Anyone else going to Evans Biggin Hill rideit! on 25th Sept?

dubcat

Hi,

I'm planning to go to the Evans Rideit! Biggin Hill ride on 25th September. I'm not sure whether I will do the medium or long ride as I'm a beginner and rather unfit. Heart says long, body saying I'm not sure lol.

Don't really want to ride alone. Anyone else up for it?

http://www.evanscycles.com/ride-it/bigg ... ember-2010

Dub

dubcat

Hmm is no one doing this? Are they lame rides?

Buckaroo

I did a Southern Trail Ride not long ago, July-ish I think. Was very well organised and a great way to ride an area I didnt know and push the limits a bit. Ended up around 30miles we did. Never done anything like that long before (only bought the bike in May) but well worth it.

Challenge yourself!.. But be prepared to be out for 3 - 4 hrs and take munchies and water.

Pretty sure the Evan rides would be perfectly well sorted for beginners. Will be plenty of other riders to chat and ride with... Just do it!

S

dubcat

Ok thanks man wish one of you lot was coming though!

Buckaroo

Haha, tempted, but with the best swell forecast since June hitting the west coast this weekend the puppywill be left to its own devices while I'll be flapping about in the sea.

Good luck if you do it, let us know how it goes, what the course is like etc

whistleblower

It sounds like fun but I am doing the Brighton 50 mile ride this Sunday. The longest ride that I have done in years. I only started cycling about a month ago so am keen to finish this ride. Best of luck with the Evans ride and I hope you enjoy it.

schlepcycling

My mate and I are doing the medium off road ride on Satuday and really looking forward to it. I recently took delivery of my 2011 Scott Spark 30 and I want to give it a decent workout.

PPlum

I'm going to be doing this with a couple of friends. Haven't done anything like this before, new to MTB.

There are some pics here from some of the previous events: http://www.apricot-images.co.uk/group4224.html

POHB

I'm going along but will be doing the short ride as I'm taking 12 yr old daughter for her first organized ride.

dubcat

What time are you medium and long riders getting there. Can I join you? I probably won't be able to keep up for long but it will be more fun while I can. Weather forecast looking good too.

Drop me a pm with your mobile number if you are up for meeting up. Also include your desired start time. I wanted to start early myself but am flexible.

Btw there is only 5 miles difference between medium and long.

Mark_Ride_It

Hi Dub,
I'll be there doing the rider sign on, probably won't get to ride unfortunately.

You can pretty much decide on the course which distance to do as all the routes start off together, the short riders take a short cut off the main route and the long riders split off to do an extra section before rejoing back to the medium route. If you're feeling good when you get to the long split give it a try.

Mark.

dubcat

Hi Mark, thanks for that info! it's great you are on the forum!

See you in the am

Dubcat

Buckaroo

Let us know how you get on Dubcat.

dubcat

Day of the ride is here I'm going to have to pop some ibuprofens lol. Fell off on my first night ride a couple of days ago and im still aching all over. Weather looks like it's going to be perfect looking out the window

dubcat

What a wicked day! Was HARD work but extremely rewarding. Lots of hills, mostly off road, great weather and great organization by Evans.

I teamed up with PPlum and his mates and had a brilliant time. Would not have been as much fun solo so I was really grateful to be accepted in to this group of very cool guys. Thanks PPlum

Cant wait for the next ride!

ollie_lucas1985

I done an evans ride down south and it was pretty damn good.. will be doing another one soon!!

Has anyone done that Cannock Chase ride with evans? I would like to know if it encoporates any of the built trails?..

Dubcat, are you planning on doing anymore?

Anonymous

Hi Dubcat,

Missed out on this, but may do the medium road ride tomorrow (on my MTB, but I'm sure I won't be banned).

Just looking at their map of the start -

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 15&iwloc=A

Is that accurate? Cos it seems more like New Addington than Biggin Hill. Don't want to go to the wrong place.

Buckaroo

Dubcat wrote:

What a wicked day! Was HARD work but extremely rewarding. .....
Cant wait for the next ride!

Sweeeeeet,

Did you do the 'long' route in the end?

Always makes a difference having company to push you along. Hightly recommend these organised rides to anyone wanting to get out and about in areas you may not know and push the limits of your endurance and have a laugh with like minded MTB'ers!

The one we did it had rained no-stop for two days before, poured down most of the actual day and was muddy and slippy as hell... wouldnt have changed it for the world.

Dunsfold "Southern Trail Ride" on the 16th Oct anyone?... 8)

dubcat

Ollie I plan to do all of them that I can get to. It is so addictive if you can ride with others as buckaroo says. They push you and the banter is great. I will do gatwick next but cannock is even sooner. http://www.evanscycles.com/ride-it/dates-and-locations

Richard it is close to new addington yes. I drove there from Gatwick and the sat nav took me a really weird route after the m25 with roads only wide enough to let one car pass. I put new addington as the place in sat nav as it could not find those roads under biggin hill or even with the post code entered! Really hilly very well organized and clearly marked route. The cake at the drinks station is amazing lol. I think I put on weight during the ride.

