Walking Bottom, 11am.
BDJ, The Priory, DK, Pieman, Bartimaeus and nephew, me.

@Bartimaeus meet at the carpark in Walking Bottom road in Peaslake. Google map thingy as below. If you find the Hurtwood Inn (GU5 9RR) carpark is just up Walking Bottom on the left, big one you can't miss it.
I have an old BMW and a Kona, DK has a bright red Honda.
Give me a call if you get lost.

@BDJ do you want a ride from the station?

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=walking ... CBwQ8gEwAA

Yes please that'd be great The train gets in at 10:40am.

Anonymous

Atz wrote:

I'll be out Saturday morning. Really fancy getting the FS out but depends on how I feel when I get up. Might bash around Swinley for a few hours then get on with the new project.

So Saturday, Surrey Hills at Leith end now going by the FB conversation?

Anonymous

Tip for tomorrow... loads of water! and take it easy. Though might be slightly cooler.

And given I ended up with leg cramps today I should have stuffed more salt in or something.

mtb crazy

wish i could join you all tomorrow but im in london for the day, would rather be riding.

popstar

BDJ that pummp track you mentioned ... is it open to ride? Those doubles do look tricky, as I bet you have to manual them instead of jumping. FS will die compared to a HT for sure. Fact.

Anonymous

Great stuff today, good ride, fantastic weather, and trails riding well.

Thoroughly enjoyed my little demo ride which is certainly a million miles improvement from the old GT. That bike may just be seen on the trails again with me on it

Atz

And... you placed the order for the HT frame yet? Time's wasting, if you're not careful you'll get a new job and won't have time for all this stuff

Anonymous

Good point. Time on my hands at the moment. Good time to do it. Full face and a bit more armour to get also, probably worth it for Cwmcarn.

bartimaeus

Guys, many thanks for the tour... I'll download my GPS so I have some idea of where we were! Robert was pretty much too tired to speak when he got home - but then he was out partying last night so he probably didn't get too much sleep. The riding was just what he needed though - a mix of fun, hard, too hard and exhilarating!

For me that was a great mix of riding and fantastic weather. I now need to come back and hit the steep switchbacks again as I was pretty rubbish on them... I understand that 'speed is my friend', but at the moment this is losing out to 'caution is my safety blanket'.

Really enjoyed the flowing singletrack, and it was good to find a couple of jumps to practice on. Luckily someone seems to have shot some video of us in action.

Our 3:30 pick up was arranged to get me back in time for beer and birthday cake. Can't complain

WisePranker

I just noticed something over on MTB Britain that some of the trails at Swinley are closed from 3rd to 12th October.

Does anyone know which ones and what for as I'm planning on heading there this week.

Anonymous

Heard it's stuff like Stickler, Tank Traps and Seagull. Though new bit of Stickler is fairly new. Unless they've found more rocks to make the rock garden actually have 2 rocks!

Interesting to see what happens anyway. Hope it's good. After all I'm paying for it! (supposedly with the permit).

ThePriory1978

Cant remember who i was talking to about a fork upgrade on Sunday.

This was mailed to me earlier - unbeatable RockShox prices at Planet-X bikes.
http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=40f ... 45e9e400dd

Very good prices. Your welcome.

Blind Danny Johnson

popstar wrote:

BDJ that pummp track you mentioned ... is it open to ride? Those doubles do look tricky, as I bet you have to manual them instead of jumping. FS will die compared to a HT for sure. Fact.

Apparently the open date is 19th Oct.

cooldad

With most of our regulars in Wales on Saturday, they'll probably be seriously injured or exhausted on Sunday, so anyone else fancy a pootle somewhere?