Swinley Forest Guided Ride Tomorrow 26th March

benpinnick

In penance for my epic FAIL to organise last weeks guided ride, anyone who wants to come along tomorrow for a guided tour of Swinley is most welcome.

Kick off around 1/1:30 in the afternoon (so its nice and warm), taking in most of the named trails such as Whole Nine Yards, Monaco, NE Switchbacks, Seagull, Tank Traps, Watson's wander, rollercoaster, the gulley, car crash moor and of course the labyrinth.

Should be done by late afternoon around 4:30. In time for a pint at the Golden Retriever just around the corner.

Post here if you wanna join in and we'll arrange time and meet.

delta5

I'm keen but not yet sure if I can make it. Sent you a pm . . .

benpinnick

We'll be leaving at 1:30 from the gazebo by the main car park at the lookout. The route is as shown here:



Should be fun, not too fast. If you're in the area and want to come along please do. I have a Black Santa Cruz Blur LT with Black fox forks. Plan around 3 hours riding + pint after.

See you there.

benpinnick

PS - Anyone doing this route on their own should note it doesn't take 3 hrs. Its probably more like 1.5 > 2 if you don't goof about on the downhills, ride the jump gulley and do the labyrinth 3 times (as we inevitably do).

Anonymous

Probably won't be there at that time, but what's that trail going down from post 6 with a label beginning with 'T'? Don't think I've done that before.

benpinnick

'Tern' as in similar to but smaller than a seagull A better quality one for you: Its just a little fun trail through the woods alongside the firetrail.

Anonymous

Cheers. Nice to see many variations of that map

ThePriory1978

Did this happen, or did it show no signs of interest?

I haven't been in Swinley for 10 years plus. A re-education would be good.

anjs

That tern trail os a good way of avoiding the huge puddles that form on the fireroad between upper and lower star post.

benpinnick

ThePriory1978

I got a couple of yeses, that then bailed. As it was it was silly season at Swinley and the place was rammed with all comers. I spent alot of my time showing people around anyway!

Any time you want to go riding, let me know and I will see If I can get a pass from her indoors.

benpinnick

The above map is around 12 miles by the way. Which I think would qualify as an actual trail.

Some ambulances were spotted....

Anonymous

It's worrying the frequency of the ambulances there. Swinley is more attractive to novices and kids doing silly things, and they (or their parents) are more likely to attempt to sue than at places like Surrey Hills.

The more this occurs (and seems to be weekly), the more likely they will tame the place.

sandy hill

DK - I seem to remember you crashing and breaking something last year?

benpinnick

I crashed and broke my wrist on the axle run last year. Didn't call for an air ambulance though, just manned up and rode home. You're right DK, although if people had permits....

Anonymous

Lol, yeah. Toe still isn't quite right after that, and it was just a tame trail at Swinley, not even one of the "expert" ones. I did man up and drive home though. Then spent 3 hours in A&E.

AJB09

ahh - you were there the weekend of great carnage!! The kid in the jump gulley was pretty spectacular! - he didn't make the turn out and carried on down the gully into the drainage ditch which suddenly stopped dead and launched him a good 4-5ft over his bars - missle style!

I'd agree that there are far too many kids trying their hardest to break themselves in the jump gulley, especially the amount of kids not wearing a lid. should make it a condition of entry and enforced more by the park rangers.