Thursday night for me!

Posted by f

Having recently purchased a new bike I felt it was about time I hit some trails having lived in the area for a year or so and not seeing much in the way of countryside yet.

I used to ride a lot of downhill and did some dirt jumping too, but those years are quite far past me now, and I hadn’t properly set foot on a bike for some time. With this in mind I was naturally slightly apprehensive when I turned up at the university carpark to see about 20 riders who looked like seasoned professionals with their bikes upside down and having a good tinker with chains and forks etc!
However I got chatting with a couple of people who seemed like good sorts and before long we were off on our way. Being a rider who used to be quite fit but whos stamina has certainly diminished somewhat I found the pace fairly easy going for the first hour or so. In this time we covered some really nice technical woodland trails at a slow-ish speed with some interesting obstacles on the way. We crossed a set of logs and all was going well until my bike suddenly decided to dive between my legs – sorry to whoever was behind me!
The second half of the ride was more flowing with some really exciting singletrack. I found the pace here really comfortable but quite exhilarating at the same time – those trees really come up quick at this time in the evening! At this point it was becoming dark in the woods which did nothing but add to the fun in my opinion!
Being sort of unfit I was huffing and puffing towards the end, but I just about managed to hold it together!

To sum up the experience of my first outing with Brighton mtb, everyone was friendly, the pace was quick enough to be exciting but not too quick so as to finish you off. The difficulty of the trails was to a level where you certainly needed some experience but there was nothing that really made your jaw drop when you had a glance at it!

So thank you all for letting me come along, I had a great time, it was really nice to get back in the saddle and I’ll see you all soon.

Gill’s second mtb race in China

Posted by f

Sensible girl

: In full swing

Last month I decided to enter a DH race as well as a suitable bike I also needed some protective gear.

The local Specialized guys kindly let me use a 140mm travel Pitch for the weekend. It was a relief not to have to do it on my trusty Giant Yukon, I think it would’ve fallen apart after about 10 seconds! I did actually buy some fake protective gear stuff – well since it’s only plastic I decided it doesn’t really matter if it’s not the genuine article. And it looks pretty realistic for the price, I got knee & shin pads, Fox-branded body armour jacket and dh gloves for a combined total of about 30 quid – not bad! It was really hot and stuffy during the race weekend though so rather than wearing the jacket I just borrowed some elbow/forearm pads instead – which turned out to be a bad decision..!

Oh dear!

The course was around a 2 minuter, with long sweaty push up (groan) through thick forest to the start, then pretty constant steep gradient most of the way down, except for a couple of spots where you suddenly realised the need to pedal but had forgotten how. There had been some heavy rain the previous days and it had exposed some ‘interesting’ long rock garden sections. I managed a couple of fairly ok runs and was pleased to be able to ride it all, but that didn’t last long. The course included two biggish (well in my terms, but they wouldn’t count for much on a World Cup course!) jumps, but they were more like drops to flat really, I guess each was around 5 foot vertical. On my 3rd practise run I was really trying to go for it and took the first drop far too fast and on a bad line that acted like a take-off ramp. I subsequently didn’t manage to get myself in position for the flat landing so bottomed out the front forks and ended up hitting the dirt and using my right shoulder as extra suspension. D’oh! So yes, the result was I had to test out the Chinese hospital system. It turns out to be pretty cheap (7 quid for an x-ray, not bad) but not very organised, or sanitary! Actually I’m considering going back and getting the whole body x-rayed for future reference at that price! Luckily the shoulder’s not broken and they gave me a herbal spray for it. Yes, a herbal spray will fix everything… I sent the x-ray back to a UK doctor (not that I don’t trust the chinese!) and gather it’s ligament damage so just needs lots of rest.”

So end of story is that I’ve been off the bike for this month, but actually it hasn’t been too difficult as I’ve been away in SE China and Malaysia in any case. One-shouldered backpacking can be a bit tricky at times, but thankfully it was just about strong enough for some scuba diving off the Tioman islands in Malaysia. Saw a huge shark, it was terrifying! Then had a very drunken week in Singapore, supposedly for a conference but hangovers made it difficult to pay much attention! I got back to the office here in China yesterday feeling very unfit. First outing back on the bike is this sunday but going to take it pretty easy. Hope the bbq went well? Glad you remember the chocolate brownies! I must make some more of those when I’m back and have a proper kitchen again.
Right, well I should prob try look like I’m working!

Another Brighton MTB Virgin

Posted by f

Thursday 24th June.

