Peterborough/Cambridge area MTB'ers

mbrfan

Chris,

Glad it went OK. I'm planning to get out tomorrow (Tues) night - fancy setting out from Elton - 6 or 6:30?

Steve

Larok

I'm up for Elton and maybe the bank holiday weekender as well.

mbrfan

Can I be a pain and request 5:30 or 6 - turns out I need to be home for 7:30. I reckon the loop I had in mind will take about 1 & 1/2 hours.
Can you do that time?
S

Larok

No problem. 530 is good. Whereabouts shall we meet in Elton?

If you need to cancel don't be afraid to do so. Be no worries, although looking forward to it if you can.

mbrfan

At the bottom of the hill in Elton there's a village green. The Crown Inn (Duck St) is kinda close. Park on the green and meet you in front of the Crown!

S

Larok

Crown inn then.

Sgt Marmite

Hi Lads,

I can't make tomorrow night, but I really enjoyed yesterday's ride - Thanks again for the loan of the bike Steve, and sorry about breaking your pump Jamie.

I should be OK for this Sunday - will bring my own bike, pump, spare tubes etc etc (hopefully).

Have good one tomorrow night

Cheers
Andy

JEB2604

morning,

i should be ok for this sunday if not, next.

we could possibly come up with a loop starting in wansford, to finish at sulehay quarry, that way if anyone needs to shoot off good time the others have got somewhere to nail a few table tops, one handers etc etc....yeah right...

from sulehay to wansford is little over a mile and it's all downhill.

i won't be out tonight, i'm still trying to get over that couple down the lane.....but i should be out next week, mon or tues is fine for me.

cheers

James

mbrfan

Nice ride tonight, thanks for the company Scott and Chris. Looks like we might be able to make Tues evening a regular slot, albeit a it later: 6:30?

S

mbrfan

Hi all, Shall we get going with booking a trip to Wales? I propose the weekend 2nd/3rd August. Options are to travel over Friday evening, and poss stay on till Monday - up for discussion. I'm happy to provide a lift as I wouldn't mind company for that kind of distance.

Troopy has the venue in mind - a choice of campling, B&B or bunkhouse, with secure storage for the bikes. We'll need to get ourselves sorted soon as I'm sure we're not the only ones with Coed y Brenin on our minds.

I propose we meet one evening soon in the Black Horse in Elton to go over the details. Is it worth PMing me your mobile nos. to get things going? (Got yours Chris and Scott).

S

JEB2604

Steve,

I've pm'd you my mobile number, i reckon that weekend would be ok for me.

Cheers

James

Troopy

Looks like August 2/3 is on . The campsite is the Torrent Walk Campsite, Dolgellau http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/sites/detai ... revid=5203. As Steve said there is B&B, a bunk house and camping and they allow camp fires 8), it cost £8/night last year. Dolgellau is about a 15-20 minute walk away or £3 by taxi. If the venue is suitable to all then we should book ASAP. We will need to put a deposited down so I need to know how many tents etc we will be taking. I have a spare tent and inflatable double bed if any one needs it. I think wives/girlfriends should welcome to come as well even if they don't ride (although some of you may not agree but we do need someone to do the cooking and washing up!!!!! only joking) and if any of the wives/girlfriends have got sexy single girl friends then they are welcome as well!
I think the plan is to ride on the Saturday then mabe walk Sunday and then if we stay untill the monday do a short ride before coming home.
What night is suitable to meet up to discuss? I can't make this friday sat or sun. So how does next Tuesday after the ride sound, we can sit out in the beer garden of the Black Horse, even if you can't make the ride you can come along later.
Wait to hear from you
Chris

Larok

Tuesday night sounds good, looking forward to the riding as well.

JEB2604

morning all,

i'll be out next tue, for the ride, work permitting, and if not i'll drop by the boozer afterwards.

chris - i'll be interested to see if anyone brings a lady after your v honest job description! probably have to rent a foreign skivvy for the weekend now, or paper plates!

see you soon

james

Leebergin

Hi all sorry i havent checked in lately been a bit busy. :?

I now have a new Son Connor. 8)

The trip sounds great but i wont be able to make it

but as i can see your all having a good time riding...

Lee

mbrfan

Hi all,

There are currently 4 of us signing up for the Wales trip. I have a futher 3 from Reading that want to meet up too - a slightly higher average level of fitness [singlespeeders] but similar skills.
I was wondering if we should set up a separate forum thread for this trip?

See you Tues

S

mbrfan

Oh, and congratulations Lee. Another mtb'er in the making.
S

Troopy

Yeh, congratulations Lee, hope both Mum and Son are doing well.

