Swinley, this morning. Was it you?

BigAl

Sliver Giant FS (Trance, I think). Orangy/pink and black top, black shorts.

You need to learn some trail manners!

Was riding the blue with my twins (13 y.o.) this morning. We were on the flat twisty bit just over half way round (is that Labyrinth?). We weren't dawdling, probably about the average pace, some faster, some slower. We always pull over (at a suitable point) when other riders catch us. The vast majority of riders understand this and give a 'thank you' as they go by.

Anyhow, the rider in pink/orange caught us. I could hear him behind me (I always ride at the back with my two - so that they set the pace) so called out to my lads to pull over when they could.

He couldn't be bothered to wait so came crashing past me then son number 1, forcing him to stop, then did the same to son 2 making him stop also. We saw him carrying on the same way with two middle aged ladies further up the trail.

Made my blood boil and my lads may have learned some new words!

Was hoping to catch him at the cafe later but no luck.

Learn some manners - remember there's always someone faster than you too.

Oh, and you'd be faster if you ate fewer pies.

rockmonkeysc

What a c*nt

mike hunts alpine

Theres always fucking one. Tut tut

Angus Young

Anus.

cooldad

Knobbyknobhead. There's always a few.
But no, that's not Labyrinth. Labyrinth is on the red, and is the least flat trail of the lot - windy up and down and up and down etc etc. My favourite - and they didn't build or surface any of it. Nice tight technical rooty uphills.

Did four hours or so out there today (lovely and hot) and managed to avoid the new trails totally except for a trip up Seagull.

No idea of the numbers though.

cooldad

Flat twisty bit (if it's the bit with the berms and bowls that ends on a fire road where you turn right to continue the blue, or left to get to the red) is Stickler. Or was. RIP.

BigAl

cooldad wrote:

Flat twisty bit (if it's the bit with the berms and bowls that ends on a fire road where you turn right to continue the blue, or left to get to the red) is Stickler. Or was. RIP.

That's it.

Looks like it didn't fare too well through the recent rains - is that the reason for the RIP?

benpinnick

No its open and has extra bits now.

t0pc4t

That's awful. I hope it doesn't out you off Swinley. It does get busy, particularly on the blue but it's not on to act like a hooligan.

Chunkers1980

Might have been me

Guanajuato

Get a lot of those types at Grizedale too. Usually find them back at the car park loading their bikes onto Audis or toy 4x4s. Tw&s the lot of them.

BigAl

Chunkers1980 wrote:

Might have been me

Had you down as the likeliest candidate already

BigAl

benpinnick wrote:

No its open

Er, yep. I rode it today. Was just a little confused by Cooldad's 'RIP' comment

Won't put us off going to Swinley. My lads enjoy it a lot. And it's much easier riding a marked trail with them. And there's a cafe.

cooldad

It used to be Stickler, now it's blue something or other. I was referring to the name. Stickler is dead. RIP.

cooldad

But sometimes it's best to ignore me.

Cqc

cooldad wrote:

Knobbyknobhead. There's always a few.
But no, that's not Labyrinth. Labyrinth is on the red, and is the least flat trail of the lot - windy up and down and up and down etc etc. My favourite - and they didn't build or surface any of it. Nice tight technical rooty uphills.

Is that #20 at the top of the freeride park bit?

BigAl

cooldad wrote:

But sometimes it's best to ignore me.

.

.

BigAl

I've only ever ridden Swinley with my lads and we've only done the blue, which they're fine with.

What features of the 'red' make it, er, red?

Presumably everything is rollable? They're a little hesitant about trying it

cooldad

IMHO most of the red is as easy, if not easier than the blue - I think it's only considered red because of the length - a lot of it is just pedally, level trail.
All of it is rollable. Rezzy (red 25 I think) has a few steep bits, and some braking bumps/roots part way through, but if they can do the blue I doubt they'll have much trouble with the red.
Labyrinth has some slightly technical bits, but mainly uphill so the worst that can happen is they stop.
I'd give it a go - they'll feel nicely heroic.

cooldad

Cqc wrote:

cooldad wrote:

Knobbyknobhead. There's always a few.
But no, that's not Labyrinth. Labyrinth is on the red, and is the least flat trail of the lot - windy up and down and up and down etc etc. My favourite - and they didn't build or surface any of it. Nice tight technical rooty uphills.

Is that #20 at the top of the freeride park bit?

The bit at the top going down is Deerstalker (possibly20). Labyrinth is the next bit after the little clearing at the bottom where a few of the DHish trails meet. So possibly red 21?

BigAl

Thanks CD, red it'll be next time. The extra length will be good. Swinley is 30 mins drive, so doing the blue (once) is done too soon, but doing it twice seems, well, sorta dull.

Red plus cake sounds perfect.

t0pc4t

The red is fine, for a couple of older kids like yours you should have no issues. I'm a massive girls blouse but I find the red great. Some bits are rooty and theres more stuff you can get air on if you want but that's not my cup of char.

Also, and this may be a perception thing, I find the red a little more relaxed in terms of other riders. If I meet a plank acting up it's more often on the blue (which is more crowded) than the red.

arran77

Agreed that the blue is best avoided, the red is more interesting and a lot less busy.

BloggingFit

Pretty typical and is why I avoid Swinley at weekends during the warmer months as it gets too busy. As long as people are moving along then I see no issue as you generally have a decent line of sight and you can simply back off a bit to leave a gap until they clear the section (they're not particually long in Swinley).

What is frustrating is when people are parked on trail, usually in the middle of a technical section, with no attempt to move out of the way so others can get through. Stupidity or ignorance, I've yet to find an answer.

Deepcut is my poison at this time of year as much quieter and the terrain is far more natural and offers more grip than the gravel Swinley has turned into. I've also yet to happen upon anyone on the same piece of trail at Deepcut so you can happily choose on either a chilled or more "on it" ride.

t0pc4t

even if it is busy and you have to wait, there's always time to be polite.

It can get mental though, these last few weeks I've met families with ridealongs and even a balance bike on the entrance to the blue. I think it was a mistake to put the entrance to the blue first as people aren't aware that it's not suitable for really little kids.

rockmonkeysc

Maybe on another forum someone is complaining about a bloke with kids ruining his Strava time.

welshkev

BloggingFit wrote:

What is frustrating is when people are parked on trail, usually in the middle of a technical section, with no attempt to move out of the way so others can get through. Stupidity or ignorance, I've yet to find an answer.

.

there were 3 people doing this on black powder at antur stiniog yesterday!!!

Chunkers1980

Might have been me.

rockmonkeysc

welshkev wrote:

BloggingFit wrote:

What is frustrating is when people are parked on trail, usually in the middle of a technical section, with no attempt to move out of the way so others can get through. Stupidity or ignorance, I've yet to find an answer.

.

there were 3 people doing this on black powder at antur stiniog yesterday!!!

It's even more annoying when people do that during race practice.

BigAl

Chunkers1980 wrote:

Might have been me.

But clearly, you're still unsure.

Levi_501

I took my son for his first ride there yesterday. We did five laps of the green, he loved it but was completely and utterly knackered.

BTW, he is 2 1/2 on was on his Rothan balance bike

I was thinking to join a couple of you in a few weeks for a ride; perhaps the Sunday after the BH weekend if anyone is around.