On a balmy Thursday evening I turned up to Sussex University and as I pulled into the carpark I noticed lots of excited looking people and a couple of guys dancing to Yazoo hits beside their car. No it wasn’t an 80’s night but my first ride with Brighton MTB! There was excitement in the particularly warm air and why wouldn’t there be on a beautiful evening like this with the thought of riding lovely dry trails after the recent bizarrely generous dry spell we’ve been having! Around the carpark people were making final adjustments to bikes, riding up and down practising some skills, having a good chinwag or dancing to yazoo?!

As riding time drew closer the group started to assemble until the final figure of 17 riders with various pieces of bike porn were ready and raring to go. As we set off someone asked whether everyone could swim – what have I let myself in for I thought! Luckily nobody needed to swim as we did laps of a concrete pond with sloping sides, although I think it was hoped that somebody might provide some entertainment by pushing there luck a little too far and going for a swim – a camera was positioned ready!

After the pond we continued on up the hill to a section of singletrack full of jumps of various sizes, I was asked by Ronnie whether I had done much jumping, I haven’t and I think my inexperience showed! The guys very kindly guided myself and Caroline (who was out on her second ride) through and gave us pointers so that we made it through in one piece. Most of the jumps were rollable save for a couple which could be avoided. Halfway through this section somebody snapped their chain but Ronnie had a spare powerlink and helped them fix it. This happened next to one of the biggest of the jumps so the more experienced riders had a chance to session this (interesting to watch) which gave me and Caroline a few more tips on jumping.

Mechanical problem fixed and off we went, the rest of the ride consisted of miles of amazing single track, a few more jumps (and crashes!) and some exciting technical obstacles. Particularly good was a track which I think was named ‘Tank Track’, it was a real roller coaster and at one point had a section that required riding along a fallen down tree and down the ramp at the end. I didn’t manage it as my front wheel slipped on some moss – next time! The final part of the ride consisted of loads of nice fast winding single track to really get the adrenaline flowing and smiles widening. Another highlight was a fallen tree standing around about 5 foot off the ground with log ramps on either side so it could be ridden over, this was left to the more experienced riders and it looked quite tricky judging by the number of near misses!

As it started to get dark we blasted through the last bits of singletrack and headed back to the carpark, I can remember some kind of large critter bouncing off the back of my throat and being sucked down my windpipe before I had the chance to spit it out – Oh well extra protein is always good!

All in all it was a really enjoyable ride, I never knew what amazing riding we have right on our doorstep and I don’t think I ever would have without coming along on this ride. Everyone can ride at there own pace, with no pressure and everyone is friendly, helpful and happy to offer advice if needed. A big thanks to everyone, they do a great job of organising the ride and route and really look out for you if you’ve not ridden with them before.

See you all again next Thursday!

Dan

A Czech in Scotland June 2010

Posted by f

World Cup Downhill

Fort William World Cup

After Saturdays Ben Nevis nirvana which almost paralyzed our legs (and gave us some stunning views as the whether was superb) and gallons of beer in the evening, we went to see the last day (Sunday) of the MTB World Cup 2010.

Contender

Well… no words can really describe it.. amount of adrenalin going through my veins during DH final race was massive. I have to say that there is something unique about GIRLS riding DH!!! Stunning.

Rock Garden

We walked down the whole 2.8km track and oh-my-god, how do they do that! Maximum speed reached was 63km/h and there were no serious accidents.

A happy Martin

Excellent event and we are definitely coming back next year.

Martin

Gill’s Adventures in China

Posted by f

Iconic Birds Nest

I’ve finally made it to China! I had a few days in Beijing initially, staying with a friend – actually arrived on St Patrick’s day so spent my first evening drinking lots of guinness in an irish bar, a great cultural introduction! I’m now settled down in Hangzhou, near Shanghai, where it’s my 3rd day of work. Seems interesting so far and it’s a really pretty city by a big lake. I’m working with all chinese people but they speak good english, when they want that is – the rest of the time I have no idea what they’re chatting about. Got my first mandarin lesson tomorrow, hoping it’s easy?!

New Bike Kit (!)

Exciting news, I bought a bike here yesterday! Ok so it’s a bit of a downgrade, but not bad for about 170 quid. Even has cable disc brakes and some squidgy rst forks. As you’ll see, I ran out of budget at the accessories stage so have ended up with children’s penguin gloves and pink butterfly helmet, nice! I’ve got my first ride on saturday with an expat group here and some trail clearing friday eve. I’m missing the night rides, no one seems to do them here! Maybe I could get some started once I’ve got the hang of the trails. Although with my navigational skills I’ll be leaving here by then.