Buckaroo we were VERY lucky with conditions. Ben raining last two days so lots of mud. But sunny skies today! I bottled out of long with half of the group i was with as the hills were really hurting. The other half did long and we did medium. I have to be honest, i walks up a number of the hills /blush.

I really enjoyed the trails but I enjoyed this XC style easily as much - especially the fast rocky muddy downhill sections. I want more more more . Covering so much ground and with so much varied terrain was brilliant. It seems trails are the cooler thing to do based on other posts but damn i loved this too

Mark_Ride_It

@RichardSwt - The map for the start location is correct, the ride starts from Fairchildes School on Fairchildes Avenue.

@ollie_lucas1985 - The cannock ride doesn't really use the built trails, at our events you're partly paying for a marked route so us charging riders for a lap around an already waymarked trail would be a bit cheeky :-) We are right near the built trails though, I think the main Follow the Dog trail is about 7 miles so it's doable to do our ride and a lap round Follow the Dog in a day.

@Dubcat - glad you enjoyed the ride today, mountain bikes are fine on tomorrows road ride, we usually get a few riders on mountain bikes and hybrids amonst the lycra clad roadies.

Anonymous

Thanks Mark and Dubcat.

I think they say the start is in Biggin Hill instead of New Addington, cos New Addington has a certain reputation.

Buckaroo

Dubcat wrote:

It seems trails are the cooler thing to do based on other posts but damn i loved this too

Trails are one thing... XC is another... Downhill is something crazy..... It's all wicked, do everything!.. Each seperate area gives you skills and confidence in another, just ride and enjoy. Perfect.

dubcat

Buckaroo you are spot on. I love both xc and trails from what I have seen so far, what is downhill? That's where you need a stronger bike and wear body armour right? I'll have to skip that one at least for now

Buckaroo

Serious (fast and mental) DH'ers do all that yeah, just like serious XC racers have 1microgram carbon Treks, wear lycra and do 100miles before breakfast. But there are 'red' DH courses (like at Aston Hill and Cwncarn) that are do-able by the likes of 'us' ... just a touch more cautiously ...

(Disclaimer: Not thatI've done them myself :? .. but I've seen them and spoke to peeps who have and I deffinately plan to give em a a go.)

subjude101

I completed the Long Mtb route at Biggins Hill.
An great days riding but the Hills killed me. I was Ill prepared & carrying to much weight, around my waist & in my bag lol.
Anyway, thanks for a great days riding Evans, & a big thanks to the encouraging nods of understanding from the riders who passed me on most of the steeper hills. I got cramps at around 22 miles, not good.
I live for the downhill sections of every ride I do & this ride had some of the best I've done this year, for speed at least, as they weren't too technical.
I was the black guy riding the Spesh' Enduro by the way.
See you next time people, say hi & dont be shy, thats why were out there.
Peace.

I normally ride around the Sth Downs areas with a group of local friends, you may see us around.

dubcat

Jude! We met mate! I was the Asian guy at the drink station eating all the cake in the sun lol. Do you remember me? Would be awesome to hook up at south downs bro. Based on your gear etc you are prob doing stuff out of my league but I'm pretty nutty for an older guy and will always try to keep up

ollie_lucas1985

Buckaroo - I've never done a trail break ride, is it as well organised as the evans ones?

I would look at doing this ride aswell as its resonably local to me, do you know where the route goes?

Dubcat - I'm planning on doing gatwick, maybe we could arrange a meet closer towards the time? I generally cycle on my own (due to my slow speed) but we can see how it goes and break off where we need to?

I plan to do gatwick, cliddesden and dorking from the evans rides - I may even be missing out on the biffy clyro concert in favour of the dortking ride but the surrey hills are epic!!

Other than evans ride it and trail break, are there anymore that anyone knows of?

Mark_Ride_It - Please encorporate some of the made routes around the surrey hills on this ride - summer lightining more specificly

Subjude101 - Maybe you could organise a surry hills ride for the locals that arnt upto good navigation (like me!!)

dubcat

Ollie sounds good! I will start a new thread closer to the time.

pieman71

Hi all,

apologies, not about the evans ride.
was wondering if anyone's going to be around surrey hills (holmbury/pitch) this weekend, not sure if sat or sunday yet.
looking to do a few routes, try a few jumps (nothing drastic as can't jump for toffee) just generally have a bit of fun, nothing to serious.
will probably go out at some point but always better if theres a few of you, different routes and all that.
post up details if interested.

pieman
8)

dubcat

Hi mate

Check out the London Calling thread. You will find all the surrey hills crowd there.

Cheers,
Dub

Mark_Ride_It

Mark_Ride_It - Please encorporate some of the made routes around the surrey hills on this ride - summer lightining more specificly

Hi Ollie - i don't think we're going to be able to include trails like summer lightening in our rides, it's a bit of a tricky area with them not officially being bridleways. There's plenty of decent trails we can use on the surrey hills so I don't think you'll be disappointed if you come and ride with us.