Steve, It might be a good idea to set up another thread, is there anyway we can set something up that is not open to the entire forum? although it would be good to get others involved, do we want to take over the campsite (actually that's not a bad idea, maybe next year!) or will it be easier to communicate by email?

mbrfan

Hi all,

Well, I have your mobiles so I suppose I could co-ordinate it through a distribution list on there.
Actually, I've got another idea that I'll work on over the weekend, and let you know how I get on next Tues.

S

mbrfan

Well, I take it none of you are out tomorrow on your bikes. Can I venture to suggest 6:30pm on Tuesday, starting from the Black Horse in Elton?
If we aim for an hour and a half ride, then meet up Black Horse 8:pm-ish to sort out the details for Wales?
So, shall we head N, S E or W?

Steve

Larok

Tuesday it is.

Carlos13

Hi chaps, stumbled across this thread the other night. I just bought a Rockhopper on saturday, just getting into riding.

Think I'm going to need some help with the local geography!

I went out this morning to "follow my nose". Live just near the showground, went Alwalton-Castor-Water Newton. Had a chat with a local old chap in Water Newton about where to ride next, he pointed me towards a path but warned me about the cows in the next field getting aggressive. I thought "I'm on a bike, I'll be ok". I tried to ride the edge of the field in the hope they wouldn't notice, but they did, and they charged. I put the hammer down, got to within 20 metres of the fence and my chain came off. I had to leg it the last few metres and literally throw my brand new bike over the gate and scramble over it before the herd reached me.

Anyway, I spent most of the next hour riding through fields of hip-high grass, going over barbed wire fences and through nettles, ultimately ending up riding the last bit down the A1 because I just could not find a path.

So...I need to know where the proper trails are! I can't make Tuesday, I work in London and don't get back until 7:30, but If possible I'd like to join a ride soon. Is that ok?

mbrfan

Hi Carlos13,

Troopy used to live in the same area - I'm sure he'll have a few ideas. I'm afraid that if you want to get a good loop, there will always be those kinds of fields (and cows) around here. The key to the cows is actually start riding towards them - they're just shortsighted and curious.
A short tip would be to head north of Ferry Meadows or go west of Elton - I use the OS Explorer 227 to identify possibilities and go scouting.
The guys were talking about doing something this coming bank holiday weekend, so hopefully we'll see you there.

Steve

Carlos13

Cheers for your reply Steve More than happy riding around fields, but this morning's activity seemed, I dunno, a bit nefarious. I half expected a farmer to let off a couple of rounds over my head.

The cows...I've been around plenty of cows, this wasn't shortsighted/curious. This was a crack cell of highly organised, territorial bovine bullies. They stood snorting at the gate, whilst I put my chain back on. If you don't believe me, try riding the field immediately east of Water Newton (centre of this pic)

http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=52 ... 9&t=h&z=17

jamieayres

mbrfan

Point taken. I suppose the only consolation is that they will be appearing at your local McDs any day now....
There's a similar group of bovine "hoodies" if you take the bridleway south of Haddon towards Morborne.
Which Rockhopper have you got then?

S

Troopy

Steve, alll being well will see you 6.30 tuesday
Carlos13, fluffy little moocows, how can they hurt you!! As Steve said I hope to get out on Bank holiday monday, I'm busy sat & sun although could change the day to suit others but i need 2 days to get stuff done. I don't know who else is out over the weekend. Why not come for swift jar at the Black Horse on tuesday around 8ish and meet up with us after our ride!

Chris

Carlos13

Ha ha yes, *everyone* I speak to is telling me "nah, they're just curious". Perhaps I am a complete wimp

If I'm home in time, I'll pop down, only 5 mins drive.

I just bought the standard Rockhopper Disc 08. No real point in going for the comp or the pro now, since I have nothing to compare it to. I'm the type to fiddle and upgrade, so I'll probably add better bits as I go. So far I'm really impressed with it, except the tyres. It could well be my technique but I seem to be having problems with traction when it is muddy.

Larok

Guys, on Tuesday where are we meeting for the ride?

mbrfan

Don't worry Carl, we don't mean to be nasty. I know what you mean, it's nice to see wildlife on your ride, but when it's got no inhibitions and weighs a ton.....Your bike came #2 in the recent MBR test. Your tyre problem - what brand/model? There's a forum topic in the Cross Country section on tyre choice.

Larok, see you in front of the Black Horse (the first pub on your left when you enter Elton from the A605) Troopy's house is a couple of doors before that. There's a layby opposite the pub. 18:30. Not sure of route yet, but if we head south toward the Ashton estate we might get lucky and stay out of the mud. alternatively we could mess about on that 4x4 playground.

Loos like I might be around BH Monday too. By the way, bought a bke for the wife at Grafham yesterday on the strength of the MBR recommendation - '07 Kona Blast through the bike2work scheme.

S