On the Start Line

Huangshan MTB race, Anhui province, People’s Republic of China

After arriving Friday evening, I struggled out of bed on Saturday for a 6am hotel breakfast (and I thought 10am at Sussex Uni car park was early..!) I then opted for the 10km ride to the race start in a local village, rather than the provided transport. Inevitably it turned out to be uphill all the way. Still, it was worth it for the novelty of riding behind a police car escort, specially provided for us foreigners. At the race arena we waited in the sunshine for the opening ceremony. All sports events in China are organised by the government and they’d brought in lots of patriotic flag waving youths. Every time an official person was introduced there was a drum fanfare and everyone obediently flag waved. Chinese soldiers stood to attention around the arena, I guess to dispel any unwanted biking riff raff. Needless to say it was a very peaceful event. Well, at least until a local Lady Gaga tribute band came on to finish the ceremony. It all made for rather a surreal start to a race.

The men and women were to start together so at the gate I hung towards the back, thinking the guys would all be really fast. The gun went and we headed off through the village where locals had come out to watch, and on into the rice paddies. I soon realised that actually mountain biking isn’t a strong point for most Chinese people. At the first uphill singletrack section there was a big back-log as they’d all dismounted to push up. Now I’m not the best of climbers, but even by my standards it was a non-technical molehill! The next back-log was where someone had fallen off a little bridge into a paddy. Luckily they seemed to be ok. Shortly afterwards a girl was sobbing hysterically by the side of the track as she’d had a mechanical. So far the race was also proving quite surreal! Getting slightly frustrated by the delays, I decided to put the camera away and try to get past the slower riders.

There were around 500 racers in total, about 60 in my category (the ladies 20km). The course turned out to be really fun – a good combination of dirt road and singletrack with a bit of road work to make the main uphill stretch much easier. After some stunning views down the valley at the end of the climbing, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenging downhill sections, with interesting rocky bits, sharp switchbacks, through a mountain village with 2 flights of stone steps and then down into swooping forest trails. My new found competitive spirit led to some calamity on a narrow section as a girl I was overtaking wobbled, falling onto me so that we both fell sideways. Thank goodness there was some netting there, as there was a massive drop beneath us! Another interesting bit was a 2nd short section of road, this time through a long poorly lit tunnel. I had my sunglasses on so couldn’t see anything except the light at the end, so I just aimed for that and prayed for no pot-holes!

That’s me on the end

As we headed for the valley again I realised that the finish was close and went for a final push, shouting ‘excuse-me’ in my best Chinese as I tried to get past more riders. With the final exertions I was pretty tired and relieved to ride through the finishing gate. I was greeted by a camera crew (they’re fascinated by foreigners) and had to do an interview while still panting, bright red and sweaty. Embarrassingly it was shown on the national sports channel the next day. My time was about 1hr 15 and it turned out I was 6th in the category, 20 seconds behind 5th place and 10 minutes behind the first. At the prize-giving they weirdly announced the top 6 so I had to go on the podium to recieve a medal and a big cheque. Well in literal terms, not monetary unfortunately – it was about 20 quid and when I cashed it in they deducted 20% tax! Lunch was provided afterwards: a soggy KFC burger. We headed back to town for noodles and cheap beer instead. More promising was the race ‘banquet’ that night, followed by an excellent trials display in the hotel lobby and the return of Chinese Lady Gaga.

The hangover takes shape

Nursing a slight hangover, there was time Sunday morning to explore some more local tracks before getting back on the public bus for the long journey home. All in all, it was a very entertaining weekend.

Getting the ‘Mojo’ back

Posted by f

Mojo has returned

All this wet weather has been keeping me off the bike recently. Work, family and training for a marathon have also had a part to play but if I’m honest the mere thought of venturing out into the cold, wet and muddy abyss has been the real reason. I just haven’t been able to summon the enthusiasm. My last ride involved rain of biblical proportions and more comedy dismounts than you’ll see at the circus. That was 2 or 3 weeks ago. For a regular rider like me 2 or 3 weeks off the bike feels like a lifetime. I was worried I might have lost my mojo and terrified I’d dump riding altogether in favour of World of Warcraft or some other geeky indoor weirdness, where the only chance of my heart rate increasing was if the curry delivery was late. I had to get out on my bike!

So on Thursday with the weather forecast looking good, (crikey no rain for a whole 24 hours!), I ventured out like some beast awakening from its hibernation. A quick check of the bike and it looked ok. I even remembered how to switch on my lights and turn the pedals. This was a promising start. Riding over to Stanmer I encountered the first muddy trails of the evening and my heart sank a little. I’m not sure what I was expecting but I resolved to stay positive.

Arriving at the car park and my spirits raised as I spotted all the regular faces and before I knew it the banter had started and my decision to ride seemed totally validated, and we hadn’t even hit the trails yet.

The ride itself was pretty hard in places but great fun. Some of the trails were in awful condition but it didn’t matter. I was enjoying myself and so it seemed was everyone else. Except for Ronnie who lost a pedal then spent an hour looking for it! He did find it though but it involves a conspiracy theory which is too complicated to explain here.

We rode some of my favourite trails which had taken on new dimensions thanks to the mud and wet roots. Slipping and sliding is great fun when your head’s in the right place. Don’t worry about coming off that’s all part of the buzz. Rather than finding it a chore, simply turning the pedals and “getting through it”, I relished these added elements. I even managed a few jumps in places, which feels weird on skinny mud tyres but I didn’t care!

We finished the ride on a high. The last two trails of the evening were relatively dry and were done at a good speed before we dropped into Sussex University campus for some BMX Bandits style action. I played Eddie Fiola and Steve was my Nicole Kidman (with a beard!) as with lights blazing we flew past befuddled students on our way back to the car park.

I finished the ride exhilarated and pleased to have made the effort to ride. My bike was filthy. I had mud in my teeth. But I was smiling because I’d got my mojo back. Winter rocks!

Mark

Ride Report 15th November 09: Whiteways

Posted by f

: Half Way Round

Colin from Muddy Moles

Since having the link to Brighton MTB on our Muddymoles blog, I’ve been a cyberspace admirer of the riding at their disposal and what they get up to out on the trails.

My efforts to organise an official presence of mm’s on yesterday’s ride were not successful but I was still dead keen to attend so with the blessing of my wife, God bless her, I pitched up in the car park at Bury Hill for my first Brighton MTB ride.

OK, whilst it wasn’t raining, conditions were not exactly ideal due to the recent deluges, but you can’t whine about it, just get out and ride. And what a ride it was. I’d love to be able to tell you where we went but I actually have no idea. Lets just say it was the classic Whiteways route concocted (and built in places) by Brighton MTB.

It started on a bit of a downer when Mike got a branch caught in his rear mech which not only got dumped on the floor, but his titanium mech hanger was bent in the process and the thread stripped. After the usual ‘how many blokes does it take to mend an xxxx’ scenario, we were on our way again, with Mike having to nurse his bike round for the rest of the day.

There followed an abundance of singletrack, large number of drops and roll-ins and a very sizeable helping of p1ss taking, mostly directed at moi and Andy. Why me? Well I was looking a bit pimped-up in a brand new White Gore Phantom jacket and white shoes. That in itself made me fair game but what made it worse was that the combination of a Neoguard on the forks and a crud catcher meant I got barely a speck of mud on me, unlike the others who were plastered in the stuff. Nothing like a bit of good ole British mickey taking to break the ice and make you feel welcome!

As for Andy, well lets just say that anyone riding such an awesome bike as his Intense Tracer is always going to be fighting against accusations of ‘all the gear, no idea’, everyone waiting to capitalise on his every misdemeanour. Falling off in style and in front of most of the group on at least two occasions only stoked up the level of ribbing in his direction and thankfully diverted it from me for a short while. It was great to meet everyone and it reminded once again that the beauty of mountain biking is that you can turn up with your bike, as a newbie in a large and well-established group and instantly be made to feel like one of the gang.

Whilst us ‘Northerners’ (as I was referred to yesterday) think that we are lucky oop North in Surrey, there’s a big world out there and you guys darn souf clearly have a lot of trails and a lot of fun within easy reach too.

The 20 mile loop had the epic feel about it, with a little of everything but most importantly, finishing with a massive bang thanks to the final singletrack section full of crests, berms and a large roll-in. If Carlsberg did route planning, they would always finish this way-guaranteed to leave a large grin on your face for the rest of the day.

For sure, I would love to join you again and thanks to all for such an enjoyable day’s riding.

Colin, aka Whiteboy

Ride Report 26th September: Brighton

Posted by f

Alice experiences the magic of tangfastics

My first ride with you guys, feel pretty nervous, number one priority is to not make a fool of myself……….like almost passing out at the top of the first hill!! What a way to introduce yourself to a group (not one I intend to repeat, note to self to carb load next week and not to go out boozing the night before)!

A few Tangfastics later and I’m back to full steam ahead, the group have finished laughing at me and its time to carry on riding in the beautiful sunshine. Unfortunately as it is now 2 weeks (sorry, you’ll soon realise that I’m not the most organised type) since my debut ride, and I’m also totally unobservant, details of the ride are somewhat sketchy. We started off at the University of Sussex car park and headed up onto the South Downs (I think), had a fight with some very overgrown vegetation on route, lost and then found one of the group, and ended up in Stanmer Park.

Then came some awesome single track through trees with lots of obstacles to have fun with – highlights for me included getting over the row of logs (I’m sure there is a technical term for this, hopefully that bigs it up a bit, but I’m not sure what it is!). It was a case of third time lucky and the reassurance of having some strong hands to catch me if I flew off sideways that gave me the confidence to do it. Boosted by this success I also went over what looked like an impossible bit of tree with a ramp down the other side without falling off and felt pretty chuffed.

All in all, I had a totally fab ride and was made to feel very welcome by everyone despite the slightly flakey start. Looking forward to joining you for some more rides soon.

Alice

Ride Report: Kingley Vale 3rd Oct

Posted by f

Snack Stop

I’m not usually the person you want doing the ride reports for the simple reason, as Rob will attest, I can’t remember most of the places I go to! But I have actually done this route with Rob before and a lot of it is familiar from years gone by. Here goes with memorable moments from Saturday’s ride.

Started with a hard, grassy climb up the Vale, into granny ring almost straight away; the quick, chalky descent out of the Vale was rudely interrupted by a maggot infested, decaying deer carcass. Constant strong winds make conversation difficult on the top of the downs.

After a brief snack stop sheltered by a big log, I’m sent down a fun, superfast, rutted, drop off the downs, on the way down I almost run over a pheasant and am almost run over by a rampant, Yeti wielding Paul; an evil road climb back up onto the Downs follows. We make our way to Harting and can see Portsmouth from the top of Beacon Hill; only one person cleans the vicious climb up to the top of Beacon Hill (me!) and then I’m impressed by the speed Brian, Pete and Paul come into view after the big descent down the other side.

We leaving Harting by way of a weave through a nice, meandering tree lined alley; and make our back up to Kingley via Stoughton and a rare tubeless puncture. I think this is Alice’s first big-type ride and she does well to keep with us, downing the Tangfastics to keep the energy up. A big climb follows and we head for the Kingley Vale downhill course.

The DH is a nice well-crafted series of big berms, kickers and bigger jumps, not being the jumpy types Rob and I head for the bottom, enjoying the berms and wait for the rest. There are some nice features to play on, which Pete, Brian and Paul make the most of. Paul gives Alan a bit of instruction and encouragement and Alan then frightens himself with the speed with which he approaches the big wooden jump but he decides to stop in a cloud of dust and leaves it for another day!

A great, old school style ride, with a good bit of man-made trail as the final cherry on top. Back in the car park, Rob hands out some free ales and everyone heads home very happy!

Ride Report: Whiteways August 09

Posted by f

Off Piste

Extreme Gardening: Whiteways Ride August 09

Hectic single track, a tree stump, braking, lost it, over we go (only the third time today). Felt quite safe for a fall – must be something to do with the adrenalin rush – also felt shunt moving me forward. Metallic noises (rider behind forgivingly non-vocal). More metallic noises (likewise newest rider). Sorry guys!

My abiding memory of my first Brighton MTB outing? – not at all.

I’d seen the network of bridleways in the forest area west of Whiteways on the map. It looked interesting. I hadn’t seen the Brighton MTB site and the Whiteways meet until the day before. Great thing the interweb.

On Sunday I was belting down single track created specially for bikers out of forest. I’ve seen such things in the Grizedale Forest in the Lake District, but they seem a more commercial thing. The single track was technical and exciting to ride. The heavy rain the day before helped! Scrapes one and two were over fairly promptly after the start. No damage done and it felt as though I’d got the hang of it.

Where did we go? No idea at all. In the car park before we set off, I mentioned the bridleways I’d seen on the map and was a bit mystified by the response, “We won’t be using them!”

Some parts were very overgrown and speed was the only way of making sure the branches and brambles didn’t get a complete grip and slow you to a standstill. This results in scratches and blood, but Savlon cream was on tap. Later we rode tracks we were told were very overgrown!

I was probably the oldest biker on the day and definitely suffered several decades on some. But someone was always with me to ensure I didn’t drop off the back and get lost. Four hours into the ride I was given a gel shot by another friend (note to self: I must remember people’s names). How I’ve avoided gel shots all the years, I don’t know. True to predictions, the shot gave me the boost I sorely needed to get me to the end. The group was friendly, fun and – most importantly – forgiving of a less fit and able rider (thanks all round).

The mystery for me is not where we’d been but more how the ride leader gets to know the single track routes. I’m only guessing here, but this may be explained if they are one of a band of dedicated extreme gardeners, locked away in the forest creating bike paths, complete with tricksy bits. And that, I’m sure, is quite another story.